A reader has just alerted us to the latest posting on Cr. Pilling’s blog. It concerns the GESAC basketball allocations and the failure to reach a decision after nearly 7 months of lawyers, discussions, mediation and teeth gnashing. There was another assembly of councillors following the public reception last night. As our reader stated in his comment, there is obviously great division and disarray in this ‘cohort’ of councillors. Whether or not a decision was finally made last night we won’t know until the official minutes come out.
On this point Pilling wrote: “I will post details of the motion passed and comments re item 12.8 GESAC Multi-Use Courts that involves the allocation of basketball as soon as publically available which normally takes several days.”
We find such a statement mind boggling. Why can’t the decision be announced before the minutes are made public? After all, this has only been dragging on for 7 months! Secondly, the motion in camera must have been to make the decision public – so it is technically no longer ‘confidential’. Yet, Cr Pilling obviously is a real stickler for Newton’s and Burke’s made up rules – rather than serving the needs of the community first. All it takes councillors is a smidgeon of courage and there is change, progress, and an end to autocratic rule by bureaucrats. The community deserves such councillors – not ones who regard the letter of the law as more important than the spirit of the law. There’s a name for that – pusillanimity!
Glen Eira Debates 
December 15, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Neil Pilling shortly after his election. From the Glen Eira News, December, 2008:
““I am enthusiastic and committed to
representing our community in an
open, accountable and transparent way.”
How times – and attitudes – change!
December 15, 2011 at 10:04 PM
OMG.
What is the frigging problem!!!!!!!?
A properly worded contract, or EOI acceptance, should have prevented this whole fiasco. Yet here we are – 7 months later and two consecutive, secretive, midnight oil burning, Council Meetings later – still no decision. Meanwhile, the avoidable legal fees continue to mount.
Enough already – ‘fess up Councillors and Administration – your initial and continual ph*cking around with this issue has pushed our patience to breaking point. Enough dollars have been spent and enough emotional resources, from both basketball groups and residents, have been frustratingly wasted.
Make a decision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 16, 2011 at 12:16 AM
The problen asyou call it anon, would rest with the gang and their determination to save Burke’s and their own arses for this almighty ballsup. He’s the one who would be ticked off if Mckinnon got what they wanted and this little slap over the wrist would be public too. I’d bet my life that this is at the back of the gang’s obstruction to a successful resoltion
December 15, 2011 at 10:18 PM
The double standards that are being continually applied in this council are outrageous. Cr. Pilling – please have a look at the home page of council’s website. There you will find an announcement about the reduction of child care fees – your motion I believe. The minutes have not come out as yet, but here is council spruiking loud and clear. The post in my view is correct in claiming that the in camera confidentiality clause does not apply the moment that the resolution to publish the minutes in open council is taken. You would only be justified in withholding the decision from the public if such a resolution was not passed. This clearly isn’t the case given what you’ve written. You intend to wait until the formal, official minutes are out and only then put the motion up on your blog. So my question to you is – if officers can publish material before they appear in the minutes then why can’t you? And who was it that decided to publish the information about the child care fees? I guarantee that councillors would not have been asked, and I doubt whether you would have even been told. The charge of being superfluous in the governance of Glen Eira, as some readers believe, is from my standpoint, incontrovertible.
December 16, 2011 at 12:02 AM
Playing by the book is okay if it’s a level playing field and everyone plays by the same rules. Officers have their own rules and Lipshutz and the gang conveniently forget the rules when they have to ram something through or when they have to make sure that someone like Penhalluriack is gagged. All the rules go out the window then.
I therefore respectfully suggest to you Cr Pilling that you need to forget the rules and consider why you’re in council at all. Isn’t it to get the best outcome for us? You’re not doing that if you succumb to threat, bluff and bluster on all occasions. The last council meeting was the perfect example. Secrecy won and open and transparent governance lost. The ball was in your court and you fluffed it badly.
December 15, 2011 at 10:25 PM
We note that the Warriors website which hailed the ‘coup’ in getting GESAC court allocations is suddenly ‘under construction’ – http://www.warriorsbasketball.org/
Will it re-emerge as ‘Glen Eira Warriors’?
Will it remove the Glen Eira logos?
Will the triumphant tone be toned down?
All questions that only time will reveal!
December 16, 2011 at 3:32 PM
“Glen Eira” you really need to get a life. The Warriors are a wonderful family club that service their junior membership in a fantastic wat. It’s a club with many wonderful volunteers like so many other clubs including McKinnon.
Is the reason for barbs at them simply the fact that they won the EOI process. If so then that makes you an extremely sad person. Is it a crime that put forward what was obviously a superior bid to that of the McKinnon Association.
Do you even know anything about the club it”s kids, parents or coaching staff? The stuff that has been thrown at the warriors and their people from the likes of yourself has been nothing but pathetic. If you want to be critical of council and it’s processes that’s fine, but how about staying away from attacks on a wonderful club that has done no wrong at all.
December 15, 2011 at 10:50 PM
The Glen Eira council is now involved in an amazing dilema and campaign of absolute deceipt. On one hand every man woman and child will be paying excess millions for the so called monstrosity in East Bentleigh. It is well near impossible to get there by public transport and who can also walk three kilometres on a hot day and what is perhaps more criminal is the fact that it is being advertised as though it is open for a swim tomorrow just as shops are selling goods for Christmas!!!
THERE SEEMS TO BE NO GUILT OR APOLOGY THAT THE CENTRE WON’T OPEN TILL AFTER THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS HAVE ENDED YET THE $800 ODD TICKETS ARE BEING SOLD ACCORDING TO THAT TALKER MICHAEL LIPSHUTZ. FAILURE TO MEET THE DEADLINE IS ONE THING BUT DISAPPOINTING CHILDREN IS UNBELIEVABLE ESPECIALLY WHEN MOST OF THE COUNCILLORS WILL BE OFF TO HOLIDAYS INTERSTATE OR DOWN ON THE COAST.
Families will not be able to afford this if they have paid $2,000.00 to join the incompleted white elephant in East Boundary Road and then how will the basketballers, both groups, enter teams for the first semester next year if they do not have a home ground. Oh! now the income will not be there as projected for mid-summer swims and off course the basketballers would not be expected to pay up until their next round of play begins.
December 16, 2011 at 12:07 AM
Cr. Pilling is a lone councillor in a sea of sharks, trying to do best.
The gang of 4 is ruthless on anyone that shows a threat to the big end of town, they are mean conservatives drunk on power running many agendas. Which you bright stars of this blog either choose to ignore or refuse to unmask for your own fears and reasons. You dally around the edges of power abuse, but do not go the core problem. Pilling could waste his three year battling these drunks or engage in constructive engagement trying to shine some light into the corners. His resent work on childcare fees, show what one person can do. This might not be nirvana, if we had a handful more Pillings, Glen Eira would be a different place.
December 16, 2011 at 7:52 AM
I agree with your comments on “mean conservatives drunk on power running many agendas” and “power abuse”.
However, I think the success of this blog points to the fact that the “bright stars” aren’t ignoring the problem.
Anon, I don’t buy the “shine some light into the corners” bit. Pilling is on record as proudly proclaiming on two issues – advertising the CEO position and the basketball allocation. Within the past month, when both issues were secretively discusssed at Council, he disappeared in a puff of smoke at the eleventh hour. His pay back – being annointed as the one to move the childcare fee reduction motion and becoming Deputy Mayor.
Need more Pillings – I don’t think so.
December 16, 2011 at 10:20 AM
I think a lot of the bright stars of this blog are Lib,Lab party hacks and share the same affiliation as the gang of 4, meaning that a lot of Glen Eira issues do not get discussed as they are considered off limits.
Cr Hyams letter to the Age newspaper last week, scored not a mention on this blog, and therefore by default was deemed as being unimportant to residents. However it showed something about the man who is one of our councillors and now our Mayor, [draw your own conclusions on his letter]. If any other Councillor or any other Glen Eira officer had a letter in the Age it would have been on this blog before the ink and dried, hastily followed by 20+ comments ripping them to shreds.
Please explain this gap?
Cr Pilling the Greens councillor, is the only of the nine councillors that is 100% upfront with his affiliations. All others run the interdependent hoax. This is of course a lie. As they are either up to there necks in Liberal or Labor Party or hold positions in prominent Zionist organisations or both.
Blog stars, [right or wrong, mostly wrong] you do not expose the factional politics that racks Glen Eira.
You crucify the CEO and everyone else for cover-ups, secrecy and self-serving omissions, whilst having a mote in your eye.
If you guys want a democracy a sustainable functioning community, It wouldn’t hurt if you blogger stars, removed this mote from your eye. This may help clear the decks of this factional mess of would-be-big-boys brawling in the sandpit.
Candidates being honest with who they are, will inform voting residents of thier choices, and will lead to better elected councillors.
This may even and solve some of your perennial whines.
You could be part of this push, or you can continue as part of the cover-ups.