We’ve received some photographs and have decided to put ‘Anon Carnegie’s’ comment up as a full post –
I have recently been wondering why metal tables and seats were removed by council near the pedestrian lights in Koornang Road. Sawn off at the base they just disappeared overnight with nothing replacing them. Then suddenly the reality appears. Our public seating, available 24 hours per day has been removed to make way for private seating, owned by Grill’d, the new addition to the ‘culinary delights’ of Carnegie. How can this happen, why has a public space had seating removed to make way for private seating available only to customers of a major chain fast food conglomerate? This really troubles me and I would like some answers from councillors to explain how this can and has happened.
Glen Eira Debates 
December 28, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Typical Newton economics. Hire out every square inch of available space to earn a pittance and then spend thousands to remove perfectly functional seating to perhaps relocate somewhere else, or perhaps to simple forego the seating entirely. Bottom line is that ratepayers are for sure out of pocket with this neat little arrangement that only lines the pockets of contractors and private businesses. This administration wouldn’t know the meaning of cost benefit analysis in my view.
December 28, 2011 at 8:33 PM
It looks cheap and nasty indeed.
Brings to mind .. what ever happened to the idea of renting the rotunda at Bentleigh to private enterprise for a coffee shop etc?
December 28, 2011 at 9:22 PM
Anon ! you have got to be kidding.Grill’d is a Franchise owned by a small retailer. Throughout this Municipality, and Melbourne and overseas this type of seating can be seen everywhere.If you want to complain about something have a look at the 3 Exeloo’s near you know whose shop and ask how this happened.
December 29, 2011 at 7:51 AM
The new toilets simply replaced the old facilty that was existing for many years. Find something legitimate to gripe about and let go the envy.
December 28, 2011 at 9:33 PM
So why would council remove public seating to allow private seating, only available when you purchase goods from the shop and when the shop is open??? Beats my logic of public interest and beats me why when public money was spent putting in the seating in the first place and public money spent on removing the seats and tables. I am happy to see an interesting and vibrant shopping centre but not happy to see deliberate action taken by council to remove public amenities to make way for privately controlled facilities in the public realm.
December 29, 2011 at 7:58 AM
You will notice that the predominant use of shops in Carnegie is fast becoming restaurants. Competing with Chadstone is difficult. Koornang Rd is becoming a well known place to eat out. The Council is doing the right thing by assisting any new business. All over Melbourne there are shopping strips that have died. If you have a better way of ensuring Carnegie does not end up with Nail shops and $2 shops them tell us all.
Given the choice we all want the public facilities but, sadly we no longer have that choice.
December 29, 2011 at 11:23 AM
A good start in protecting local shopping strips would be to ensure that parking is managed properly. Next retailers might ask why all the emphases is on only 3 strips instead of the 20 odd throughout Glen Eira. Removing the commercial centre policy from the planning scheme is another retrograde move. These are the basics. This council does very little to improve amenity and safety. Centre Rd traders have been seeking an alcohol ban for nearly two years. Thus far the administration I’m told has been dead set against it – yet it was possible to achieve around the racecourse.
You can’t stop 2 dollar shops or restaurants/coffee shops. But what you can do is make the place as “user friendly” as possible in order to attract clientele and locals. Removing public seating is not user friendly. As someone has already suggested, I’d like to see the figures on how much it cost to remove the seating and how much the current private seating is contributing to council’s revenue. On past history, I’d guess that residents are in the red. It also says much about overall planning and strategy of this administration. Does anyone know how long the seating had been there? 1 year, 2 years, 5 years? If less than 2 years then it’s removal is a real indictment on planners, urban designers, and the sheer ad hoc management by Newton.
December 28, 2011 at 10:24 PM
No public toilets for Bentleigh,
Public seating removed in Koornang Road to accommodate a chain burger joint
Millions spent on sporting facilities – yet a major local sporting club is not able to access the much heralded and decidedly late sporting flagship (i.e. GESAC)
What a great Council we have!!!!
December 29, 2011 at 8:34 AM
Hey Anon, you forgot to mention the street widening that occurred at the Grange Road end of Glenhuntly Road – to enable the cafe/restaurants yet to be built to offer al fresco dinning. Makes the area more attractive to potential operators but has added traffic congestion and halfed the onstreet parking. Yet another example of Council’s isolationist planning views – ignore flow on impacts and just let the local residential roads cope with increased traffic and parking demand.
Bet this shows up in the budget as being money spent on traffic/parking management – if a three sided mulch shed cost $160K I don’t want to think what these road works cost.
December 28, 2011 at 11:16 PM
This action is disgraceful and must be rectified. We must let council know about this. It is very similar to the stations which had drinking fountains and taps removed a few years ago but, after the public led a great number of protests the original drinking options were re-instated so we did not need money to have a healthy drink of water. Isn’t the timing amazing between the installation of the fencing to take away a running track on the east of our racecourse reserve and the removal of splendid iron public seating to have it substituted for cheap plastic ones!!!! Re-instate both public assets immediately!!!!!
December 28, 2011 at 11:34 PM
Public space always goes to private interests under this regime. Tennis clubs are granted more public land under the excuse of graffitti protection and the MRC hit the jackpot when the gang and Newton did their bidding. The Inkerman rd development and the section 173 agreement was conveniently passed so that more public land ended up in private hands. Someone’s already written about the rotunda in centre road. Next there’s the caulfield park cafe which you can bet Newton hasn’t given up on. None of these things have been to the advantage of the community regardless of what the spin doctors like to tell us about the money that comes in.
December 29, 2011 at 1:07 AM
Let’s face it, this Council is more concerned with helping a business whether it’s a burger joint or the MRC and not at all about residents. Looking at the two photos, couldn’t the nuff nuffs who removed the seating also remove the graffiti?
December 29, 2011 at 9:36 AM
Some old fart sitting on a publically funded seat in a particular site in a shopping centre should take precedent over Commerce and Employment.You have got to be joking. Also why do some of the losers who blog on your site fail to discuss the immediate topic and just use the opportunity to whack Council.
December 29, 2011 at 10:31 AM
Anonymous – I think you are both Anon 3 and 9 in this string of comments – you again fail to see that public seating available 24 hours per day and installed by council has been REMOVED to make way for private seating. This is not in the public interest – it is blatant cow-towing to the private sector. You are always so hostile to this blog – stop reading it! BTW the topic IS the amenity of the public domain!!
December 29, 2011 at 5:19 PM
The only thing wrong with removing the seats is that you don’t like it. There are still plenty of seats in Koornang Rd. It is important that there are no empty shops. Have you asked the Carnegie Traders what they think. The Council consults them all the time.
December 29, 2011 at 6:12 PM
Council “consults” – you’ve got to be joking! They have meetings and traders say what they want, but they rarely if ever get what they want. So if you’re into asking traders ask the Bentleigh Traders what they think of the 2.4+ million “redevelopment” of Centre Road. Ask them what happened to all their suggestions and ideas and how everything was imposed on them. The Tucker Ward Forum was most informative when one trader complained that with this “new look” that their stands sank into the bitumen, especially when the weather hit anything over 25 degrees. What traders and residents might want never enters into the thinking of this council and its administration.
December 30, 2011 at 4:45 PM
The only reason any level of Gov. consults the voters is just in case some clever person thinks of something pertinent that they missed. We elect Councils to govern not run around asking poeple what they would like. If you ever thought that consultation was going to bring forward your ideas you were very wrong.
December 29, 2011 at 9:36 PM
Anon, where is the public seating left in Koornang Road? Last time I looked it had all been removed.
December 29, 2011 at 10:16 PM
There is public seating. Go have a look
December 29, 2011 at 11:27 PM
Great reply!!!!!! I have had a look. The public seating that existed at the predestrian lights south of the railway line have been removed, the seating that existed at the arcade (don’t know it’s name but on the east side of Koornang Road, it features an Asian Grocery and a Tobacconist) south of the perdestrian crossing has also been removed. Just where would you have me look, in the carparks either side or down Koornang Road near Centre Road or north into Stonnington. I am willingly to admit I am wrong if that is the case, but your comment does not provide anything that can remotely be considered constructive.
December 29, 2011 at 9:57 AM
A few years ago the shopping complex in Oakleigh put up signs on there private seating saying that you could only say seated no longer than 15mins, it was a good laugh, really.
Do what the teenagers do sprawl over the footpath, the bumbling planning officers will finally wake-up to why seating is a good idea, they are not paid enough to think.
December 29, 2011 at 10:53 AM
How unfortunate. Recently I spotted a an older man maybe 80-90 j8ust sitting on the seat to gather his breath and energy to make his way homeward. I had a chat to check on his health and enjoyed the 2-3 minute break on those red seats which have now been di=scarded. We became friendly and he told me he had lived neaqrby for over 50 years and I myself have used the Koornang Road shops for over forty years. I SAY GIVE US A BREAK WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEND MORE MONEY AT THE COFFEE SHOP SEATS ON OUR FOOTPATHS!!!!
I also ask where the elderly oe lonely can sit in the hope someone comes along and has a casual chat with them???
In my opinion it would be too intrusive to sit at a table where there is a commercial innuendo afloat. What do other bloggers think????
December 29, 2011 at 2:44 PM
Just noticed that Grill’d have put their promo material in the council information boxes mounted on a the nearby pole – did council give them permission to do that as well!!!???
December 29, 2011 at 6:36 PM
At least in Government circles, its accepted that privileged people should be able to make money out of Government and Crown assets. If the plan was for Carnegie to be a viable vibrant shopping centre then maybe it’d be ok, but the number of empty shops is a reminder that its slowly dying. It has way too many food outlets compared to any other kind of service to be healthy.
There is an aspect of good governance that needs to be followed up though, since Council is supposed to be responsible and accountable to us, the local community. We shouldn’t have to chase Council to find out who made the decision, what the governing local policies are, and sight the evidence to demonstrate that the decision conforms with those policies. Unfortunately Council has established a string of precedents about granting extraordinary privileges to the vendors who trade in Carnegie. We have entered the 9th year of occupation of the footpath on the west side of Koornang Road outside 81A Koornang Road. The public has not been informed of the consideration paid by the developer to secure Council’s agreement that forever constrains how the carpark at the rear can be developed. (Council is required to maintain a right-of-way for the future occupants of 81A, if its ever finished.) In the case of ripping out public seating, I expect any agreement to require the trader to pay for its reinstatement at the end of their lease.
Perhaps its a coincidence, but The Age today quoted Gerald Galatis about the problems of the railway level crossing in Carnegie–not that its a priority for the government. As government spokespeople have repeatedly said, there’s no money available for the project. What little money is available is to go to Louise Asher’s electorate. Given all the asset-stripping that has taken place to prop up our shaky finances over the years, it is appropriate for Council to extract more from traders, especially those of the over-represented food industry, and end the hidden subsidies. Transparency and accountability–it shouldn’t be too much to ask for.
December 29, 2011 at 7:40 PM
When at a council meeting recently I noted Carnegie Shopping Centre was being discussed and there were a few interested retailers there. Their wishes were not granted… just anither example of a deaf council!!!!!. So who listens to them or any of us.
Also I have met a wittness to the needless destruction of our public seating by Glen Eira Council Staff in the Koornang Road Shopping Centre.
December 29, 2011 at 11:37 PM
I think all this discussion on a fairly new topic will I will dub “Public Social Space” is great.
With all this high density building happening around the place “Public Social Space” will b’come increasingly important. Europe has had its great plaza’s and squares for 100’s of year working successfully. Australia has fudged anything similar, badly.
As Glen Eira stuffs its public green open space with a flat earth policy, with private open space vanishing quicker than the drongo, we will need to invest in the brave new world of public social space, and by this I don’t mean a few cheap placcy chairs set-up a few mils for the parking cars smelly exhaust pipes.
It needs to be done properly and respectfully.
I doubt Glen Eira has the knowledge and respect to pull anything like this off.
This isn’t incompetence it just far beyond their imagination.
So into this vacuum falls our city- like a fat lady between two chairs – both embarrassing and sad.
So it will be the flat earth policy in public open space private open space and public social space. Welcome to Glen Eira’s unsustainable future, that is already here.
In a few years time when it take 40mins plus to get through the boom-gate at Carnegie, divers & passengers will poor out of there cars a sup coffee and croissant from the wall to wall coffee shops, all done on gaudy different colour placcy chairs.
Maybe a good start for council to come up with a plastic chair committee in 2012. Their job will be to come-up with sensible placcy chair colour scheme for Glen Eira
[ I have a red placcy-chair phobia, and personally will not use them as they make completions look ruddy, I just move on till I find a white ones]
Wouldn’t you love to hear a 3 way conversation between Newton, Lipshutz and Lobo discussing the finer points of Social Open Space in Glen Eira.