This is a sad tale of waste, lack of engineering know how, and inadequate planning. Several years ago, council decided to apply for a Commonwealth grant to ‘redevelop’ the Elster Creek Trail. A bitumen path was already in existence. We estimate that for the cost of $30 – $40,000 this existing pathway could have been widened in several places and several rough edges smoothed out. Instead, in its wisdom, council put up $180,000 (Correction: – $140,000) of its own money and received the equivalent amount from the Commonwealth.
Since then, we assume that many more funds have been expended on this venture – and this year’s budget includes another $100,000 for the Trail. What we don’t know however is how much the following extravaganzas have cost –
- Security guards stationed at night to protect the concrete.
- Rubber matting replaced with new rubber matting 3 months after being laid
- White stripes down the centre when council doesn’t even know whether this is a heavy bicycle track or not. The guidelines recommend this for ‘heavy’ bicycle usage.
- The ripping up of literally hundreds and hundreds of metres of side grass and replacing this with instant grass.
The really important outcome however of this yellow brick road with zebra stripes is that the old bitumen path was ripped up and 4 to 6 inches depth of reinforced concrete laid. All well and good some might say – except that by raising the height of the existing pathway, water could no longer drain away as it had previously. The Trail is now a lake after any kind of persistent rain. It has become home to mosquitoes and god knows what other health hazards.
In the future, residents will undoubtedly have to cough up further funding to replace rotting fencing that sits in water for days on end . The mulch also continues to settle so that there are numerous patches of 4 inch drops from the edges of the pathway – a really good way for cyclists to topple over, or pedestrians to break an ankle. Since the Trail also meanders alongside trees there is continual debris and discolouring of the pathway – again further risk to life and limb. We have to simply ask:
- Why wasn’t there any real engineering assessment done?
- Why has this ‘redevelopment’ cost, we estimate, well over $500,000 when there was already an existing pathway?
- What is council doing about risk management and health concerns?
Glen Eira Debates 
January 8, 2012 at 8:16 PM
What a joke from out City council manager, I have completely run out of expression to describe the incompetence, it has become any excuse to lay yellow concrete. I have said it before, and it gets censored by the moderators, (MODERATORS: Sorry, but we have deleted the final part of this sentence. Perhaps you might like to rephrase your views slightly?)
January 8, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Hi Gleneira,
open letter to Glen Eira Debates.
Happy New Year! In an election year the challenge for the team(or individuals) behind Glen Eira Debates is to walk the walk and talk the talk; that is to stand for election to Council in October this year. After 18 months of anonymous armchair critisism it is now time to step up to the plate and make a difference.
From a Councillor perspective some of the postings here are reasonable,others are summises that are way off the mark. In spite of the sometime unnessary personal attacks and negativity here,I believe there is a genuiness and desire for change and improvement.
As we have seen from recent important decisions (eg GESAC)every vote counts in the chamber. The time has come for the initiaters of this website to ‘put their money where their mouths are’ and announce that they will be candidates this year and outline their priorities. Talk is cheap, actions are now what counts and which will be important in the coming term,
regards Neil
January 8, 2012 at 8:42 PM
Dear Cr. Pilling,
Happy New Year to you and your family as well, and thank you for your comments. We can assure you that we agree that the coming year is vital in unearthing candidates who will represent their constituents fully. That the major issues of planning, traffic management, open space, genuine consultation, and respect for community become the major focus in Glen Eira. We will continue to highlight what we believe are the failings of this administration and (at times) councillors. We will continue with our commentary, raising concerns about governance and secrecy. Where praise is earned it will be given. Where condemnation is warranted we will also comment.
As for standing for election one never knows one’s luck in a big city:-)
January 8, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Very well said Neil.
While I applaud the intentions and the work of the people running this blog, they have tended to interpret all council actions in a negative frame and to leap to conclusions that aren’t justified by the evidence – here I’d include the recent issues of concerning GESAC and the re-appointment of the CEO.
However, many of the issues – especially council secrecy serving sectional interests and the failure to properly consult – are very legitimate.
I believe the major achievement of this blog has been to raise community awareness and interest in council and the impact of its decisions on local residents – and how much better things could be if we had councillors who were more in touch their community.
Now we have an opportunity to change that by electing councillors who are more concerned about representing community interests than in their own prestige.
Not that we haven’t had community-focused candidates in the past. At the last election, candidates from a community-based group in Camden Ward only failed to gain election because of the collusion between Penhalluriack and Lipshutz to place them last on their preferences. Perhaps this time, Frank will have the confidence to throw his support behind similar candidates rather than simply shore up his own votes.
Hopefully, with due credit to this blog, we have a better informed community that will make better decisions at the next election. But it won’t happen unless the we find good candidates and give them the support they need.
January 8, 2012 at 10:59 PM
Whilst I don’t agree with some of your comments (ie gesac and the appointment of the CEO) I do concur with your hope that at the next election candidates are elected who will faithfully be the voice of their electorate. I would also add that one of the major contributions that this blog has made is not merely in highlighting issues of concern, but in demonstrating how Glen Eira Council is completely out of touch with its residents via the sheer volume of comments that are registered on this blog. I’d also suggest that for every person that comments there would be plenty more who simply read the blog.
The other major contribution of Glen Eira Debates is revealing what happens in other neighbouring councils and how Glen Eira is literally back in the dark ages when it comes to consultation, openness, transparency and accountability. We desperately need individuals who will put an end to such practices.
January 9, 2012 at 12:45 AM
Yo!! Neil what are you thinking!!!! If the moderators of this blog, as per your very lopsided post expresses it, “put their money where their mouths are” Council chambers would resound with cries of winky pop every time they attempted to speak.
“talk is cheap, actions are now what counts” – unbelievable!!!. Think again Neil. The creation and maintenance of this blog is an extemely significant action. The cheap talk aint coming from this website. A loud and clear message is being sent. It’s up to you to decide to continue to ignore or to listen and actually do something.
January 8, 2012 at 8:32 PM
Wasting good money when Council is facing a “liquidity crisis” and has been assessed as high risk by the Auditor General is nothing short of incompetence, stupidity, and negligence. Replacing perfectly good grass with instant grass is mind boggling. What on earth are councillors doing in allowing this kind of thing to go on and on and on. There’s obviously no thorough planning and understanding of how each site is different and has different needs and why didn’t engineers realise that this concrete would create a dam effect. I feel sorry for residents living next to the trail and wonder if all this water which doesn’t wash away is actually banking up into their properties and causing some flooding there.
January 8, 2012 at 9:30 PM
Seems many of the comments here are hitting the mark and Cr Pilling is feeling the pressure. Included in the Greens articles of faith are matters relating to community participation in government actions and participating in public debate without fear or favour. That’s what many of us here who don’t have the time or inclination to participate directly in civic affairs are doing. Rather than condemn it Councillor you should display your genuine Greens credentials and support it.
That said, I earnestly hope that people of quality, independence and who will walk the walk in holding to their pre-election promises do put their names forward. Because the two who replaced the councillors who departed during this councils time have demonstrated the paucity of the talent prepared to offer themselves for election.
The issues encountered by Helen Whiteside which caused her to make comments such as there being an “intolerable situation” and “unacceptable behaviour” in relation to counci and which lead to her resignation out of frustration don’t provide much incentive for people of quality and who want to make a difference to stand.. And if my memory serves me correctly Councillor Magee was of similar mind at that time.
However, if we are to get a council that walks the walk in terms of openness, transparency and accountability I hope we get some major changes and that the fresh faces don’t follow the trend of being the lapdogs of the administration.
January 8, 2012 at 11:16 PM
This whole area is a flood plain. Why would anyone with an ounce of common sense create a path that becomes a dam and doesn’t allow water to drain away. If this has cost what the authors claim it has then residents should be ropeable at the health risks that have been created as well as the long term damage to neighbouring properties. Wish it was a case of money down the drain – then at least the place wouldn’t look like a dirty, stinking, stagnant lake.
January 8, 2012 at 11:22 PM
Elster Creek trail gets wet when it rains. I must be real stupid to think that a trail that follows a creek would be high and dry when it rains.I guess rivers are at the top of mountains. I must be stupid.
January 9, 2012 at 8:35 AM
Let see if this mob can find true independent candidates, and not a Liberal party sleepers, like Cr Forge, who votes with the other pseudo independent Councillors, hiding their Liberal party connections.
I have heard all the bluster from this site and I suspect there is a conservative bent just below the surface, when the pressure is on, they will show their true colours and vote with the anti-community power abusers that hold power.
January 9, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Happy new year everyone. I keep thinking that things just can’t be botched any more than they already are, but no, we keep getting shown new ballsups all the time. I don’t reckon that things will change until councillors get their act together and start demanding all the costs of things and doing their sums properly. Newton has got to be made accountable for such poor work.