We’ve just had an email from an alert reader informing us that the Grill’d restaurant (where public seating was removed and replaced with private (commercial) tables and chairs) now has a LIQUOR permit application sticker on its window. Even more strange is the fact that the table and chairs which had begun in Koornang Rd and then spilled over into Jersey Parade have recently disappeared from the latter location.
The plot gets murkier day by day. First the disappearance of public seating to be replaced by the restaurant’s private table and chairs; next an in camera decision on the lease of land; no announcement of result and now, this perhaps final piece in the jigsaw. A liquor licence application for public open space right next to a library where kids, mothers etc. frequent.
We simply ask: what funny buggers have and still are going on? Why the secrecy? Why a land lease in the first place instead of a normal permit application for tables and chairs? Why no announcement and why at this point in time (after the awarding we presume of the ‘land’) there is now a liquor application? Does this mean that liquor will be consumed out in the open at those private tables and chairs? Should there be any concerns about the chronology of these events? How much did councillors know about anything? All questions that require answers councillors!
Glen Eira Debates 
February 6, 2012 at 10:08 PM
Yup, that’s a brilliant look – booze, kids, public space, and literature! Well done Grill’d – pun intended.
February 6, 2012 at 10:59 PM
The Franchisor of Carnegie Grill’d is Brent Howard who also runs Elsternwick Grill’d and is President of Elsternwick Mainstreet. He is a local Carnegie resident and a decent hard working Australian who employs many locals. Get off his back. There is no story here, just inuendo.
February 7, 2012 at 10:41 AM
I don’t think the authors of the posts are having a go at Grill’d. They’re perfectly entitled to question the way this whole license business has been done and the reasons why it’s been done the way it has. I’d certainly like to know why some public seating disappears and then the area becomes part of private land and why the whole affair has been done in secret. Other contracts or leases are all out in the open but not this one. Doesn’t this tell you that there’s something really fishy going on here or at the very least a full explanation from this council?
February 7, 2012 at 6:59 PM
There seems to be an implication that the owner of Grill’d is doing something underhand. You cannot blame a businessman for the shortcomings of the Council. Most cafes use the footpath which they rent from the Council. Beats having a street full of $2 shops.
February 7, 2012 at 9:57 AM
I think TRUTH has a few worthy points above. And I will take it further and add Carnegie Grill’d maybe offering some welcome social space for residents.
Glen Eira’s density is heading upwards and private open space become rare in new developments in places like Carnegie. Most of our public open space is dedicated to sport and yelllow concrete and offering little else in quality, maybe a place were people can go a sit eat and have a wine or a beer sounds fairly civilised to me.
I would like to add, showing children by example how to drink alcohol in public responsibly is actually a good idea, it has dividends worth pursuing.
Places like this also offer jobs for locals, with flexible working days and hours and can be really handy for young people.
Well run and popular venues should be praised because they contribute ambiance and friendliness to an area. Some such places become local treasures.