Residents’ rat-run rage
Andrea Kellett
COUNCIL CHALLENGED OVER TRAFFIC AND PARKING ISSUES
GLEN Eira residents fed up with rat runs and limited parking have gathered to vent their anger and discuss change. The Glen Eira Residents Association held a forum in Elsternwick last week titled ‘‘Rat runs and no parking — a feature of life soon. What’s the alternative?’’
President Don Dunstan said it was the association’s first forum on the issue and 50 people turned up. He said the association had surveyed residents and found traffic and parking were causing angst. ‘‘People are fed up,’’ Mr Dunstan said. ‘‘There are quite a few streets where, at night, you can’t get parking because there isn’t any.’’ Rat runs had formed in Elsternwick as a result of lower speed limits in Glenhuntly Rd. ‘ ‘ The only way to get change is to change the council in October,’’ Mr Dunstan said.
The association said speed cushions on McKinnon Rd were also causing problems. Traffic and parking management were common concerns raised as part of Glen Eira Council’s 2013- 2017 community plan consultation early this year. Mayor Jamie Hyams said the council was ‘ ‘ aware these are issues of great concern’’.
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City picks up super shortfall
Donna Carton
OPERATOR NEED PAYOUTS TO FINANCE PENSIONS
GLEN Eira Council is still waiting to hear how much it must pay out in extra super payments.
Local governments are reworking t heir 2012- 13 budgets as they anticipate the extra payments, likely to be in the millions of dollars. Super fund operator Vision Super last month confirmed it needed significant additional payments from councils to meet pension needs. There is speculation that the shortfall in its defined benefits scheme could be bet ween $ 5 0 0 million and $750 million.
Glen Eira community relations director Paul Burke said the council was ‘‘awaiting notification of the figure’’ but that it would be spread out over a number of years. ‘‘It will be factored into council’s existing planning and budgeting cycle and incorporated in the 2013 strategic resource plan that will go out for community consultation,’’ Mr Burke said.
Port Phillip estimates it will have to pay $4 million over five years, but mayor Rachel Powning said it was budgeted for. Mornington Peninsula Shire fears it is facing a $10 million superannuation shortfall. Vision Super chairman Rob Spence said the global financial crisis had hurt its performance and council payments must increase.
Glen Eira Debates 
July 17, 2012 at 12:18 PM
Electioneering is up and running overtime. Pilling has set up a facebook page that’s got this -“The campaign has begun! As the first Greens Councillor elected in Glen Eira in 2008 it has been both a very rewarding and sometimes challenging four years. Having a voice on Council advocating strongly on a range of issues be it environmental, social or economic has seen Glen Eira take important steps forward in delivering improved and progressive community focused policies. I look forward to the next term and the exciting potential that the election of more Greens Councillors will bring!”
Always good for a laugh especially the “progressive community focused policies” bit. Shows the extent to which he hasn’t got a clue.
July 17, 2012 at 3:23 PM
If you thinks thats gold, check out the following under ACHIEVEMENTS from Cr Pilling’s blogsite:
Caulfield Racecourse – for the first time in agreement with the MRC a public park and amenities is being developed in the centre of the course- whilst acknowledging there are shortcomings,this is still a significant improvement.
Earth to Pilling – if the agreement has been ignored, then it cannot be considered an achievement.
July 17, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Good to know that Hyams at least knows that traffic is a great concern. He should have known about this for years already. Knowing and doing are two different things. Yup, we know, but it’ll go into the too hard basket for the next ten years.
July 17, 2012 at 6:59 PM
Please, please, I wanna work for Glen Eira Council and please, please in planning or traffic. Ya get to do bugger all and if ya haveta do something just go to the file and dig out stuff ya wrote years ago. Money for jam.
July 17, 2012 at 3:54 PM
A full report on the recent GERA Transport & Parking Forum has gone up on their website. See: http://geresidents.wordpress.com
July 17, 2012 at 5:14 PM
“The only way to get change is to change the council in October,’’
Mr. Dunstan said. How about you, Mr. Dunstan standing for local election.
Apparently, you stood for 2008 election and did not get anywhere. If you
and those on this forum stand for council elections, you can fix all the
problems in the Council and this site would be redundant. Talk and
writing is cheap.
July 17, 2012 at 5:49 PM
I certainly hope that this site is redundant within the next year or so since that would mean that Glen Eira Council has undergone radical reform and its major problems of poor governance and the ignoring of residents would have ceased. Mr Dunstan to my mind is absolutely correct. Changing councillors is the first imperative. The second imperative would be to ensure a major cultural shift that would require the removal of senior administrators. Whilst the gang remain our “representatives” in name only I do not hold out much hope that this will happen. The solution as Mr Dunstan says is to ensure that they are not in council by November 2012. One does not have to stand for council to ensure that this occurs. All it takes is word of mouth and the ballot box to witness their demise.
July 17, 2012 at 9:42 PM
D. Evans, it will take a lot more than word of mouth and your vote to remove these councillors.
It will require a serious, organised campaign with good candidates, a lot of work and considerable funding and resources.
If you think that the sitting councillors are going to be defeated just because of comments made on this blog, well good luck to you.
If there are candidates worth supporting, I will be letterboxing, donating and doing whatever is required to get them elected. Hope you and all the others on this blog will be doing the same.
July 17, 2012 at 10:43 PM
I’ll make myself clear. I do not think that the blog alone will oust all incumbent councillors. What will oust them is what people see around them – rampant, greedy developments; traffic problems; poor services and rate increase after rate increase. Not everyone reads the blog or even the local newspapers but they do have eyes and ears to witness what is happening around them. They will add up one and one and come to the inevitable conclusion that these councillors have failed to protect their amenity and standard of living. Also, most residents who have had direct contact with council and councillors will come to the same conclusion. That they are useless in that they achieve nothing except mouth platitudes and empty promises. There are no concrete results. Yes, this is negative, but it is also a very powerful incentive to vote against them especially those councillors in areas that are hit the hardest like East Bentleigh, Carnegie, Murrumbeena and Ormond. The evidence of failure is written in every 4 or 5 storey development. That can’t be hidden by spin and misinformation.
July 17, 2012 at 8:24 PM
It’s informative to read the gera report on the traffic forum and what each speaker had to say. In their own way I think they’ve highlighted how different these councils are to what happens here. The Moonee Valley council sounds like its putting its money where its mouth is with their precinct plans and Port Phillip’s use of community buses is also an innovative step in the right direction. That leaves Glen Eira and shows how out of date its policies are. Like planning, everything is piecemeal and at the behest of developers. With traffic they only react when there are enough complaints from residents or traders and even then the solutions leave much to be desired. People have got to start asking why this is happening and why policies belong in the dark ages and aren’t updated on a regular basis. Putting out a policy isn’t and should never be the final step. It’s always the first step after which should come regular evaluation, updating and all of this based on local statistics and analysis. Residents need to be involved right at the beginning and to be taken notice of. They live in the streets so they are the experts when it comes to documenting what is happening around them. Not nearly enough credence and value is given to resident views – but then again, this criticism applies across all council activities and processes.
July 17, 2012 at 10:33 PM
D. Evans – How much time and money do you have to implement your thoughts. How do you define “candidates worth supporting”. You will be searching for a needle in haystack to find someone who will do everything you want them to do. How do you define worthy future councillors?