Carrying out Council resolutions in a timely fashion is obviously not high on Glen Eira Council’s priority list. Dissembling, distortions, and straight out fibbing characterise much of what has been going on – especially in regard to public questions and their deliberately deceptive answers! The latest outrage involves the establishment of an Alcohol Free Zone in Centre Road, Bentleigh.
The following public question was asked on Monday night –
“Why has Bentleigh’s shopping strip not received the same attention as Caulfield Race Days in establishing an Alcohol Free Zone and when is Council due to consider such controls around Bentleigh’s Centre Road?”
The Mayor read Council’s response. He said:
“It would be unfortunate for the reputation of the Bentleigh Shopping Centre if people were to infer that the shopping centre suffers the same extent of problems with alcohol affected persons that the area around the Caulfield Racecourse suffers on the twenty or so race days per year that are held there. There is no comparison between the two sites. Council’s Local Law Advisory Committee is looking at the matter following it being raised by the former President of the Bentleigh Traders Association.”
We’ve done a bit of checking and find that at the Council Meeting of 12th October 2010, the following resolution was passed –
“Crs Hyams/Magee
‘As moved, except that in relation to Item M of the Minutes of the Local Laws Advisory Committee meeting that the Local Laws Advisory Committee drafts an amendment to the Local Law to provide for the provision of an alcohol free zone in the Centre Road Bentleigh shopping strip. The amendment is to prohibit the drinking of alcoholic beverages in the shopping centre apart from within areas owned or controlled by licensed premises and is to be enforceable by the Police
The AMENDMENT was put and CARRIED and on becoming the SUBSTANTIVE MOTION was again put and CARRIED.”
This amendment was the result of a Local Laws Advisory Committee Meeting of the 13th September 2010 which included the following: “Alcohol Free Zones: Discussed issue associated with declaring and enforcing such zones. Determined police should be requested to utilise their move-on powers”.
Glen Eira Debates at the time reported on the ‘debate’ for the amendment. We then wrote: “Hyams moved an amendment to the Local Law Review committee’s recommendations that Centre Rd be considered for potential naming as an ‘Alcohol Free Zone’. This was opposed by Lipshutz with the argument that we don’t need it; that the police don’t want more work, they will do nothing to enforce it and hence the job will fall on the already overworked council officers. The amendment was eventually passed with the acknowledgement that council isn’t committing itself to anything but that by putting it on the agenda for future discussions all options are left open. (October 13th, 2010)
COMMENT:
- What’s the point of passing resolutions if they are never carried out? There is no equivocation in this resolution. The ‘order’ was to prepare an Amendment. This has never come to Council!
- How can Hyams now read and thereby endorse this response to Monday night’s public question when he in fact moved the Amendment 2 years ago?
- Why has the Local Laws committee been so derelict in both the frequency of meetings, and more importantly, providing minutes for (all) of those meetings?
- Why should discussion on a public safety issue be allowed to drag on for over 2 years?
- It couldn’t simply be could it, that this administration is opposed to introducing an Alcohol Ban and therefore certain councillors once again fall meekly into line?
Glen Eira Debates 
September 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM
God I wanna work for this council. They’re a protected species all right. No cctv cameras, no alcohol zones and both of these topics have been talked about for years but nothing is ever done.
Hyams the hypocrite will sign anything if it’s put under his nose and doesn’t matter what he said previously. Same as with the community plan not being put onto a new council.
Anyway, the whole argument is full of holes. Being drunk in a public place is an offence whereever it is and the cops are bound to act. Magee side stepping here also doesn’t say much for his principles. No statistics of course to back up anything that’s in the answer to the question.
September 27, 2012 at 5:08 PM
The more I read this blog the more I wonder what this Council does. Here’s yet another example of doing nothing. Pretty bloody simple, and not very expensive, to declare an alcohol free zone; in two years absolutely nothing. Nothing except provide an answer to a public question that basically says until the Bentleigh Shopping Centre’s issues with alcohol equal to that of the Caulfield Racecourse on Race Days we will keep doing nothing.
Hardly a day goes by without alcohol consumption being mentioned as a major, and growing, social issue in the media. Still they do nothing. Obviously, the only two things this Council does is ignore the media (except when it can be used to slur a Councillor) and refuse to look up the words like “proactive”, “responsive” and “responsible” in the dictionary.
September 27, 2012 at 7:37 PM
Thank you to the moderators for the time and effort you take in exposing the deceit which is now so ingrained and endemic in this Council that responses to public questions can now be given with a perfectly straight face.
I’ve searched the blog and found some posts from this time that showed how Kingston Council introduced such zones without too much fuss. It didn’t take them 2 years to sit around, pass resolutiions and then conveniently forget all about them.
September 27, 2012 at 9:52 PM
I like the questions because they pinpoint everything that’s lousy here. Burke gets peeved when Penhalluriack says he skirts around answering questions. I’d call it a hell of a lot worse than skirting around. Accountable government is an oxymoron when applied to Glen Eira and most of the sitting councillors.
September 27, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Hyams for sure doesn’t set foot anywhere near the railway station or the rotunda on a Friday or Saturday night when the yahoos are out in force and reeking of alcohol. A bunch of 5 or 6 drunken or drugged louts are intimidating not only for the elderly but for anyone.
September 27, 2012 at 10:37 PM
My memory isn’t as good as it once was, so here’s a tentative list I’ve made of all the things that have been promised but have not happened years later.
1. $30,000 grant for an open space strategy. Silence from council on this.
2. Rotunda “consultation” on what to do with the one in Centre Rd. More silence.
3. Booran Reservoir on the books since 2005 and we’ve got to wait another 4 years for anything to happen except for the pathetic design that cost a fortune.
4. Gesac car parking – they’re still consulting.
5. Using school grounds for sports – still consulting I guess
6. MRC community days – and pigs might fly
7. veggie community gardens – still talked about 7 years down the track
8. reviewing housing – not a word
9. cctv cameras in centre road – still nothing years later
10 – Ripon lea – still cooking in the background and buried in the archives
There’s much much more but I can’t remember.
With 1000 super duper staff and 6 genuises running the place this is a complete shambles of a council.