PS – MORE SPIN!!!! – MAGEE ON 3AW YESTERDAY
PPS: 4 houses left in Elliott Avenue, Carnegie. Thank you council!
PLUS 7 STOREY APPLICATION FOR 317-319 NEERIM ROAD – BELOW!
It is one thing for a council to disseminate its rose coloured glasses view of its performance. Spin comes with the political territory. It is another thing entirely for a council to use public funds to promulgate falsehoods with the intention of misleading and deceiving residents.
The latest outrage comes with council’s announcement on its website that it will print and distribute a letter/flyer to every single resident in the municipality. (UPLOADED HERE) The claim is that this will cost 11 cents per letter. Be that as it may, please remember that all monies collected by a council are meant to be spent for the benefit of the community and NOT to engage in damage control, or to evade responsibility for the woeful planning performances that we have witnessed in the past few years. Council can spend thousands of dollars blaming everyone else except itself, but it can’t spend this same amount of money in ‘consulting’ the community when it really matters – ie the introduction of the residential zones.
What is absolutely inexcusable is the fact that in its epistle council has committed the sin of omission – or to all intents and purposes – it has lied. Whoever wrote the letter should be hauled over the coals, and whoever authorised it, should be dismissed. In our view, the buck stops at Newton’s desk. Such behaviour and deviousness is literally beyond the pale. And this cannot be another of council’s famous ‘clerical errors’. It is without doubt deliberate, premeditated, and disgusting!
We are referring of course to the ‘conveniently’ edited table presented below – 
Any resident reading this could be forgiven for thinking that Glen Eira’s total number of new apartments equals 1054. The sentence speaks of ‘apartment growth’ – full stop. What this table deliberately avoids mentioning is that the figures relate to the NUMBER OF APARTMENTS ERECTED IN BUILDINGS OF 4 OR MORE STOREYS. Nor is the table itself complete. Glen Eira is ranked THIRD in this list – which has again been conveniently cropped so that the full story is not told. Never mind the fact that many of those municipalities with greater dwelling numbers also happen to have commercial zones 2 and 3 times the size of Glen Eira’s and that is where most 4 storeys dwellings have gone. (ie Stonnington has over 6% of its area zoned as commercial. Glen Eira has 2.2%)
Yet what makes matters even worse, and which points to the fact that either we are dealing with total incompetents with no corporate memory, or that this is another example of council’s manipulation of the facts and the truth. Council minutes of June 30th, 2015 (a short 3 and a bit months ago) featured an officer’s report on the State Government’s ‘Better Apartments Discussion Paper’ – where in fact this bar chart was first published. On page 110 of these minutes we find the following –
How convenient that residents:
- Aren’t informed that the figures relate to dwellings in 4 or more storey buildings
- How convenient that this vital information has been cropped and deleted, and
- How convenient that now residents will be sold the myths that present council in the most positive light – ie. blame everyone else but not us!
- How appalling that Glen Eira City Council can sink to this level of deception and just to rub salt into the wounds – use public monies for their own devious and unethical purposes! Surely it is time that the Code of Conduct for officers was published – as (needless to say) countless other councils see fit to do!
- The biggest question is whether any councillor will insist that this farce be stopped in its tracks and a public apology listed in all media outlets. That should sort out the sheep from the goats!
We doubt that many residents bother to read council minutes. Thus they will be assailed with ‘information’ that is skewed, inaccurate, and intended, we believe, to deceive and mislead. Finally, when residents cannot trust the information that is disseminated by its council, then we are really in trouble.
Glen Eira Debates 
October 15, 2015 at 8:04 AM
Yet another excellent example of how Glen Eira Council does not actively strive for open, transparent and accountable governance via encouraging community participation and input into Council’s decision making processes.
The zones were implemented without any community consultation in August 2013. The information leading up to and after the Councils rushed implementation has been scant and skewed.
Now, just over two years after zone implementation, as resident outrage grows and evidence against Council’s zone implementation mounts, Council is organising a 2 page mailout that once again includes scant, skewed information and a list of supposed achievements and actions that has been around (and regularly touted) since the 2002 implementation of the Housing Diversity/Minimal Change Policy.
How Council (Administration and Councillors) can possibly consider this utterly inadequate mailout an appropriate means of address a major issue is beyond me.
When are they going to actually give the residents the opportunity to discuss the flaws and needed improvements of Glen Eira zones in a open public forum..
October 15, 2015 at 8:17 AM
Example of spin. In the 11 cent flyer it states:
We are advocating for all development costs to be paid for by developments and not fall on existing ratepayers.
They should be specifying rather than advocating. Big difference. Probably a few million dollars.
October 15, 2015 at 10:40 AM
So why then did they remove the development contribution levy (paid by developments to offset the increased drainage costs arising from the development that are incurred by Council) rather than advocating for the levy to be increased?
October 15, 2015 at 4:35 PM
They removed that levy because they are fools.
October 15, 2015 at 11:45 PM
No they weren’t fools, without undertaking any analysis of the costs being imposed residents vs. those imposed on developers, a decision was made to remove the levy.
I’ll let you decide who won or lost as result of this decision. I just say that gut feeling tells me that ratepayers lost.
October 15, 2015 at 8:32 AM
The footer says
“This circular cost 11 cents per resident to print and distribute.
It was paid for by income from fines on builders and developers, not from Council rates.”
which could equally say
“This circular cost 11 cents per resident to print and distribute. It was paid for by could income”
Either way they the bureaucrats have blown our money on self serving propaganda that is as disingenuous and treats residents as fools, this contempt and lack of respect and has become a hallmark of Newton’s maladministration.
October 15, 2015 at 9:45 AM
I dare say that this is not the first time something like this has happened and it is good that people are made aware of such practices. Honesty in government is an imperative however dwindling this trait might be. In local government it is more essential because councils impact far more on people than other levels of government. What has happened here might be okay in Russia, China and elsewhere but not in a place that likes to think of itself as above board in every respect. Very well done moderators for keeping the bastards honest.
October 15, 2015 at 10:54 AM
Magoo the Mongoose Mayor has dug a hole for himself. Residents are waiting for him next year.
October 15, 2015 at 4:43 PM
He would think he is doing a good job. He would be led to believe that there is always a fringe group of residents that oppose everything. A handful of people on a blog means nothing. He probably expects to be mayor next year.
October 15, 2015 at 9:55 PM
Tis indeed regrettable that Magee’s mayoralty has failed to live up to promises but it is even more regrettable even this performance far exceeds the immediate past leadership attempts of Pilling and Hyams.
October 15, 2015 at 1:29 PM
Officers and councillors should have residents respect since they are there to serve the public. The more I learn about what is going on that respect has gone completely.
October 15, 2015 at 10:20 PM
As a resident who has shown and continues to show respect, in the interests of maintaining dialogue, I am increasingly pissed off that this respect is not reciprocated. Council (Administration and Councillors) continue to respond to genuine requests for information or assistance with rudeness and arrogance.
Lipshutz’s performance at tonight’s planning conference, on an application for 68 Kangaroo Road that grossly breaches the planning scheme, was a typical example. Even though residents were respectful and presented sound arguments, substantiated by the planning scheme, Lipshutz’s need to muscle flex and show superiority by denigration clearly chucked out the window any and every attempt by residents to engage in meaning dialogue with either the applicant’s representatives or Council. Such engagement being the primary purpose of a planning conference.
October 16, 2015 at 9:47 AM
Lipshutz was disgraceful last night. Threatened to close down the meeting. Told everyone that if the planner stops writing that they’re not interested because the point has already been made. Rubbish. If three or four people want to say something about traffic and parking then they should be listened to. Each person has a different perspective, could live in a street around the corner and have flow on effects. At the very least some respect should be given to resident views. It wasn’t and never is. All of these meetings and I’ve been to four are a total joke.
I was also astonished to learn that councillors don’t even get to see resident objections. All they get is the officers summary of objections in the final report where the only word that is put in is – traffic. But this gives council the opportunity to say that they’ve consulted. I’m starting to believe that everything this council does is underhanded and the biggest con on residents. I am so pissed off that councillors accept this and don’t do a single thing about it.
October 16, 2015 at 9:52 AM
A suggestion to consider – if putting in an objection to a planning application, then consider emailing all councillors with your objection. This of course is no guarantee that they will even read it. However, it is certainly better than all information going to the ‘gate-keepers’ and then being selectively drip-fed out to councillors. Another suggestion, following the officer’s report, is to ask public questions and demand that statements are backed up with real evidence. In our view, sub-standard officer reports, are simply not acceptable.
October 15, 2015 at 2:55 PM
My favourite in the list of achievements is “We fine builders if they breach safety requirements on building sites”.
I am really struggling to see why Council classification of the construction phase as “temporary” means that issues of pedestrian safety near the construction site can be ignored.
October 15, 2015 at 11:50 PM
Yeah, those same safety officers are incapable of inspecting the site and the street at the same time!!!
October 15, 2015 at 3:05 PM
The bureaucrats loath the residents and the higher up the chain you go the deeper the loathing get, the councillors soon learn to follow this path, Lipshutz is the (MODERATORS: rest of comment deleted)
October 15, 2015 at 3:23 PM
Off topic but interesting –
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/inner-south/high-density-development-in-melbournes-residential-streets-to-continue-says-expert/story-fngnvli9-1227570173281
October 15, 2015 at 6:00 PM
Newton and the boys are scared stiff that any “review” will show up the botched up planning they didn’t do. Jimbo is struggling desperately. Time all the rats left the sinking ship.
October 15, 2015 at 6:31 PM
The first dubious claim appears at the very start of the letter when it claims Glen Eira City Council is writing to residents. There hasn’t been a resolution to that effect, and staff don’t have delegated authority to publish error-laden propaganda. Somebody hasn’t done due diligence, mostly likely our sleepy councillors, in whose name the misinformation appears.
Any information or claim made by GECC should be treated with suspicion since it is notorious for publishing stuff irrespective of the facts. In this case it quotes DELWP, but DELWP freely admits it only publishes the crap it gets from councils, and does so without any auditing or checking of the trustworthiness of what councils submit.
Nobody knows what Melbourne’s population will be like in 35 years. That is dependent on the policies of future federal governments concerning immigration levels. The projections, for that is what they are, are based on naive models that extrapolate recent growth.
Interesting that our Council, or whoever drafted the letter, didn’t want to mention that Council is responsible for its planning scheme, and that Council is guilty of not maintaining it and of not reviewing it regularly and of failing to apply it. Hence all multi-unit developments fail to comply with one or more amenity standards without an alternative design solution being proposed.
It didn’t mention that Cr Hyams and the dominant clique of councillors he represented in discussions with the Department enthusiastically supported the then Liberal government’s demand that land be zoned RGZ without going through the normal Amendment process. It is indeed karma that that government lost the next election.
Seriously, it is impossible for the public to force a council to be transparent and accountable. Even asking public questions just results in a big FU as a response. On so many fronts our council epitomises what is wrong with local government.
October 15, 2015 at 8:25 PM
Magee neatly avoided in depth discussion of the planning scheme as well. A “minor” memory lapse on that front.
October 15, 2015 at 10:35 PM
Excellent comment Reprobate. As always your arguments are accurate, succinct and irefutable – I endorse your comments and tips me hat to you.
October 15, 2015 at 8:29 PM
Here’s a suggestion everyone. Don’t throw the council letter into the garbage where it belongs. Keep it and send back to council demanding your 11 cents back plus distribution costs. Even better would be to pile them all up into a big file and dump it with all the other rubbish at the council doorstep.
October 15, 2015 at 9:33 PM
Jimbo didn’t like the Leader article cos in the minutes they’ve got him saying he was misrepresented. Not the heartless soul he sounded like but a caring, concerned councillor underneath the get used to it stuff. I’ve copied it – Cr Magee: Referred to an article on the front page of today’s Leader
Newspaper and pointed out that the article did not fairly represent the
remarks he provided.
October 15, 2015 at 9:34 PM
Please note that Magee took issue with the paper because he felt that it portrayed him as “insensitive” and that certainly was not his intention.
October 15, 2015 at 10:50 PM
Magee was heard telling students at Kilvington college that government is to be blamed for imposing residential zones and he hated the zones. Power hungry man.
October 17, 2015 at 9:43 PM
Mr Magoo has done it again
October 15, 2015 at 10:45 PM
Off topic but residents should be aware that another application has gone in for Neerim Road Carnegie for 7 storeys. The planning register gives no details as to the proposed number of dwellings, but there is car parking waiver of course.
October 16, 2015 at 8:53 AM
What’s with sound of music ness and no feelings greens. Greens lost their credibility destroying GE’s greener for concrete jungle. Go greens go to hell.
October 16, 2015 at 12:18 PM
We are in trouble and have been for a long time. I want all of these rotters out on their ear and new councillors who are there for people trying to make things better.
October 16, 2015 at 11:20 PM
Every single councillor is pro development with the possible exception of Lobo. Even he has swallowed the Newton bullshit too many times. Planning is out of control in Glen Eira and no one gives a stuff.