Throughout the first stage of ‘consultation’ on council’s structure planning residents made it absolutely clear that vision statements which included terminology such as ‘vibrant’ and ‘village feel’ were way off the mark and totally inappropriate for neighbourhoods that had already been ruined by over development. Thus it is important to compare the May version of council’s plans with the current July version and to see exactly how much has changed and to what extent council has listened to its residents.
Several things need noting:
- Housing/population (ie development) barely gets a look in. Where it was mentioned in the May version, it has now been removed and substituted with that wonderful innocuous phrase of ‘urban character’ that is capable of hiding a multitude of sins!
- ‘vibrant’ still exists but is now concentrated on ‘cafe life’. Sadly ‘village feel’ remains
- There’s plenty of emphases on ‘green’ and ‘safe’
Basically, spin remains spin – it is just fancied up a little more and designed to be less threatening. How on earth these statements are meant to enforce community views is totally beyond us – especially when the size of all activity centres have probably doubled paving the way for more and more development! That of course is never clearly stated anywhere in any document – nor explained.
Compare and contrast –
Glen Eira Debates 
July 28, 2017 at 11:09 AM
I am feeling so spun out by all this spin that I have got vertigo!
July 28, 2017 at 11:56 AM
It’s worked! how many times alone did Cr. Magee use the word vibrant in his over long summation on everything possible at the last council meeting.
I guess part of this process is the town hall mob giving our lackluster councilors some jargon words to help sell their planning hoax.
And Vibrant and yes that silly, silly “village” tag.
Anything will do to help hide the increasingly unsustainable path these corporate styled bureaucrats are selling us out on.
The better truth would be residents live in a corporation run by slavish bureaucrats tied to an unsustainable growth model, in a climate dominated by corruption, developers and mostly illegal foreign capital pilfered from China by criminal bureaucrats looking for a deregulated safe haven to stash their cash. No questions asked no answers given.
This sounds and smells like Glen Eira / Melbourne 2017 to me.
But this suits most landowner residents because land prices are inflated and they think they will ultimately benefit from criminal driven inflation.
“Silence is consent” in this case and the squeaky wheel gets oiled with bullshit.
Meanwhile the latest report today shows a large jump in car registrations and the RACV calling for more and better roads. There’s a big hint of what’s coming to your neighbourhoods soon.
July 28, 2017 at 12:58 PM
They are so concerned about village feel that they want 12 stories in Carnegie and 8 in Bentleigh and McKinnon is okay for 5 and 6 and Ormond okay for 8. Stop the bullshit and start speaking in plain English so everyone knows exactly what and why you are doing this.
July 28, 2017 at 1:20 PM
Jim: What do you know about sustainable densification?
Tony: Oh it’s an urban planning myth.
— Utopia, Season 3 Episode 2 “Smart Cities”
July 28, 2017 at 4:03 PM
I suggest that whoever wrote these things should immediately apply for a position with President Trump or Fox News. They are the masters of promulgating nonsense to serve their own political agendas. The author of this would fit right in.
July 28, 2017 at 10:05 PM
Yes these young social planning bureaucrats must serve their masters, if they want a future, hence a good reference.
Serving two master and coming down down on the residents side would see them out of work with no career prospects.
Guess who’s writing their references?
July 28, 2017 at 6:43 PM
GECC has now published a Planisphere report that provides some background information behind the bizarre plan. Not that Planisphere could be described as either independent or expert, but it does help fill in some missing gaps in what Council is thinking. It also makes clear that much of what is proposed is NOT based on community input but on the “vibe” Planisphere picked up from its discussions with Council. Like all good consultants who have had a long-term relationship with their Patron, they know what to say to ensure future gigs.
July 28, 2017 at 10:06 PM
I couldn’t have said it better, though I tried