Glen Eira Debates

Glen Eira Debates is going from strength to strength. April has seen us break new ground in setting an all time monthly record of 14,066 hits – that’s over 2000 more than our previous record in March. The past two weeks have also witnessed consecutive highs with just on 3,700 hits per week.

We thank our readers for their contributions thus far, and in particular thank Glen Eira Council for providing us with all the necessary fodder for our posts. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the disenchantment with this council is mounting – our stats are evidence of this. What is also clear is that residents appreciate the opportunity to voice their opinions, discuss issues and share information. Something we believe is totally alien to this council.

We reaffirm our commitment to present all views; to inform the community as to what is really going on, to analyse issues, provide evidence, and continue to publish in the public interest. Your support thus far has been terrific and we ask that you continue publicising our existence. The community’s voice can, and ultimately will, make a difference to the way this council functions!

The month of March has seen Glen Eira Debates break all records. We’ve had our highest monthly total of hits (12,018 as at 10pm) as well as our highest weekly total – 3,395.

Please continue spreading the word. Glen Eira Debates is the community forum where we can express views, debate issues and share information. Let us know what you think and any suggestions are always welcome. Our target now is to double our hits by the end of the year and really give the council website a run for its money!

The Victorian Electoral Commission is undertaking a review of representation in Glen Eira. Residents are being invited to submit their views on such issues as:

• How many councillors should there be?
• Should wards be abolished?
• Should councillors be responsible for their individual wards?

We believe it is important that these issues are fully debated. Currently there are 3 wards and 9 councillors. Would it be better if we had 9 wards, so that each councillor is accountable for a single ward? Would it be better if wards were entirely eliminated so that each councillor is accountable to the entire municipality? Do we in fact even need 9 councillors?

The VEC is holding a number of Information Sessions prior to the release of the discussion papers.  Further information and guidelines are available from:

http://vec.vic.gov.au/Reviews/gleneirarr.html

http://vec.vic.gov.au/resources/gleneiraGuideForSubmissions2011.PDF

We hope you’ll like the new ‘leaner and cleaner’ interface of Glen Eira Debates.

All posts have been classified under 10 distinct categories which are found on the right hand side of the page. By simply clicking on one of these categories, all relevant posts may be retrieved.

Our banner will periodically feature current issues and news such as the full documentation to the C60 Planning Report. Again, all that is required is a mouse click to retrieve the information.

As always, we look forward to your responses and ideas.

We wish all our readers a fantastic and safe festive season and a healthy 2011. To our Christian friends a very Merry Xmas; to our Jewish friends a happy recently passed Chanukah, and to our Muslim friends a belated Happy New Year.

Glen Eira Debates will be taking a short break – unless something of major significance occurs. We will use this time to redevelop and reorganise our website and to start the New Year bigger and better. Thank you to all who have taken the time and trouble to comment on our posts, and also a big thank you to all those who have read our musings. We hope you’ve found them informative and helpful. As always, we welcome any suggestions for improvements and topics that we have not as yet covered.

A reminder about the time extension for VEAC submissions til mid January. You may also email (gedebates@gmail.com) us your submissions and we’ll put them up in the public interest. Public open space is a huge issue for Glen Eira and it requires extensive coverage.

Finally, a big thank you to Glen Eira Councillors for providing us with so much fodder this year. Without you, this blogsite could not exist! -:)

In many ways 2010 has been a tumultuous year for Glen Eira. We review the standouts and offer our reflections.

• The reappointment of Newton for a two year period highlighted the obvious divisions within council and, we suspect, led to the third Municipal Inspector’s investigation of the past 12 years. It has also led to the resignation of Whiteside. This is obviously not a ‘positive’. As far as we know, no other council in the state has undergone three interrogations in such a short space of time. And once again, no serious ‘breaches’ were uncovered. As has been pointed out numerous times, and by several commentators, the constant in all of these investigations has been Newton himself. Councillors’ decision to therefore reappoint him for a further two years has not resolved anything. As far as we can tell the mistrust between councillors and administration, and within the councillor group itself, still remains. If Glen Eira is to have a really ‘fresh start’ then this will only be achieved with a new CEO, and a new set of directors. We note again that Glen Eira is the only council in the area to have 5 individuals sitting on over $200,000pa! The ‘fat cat’ syndrome has been maintained.
• The C60, and planning issues in general, were dominant throughout the year. Glen Eira abdicated its responsibilities to its residents by conferring upon the MRC the power to create its own Master Plan. This should have been the role of council – not the MRC. The result is utter control to the MRC and the winky popping of several councillors and the sidelining of two others on the pretext of ‘conflict of interest’. When we consider that this ‘development’ involves over 100 hectares of land, and has the potential value of billions and billions, Council’s failure to adequately plan and advocate for the community is inexcusable.
• In general planning terms, local papers contained story after story of residents protesting about ‘inappropriate development’. Sadly, council has not done anything to ensure that residents are adequately protected. Unlike every other council in the state Glen Eira, following its appalling Planning Scheme Review, has again disowned structure plans, levies on development, height controls, and much more. In contrast to neighbouring municipalities there has been no concerted effort to oppose ten storey developments. Instead the consistent argument put forward by council has largely been ‘blame VCAT’, ‘blame the state Government’, blame anyone and everyone else, except their own planning scheme shortcomings. We have asked the same question over and over again: if other councils can do something about Melbourne 2030, if they can have mandatory height controls, if they can have structure plans, transport plans, public realm policies – then why is Glen Eira always the odd man out? Our conclusion has to be that Glen Eira is a pro-development council, rather than a pro community council.
• Community consultation and communication is still far from adequate, although there have been several signs of marginal improvement such as the ‘Have Your Say’ online options. Yet, even here the ‘consultation’ is skewed via the questions asked and the simple fact that residents still experience a top down approach in all issues. Instead of asking the community their thoughts about Packer Park, Marlborough Reserve, residents are presented with ‘concept plans’ that many feel have already been set in concrete – without prior discussion and debate. Another significant failure throughout this past year has been councillors’ refusal to open up its advisory committees to community representatives – or to publish agendas and insist that meetings be open to the public. Secrecy remains the dominant ethos of this council. 

So what can we look forward to in the coming year? We believe that the dynamics of this council will change with the departure of Tang and the selection of a new councillor. We also believe that Newton is slowly having his wings clipped and that more officer reports will have to be more thorough, more detailed before they are rubber stamped by council.  But on a far more optimistic note, it has become increasingly obvious that the community is finally saying ‘enough is enough’. Local groups that are organised, efficient, and vocal are springing up everywhere. This year has seen the evolution of the Save Local Childcare Committee, various SOS groups, the ‘No 10 Storey development for Elsternwick’, and countless others. Most importantly, these groups are talking to each other and through unified action there is the real possibility of concrete solutions. 

Glen Eira Debates has been another ‘success story’. Our stats are continuing to go through the roof – which means that not only are we serving a need, but we have the potential to become the conduit for many of these groups. From this aspect, the future does look bright – residents’ voices can and will be heard.

As of 11.18pm Glen Eira Debates has smashed its previous record for single day hits. Our tally til this time is 704 hits. Further, 61 search engine searches were used to locate us.

Keep spreading the word. We want this blog to become the best possible forum for community news, views and discussion.

PS: Hits now stand at 731 midnight!

Margaret Esakoff was voted in as Mayor tonight with an 8 to 1 vote. Lobo also stood for election.

Jamie Hyams was voted in as Deputy Mayor with a vote of 8 to 1. Lobo again stood for election.

Any resemblance to you know who is deliberate!

From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Mr Prosser: “You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know?”

Arthur: “Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday.”

Mr Prosser: “But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”

Arthur: “Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything?”

Mr. Prosser: “But the plans were on display…”

Arthur: “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

Mr Prosser: “That’s the display department.”

Arthur: “With a flashlight.”

Mr Prosser: “Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”

Arthur: “So had the stairs.”

Mr Prosser: “But look, you found the notice didn’t you?”

Arthur: “[Y]es I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.”

Records keep being broken almost every day on Glen Eira Debates. A summary of this month is provided below. 

• 767 search terms were entered into search engines such as Google to find us. We assume that the vast majority of these searches are from first time readers, since many ‘old timers’ would either have bookmarked us, or the URL is already embedded in their browser. This means that we’re attracting a constant new flood of readers.
• Subscriptions have tripled in the past month
• In the past two weeks our daily average has soared to 413 hits per day and our record is 679 hits on November 24^th.
• Average no. of comments for our entire duration online is now over 5 comments per post. If we take the past two months, then the average is 8 comments per post. This of course does not include the hundreds and hundreds of people who read but don’t comment.

We’re really pleased with these figures. They are a clear indication that:

• Our ‘fame’ is rapidly spreading
• People like what we offer – otherwise they wouldn’t be back
• People are interested in ‘fact’ not council ‘fictions’
• People want current council news that is devoid of ‘spin’.
• 11,000 plus hits per month is NOT the result of a mere handful of disgruntled residents. It represents a growing groundswell within a community which is increasingly frustrated with what is happening. 

We promise our readers to keep plugging away. To publish all opinions, to research events as best we can, and if the information is simply not forthcoming, or is not freely available, then we will continue to draw our own conclusions. Sadly, there would not be the need for Glen Eira Debates if transparency and accountability and genuine community consultation were the realities underpinning the existence of Glen Eira Council.