Thursday, January 22, 2009

Strategic Briefing Sessions

On Tuesday, all councillors and several council officers had a "Strategic Briefing Session" (SBS), which ran from 5pm to 12am - that's seven hours of discussions and presentations on 27 agenda items. These SBSs are closed sessions where briefings are provided on a variety of issues, and healthy debate between councillors is encouraged. These sessions are for discussion only, and official policy decisions can only be made at the monthly ordinary (public) council meetings, which I encourage all residents to attend at least once.

I found our session to be very informative (thank you to the council officers for their excellent presentations) and the discussions highly valuable. Topics we discussed ranged from planning issues to financial performance and almost everything in-between, including details of the impending official launch of council's revamped website and a great new exhibition at the Manningham Art Gallery - see council's website for more details!

Together with recent briefings on Doncaster Hill and a tour of relevant facilities, I believe we are rapidly getting "up-to-speed" on a variety of important issues.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Town Planning


Recently, I've been getting numerous calls from residents concerned about proposed building developments. Unlike some other councils, Manningham had the foresight to intorduce (about 2 years ago), explicit planning overlays for all areas of Manningham, which makes it easier to enforce sensible controls on proposed developments outside designated high activity centres. Unfortunately, there will always still be developments which just don't seem to fit into the neighbourhood. Rescode explicitly refers to "existing neighbourhood character" as one of the parameters that need to be satisfied by a planning application. There may also be instances where overshadowing of north-facing windows/living areas is excessive. When this happens, residents can lodge objections, which are considered by council officers when planning applications are assessed. Objections should be lodged within 14 days of the development notice being errected. Petitions are less effective than individual objections. An excellent overview of the planning/objection process is provided by the national group "Save our Suburbs" (www.sos.org.au). Here is the link to the guide, which is a few years old, so do your own research as well.

What can councillors do? Well, individually, councillors have little power, but where there is enough concern from residents, a planning application can be referred to a full council meeting for a decision. Regardless of the outcome at council, an application can still be appealed at VCAT, so it can be a long process. My advice is:
1. do your own research into Rescode and SOS
2. speak with all councillors in your Ward
3. speak with the council planning officer responsible for reviewing the planning application, and ensure you familiarise yourself with the details of the plans
4. work with your neighbours
5. seek discussions with the developer
6. lodge any objections factually and promptly

At the end of the day, Manningham needs continuous development to meet the demands of a growing population. The vast majority of developments are worthy additions to our evolving cityscape. Where a development appears to be unsuitable, there are clear processes which seek to ensure a win-win outcome for all. Take the time to do your research and we can all work together for a better Manningham!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Congratulations Mr. President!

Although I am politically neutral, I can't help but feel excited and happy that the United States have elected Barack Obama as their 44th President. Let's hope and pray that he has the wisdom and gets the support needed to turn around the economic and foreign policy challenges that lie ahead.



One video clip that I found amusing plays on Barack's ethnic heritage, in particular the notion that African-Americans are particularly "groovy" - some US musicians have "pimped" his new ride, Air Force One. Check out the reactions of the "redneck Texans" !


By the way, did you know, President Obama is only 8 years older than me? bwahaha!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Community Organisation Umbrella Group


Individuals and pockets of residents can be very passionate about their topical issues. In the course of campaigning for what they believe and seeking productive outcomes, these individuals learn valuable lessons. Lessons in how to lobby effectively, whom to approach for fastest results, good communication strategies etc.. Unfortunately, once the issue(s) is addressed, these noble citizens often revert to their daily lives, taking all that useful experience with them. The next group or individual that comes along with an important issue, has to go through the whole process again.

Recognising the huge amount of experience, wisdom and passion that is spread across our community, I would like to help harness this potential for the collective good!

I've today asked council to help me gather details of all known resident action groups, and I will seek to solicit input from others, so that we can together form an "umbrella organisation" to bring these diverse groups of residents together. The goals of this umbrella group would include:
1. sharing knowledge, tips etc... useful to all lobby groups
2. provide a focal point for potentially supporting one another in different campaigns (e.g. some groups are very small and could benefit from advice or practical assistance such as volunteer petitioners, letter drops etc..)
3. community networking - one group might find another group, previously unknown to them, exists with very similar goals. Why not collaborate?

I recognise that this will be quite a challenge, given the diversity of issues, personalities etc... However I firmly believe that there is great skill, wisdom and support within the community that can be harnessed to make things happen more efficiently and effectively through community cooperation. This cannot be done by one individual, so your help is needed!

Please contact me through any of the channels below if you would like to help or have suggestions:
Councillor Ivan Reid
e-mail: ivan.reid AT manningham.vic.gov.au (note replace 'AT' with '@' This is to foil spammers)
phone: 0408 one four seven 628
fax: 9840 two zero four seven

My initial goal is to facilitate and help kickoff a meeting of like-minded Manningham residents to discuss and agree terms of reference for this umbrella group.

Photo credit: thanks to justfor_donATyahoo.com.hk!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

New year, parking and savings

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a peaceful and joyous start to the new year. My family and I welcomed in the new year at a friend's house and we're all filled with optimism for a great year ahead (well, we have to start somewhere to defeat all the gloom and doom being reported in the news!).

It's early days yet, but as councillors, we've already started sinking our teeth into complex and unusual matters, with a regular council meeting and two special (closed) meetings since our inauguration already...


PARKING
In the week before Christmas, I responded to frustrated traders opposite Shoppingtown, whose business and very livelihood was being adversely affected by a lack of parking spots for their own legitimate customers. I understand that some people are parking outside Autobarn, Officeworks and Clarke Rubber without the intention of shopping there, but to avoid parking at Shoppingtown instead. This practice prevents legitimate shoppers from accessing these shops. I also received calls from residents in residential streets adjoining Shoppingtown on the same issue of overflow parking.

Working with the traders, I escalated the issue to our CEO Lydia Wilson and Director of Planning, Paul Molan, who were able to improve the situation somewhat, with new signs enforcing 1 hour parking limits and increased enforcement patrols. However these measures are only a partial solution and clearly this will be an ongoing challenge that the community, Westfield, traders and council will have to explore in earnest.

NOT IN AUSTRALIA I'M AFRAID!
On a lighter note, I had an amusing call from a resident recently. It started with congratulations at my election to Councillor, but then just hung there ... I could tell there was more to the call, and when asked what was on his mind, the caller suddenly wailed, "I got a parking ticket today! Can you do anything about it?" After clarifying the circumstances were legitimate, I had to break the news that there are strict laws against inappropriate influence by councillors that might benefit an individual or organisation more than the wider community. In other words, whilst such "favours" might be suspected in other countries, generally this doesn't happen here, and certainly not on my watch! Sigh. "If only" eh?


SAVINGS
As part of my election platform, I undertook to try and get more tangible benefits for residents out of future budgets. As a group, this term's councillors are definitely a financially responsible bunch. We've already "saved" money by having a much more modest Inauguration reception this year, and our new Mayor has been very sensible and modest in his choice of car. I've suggested that we start tracking such "relative savings" and ensure that the money that would previously have been budgeted for these items, be visibly re-allocated to tangible benefits for the community e.g. if we spent $5000 less this year than budgeted for civic receptions, there should be $5000 directly attributable to something else of tangible benefit to the community, e.g. increased budget for community grants. By tracking and linking savings in this way, we will all become more aware of unnecessary excesses and most importantly, demonstrate improved outcomes to the community in a tangible way.
I've already discussed this with our Mayor, who is very receptive to the suggestion, so watch this space.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

Wishing all the residents of Manningham and beyond, a Happy and successful New Year 2009!
Enjoy this video of the fireworks from Hong Kong, my favorite from this year's crop. For science-fiction fans like myself, this clip has an "insider" reference to the TV series Stargate Atlantis (smile)