August Yarra Council meeting report
By Socialist Party Councillor, Stephen Jolly
Residents,
Last night’s Yarra Council meeting celebrated the 150th anniversary of North Fitzroy as a suburb. The Mayor and some Councillors were dressed up accordingly and a Town Crier opened proceedings. However once the meeting started, proceedings were dominated by a more contemporary debate over the urgent need for childcare.
Council officers had half-heartedly proposed a new 90-place childcare facility for the Lourdes site at the Abbotsford Convent. This would be run on a not-for-profit basis by Melbourne Uni’s childcare unit.
An initial and parallel plan to close the Council-run Keele Street childcare centre in Collingwood and use the $1 million from the sale to help finance the Lourdes project was strongly opposed by the Socialist Party and many residents.
It now seems this plan is thankfully off the agenda. Officers are now saying that they “just recently” discovered that the Keele Street facility is actually making money, not losing money.
There are hundreds of local kids on the waiting lists for childcare and kindergartens in Yarra. Keeping Keele Street alive plus building a new childcare facility at the Lourdes site would help families greatly. Both measures are strongly supported by the Socialist Party and I suspect the vast majority of residents.
I was therefore surprised last night when the three Green Councillors proposed to “defer work on the Lourdes project until February 2011” until a report on parking and traffic was undertaken.
Their amendment also called for “options for accommodating (the childcare) elsewhere in the precinct”. They wanted the site “used for resolving access and safety concerns in the precinct” – in some peoples’ eyes this is code for a car park.
In the upcoming Federal and State elections, the Greens are promising all three and four-year olds access to 15 hours of government-funded kindergarten (Age, 2nd August).
This progressive policy is contradicted by the actions of the Yarra Greens. As we often see, when it comes to election promises the Greens’ policies can be progressive. But unfortunately when they have an opportunity to deliver, it is often a very different story.
Last night the Greens were trying to hide behind the genuine traffic and parking issues surrounding the Convent to delay and potentially cancel this project. I acknowledge that there are problems with traffic in the area. That is why I supported local residents in their campaign to get traffic management changes in Clarke Street that have diminished rat-running.
But while several parking and traffic issues remain and a parking study will occur immediately to look at them, we need to have a sense of proportion. The biggest contributor to traffic in this area is the Convent itself and this will be made worse if its plans for a 40% expansion are approved. The traffic impacts of a childcare centre are tiny compared to this.
The Greens were defeated 6-3 on this issue and the childcare centre will now be built. The Socialist Party will continue to campaign for a massive increase of direct capital funds into childcare to build more centres and increase the number of places. Only under a publicly owned and democratically run system can we plan the provision of children’s services that meets community needs.
Protecting our trees
Currently Yarra Council has a weak tree protection policy. Residents need a permit to prune trees on their land, but neighbours can lob off branches to the property line without a permit. This is not allowed in most other Councils.
When I asked a Question without Notice on this matter last night, I received the usual ‘Yes Minister’ response from officers, supported by nodding heads by some Councillors who see their role as defenders of the bureaucrats instead of being representatives of the people.
We need a policy that ensures that anyone who wants to prune an established tree (whether they own it or not) needs to get approval. Trees in the inner city need to be protected. I am hoping the ALP and Green Councillors join me in campaigning to change Yarra’s policy.
North Fitzroy toilet
A well-organised community campaign finally won last night when Council voted to shift the site for a new public toilet from outside residents’ homes in Michael Street to around the corner outside the Commonwealth Bank.
Gore Street
Many Yarra residents are demanding more trees in their streets and I have been working with those living in the most tree-sparse areas to get improvements. Successes have already happened in some places such as Smith Street and Charlotte Street in Collingwood.
However recently Council has come along and put a few trees in the one area residents don’t want them - in the middle of Gore Street south of Gertrude Street. This move has led to cars parking between trees in the middle of the road and is an act that ignores the advice of Council’s heritage advisor.
A petition signed by 80% of residents asking for the trees to be relocated was ignored by officers. It took residents turning up in numbers to the meeting for a compromise resolution to be passed that resurveys the residents on the matter before a new vote is taken on Council.
Parking fees on Yarra Boulevard
The recent budget not only hiked up rates and childcare fees but also parking meter fees. On Yarra Boulevard the daily rate was increased by 100% from $4 to $8 a day!
This will impact greatly on staff at Melbourne Girls College and the 2000 workers at GE Australia, many of whom are low paid call centre workers. Last night GE asked Council to increase the fees by $1 a year over three years to the eventual $8 a day amount and they offered to make up the lost revenue to Council from their own money. A decision was deferred for a month.
The Socialist Party’s position is that, against the backdrop of a right-wing budget that includes cuts, fees should not be raised by over the rate of inflation. This blatant attempt at revenue raising hits the low paid hardest.
Tudor Street, Richmond
The old racecourse site in Richmond is a unique mix of public and private housing. It includes a Council-owned site, 49 Tudor St, that used to be a Maternal Health Clinic but now lies idle.
Many residents, plus the Socialist Party, think the building should be refurbished and used as a community facility. However, I suspect Council would prefer to sell it off to developers for yet another tower of units.
Last night I voted against the first step in this privatisation process but lost 8-1 to the ALP, Greens and Independents. I will be working with Richmond residents in the next few weeks to develop a better plan for the site. If need be we will look at a campaign to get this venue turned into something that can be an asset to the community - rather than a cash cow for property developers.