Last nights Council meeting dominated by Tunnel issue

Residents,



The Council meeting last night was dominated by the issue of the tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to Melbourne’s west. A Channel 7 TV crew and the Herald Sun were in attendance alongside a big public gallery to cover the story of Yarra Council’s position on the tunnel.



Prior to the meeting the Yarra Campaign Against the Tunnel group (YCAT) held a rally outside to push for clear opposition to the tunnel. This action went live to air on the Channel 7 news at 6pm, with an interview with me and YCAT member, Keith. YCAT displayed their new banner for the first time last night.



Also lobbying the Council meeting last night were Aboriginal activists and supporters who were seeking a speedy establishment of a community centre for their people on Smith St, under indigenous control.



Council voted 9-0 to oppose the tunnel but an amendment to leave out reference to the rail tunnel proposal was lost 5-4 (with SP and Greens losing to the ALP and independents). No-one is necessarily opposed to the rail tunnel but there are many more important public transport projects needed, such as a rail link to Doncaster. Eddington only included this tunnel as a cover for the real agenda of the road tunnel.



My amendment to get Council support for YCAT and also for ‘No Tunnel – Yes to Doncaster Rail Link’ banners outside Fitzroy and Collingwood Town Halls was passed.



Richmond Town Hall forecourt

Council were asked in the confidential part of last nights meeting to spend $50,000 this year and $220,000 next year to beautify the forecourt of Richmond Town Hall. Council agreed, on the suggestion of myself and Cllr Maltzahn, to bring this debate into the public part of the meeting.



I voted against this recommendation as did the Greens. The motion got through with the support of the ALP and independents.



Only last month we concluded a public budget process which included a whole string of local community groups being knocked back in seeking a fraction of the money of this proposal. Now, a month after the budget and in the secret section of the meeting, Councillors are asked to hand over a quarter of a million dollars to spruce up the Town Hall!



The very same ALP Councillor, Geoff Barbour, who last month voted against putting $50,000 into the refurbishment of the community centre in Hodgkinson St, Clifton Hill (in his ward) was quite happy to approve over five times that amount for this non-essential beautification for Richmond Town Hall that includes “repaving forecourt with sawn bluestone and flagstone pavers; planting a row of striking Washington palm trees; feature granite paving banding for main entrance; new stainless steel hand rails; and simple feature granite paving bands, art work and seating at the entrance to the old police station”!



These Councillors are totally out of touch with the views of the community and we will be reminding residents of these decisions in the lead up to the Council election in November.



Hard Rubbish

I asked a Question without Notice on when was the review of the scrapping of the Hard Rubbish Collection. It will be in the October cycle of Council. Residents are outraged at this loss of service, especially when they are hit with massive rate rises this year.

I encourage all residents to phone, write or email Council and the local media before September with their letters of opposition. SP has a petition on the issue, contact us for to get copies.



Eastlink

I asked about the impacts of newly-opened Eastlink in our area, especially Collingwood. The cars are banking back to Easy, Gipps and even Langridge Sts now from Alexandra Parade from 3.30pm, where in the past this would not happen until 4.30pm. Council officers are gathering precise data on the increase in traffic in our area and I will be proposing the strongest possible measures to protect the local community.



Smith St Aboriginal issue

In public question time, a resident representing the local Aboriginal community asked pointed questions about when the community centre for will open and who will run it. The State government are now saying they will support such a centre but firm details are still not available. They are in no rush, despite the steady number of deaths amongst the local Aboriginal community. There is increasing pressure, as a result of the lobby and intervention last night from Aboriginal people and supporters, for Council to spend the money and set up the centre if the State government don’t act very soon. Watch this space.



AMCOR

Alphington residents attended last night and one asked a question on Council’s response to the upcoming development on the AMCOR site. This will be a new suburb and needs the necessary open space, sport and education facilities and children’s services to meet a new population of up to 6000 people. I encouraged local residents to mobilise independently through SAFCA to get up a log of claims for the development – they must not rely of the State Government, the developers, or the Council to put their best interests at heart.



Mayors for Peace

A leading doctor an anti-nuclear weapons lobby group addressed Council last night. He was supporting Cllr Farrar’s motion to continue Yarra’s ongoing support for Mayors for Peace. He pointed out that while the number of nuclear weapons had dropped from 70,000 to 26,000 since the collapse of Stalinism – there was more money spent on such weapons today than at the peak of the Cold War.



General Electric

Senior managers from the multinational General Electric (GE) company came to Council in opposition to the proposal for parking meters on Yarra Boulevard in Richmond. This issue is a complex one and will be decided at the next Council meeting. However, I pointed out to them that their company made US$22.5 billion last year (200 times the size of Yarra Council’s budget!) and if their workers faced parking metres, then GE was more than capable of footing the bill for them.



Council election

The Council election is on Saturday November 29th this year. If you can help our campaign, please email us or phone me on 0433113421. We need help on election day as well as help with letterboxing and donations. Thanks to all those who have donated so far, our fighting fund for the election is going well but we still need more if we are to run a professional campaign against the cashed up Labor Party and Greens.