What About Small Voices?

An affordable housing development in Manning was last night refused by South Perth Councillors. The property at 4 Downey Drive is owned by Homes West and has a dilapidated house on it. In partnership with an architect, Homes West submitted plans to construct a  block of six affordable apartments with a street-facing office. They planned to sell four units on the open market, use the cash for more building, and to sell the other two units on a Shared Equity arrangement to approved buyers. The City’s planning officers recommended the application for approval by Council.

Manning has for many years comprised welfare housing, including houses for returned soldiers from the 1940s. At times as much as 50% of dwellings were social housing. That figure is now down to 17%. In recent years people have been buying land in Manning cheaply and building grand houses on their blocks. Three such new houses can be seen adjacent to 4 Downey Drive, above. The rest of the street remains mostly in its old form.

In September Councillor Sharon Hawkins-Zeeb, who lives next door, raised a petition of more than a hundred local residents to protest about this proposed building next to her property. At the consequent public meeting speaker after speaker rose to express their feelings against the amount of social housing in Manning. As each finished the crowd clapped and cheered. A representative of the Department of Housing pointed out that the development was not for social housing but that the units would be sold. His words appeared to be not understood by members of the crowd, as they continued to demand less Homes West tenants in their suburb.

At last night’s meeting Councillor Hawkins-Zeeb declared a “Proximity Interest” and left the room during debate. There was no debate. When the Mayor introduced the item not one Councillor even twitched to move or second the motion. Not a word was said. The motion therefore lapsed. Councillor Colin Cala then moved that the application be refused. He spoke of the size of the building being out of character with the streetscape, noting that as more good quality homes are being built their amenity should be protected. He said the proposed building would have far-reaching effects on adjoining property. Cr Peter Howat spoke to say that the building would affect the neighbours and was not in keeping with the neighbourhood. Not one person spoke up for affordable housing, for the needs of people who can’t afford big houses, for people such as nurses and police, whom Homes West sees as likely buyers of the proposed units.

The motion to refuse the application was supported by all except Councillors Lawrance and Hasleby. Of course I do respect that many in our City have homes that they worked hard for and can be proud of. I do ask: should not our Council represent all residents, not just the wealthy? What of young people who can’t afford a big house, the elderly with no family living at home, others who just don’t need all those rooms?

Click on Comments, below, to have your say, or just email me, to have your thoughts added to the blog.

Verges, Gardens and Economic Development

Our McDougall Park Community Garden meeting last week was full of energy. We had lots of conversation about why we are going to share a garden space, how, what our shared values are and much more. What wonderful neighbours we have around here. For more information you can click here to go to the Facebook Group. If you click “Add Friend” you can be part of the group too.

Recent Council moves to amalgamate various tiny pieces of land in the parking area behind the Windsor Hotel and to sell the combined block have caused some concerns. Some residents have suggested that they could lose walking access across the car park. Others are concerned about loss of parking spaces and about local street exit at the rear. These are important points. Might it be possible to use “and” instead of “or” in our thinking to achieve the desired development and to maintain these amenities? I’m sure this is what we can expect with good architects, planners and local input? Have your say when you get the chance.

Preston Street too is in the news. Along with ideas for al-fresco dining and street art some have suggested that if we installed more bike lock-up points there would be fewer cars, less congestion and happier shoppers. The street is wonderfully popular; now what if we changed the dominant colour to be less beige?

Back in June, after work by myself, John McBain, Mark Taylor and many others, the Council changed the verge law so that we do not need permission for:

• Natural lawns, reticulation, verges mulched with organic mulch or low-growing Waterwise verge gardens.

This means we can have native plants, mulch and even edible herbs on the verge. Click here for more details.

My last achievement before leaving Council was to have the City commit to composing an economic development plan. Surprisingly, we don’t have one. One of the CEO’s KPIs for the year is to get this moving. There is so much happening and I’m hugely encouraged by the way our community joins in planning for our future. Do you have thoughts on this?

Please pass this on to your family and friends. You can add your thoughts by clicking on Comments below, or email me and I’ll publish for you.

Two and a Half Opportunities to Have Your Say

What’s a democracy? Is it somewhere that you get to have your say about the law? Here are 2.5 chances to do just that, one about now, one about later. Both are to do with our Councils, what they are and how they work.

For the first, WA State Government has a Local Government Amendment Bill currently  progressing through the Lower House; it could reach the upper house next week. It’s all about discipline, payments, investments and underground power. There’s a summary below or you can click here for a full copy and here for explanations. If you’d like to have input you could contact your State MP or you could email me to pass on, or you could click on Comments, at the end of this blog. You should be pretty quick on this one.

Your second chance is to do with the future role of Councils, what they are, what services they provide, how big they are and much more. You can go directly to the Metropolitan Local Government Review web site or read more about the 23 questions below.

Chance three is to say stuff ‘em all, I’m going to make a difference near home. The Great Freeway Clean-up is on for 27 November 2011, between The Narrows and Cranford Av, right past Mill Point and Como. Click

here for more info.

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1 Now) Local Government Amendment Bill key components:

• new disqualification provisions for council members so that they cease to hold office when elected to Parliament or when convicted of a major crime
• modifying the current power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to recommend the levels of local government chief executive officer salaries and remuneration to making a binding determination which must be complied with by local governments
• inclusion of a new power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to set the levels of fees and allowances paid to council members
• addition of a new head of power to enable regulations to be made to regulate the types of investments that local government may invest their money in
• clarifying the powers of local government to impose service charges for underground power and the ability for rebates to be paid under the Rates and Charges (Rebates and Deferments) Act 1992
• inclusion of a new power to enable the Minister to suspend a council for up to six months and/or require members of council to undertake remedial action where a council has become dysfunctional

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2 Later) Metropolitan Local Government Review

Submissions should be sent to: Metropolitan Local Government Review Panel GPO Box R1250 Perth WA 6844 or mlgr@dlg.wa.gov.au

Submissions can also be made via the website: metroreview.dlg.wa.gov.au

KEY QUESTIONS

1. Do you think there is a need for better local government arrangements in metropolitan Perth? Why? Or why not?

2. If you think there is a need for a better local government system, what should the priorities of the new system be? What should its objectives be?

3. What are the best aspects of local government in its current form?

What is your vision for the future of the Perth metropolitan area?

5. What do you think are the biggest issues facing metropolitan Perth?

6. Do you think local government in metropolitan Perth is ready to face the demands and challenges of the next 50 years? If not, what do you think needs to be changed?

7. Do you think that local government in Perth will be able to deal with national and international issues such as climate change and growing populations?

8. Do you think local government should be responsible for managing these issues, or should they be the responsibility of the State or federal governments?

9. Who should pay for the social and physical infrastructure and services required to cope with these issues?

10. Is metropolitan Perth in a position to be an effective international competitor? If not, what would you change?

11. What do you think about the other governance models discussed here, such as those adopted in Auckland or Vancouver? Which aspects of these models would work in Perth? Which aspects would not work?

12. Do you know of any governance systems that work well elsewhere, either in Australia or overseas, that might work well in Perth?

13. Should more be done by local governments to engage with the community?

14. Should voting be compulsory for local government elections?

15. Does metropolitan Perth have too many local governments? What would be the advantages and disadvantages in reducing the number of local governments?

16. If the boundaries and/or roles of Perth’s local governments are changed, what should be the criteria for doing so? Are the LGAB’s factors (cited above) the right criteria?

17. Should local government boundaries be set by an independent body and reviewed at regular intervals?

18. If Perth’s local government boundaries do not change, how do you think services to communities could be improved?

19. What do you consider are the main roles and responsibilities of local government?

20. In an urban area like Perth, which functions should belong to the State or Commonwealth governments?

21. Are there any State-provided services that local government might be better placed to provide?

22. What do you consider to be the principles of good governance at a local level?

23. Do you think there should be greater State government oversight of issues, such as key performance indicators and senior local government employee appointments and salaries?

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Whew, this not being a Councillor is a busy job.

Just click on Comments, below, to have your say.