31 December 2011

Happy New Year 2012



I hope 2012 is a great year for us all. Council is pretty quiet at this time of the year and yet I have had lots of emails with questions that I have been able to provide the answers to.


I have, however, saved up a few items for the January Update that I will upload soon.

24 December 2011

Waste Collcection for 2012





Here is the calendar for 2012. The day that the waste is collected will not be changed. If you have other junk you can book a Hard Waste collection once each year. To do this you need to make a call to Council (83725111) and make a booking. There is a short delay between booking and collection, however, you will be given the day of collection when you book. The rubbish should be neatly stacked on the footpath the evening before.

If you see illegally dumped rubbish you can let me know and I will ensure it is removed promptly for you. Booked collections will have a green sticker that is supplied by Council.

Unley Gourmet Gala 18th Jan 2012



The Gourmet Gala will be held again in 2012 as part of the Tour Down Under. This event has been a feature of the event for some time. The cost to Council has reduced this year due to better sponsorships. However, it still costs nearly $200,000 to stage. Take the time to enjoy the event. If you don't like the crowds then go early (4pm) and take the kids or go for the Staged Start and Criterium (19th). It is hoped that one of the problems (that of underage teenagers drinking before they get to the event and then being difficult to manage) will be reduced by better checks at the entrances to the event. The full schedule can be found at ; http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Gourmet%20Gala%20Program.pdf



The road closures and further information can be found at; http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Road%20closures.pdf

22 December 2011

Leah St upgrade Jan 2012





The agreed works will start on Leah St on Jan 9th 2012. After consultation the footpaths will be paved, the road resurfaced and speed humps installed. This will cause some disruption to local traffic during construction and may result in some traffic diversion into Goodwood South especially via Victoria St and Mills St. However, it should also encourage those inclined to take a short cut through East Ave to choose an alternate route for their journey and stay on Goodwood Rd or South Rd. Clearly the latter is the preferred option. The residents on Leah St have been requesting this solution for a long time.

18 December 2011

Merry Christmas 2011



Merry Christmas to everyone for 2011.

This has been a challenging and fruitful year. I'm impressed with the number of people that read this blog and hope that you will continue to contribute your observations and ideas in the future. Every time I get an email or comment from a constituent I am better informed about what concerns you and how and why you think the way that you do on each issue that arises.

Regards, Jennie

10 December 2011

Noisy Minor Birds; Are they an issue?




I remember during the election campaign now over a year ago a concern from a resident about the effects that these birds were having on the diversity of bird species in the Goodwood Oval area. At the time I was told by staff that there was little that could be done about this issue. It's interesting to note that this issue is now in a more public arena. A recent article in The Advertiser debates the issue and suggests that one of the ways to encourage preferred species is to plant thick, spiky shrubs that the little birds can hide in and that the noisy minor don't particularly like.

09 December 2011

Full Council 12th December

Due to the Xmas break there is no City Strategy meeting in December or January. The Agenda looked a bit thin as well. The following was debated ;



  • City of Unley Aging Strategy Public Consultation; The strategy is available at http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Att%201%20Item%20316%20FCM%20December%202011.pdf. After consultation Council will fine tune the document and implementation of the most pressing concerns can begin. One that most of you would be concerned about is improved maintenance standards for streets and footpaths. The document is well worth reading.


  • Temporary Extension of Clearways;This concerns Glen Osmond Road during the Clipsal event.


  • Quarterly update on Planning and Strategic Design;


DPA 2 is now on the Minister's desk. Planning is underway for consultation as soon as it has been signed off. This is the Amendment that will have the greatest impact in Goodwood South.



DPA3 is also now on the Minister's desk and ready to go to consultation as soon as it is signed. This effects Greenhill and Unley Rds.


The heritage DPA is waiting for the outcome regarding the heritage listing of the stone lining in Brownhill Creek. Council would like to see them listed as Local Heritage rather than State Heritage.


The Inner Metro Rim Structure Plan, this plan is being held up by Cabinet. Public consultation will follow their approval.


Unley Central Urban Design Precinct; A Community and Stakeholder engagement plan is being developed. This includes ensuring linkages to King William Rd and not toward Duthy St. Council have recently finalised the purchase of the Old Post Office building on Unley Rd ( Bazaar) to help facilitate the development in this area.



  • Tasmanian Local Government Election Results; During my recent trip to Tasmania the Local Government election results were in the newspaper; would you believe the front page and for a few days? The most interesting point was that they were disappointed with a 50% turn out by voters. In South Australia we have about 30% and are complacent about this. Cr Hudson has put a motion on notice to request the LGA to investigate how we might achieve the same. Considering Goodwood South has about 5,000 electors and I was elected with 600 votes that really says it all. This was the second best of any Councillor. One person was elected with just over 200 votes!

  • Nominations for the Australia Day awards; There were many nominations for these awards. Reading about the contribution that some people make to the Community is very moving. However, there can only be one winner in each category and they will be announced at the presentation ceremony on Australia Day. All nominees will be invited to the ceremony.
    The full Agenda can be found at; http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Council%20Agenda%20December%202011.pdf

07 December 2011

Canterbury Tce: Public meeting



Yesterday's meeting was not well attended by residents but many of the issues that Don and I had already identified were raised. These include removing the dead trees, putting a hand rail on the boardwalk, identifying ways in which the eastern section of the street (before you get the boardwalk) can be treated to allow for safe pedestrian access and marking a pedestrian crossing near the existing gate. Other conversation related to Byron Rd. As this wasn't a meeting about Byron Rd the matters raised will lead to further debate and a meeting for Byron Rd on it's own. The discussion revolved around safety, speeding and the traffic calming devices that are currently in place.

Deputy Mayor; Eastern Courier

The Eastern Courier published this article this week. This is one item that this time I decided not to enter the debate as my views were already well know to everyone. Somehow I still get a mention in the article.

Mayor's case
back in court
UNLEY COUNCIL EMMA ALTSCHWAGER UNLEY
Mayor Lachlan Clyne made a brief appearance in court last week over charges
of identity theft and dishonest dealings. Mr Clyne, who was arrested at his
Unley Park home on August 2, has been charged with dishonestly dealing
with documents and improper use of another identity, arising from last year's Local Government election campaign. Mr Clyne appeared relaxed before the hearing. He was not required to enter a plea and the case was adjourned after less than a minute. He will reappear in court on January 13. Police would not confirm whether initial charges of criminal defamation and publication of misleading information had been dropped. Meanwhile, a third push for the appointment of a deputy mayor again failed to win Unley councillors' support. A report to last week's council meeting suggested a deputy mayor be appointed for a six-month term on a rotational basis. But Cr Anthony Lapidge told the meeting electing a deputy for six months was "impractical" and frequent change would create public confusion about who was deputy at any given time. The motion was abandoned after it failed to garner support from a single councillor. It comes after a failed push by Cr Jennie Boisvert in August to have a deputy appointed. Cr Boisvert also lodged a complaint of bullying against Mr Clyne after an email he sent to members in November 2011 encouraged them not to support her bid to be appointed deputy mayor. Mr Clyne was made to publicly apologise for the email in March.

04 December 2011

GAP Water for Goodwood Oval




Water should soon flow through the new network of purple pipes. The water will be used to water Goodwood Oval, Forestville Reserve, Orphanage Park and Unley Oval at this time. It is hoped that the first water will be available before Xmas. Council is able to use the water and pay a much lower rate for the water than it would have to pay for mains water. As well Council is not restricted to the amount of water that it can use. The water is coming through the Glenelg Adelaide Pipeline. The water originates as sewage and is treated and purified at Glenelg. While it is suitable for use on parks the water is not potable. This website has a little more detail, but does not include the Unley network. This network links in near Goodwood Rd and George St.

Footpath Acceleration




An update on the footpath replacement will see the following footpaths paved in;
2012/13 Churchill Avenue, Fairfax Avenue and Merlon Avenue
2013/14 Argyle Avenue and Ellesmere Terrace
2014/15 Birkdale Avenue, Hacket Avenue, Hammond Street, Lloyd Avenue and Lynton Avenue.




It is evident from the formula that Council uses that they believe some streets are less trafficked than others. As you are aware Meredyth Ave had been scheduled for 2012/13 and I believe in an accelerated programme that it is unacceptable for this street to have the date for replacement moved back to 2015/16. I am working with staff on this one to ensure it is still completed as promised. The other streets in contention are Hammond St and William St. Hammond is now scheduled well ahead of the 10 year wait that would have occurred. However William is still not listed in the near future and is in an appalling state. I will continue to endeavor to have this one included in 2013/14 as I feel that the 2 streets listed are not a realistic share for Goodwood South.

During the election campaign I made a promise that if Les Birch and I were elected these streets would be a top priority. I have almost succeeded in getting the acceleration from 2042 to 2019 for full completion of the paving. However, as you are aware Les was not elected as Mayor and working with the elected Mayor got off to a pretty rocky start due to his behaviour. I'm doing the best I can in the circumstances. I have Don's full support in this and we will continue to work together to get as many footpaths as we can in Goodwood South completed.

02 December 2011

Street Lighting


I have had some interesting discussions on this topic this week following an enquiry from a resident. The infrastructure that supports the street lighting is owned and managed by ETSA. However, the cost of the lighting is met by Council. The concern was about the timing of the lights coming on and off. Each area is fitted with a device that measures the lux level of light and decides at a particular point in time that the lights should be turned on or off. However, it seems that some streets may have a dodgy device and the lights are on longer than necessary and as such costing Council (the rate payer) more than it should. I would like some comment to identify where, if any, this seems to be the case and Council will ask ETSA to investigate the device and if it is found to be faulty will repair or replace it.

01 December 2011

December Update 2011



Kelvin Ave ;The consultation for this has now closed. It is important to now let the staff analyse the letters sent to Council by both those who support the concept and those that do not. There has been a large number of submissions. The final report will now come to Council in January and not December as planned.

CEO change over; Peter Tsokas has started his new job as CEO of Unley. Deb Richardson is Acting General Manager in his now vacant position and Victoria Minenko is Acting General Manager of Governance. These positions have been filled internally until April. It is hoped by then that the vacant positions will have been advertised and new appointments made. If restructuring is to occur they may be some change in focus and areas of responsibility.

Clarence Park Community Centre; After many years as Childcare Manager Ruth Zilm has retired. She has worked tirelessly to provide a service much valued by our community. Childcare is one of the many services operated by Clarence Park C C.

Graham Ave and Fairfax Ave ;The list of items that were raised at the street meeting has now been distributed to all residents. Don and I will get staff to work through this list as quickly as possible. I noted that both Fairfax (2012/13)and Hackett Ave (2014/15) are now in the future budget for paving.

KEEP CLEAR; This sign has now been painted on East Ave near the corner of George St.
Spiers St; This landscaping and footpath replacement are nearly complete.

Page Park toilet; The shell of the toilet has now been installed as well as some new paving. The toilet should be usable before Xmas.

Cross hatching of railway crossing ; The line repairs were carried out recently ( although I reckon at least on section is still loose). The yellow cross hatching will be painted in the near future.

Rubbish bin audit ; Every 3 months Council randomly selects rubbish bins to see what has been put into them. You will know if yours has been checked if there is a small bit of fluorescent tape attached. The purpose of this exercise is to ascertain what proportion of recyclable waste is being put in all bins. Council pays premium rates to dump rubbish, so the less that goes (or needs to go) into the bins the cheaper the cost is. This information can then direct where Council should be spending money on educating people better. This is the latest report that analysed the results.
http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Item_296_CSP_March_2010.pdf

Canterbury Tce; Following recent discussions about the safety of the Boardwalk residents and commuters have been notified of a public meeting on Dec 6th at 6pm in that location. I hope as many people as possible that feel they have a view or an idea to attend and let us know what you think of Council ideas and the ideas of each other.