This month's Agenda had several items of interest. These include;
Debating again the E-waste item fro the City Strategy Meeting; Cr Koumi expressed a desire to add more information to the debate. His position was not supportd by any other Councilor.
Reviewing the CEO's Performance Appraisal Process; I am on the committee , with Cr Schnell and the Mayor Clyne, to review the CEO's performance. This motion suggestsed a way forward in the appraisal process.
Meeting Procedures; These have been changed along with recommendations from an earlier meeting.
Membership of the Murray Darling Association (region 7); Cr Saies expressed a desire to be part of the local chapter. This is something that ultimately affects us all.
Review of the Adelaide City Development Plan Amendments; The report outlines the potential implications from the Adelaide CC DPA (Ministerial) as they might affect the City of Unley. The Design Review Panel is a concept Unley should embrace as our own DPAs are signed off by the Minister.
Nomination to the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee; The LGA is seeking nominations for this Committee. If more than one nomination is received then this will go to election. Cr Saies and Palmer decided to give this a go.
Location of a Pedestrian Refuge on King William Rd; Cr Hewitson would prefer the selected site to be nearer the corner of Arthur St than has been approved. It is my opinion that this should be further south or north of this location. It is not wise to encourage pedestrians to cross in this location as vehicles turning right from Arthur St tend to do so quickly if they see a gap in the traffic, they will not be looking for pedestrians and pedestrians will not see them approaching from the side street. The change was approved.
Support for the City of Marion's Push for a Pedestrian Overpass at Black Forest Primary School; Don and I have been asked to support Cr Pfieffer, from Marion, in calling for the government to build a pedestrian overpass. This would allow free movement of traffic on South Rd and allow for a very safe crossing access for the school. Our motion supported this idea.
Impact on Rates of the Carbon Price; Cr Schnell asked that we discuss a rate rise as high as 6.6% to cover cost changes associated with the Carbon Tax. Many of these costs are unknown although there will be inevitable rises in the cost of all materials that Council buys and significant increases in the cost to dump household rubbish. This may be able to be off set in some way with better education of residents to encourage better recycling practices. This was debated for well over an hour with the motions both failing. The impact of the Carbon Tax I will put in a separate blog. At this time the proposed orate rise is still 5.1% although I believe it will be higher than this after we gather further information on the impacts of the tax.
What the Eastern Courier had to say;
ReplyDeletePleading for an overpass
Eastern Courier Messenger,30 May 2012
A FOOTBRIDGE over South Rd is crucial to ensure the safety of Black Forest Primary School students trying to cross the increasingly busy stretch of road outside their school, parents and Unley councillors say.
They say the nearby tram overpass and Gallipoli underpass have led to faster, heavier traffic flows past the school.
Rhianne Johns, whose two children Darian, 10, and Anastasia, 8, attend the school, set up a Facebook page to garner support for an overpass.
"There are quite a lot of near misses, more in the last 18 months to two years since the tram track was lifted and the underpass was built," Ms Johns said.
"Now it�s used like a racetrack.
"Parents from the school think it�s only a matter of time before something more serious happens." Black Forest�s school board chairman Stephen Halliday said the road had been a long time concern for the school community, but had worsened when the tram overpass was introduced in 2010.
"The game changer was the tram being lifted allowing a free flowing on South Rd," Mr Halliday said.
A red light camera was installed at the crossing last June to help address safety concerns but Mr Halliday said more work was needed. "We�re very appreciative ot the measures that the government has taken, but in the long term an overpass is what we want." Councillors Don Palmer and Jennie Boisvert wanted Unley to join with neighbouring Marion Council to lobby the State Government for a pedestrian overpass.
"The road has been designed as a flow-through road and motorists get into the thinking they don�t have to stop," Cr Palmer said.
Marion Cr Tim Pfeiffer was successful in his push to have his council write to Transport Minister Patrick Conlon asking for a overpass in March.
However, a Transport Department spokeswoman said the State Government had no plans to build an overpass because it would require buying land on both sides of South Rd.
Unley Council was due to discuss the issue at their May 28 meeting, after the Eastern Courier Messenger~s deadline.