Elections, Manningham Council, Vic State Government 9 comments

LOCAL GOVT BODY PROHIBITS HOW TO VOTE CARDS

By on September 9th, 2016

The Legislative Council’s action in banning indicated preferences from how to vote cards, has put paid to the use of dummy candidates but have ignored the main cause of the problem being the “Donkey Vote” which had actually encouraged the use of dummies, (a candidate who gives away a second preference without reciprocation), for candidates drawn at the bottom of the ballot paper.

Dummies Candidate Ban Click to enlarge

Dummy Candidates Ban
Click to enlarge

A candidate who draws number one has a massive advantage. In point of fact, the last 2 Local Government elections held for Manningham Council, 90% of the candidates who had drawn number one at the top of the ballot paper were elected.

candidate-promises-and-preferences-2012

Govt Review Panel Click to enlarge

Govt Review Panel
Click to enlarge

Francis Day wrote to the review committee suggesting that the Robson Rotation of ballot positions be introduced in future local government elections.. “I thought it was really a “no brainer” to introduce the system because it allows each candidate an equal share of every position on the ballot paper. They acknowledged my letter but made no comment on my suggestion which has caused me to question the motives and the intent of the review panel. The only conclusion one can draw with this decision is that they want to make the election a lottery rather than making it possible for the best candidates to be elected and reaffirms my belief that both major parties together with the planning bureaucrats regard councils as obstructive to the future planning of Melbourne and want to replace their aldermen with commissioners as they did back in the late nineties. The Robson Rotation system is so obvious a Continue reading LOCAL GOVT BODY PROHIBITS HOW TO VOTE CARDS →

Manningham Council, Transport, VicRoads 7 comments

COUNCIL MISQUOTED THE HILL DISTANCE TO CITY

By on September 1st, 2016

Park & Ride to Outer CBD Click to enlarge

Park & Ride to Outer CBD
Click to enlarge

Doncaster Hill to GPO Click to enlarge

Doncaster Hill to GPO
Click to enlarge

But the website of the “Nest at the Hill”, a major apartment development opposite Westfield shopping centre, at 642 Doncaster Road, Doncaster Hill, have made no bones about accurately stating that the complex is a 18.9 km driving distance from the Melbourne CBD (actually the GPO) and 2.4 km from Park and Ride,  on western border of  the Manningham Municipality.

John S wrote;  “Manningham Council, usually a stickler for accuracy and impartiality, appear to want to create an impression that Continue reading COUNCIL MISQUOTED THE HILL DISTANCE TO CITY →

Manningham Council, Traffic & Parking, Transport, Vic State Government 5 comments

STREETCAR DESIRED BUT TRAIN MUST COME FIRST

By on August 26th, 2016

The Manningham Transport Committee have decided not to pursue a light rail extension from North Balwyn to Doncaster Hill because it believed it would compromise attempts to secure heavy rail to the City via the Eastern freeway. But it had already been decided long ago it would be buses only for Doncaster Hill and Manningham have been told to stop tugging in other directions.

Light Rail in Sydney Click to enlarge

Light Rail in Sydney                   Click to enlarge

It is the politicians who have kept the prospect of a heavy rail service to Doncaster Hill alive by arranging rail studies now and then as part of  their election campaigns despite the fact that, like all the proposals over the past 100 years, it could never be justified on a cost effective basis.

There are also difficulties for the supporters of a light rail extension from North Balwyn and a line direct to the City via the freeway because the state government has no money. Even though, at a cost of approximately $2 Billion, including rolling stock,  it would be a fraction of the cost of constructing heavy rail which could only go as far as Doncaster Park and Ride anyway because of the Continue reading STREETCAR DESIRED BUT TRAIN MUST COME FIRST →

Apartments, Climate Change, Manningham Council 8 comments

GREEN HILL SCHEME WOULD HAVE COST MILLIONS

By on August 24th, 2016

The plan for Doncaster Hill to become a self-sustaining village with wind turbines and solar panels on apartment buildings could have increased the purchase price of apartments by as much as ten per cent with a zero impact on global warming had Manningham Council not scrapped the plan.

Monckton Speedometer

Lord Monckton Speedometer         Click to enlarge

Lord Monckton speedometer shows a 15 years 4 months January 2001 to April 2016 at [1.1, 4.2] C°/century-equivalent interval of global warming rates (red/orange) that IPCC’s 1990, 1995 and 2001 reports predicted should be occurring by now, compared with real-world, observed warming (green) equivalent to less than 0.5 C°/century over the period.

RSS and UAH monthly near-global satellite lower-troposphere temperature anomaly values for each month from January 2001 to April 2016 were assumed to be broadly accurate and were averaged. The least-squares linear-regression trend on their mean was determined and found equivalent to 0.47 C°/century.

Ex-warmist Lance K writes, “The forecast by Al Gore, who shared a Nobel prize with the IPCC, that the Antarctic ice Continue reading GREEN HILL SCHEME WOULD HAVE COST MILLIONS →

Manningham Council, Pedestrians, Public Safety 4 comments

DRIVEWAY CROSS FALL MUST MATCH ROAD SLOPE

By on August 15th, 2016

Manningham Council have approved this roller coaster footpath in the front of the five storey apartment development at  8-10 Hepburn Road, Doncaster despite objections from residents.

8-10 Hepburn Road 1. Click to Enlarge

8-10 Hepburn Road 1.
Click to enlarge

8-10 Hepburn Road 2. Click to enlarge

8-10 Hepburn Road 2.
Click to enlarge

Street San Francisco Click to enlarge

Footpaths  San Francisco
Click to enlarge

 

 

 

 

“Angela”, who lives close to the  building, contacted Councillor Dot Haynes who declared that if the footpath did not to conform to regulations it would have to  be ripped up and replaced. The council engineer, who inspected the site admitted it was not ideal, but had indicated the footpath could not be built on an even plane because of a problem with the design of the building’s entry levels Continue reading DRIVEWAY CROSS FALL MUST MATCH ROAD SLOPE →

Elections, Manningham Council 7 comments

COUNCILLOR ELECTION SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER

By on August 7th, 2016

Candidate information sessions at 7 pm in Council Chambers        

On the 17th of August and the 12th & 14th of September.     

Manningham Councillors Ending Four Year Term Click to enlarge

Manningham Councillors Ending Four Year Term
Click to Enlarge Photo

Manningham Council elections will be held on the 22nd of October 2016. To be eligible a candidate must be listed on council voters role. Postal Election Candidate Handbook  from the VEC website provides full details.

 The Councillor allowance set at $25,685 plus $9,685 per year for expenses is very generous considering the number of hours in  attendance are optional.  Councillor expenses cover travel and accommodation if they wish to attend interstate and overseas conferences.  An IPAD and Mobile Phone are also provided in addition to training, elocution lessons (if requested) plus child minding, telephones, etc. Council may also reimburse Continue reading COUNCILLOR ELECTION SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER →

Apartments, High Density developments, Manningham Council, Traffic & Parking 13 comments

SEVEN ELEVEN STORE DELAYED HARDWARE GIANT

By on July 25th, 2016

The construction of the Bunnings store had been stymied as a result of the proponent being unable to negotiate the termination of a lease agreement with Seven Eleven which is due to expire in 2022. In addition Bunnings were unable to find a joint venture partner to complete the development.

Bunnings Amended

3 D Image of Proposal Click to enlarge

3 D Image of Staged  Proposal         Click to enlarge

As a result the building permit issued in May 2013 has been amended to enable Seven Eleven (south east corner) to continue trading during construction of stage one. A series of plans have been prepared with the submission which represent the construction of a large retaining wall that will be necessary to ensure the integrity of the Seven Eleven store in Stage 2 of the 3 Stage development.

The timing of Stage 2, which includes most of the the apartments proposed, is likely to only occur after Seven Eleven’s vacation from the site (i.e. upon its lease expiration, post 2022). Which could mean Continue reading SEVEN ELEVEN STORE DELAYED HARDWARE GIANT →

Bureaucratic Jargon, Manningham Council, State Government 5 comments

INDEPENDENT EXCLUSIONARY FOCUSED STRATEGY

By on July 14th, 2016

From BuzzPhrases to BuzzPhraser TM

Doc Searls’ Buzz Phraser is an hilarious tool that lets you produce and share Mad Libs type phrases that come scarily close to sounding like all that gross overblown bumph and bafflegab written by bureaucrats.
Author Doc Searl

Author Doc Searls

The original BuzzPhraser was created in 1992 as a spreadsheet, then a HyperCard stack; and it quickly became one of the most-downloaded files on both AOL and Compuserve.  For years after that it languished, mostly because I didn’t want to re-write the software.  But when the Web came along, I knew I had to find a way to re-create it.  The means didn’t find that end, however, until Charles Roth grabbed the buzzwords by their serifs and made it happen, using a bit of clever Javascript.  Once you start having fun with the new BuzzPhraser, I’m sure you’ll thank him as much as I do. The story that follows was written for the original BuzzPhraser.

BuzzPhrases are built with TechnoLatin, a non language that replaces plain English nouns with vague but precise- sounding substitutes. In Techno Latin, a disc drive is a “data management solution”. A network is “work group productivity platform”. A telephone is a telecommunications device”
Continue reading INDEPENDENT EXCLUSIONARY FOCUSED STRATEGY →

Apartments, High Density developments, Manningham Council, Traffic & Parking, Vic State Government 8 comments

BACKLASH RELEASES A RESIDENTS BILL OF RIGHTS

By on July 7th, 2016

RESIDENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS (RBR)

Mary Drost Backlash

Mary Drost  Convenor

Residents’ groups are being overwhelmed by the ever increasing planning issues and government strategies that keep us busy reacting  instead of us concentrating upon positive changes to maintain our liveable status. Meanwhile our residential areas are being plundered by developers only intent on exploiting every construction opportunity, regardless of the impact upon our residential areas. It is time we took a more proactive stance by reminding our governments, both state and federal as well as our councils, that they exist to look after our best interests, not the vested interests of the development industry, foreign investors  and other non-constituents.We held a public forum with an expert panel at which Continue reading BACKLASH RELEASES A RESIDENTS BILL OF RIGHTS →

Bicycling 5 comments

Cycle Manningham – Lets Promote Secure Bicycle parking.

By on June 26th, 2016

Do you think we could get  a plan together between council and transport groups to devise, and promote some where we could ride to, and then leave our bikes while we take the bus to work for the day?

How about places the Kids an leave their bikes safely, then jump on the bus to school ?

Places like the park and ride have a major version, but wouldn’t it be good to get wider spread options to promote bicycle usage in our areas .

How many places have you seen?  where should we suggest?  I would recommend any of the bus terminus locations.

Boroondara Council have a good page on cycling for their area

Bicycle-Pooly-Locked

It doesn’t have to be a five star hotel for bikes, but some thing to avoid this.