The now fortnightly meetings at Yarra Council are regularly packed with residents who attend to highlight local issues. The level of community engagement is impressive and is often related to the work of the Socialist Party encouraging residents to attend in order to put pressure on the right-wing Councillors.

On the other hand, the Council itself is in crisis. Two of the top four bureaucrats at Yarra have now resigned in the space of a couple of weeks! This disfunctionality at the highest layers of the bureaucracy is symptomatic of an organisation in crisis and at root it flows from the political direction of the Green/ALP majority on Council.

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Last night’s Council meeting was relatively short and only attended by a few locals. The main issue the residents had come to speak on was a Notice of Motion put forward by Socialist Party Councillor Stephen Jolly. On behalf of residents Councillor Jolly started the process to get Austin Street in Fairfield closed to through traffic.

The street in question is near a car dealership on Heidelberg Road. The business has been using the street to do their business and the residents are extremely frustrated. To make matters worse it was revealed last night that the business is also not adhering to planning permits that are in place.

A report will come back to Council in June looking at what traffic treatments could be introduced and outlining the consultation process to be followed to get the plan implemented. At the same time the Council will be briefed about what action can be taken against the business to ensure that they start complying with the permits that are in place.

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In February this year the then CEO of Yarra, Andi Diamond, announced that she would be leaving the Council. She decided to resign in order to take up the CEO’s position at Monash Council in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Yarra Council is now looking for a replacement CEO.

The Socialist Party has said publicly that anyone put on as CEO should be employed on the basis of running the Council in the interests of the community. We share the concerns of the majority of residents who believe that currently the Council bureaucracy favours business interests over the needs of the majority.

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Last nights Yarra Council meeting was a relatively quiet affair. For the first time in many months the meeting finished before 11pm.

Rose Hotel

In recent weeks the owners of the much loved Rose Hotel in Fitzroy have put the pub up for sale. Local residents are concerned that the pub will be bought by property developers and turned into apartments.

This would be a blow to the area as The Rose provides a unique meeting place for residents who want to socialise with their neighbours. The Rose, unlike many other pubs, has a community feel to it with a functioning social club and an active cricket team. Local punters treat it as a communal lounge room.

A local resident asked a question about what powers the Council might have to ensure that the venue continues to be used as a hotel. Officers responded by saying that there was nothing the Council could do.

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Yarra Council had another packed meeting at Richmond Town Hall last night. The level of community engagement is impressive and is often related to the work of the Socialist Party encouraging residents to attend Council meetings to put pressure on the right-wing Councillors.

Last night was the final meeting for the current CEO and the second last meeting for the Infrastructure Services Director, who also announced his resignation a few days ago. Two of the top four bureaucrats at Yarra have now resigned in the space of a couple of weeks!

This disfunctionality at the highest layers of the bureaucracy is symptomatic of an organisation in crisis and at root it flows from the political direction of the Green/ALP majority on Council.

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Residents packed into the Fitzroy Town Hall last night to attend the fortnightly Yarra Council meeting. The meeting was a marathon starting at 6.30pm and not finishing until after midnight.

Once again the programmatic divisions on Council came to the fore. On this occasion the ALP Councillors had a turn at having their right-wing views exposed.

Parking waivers

Socialist Party Councillors successfully moved a motion to get a report back in May as to how Council could stop the bad habit of ‘waiving’ parking spots for new developments.

Developers hate providing parking on site as it eats into the potential apartment space and therefore their profits. Council does not provide on-road parking spots for new developments so this means that there is more competition amongst locals when they are trying to find a car park.

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The soon to be vacated Amcor plant in the inner Melbourne suburb of Alphington is up for sale. Amcor is currently trying to sell the site off to a private property developer. The plan would be to get the area to be rezoned as residential therefore giving them free reign to build hundreds of expensive apartments.

If successful this would be the biggest development in inner Melbourne since the Docklands. It is estimated that up to 6,000 new residents could potentially be squeezed into the area.

It would be a profit windfall for Amcor and the developer but understandably local residents are worried. Will there be an expansion of services to cater for the new residents? Will the development fit in with the character and style of the existing area? And given it is on the banks of the Yarra, will it be sensitive to the local environment? So far none of these questions have been answered.

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Last nights Yarra Council meeting was a relatively quiet affair with only a few items on the agenda. Two Councillors were also absent from the Chamber. ALP Councillor Josh Funder and Socialist Party Councillor Stephen Jolly gave apologies due to last minute personal commitments.

Greens cut funding to Community Housing Associations

The main debate of the night took place around the issue of Council funding to Community Housing Associations (CHA). Back in May 2011 Greens Councillor Amanda Stone began the process of cutting funding to these not-for-profit housing organisations by moving to cancel the rate waiver that Council had in place.

This waiver was an important concession to CHAs as it assisted them in being able to provide people with housing where rents are capped at 25-30% of people’s income. The Greens replaced the waiver with a rate rebate of $130 per property. This was a cut to funding in real terms as in 2010-11 the Council spent $45,524 on the scheme but in the current year it is estimated that it will only spend $35,230.

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Just like all other levels of government, public representatives on local councils represent a particular political view. Yarra Council like other councils has representatives from a number of political parties. The current make up of the nine person Council is three Greens, two ALP, two right wing Independents and two Socialists.

The Greens and ALP have a power sharing arrangement which is supported by the Independents. The two Socialist Party Councillors effectively make up the opposition. Political differences come to the fore on a plethora of day to day issues but the starkest example of the differences between the Green/ALP majority and the Socialist opposition is shown in our approach to the Council budget.

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The Yarra Council meeting last Tuesday was overshadowed somewhat by the resignation of the CEO. The current CEO Andi Diamond announced that she would be leaving Yarra moments after the end of the meeting at 11.30pm.

She has decided to take on the CEO’s position at Monash Council in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. This will no doubt provide her with an altogether more sedate existence compared to the pressures of this highly-engaged municipality. At the same time the media has reported that she will earn $330,000, an estimated 10% more than her current salary.

The Mayor will now start the process of recruiting a new CEO. Once a short list is established the Councillors will get to vote on their preferred candidate. This is the only position in the bureaucracy that the elected Councillors get to decide. As with all major decisions we expect the Green/ALP majority on Council to vote on block for a candidate that suits them.

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