~Parklands

The Advertiser is making a big deal out of the start of construction of next year's Clipsal grandstands. 

Good on it. The people decided it didn't want a permanent fixture: as 85% support for the council's new master plan for the park- sans grandstand- makes clear. The first time is always a bit awkward, and they are setting up the (minimal) permanent infrastructure required to support the temporary erection of grandstands in the future. And how much worse would it be if there were no grandstand, or it wasn't finished in time? What an embarrassment!

Further to the parklands being dry- I support no further watering from the Murray. That really is robbing Peter to fund a gambling addiction. However, all methods of water collection, recycling and saving must be employed, because the parklands need water. As Melvin so rightly points out (it's not often we agree), the social and psychological benefits of these oases encircling our City and around our suburbs is incalculable. 

Start Up

Sunday was a good day. Lunch time I went to the Austral with Geoff Kwitko and his small business support group, Start Up. (Which is just starting up; I am effectively  the first non-founding member.) 

While it is obviously focussed on small business issues like tax implications of incorporation and so forth, there is clearly scope for a Councillor to address some issues. I'm just keen to have my ear to the ground and get some of this much sought-after "business experience" so often spoken of when talking about Councillors. (For example Bill Zaharis, the Central Ward councillor from the Market.)

I am looking forward to the next meeting, and looking to develop a clear policy platform from which to campaign.

~Workers to Get Vote?

The Advertiser made the ACC front-page news again today (Crisis? What Crisis?) with the announcement that City workers- ie, people employed in the CBD, would be given the vote. This would apply only to those of voting age (duh) and only the the ACC, not any of the suburban councils. 

On the face of it, it seems a brilliant idea. All these people who daily use the City, but have no say in how it is governed. However, there are a few problems, none of which I think are insurmountable, but, which, taken together, could make a good case against the proposal.

Firstly, there are 108,000 of them. While they may have a legitimate right to have their voices heard, this completely swamps the 22,000 residential and business voters whose views are, arguably, far more important. One solution is to discount workers' votes, perhaps to 50%, or rely on low voter turnout to absorb the difference. People complain that the City is held hostage to small-minded residents, but wouldn't residents being held hostage to big business be just as bad?

Secondly, since they do not pay rates, it is questionable that they really do have the right to have their voices heard. "No taxation without representation" might work equally well in the opposite direction: "No representation without taxation". 

Thirdly, this opens a whole other can of worms: does a .4 teacher at a City school deserve as much say as the full-time waiter in a wine bar on O'Connell St? And a personal hobby horse of mine: should students be allowed the vote? They are in the City as much and more than some workers, shouldn't their views also be heard? 

Taken together, these present a compelling case against allowing City workers the vote. And I may appear in the Advertiser tomorrow with a contradictory view, and this is a lesson we should all learn: learn as much about the subject as you can before you form an opinion. 

For example, upon reflection I have come to see that compulsory voting in local elections would introduce party politics, whereas I believe local politics, more than any other, is a good breeding ground for personalities and single-issue campaigners. 

It's all part of my learning curve. Bare with me as I head towards Oct 2010!

~A New Footbridge, and Other Matters

I read in last week's CityMessenger, dated 02/10/2008, that the Council is spending $1mil to improve the Victoria Bridge (Morphett St's railway overpass) including three viewing platforms to enhance the view of Adelaide, looking east. 

It occurs to me that while this is a brilliant idea, and has my full support, it also cancels out any benefit from an extra footbridge between Adelaide Oval and Elder Park: that would completely disrupt the view. I have been against any such bridge from the start, and the arsenal of reasons against it continues to grow. 

I am also greatly encouraged by a letter from the Lord Mayor to the editor, published in the same edition. "...Bill Zaharis reflects a welcome trend in the current council, which represents a healthy diversity of age, experience and occupations. This diversity is to be encouraged." I interpret that as a first step towards accepting me, a then 22-y-o student onto the Council. 

I read with interest HinesProperty's double page spread in today's Advertiser. It publicises the new 20 Hindmarsh Square development, and the attached Crowne Plaza Hotel. I am pleased with this development, and while it is sad that Adelaide no longer has any mainstream inner-city cinemas, I fully support this development. An earlier post (LINK) explains my feeling that the Terraces and Squares could be so much more than they are: Adelaide has more park frontage than New York thanks to our Squares and Parklands. Yet we waste it by disecting the Squares and paving the Parklands. This development is a good example of how I think all the Squares should be used for premium office, residential and tourism purposes. 

~Tourists

So, we have a British couch surfer at our house at the moment. And obviously, like good hosts, we're showing her around the city. We drove to Hahndorf for a picnic on Monday, and after finding out that the BierHaus in Lobethal is only open on the weekend, we went to a pub across the road, played some pool, and afterwards raced the sun to Mt. Lofty to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. We could see Glenelg, the City, the Port, and all the suburbs. Katie was impressed by how straight Adelaide is laid out- not just the centre, but the suburbs too.

We are also going to the Bay tonight, and today is an action-packed day in the CBD. 

The point of this is to emphasise that Adelaide has plenty to do, but a lot of it requires a car, and not much is in the CBD. On the City Council Events website, there is nothing listed for the month of September. 

As a councillor, I would try to address this by encouraging new festivals in the spring months, and passing developments which will provide things for tourists to do.

~Fire regulations in Rundle Mall

Yesterday I was walking down Rundle Mall and I noticed this (British?) busker doing tricks with unlit fire sticks. He was very skilled, though not as funny as he tried to be, and in the course of events, it turned out that he was not allowed to light the fire sticks. Without checking, I feel pretty certain that it was an ACC regulation preventing him from doing so, and that is one thing I would change if I were elected. 

It's not even summer (though I don't support a fireban in summer, either: the risk is no way big enough to justify the neutering of a very clever trick.)

~Victoria Square

So, it's been a long time, but I blame it largely on not having the internet at home as I adjust to my new lodgings in Ascot Park. 

I've still been reading news papers, however, and I am now back to blogging about City issues. The Victoria Square proposal has captured a bit of attention, but less than Treasurer Foley's antics surrounding the Commonwealth Games (about which I will blog at a later date).

The proposal has two central tenets: excavating the entire area to a depth of about 7m (two storeys) and build a tower in the centre. There are several problems with this. The first is the obvious removal of dirt. Where is it going? How much would that cost? Why? The second, is the dust/sound bowl effect. The Square, with little ventilation and at a depression to the rest of the city, would concentrate sound and dust. Far from convenient and quiet for pedestrians, it would be awful. 

Thirdly, I have grown quite attacted to the Square's namesake, and to remove her would make me sad. And finally, to replace her with Australia's most same tower seems to defeat the purpose of attracting tourists. 

While some of the other ideas are attractive: proper toilets, a sound shell, open-air amphitheatre and so on, I don't want it excivated, and I don't want a tower. If elected, I would vote in accordance with these guiding principles. While I do want a taller skyline, I don't want a tower for its own sake.