Think before you vote, urges council body

Posted to Waverley Leader (8/10/2012) on 9/10/2012 at 10:06 PM
Commenting on "Think before you vote, urges council body"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/think-before-you-vote-urges-council-body/

I have been urging ratepayers to vote with their brain rather their heart. Helping a political mate to get into any government does not and will not benefit your wallet and wellbeing, unless the representative is genuine to get in there for the good of the people rather than his/her own ego and glory.

I don't just vote for the new contestants for the sake of change or their political stance. I vote for them if they can demonstrate to me, at least in their campaign literature or in person, that they have the desire to effect changes in the Council chambers in response to the needs of Monash ratepayers. They must have clear understanding about gambling, and unemployment issues and traders' concern in Monash, and continue to call for a safe solution for Clayton railway crossing.

Urged to contest Victorian elections

Posted to City of Waverley Leader (14/5/2012) on 4/7/2012 at 12:58 PM
Commenting on "STAND FOR COUNCIL: More urged to contest Victorian elections"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/stand-for-council-more-urged-to-contest-polls/

In the City of Monash, 9 out of 11 are Labor members or associated with the party. If one is not specific partisan aligned, you have Buckley's chance. Need to say more?

Will ratepayers at City of Monash learn from Queensland state election?

Posted to Your News, Waverley Leader on 25/3/2012 at 4:48 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Title: Will ratepayers at City of Monash learn from Queensland state election?

The number of Labor Councillors in the City of Monash is 9 out of the total of 11. I am deeply concerned about local council being used as a training ground of future state and federal politicians for candidates backed by political parties with financial and other resources. This deprives other non-politically aligned candidates the opportunity to contribute towards the good of the City and the ratepayers.

This may sound like the voice of a sour grape, but then this is a statement of fact. It is unlikely for quality and genuine independents to sacrifice their time and livelihood (including money) to campaign for a position, only to find out there is Buckley’s chance to even get back their deposit money, unless there is a level playing field. Those who have burning desire to contribute will likely pack up their boxing gloves after a number of attempts.

Better resourced and influential candidates have running mates; some are even dummies who do not supply contact details to the electoral office. The purpose of having these dummies that are unlikely to win is to preference their votes to their mates to boost the count. Unfortunately, the existing preferential voting system and non-contact disclosure cannot be amended.

Some decisions made by the City executives are just being rubber stamped by the Councillors. The Council meetings can be described as more than courteous. There are insufficient scrutiny and accountability. To name a few, these include annual rate increase, council expenses including Councillors', use of technology and most laughably the curtain at Clayton pool.

While many items seem transparent, nonsensical transparency is worth as much as the nonsense itself. It is important for ratepayers to learn more about the candidates before casting their votes this October council election. The City’s future – rate collection, development, open space, traffic management, business mix, social harmony, community health services, etc. must be discussion topics and subject to more vigorous scrutiny.

Yarra Council boss quits, takes Monash Council job

Posted to Waverley Leader (22/2/2012) on 24/2/2012 at 4:57 AM
Commenting on "Yarra Council boss quits, takes Monash Council job"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/yarra-council-boss-quits-takes-monash-council-spot/

I wonder if City of Yarra were to offer the new CEO $360,000, will our "new" CEO take up the Yarra's attractive offer and quit City of Monash?

Curtailing on-call costs in Monash

Posted to Waverley Leader (21/2/2012) on 21/2/2012 at 10:03 PM
Commenting on “HAVE YOUR SAY: Curtailing on-call costs in Monash”
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/curtailing-on-call-costs-in-monash/

Ratepayers of City of Monash need more intelligent Councillors to represent their interests in the City.

Mayor Stefanie Perri is talking pure nonsense to say that “Councillors spend a large amount of time on the phone talking to ratepayers about local issues and concerns they may have." So far, as a keen follower of City of Monash's news and a frequent reader of the available local newspapers, I hardly read about what the Councillors have done or issues the Councillors have brought to the public attention!

As most ratepayers know, Councillors do not dedicate 100% of their time to represent the ratepayers, because they have other paid employment. I would be very surprised if the Councillors talk at length to ratepayers after hours.

If a Councillor spends a lot of their paid working hours talking to ratepayers, they are misusing their company's valuable resource namely time. If they operate their business, and have so much free time talking about other matters, I can imagine how dedicated they are in their business. What if it is true that they talk to ratepayers after hours? They probably value the ratepayers more than their family, honourable but plain stupid!

Pool curtain cost up in Clayton (Post 3 of 3)

Posted to Waverley Leader (7/2/2012) on 9/2/2012 at 10:50 AM
Commenting on "YOUR SAY: Pool curtain cost up in Clayton"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/pool-curtain-cost-up-in-clayton/

Jack Davis said he believed the cost increase was “a waste of money”.

Jack, you're too kind, and very wrong. The whole lot of do-good Councillors are "a waste of money", sack them all. Don't forget to sack the one that comes out with the budget and writes the tender.

Pool curtain cost up in Clayton (Post 2 of 3)

Posted to Waverley Leader (7/2/2012) on 8/2/2012 at 4:15 AM
Commenting on "YOUR SAY: Pool curtain cost up in Clayton"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/pool-curtain-cost-up-in-clayton/

The increase in cost should NOT have been approved.

It is an increase of 50% of the original budget. How much is the running cost in maintaining the curtain, and what's the life of this?

Can we trust the budget of the ongoing maintaining cost if the budget for the curtain is so disastrously off-target?

Pool curtain cost up in Clayton (Post 1 of 3)

Posted to Waverley Leader (7/2/2012) on 7/2/2012 at 2:26 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "YOUR SAY: Pool curtain cost up in Clayton"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/pool-curtain-cost-up-in-clayton/

A cost blowout of close to 50% is totally unacceptable, and whoever did the cost estimate and budget should join the dole queue. As for the Councillors, I doubt they know what they are doing almost all the time, except to agree with all the proposals, and moved motion to pass whatever put forward.

With more than three quarters of the Councillors belonging to the same political party that the PM belongs to, I suppose this is the best of the worst they can do for the City.

"Councillors voted unanimously last week to accept ... increasing the curtain budget from $45,000 to $66,400" is a conspiracy of the worst kind. Did they understand that if the blowout was so big in magnitude, how could they trust the budget for future maintenance cost, very likely came from the dude that budgeted for the construction?

Have you heard anything constructive the Councillors that have done for the ratepayers except raising their temper as fast as the mercury shooting up the thermometer stem on the total fire ban day?

This is the price to pay for voting for your mates. Open your eyes in the next election.

Paying for privacy in Monash

Posted Posted to Waverley Leader (22/11/2011) on 22/11/2011 at 1:04 AM
Commenting on "Paying for privacy in Monash"
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/paying-for-privacy-in-monash/

It's probably cheaper to build a "small" Great Wall of China as a barrier than the stupid curtain. As a ratepayer I would like to know which company has the contract to build it. At that cost, probably Monash can outsource to a factory in China for less than 25% of the original budget.

The move to install the curtain is a bad precedence, and I can see all future toilets in public places and offices will be renovated to have taps and hosts to cater for those who use their hands instead of toilet paper, after they have discharged their business, for religious reason. That is not a fiction - the new Melbourne Women's Hospital wasted a lot of money to fix the problem after the management discovered the toilets of the newly built hospital were forever wet.

Greg Male tipped to be mayor

Posted to Waverley Leader (14/12/2010) on 14/12/2010 at 4:26 PM
Commenting on “Greg Male tipped to be mayor”
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/greg-male-to-be-new-monash-mayor/

I hardly hear about the Councillors - they don't appear in or write to the local papers, talk to the traders, or meet the residents

What do they actually do for the City of Monash, except asking more and more for their pockets? Do they know about the City budgets and the wellbeing of their wards

Councillors do attend Council meetings as a formality, but do they contribute constructively, except rubber stamping proposals or discussions? However, when election draws close, they tell the ratepayers what fantastic jobs they have done, or why a particular one should be chosen as the next Mayor.

Local Council is the lowest of the three tier-government system in Australia. While Council structure is not the same as the State and Federal Governments, Councillors are in a way politicians in the making / waiting. Get your butts off and start working for the ratepayers!