Artarmon Loop

This is so exciting! Councillors have been insistent that we must do more to make public transport a practical option and given that we have such an incompetant, lazy and corrupt state government - local government is beginning to show the way forward. Councils including Lane Cove, Manly and City of Sydney have already established local bus routes which meet the needs of their residents and now its our turn to step into this important but risky business. It can't be an actual business as the aforementioned corrupt and lazy state government has already sold off the city's bus routes and legislatively prohibited anyone else from charging a fee for service! The Artarmon LOOP therefore - is FREE. Initially we will fund the service through our e-restore levy and we look forward to being able to secure sponsorship for it. It will run every 15 minutes starting on Monday the 4th May, Mon - Fri 6am - 6pm. The LOOP starts at St Leonards Station, goes up Herbert St, across to Reserve Rd and then onto the Pacific Highway, past the redeveloping ABC (media) site and down to the station again. It will even be able to carry your bike! For more details on the route click here

Earth Hour '09 in Naremburn

Pretty damn groovy. 'Way cool' according to one overheard 14 year old. Naremburn Park was the venue for this exciting event last night, as Willoughby Council marked Earth Hour, 2009. Stalls with sustainably harvested and prepared foods, valet bike parking, local Sustainability Groups and Progress Associations were set up along with Council displays of environmentally friendly home modification ideas and demonstrations. Council events don't usually attract Gen Y but his time was different. With Jane Caro (of the Gruen Transfer)as MC, hundreds of locals & quite a few from further afield lit candles, quaffed, munched and generally chilled to the sounds of the Rythmn Hunters and the sights of two excellent fire twirlers. Finally, there was a 'drum in' where those who had attended a drumming workshop earlier in the evening and those who had made their drums in the workshop tent just let it rip. Loved it. Well done Council! Check the Earth Hour website for news and pics of the event, worldwide and here's a few more from Naremburn :

Cars eat Naremburn

"Naremburn West" lies between the North Shore rail line and Willoughby Rd. Its northern boundary is the Gore Hill Freeway wall and the southern one is Dalleys Rd. This latter is a favourite rat run described by my friend Bruce as the only toll free route from the M2/Gore Hill Freeway to Mosman and Manly. Waters Rd and Dargan St lie at the heart of this part of the suburb and the residents of both are fed up with the problems associated with commuter parking generated by nearby St Leonards. Waters Rd residents already have a resident parking scheme. Dargan St residents called a very well attended meeting last Wednesday morning (see pic) to put their case for one to Council staff and local Councillors.
On top of this, Railcorp are preparing to refurbish the Ella St bridge (you know, the one with no footpath). It seems they will now install the footpath Council has been requesting for years so that's a good thing. However the residents of Dalleys, Waters and Park have become justifiably anxious about the displacement effect of closing the bridge on their already crowded and very narrow streets.
At the Naremburn Progress Association meeeting last Thursday, the bridge closure generated a lively discussion of the options. It was suggested that rather than tinkering with the current resident parking scheme in Waters Rd, we might trial closure of BOTH bridges (Lambs Rd and Ella St) for the period of the reconstruction. That would mean the only routes in and out of this part of the suburb would be via Willoughby Rd (Rohan and Dalleys Rds). A majority of those present supported the idea of trialling closure of both bridges and called for a public meeting to test the reaction of a wider group of the local community.
The old timers amongst us remember this proposal being floated in the late 90s. We were not ready for it then - do you think we are yet?

New residents

OK so I'm a lousy photographer...
A year or so ago I comissioned Alois & Bronwyn to design & construct a nest box. I've never really looked inside so I was chuffed when these sleepy heads emerged yesterday when I was pruning the crepe myrtle in which I have lodged the box!

10 Day Approvals

The first of the State Government's "cookie cutter" Housing Codes comes into force next week on the 27th February. It applies to single dwellings, one and two storey both new and alterations and additions. The Parliamentary Library has produced an E-Brief in plain English. The Urban Taskforce (aka the development industry) love it, others including the Local Government Association do not. Fortunately, certain zonings are exempt - as a large part of Willoughby LGA is currently zoned Scenic Protection/Environmentally sensitive (2a2) or within a Conservation Area, we have some protection from the excesses of this one. It is but the first in a raft of new planning provisions we have to cope with this year...

A Community in search of its School

“ The importance of a local school to community creation is chronically underestimated in modern Sydney…”

Jane Caro, media & advertising personality, champion of Public Education & Willoughby resident in the Artarmon Gazette February 2009.

Jane went on to say that Artarmon is fortunate in having maintained that connection. Neighbouring Naremburn as we know, has not been so lucky.

Last Friday afternoon Jane Simmons Regional Director DSE (Northern Sydney) and Kathryn Brennan, School Education Director were good enough to meet with members of the School Working Party formed after the public meeting we held last June. The meeting was chaired by local MP Gladys Berejiklian, and attended by Council staff including the GM Nick Tobin, Progress Association members Kevin Fitzpatrick, David Lendrum, Annaliese Appleton and Karen Pearson. All of whom I have to say are fantastic advocates for this community and specifically, for our access to a publicly funded primary school.

The good news is that apparently there has been some revision of the previous Departmental position that there were no grounds for the community assertion that the number of pre-school age children in our suburb is burgeoning. It seems that for some reason they were convinced that although the under 5s might be increasing this was no cause for concern since the numbers were oddly enough, dissipating once the cohort hit the school attendance age. Kind of like magic. Anyway, possibly prompted by our collective insistence, it seems that new information is to hand and is being assembled – in order to build a case for capital enhancement of existing school site/s. I understood that the preferred approach is to apply for funds to construct two storey buildings on existing sites to replace current single storey buildings. We expressed surprise and relief to know that such efforts were being undertaken on our behalf and hoped that the information might be shared with us forthwith.

The bad news is of course that Minister Firth refuses to meet with us, that our dream of reinstating a primary school in Naremburn is repeatedly ruled out of the question and that meanwhile Willoughby Public School enrollments stand at 804, Cammeray at 705, Artarmon at 686 and that the Willoughby electorate remains the demountable capital of the lower North Shore.

Whilst the cynic in me can’t help but think that there will be a discreet contract out there for design & construct of two storey demountables, I can report that the resolution of Friday’s meeting was that we expect a further meeting of the Working Party to be informed as to the Department’s plan for managing public primary school education demand in Willoughby before the end of June - with a further public meeting shortly thereafter.

Channel 9 digs in

I received notice of a Development Application on the Willoughby Rd site last week and was curious to know whether this was a cosmetic makeover in preparation for a further attempt to sell off the site or whether it might mean improved/extended operational investment by the current owner. Apparently its the latter. The proposal being notified is for a building to accommodate storage, electrical and mechanical workshops. The new building is to sit where the former (now adjoining) sub-station was. It will be 2 storeys but as level one is significantly lower than ground level at Artarmon Rd, it will present as on single storey. Although the uses don't generate increased demand for parking, we will take the opportunity to revisit discussions we had once before about their instituting a shuttle service from Artarmon Station - or perhaps their contributing to the cost of running Council's local bus service which is due to commence mid year. This service will initially be a loop running between St Leonards Station and the Artarmon Industrial Area and including once it is operational, the redeveloped ABC site. I'm quite sure residents in surrounding streets who are being parked out by Channel 9 staff will be pleased to see less competition for kerbside parking - which would be our objective. Let me know your take on this - is it mostly Channel 9 staff who park on surrounding streets - let me know your thoughts?

Happy New Year !!!

Hope you had as good an Xmas & NYE as I did!
Council is in recess till February..

ABC in Willoughby

When I asked our Community Services Director in early November if we should be expressing an interest in local ABC Centres the response was "NO - not yet!" Looks like the time may be upon us as today the mellifluous sounding Mr Honey (The Receiver @ McGrathNichol) announced that only 2 of the ABC Centres located in Willoughby Local Government Area (Tulloh St & Johnson St)would continue to operate amongst the 720 to remain as part of the restructured organisation. Australia wide, 55Centres will be closed. We have not been told which ones however parents of children at those centres will be offered places at nearby (2.5k radius) Centres. Mr Honey thought there would be jobs for 80% of the staff from these Centres. He also announced that another 241 Centres were "not viable under ABCs business model" but that it was possible that they could be profitable if operated under an "alternative business model". Four Centres operating in Willoughby (Fullers Rd Chatswood, Mowbray Rd Artarmon, 354 Eastern Valley Way and Barcoo St Roseville) are amongst them

Meanwhile, Julia Gillard announced a further $34M of federal support for the 241 Centres, available till March "if necessary". The Deputy Prime Minister made it clear on the 7.30 Report tonight that she thought the alternative business model was going to be that of the not for profit and local government providers.

So far as local government is concerned, I can assure Willoughby parents and staff that your Council will move to protect your places and your livelihood and we will be doing our utmost to negotiate fair and just terms in any handover from the Commonwealth (and Mr Honey). This negotiation is probably best done collectively through our peak organisation, the NSW Local Government Association of which I am now an Executive member.

Interesting to note that Mr Groves organisation appears to have secured a preferred provider arrangement with the previous federal government having a monopoly over all 21 Defence Force sites - all of which will continue to trade. Makes you wonder whether the Commonwealth has made special arrangements which have not been the subject of any press releases.

I will keep you posted and am looking forward to the return of quality child care for our children.

PostScript:
ABC (the broadcaster) reports that "a consortium" comprising Bendigo & Adelaide banks and unspecified "charities and community service agencies" are interested in taking over all 241 of the non viable centres. Also that 100 of the 500 staff of the centres to be closed "will not be reassigned" Full story here

Green Infrastructure

Our Mayor tells me he enjoyed the opportunity to go to Canberra last week - especially since he came home with a promise of some $285K to spend on infrastructure projects before September next year. He and other NSW Mayors must have found it refreshing to be treated respectfully after the contemptuous way in which our state government and its Ministers deal with local government! We must prepare a submission in order to secure the funds and our GM will be working on it right now. An additional $50M is being made available - on a competitive basis - and in this regard, I'll be asking Willoughby and northside Councils to advocate for an iconic piece of Green Infrastructure HarbourLink Have a look and see what you think:


If you like the idea, please send an email to :
1. Your local Council
2. Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and Federal member for Grayndler, A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au
3. cc info@sydneyharbourlink.com
As soon as you can, thanks!

NSW Planning Legislation

Kristina Keneally now presides over Sartor's empire. Despite her reportedly being both a sensible and a sensitive person, it seems she is in no position to reverse the excesses of her predecessor or indeed what may be the best chance she and the bunch of bullies infesting Macquarie Street's front bench have of being returned. To create a housing bubble, barriers must be removed from the planning process. Chief amongst the barriers are local elected reps and the opportunities they have created for neighbours to be informed about (and yes - even comment upon!) development proposals next door.
I have just returned from a briefing provided by our Environmental Services Director. He presented some interesting facts for example, Willoughby currently determines more DAs of greater total dollar value faster than either North Sydney or Lane Cove Councils. Anyway, leaving aside the lucrative $10M+ developments which the Mnister and her appointees are to deal with, the so called planning reforms are aimed at moving local development along such that 50% of all applications can be dealt with under "complying development codes" (CDCs) and the rest by Planning Arbitrators should the applicant feel the Council is being too slow. The current plan is to have one Complying Development Code for single storey & one for two storey developments. The latter code has not yet seen the light of day and will not be availalable for public comment before being introduced early next year - March I think..

An Aboriginal History of Willoughby

A nice photo of three of my Councillor colleagues last Wednesday at the lauch of Bo-ra-ne Ya-goo-na Par-ry-boo-go Yesterday Today Tomorrow, an Aboriginal History of Willoughby. Stuart Coppock looking especially happy to see this great result of a Motion he put to Council some 3 years ago, celebrating with newly elected Clr John Hooper and returning Clr Wendy Norton. Author Jessica Currie has stated that she wants us to imagine what Aboriginal life would have been like in the Willoughby area, before the arrival of the British. Over many months she has assembled a remarkable amount of material from the archeology, from journals of the coloniser and direct quotation from Aboriginal women "to give a voice...where that connection has been lost". The work is nicely illustrated, well referenced and provides a chronology of Aboriginal history 1770 - 2008. A drop in the ocean against the 60,000 years of continuous prior occupation, care and custodianship of this great land of ours!

Incidentally, the Northern Sydney Reconciliaion Network extends to you an Invitation to a FREE EVENT - ALL WELCOME Its a COMMUNITY BBQ at 6.30 & FORUM (7.15 - 9 pm) on Friday 24 October 2008 The Dougherty Centre, 7 Victor St, Chatswood entitled " PATHWAYS OF PROGRESS: ABORIGINAL INSIGHTS featuring:
ADEN RIDGEWAY Executive Chairman, Indigenous Tourism Australia"Indigenous Tourism - Future Opportunities"
GREG DAVISONIndigenous Engagement Officer, CSIRO"Indigenous Engagement - Engaging in a Sustainable Way"
LINDON COOMBES Executive Director, Tranby Aboriginal College"Aboriginal Education - A Changing Environment"
0438 777 545 for more information.

More Spring Festival Events

Hallstrom Park was once again the setting for Northbridge Rotary Club's excellent Garden Fair. I was pleased to hear from Malcolm (seated) and Penny Lye that this year, twice last years number of patrons came out to look, learn and buy from the many colourful and well stocked stalls. Outside broadcast studio Radio 702 BL was there with Simon Marnie hosting a live performance from Bruce Mathiske jazz guitar master, cooking demonstrations and plenty of horticultural chat. Locally indigenous chat could be had at the WEPA (Willoughby Environmental Protection Association) stall where I found Sheila & Gay taking a break. How gorgeous is that parasol? A perfect location for this sociable and somewhat languid event..looking just like a set from Midsomer...

Sunday in Naremburn

There was plenty to do in Naremburn last Sunday! In the morning I caught up with the Bike Week Guided Discovery Ride - along the new Epping Rd Shared Path, led by Bike North Club members. About 45 people, 27 of whom used the Centennial Park hire bikes (courtesy of Council) participated. Nash from Renegade Cycles at Lane Cove conducted safety checks and Alison Jones, Council's wonderful Sustainable Transport Officer was there, holding it all together. As it was such a success, we might try doing this regularly - let us know what you think..
Up the road at the former Temperance Hall in Central Street, Ingrid Morley's studio was participating in our annual Artists Open Studio Weekend. I took these pics of works in her garden.. Then it was back down to Hallstrom Oval to watch 3 Northbridge Football Club teams (under 13 boys, under 14 girls & under 16 girls) play in State championship matches. Congratulations to all these members of our diverse, talented and vibrant community!

Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China - by bike!

Celebrating NSW Bike Week, Willoughby City Council is hosting a bicycle film festival this Sunday the 28th Sept, 3.00 - 5.00pm. The event will feature a series of short films including the award-winning documentary Off the Rails, directed by Tim Cope. "It was March, the beginning of Spring in the northwest corner of Russia. Struggling to make 6km a day, Tim Cope & Chris Hatherly, both 20 year-old Australians had embarked on an epic journey across Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Northern China, finishing in Tiananmen square, Bejing." The 14 month cycling journey is as much about the warmth and hospitality of Siberian villagers and Mongolian nomads, as it is about the haunting landscapes, the outer limits of a cycling adventure and a tested friendship. Our venue is The Freeway Hotel located on the Gore Hill Freeway shared path. Bicycle parking is available. This event is presented in association with BikeSydney and the eighth annual Bicycle Film Festival (13-15 November 2008 @ the Dendy Newtown). For further information phone 9777 7706. This is a FREE event.

Bike Week - 20 - 28 September

Willoughby Council has 4 great events organised:
FREE Cycling Skills Workshop (adults & children 12+) FREE
10AM - 1PM Sat 20 September in Naremburn Park

Bike Path Discovery Ride
10AM Sun 21 September meet @ Hallstrom Park
Bike Hire available (booking essential) FREE

Bike Film Festival
3PM Sun 28 September
3 short films at the Freeway Hotel Artarmon FREE

Bike Maintenance Workshop
6PM - 9PM Thurs 25th September
@ Renegade Cycles Lane Cove (booking essential) $40

BOOKINGS & INFO 9777770

NSW Labor rearranges the deck chairs

At least this is an indication that they understand how bad things really are! Whilst there is much rejoicing that Frank Sartor has been 'kicked to the curb', the sad fact it that his "planning reforms" are enshrined. Whilst personalities come and go the damage done by corrupt Party politics in NSW seems inexorable. It's my observation that the same culture is evident amongst certain of our apparently 'independent' candidates for Council. As election day draws near, we are again supplied with the usual flood of false and malicious leaflets in a desperate attempt to undermine what has been achieved by a genuinely independent Council here in Willoughby. What I find so disturbing is the overwhelming negativity, the manipulative creation of fear and insecurity, the distortion of fact and use of base personal insult. Willoughby Council has achieved a great deal over the past 10 years or so. The achievements are there despite the culture of personality, not because of it. Fortunately, the majority of people in Willoughby have been able to distinguish between candidates with sincere and positive aspirations and those whose populist rhetoric and cheap point scoring distinguishes them as essentially game players.

Vote 1 - Group C - for Naremburn !

On September 13th most residents of NSW get to vote for members of their local councils. Sadly, quite a few LGAs have had autocrat / administrators installed by the state government as a result of corrupt practice. These situations have generally featured associations of corrupt political party hacks, Liberal and Labor. Fortunately on the Northside, we seem to have a tradition of favouring independent local Councillors. Although many Councillors are card holding party members, they seem to prefer standing as 'independents' probably because people don't seem to want parties in local government for the above - and other reasons.

Here in Willoughby we have 4 "Wards" each with 3 Councillors. Councils have a fixed term of 4 years, except for when the government would like to change that (e.g. this term was 4 and a half years). In Willoughby we also get to vote for the Mayor - who is then elected for the full term. Most Councils still elect a Mayor every year,by the Councillors. In my experience, although sometimes the people make a mistake with the Mayor, a 'popularly elected Mayor' generally delivers a better result as the Councillors are not distracted by the horse trading which used to accompany the annual election process!

Here is a pic of our team for Naremburn. I feel very honoured to have the support of these two people - Stuart Sexton and Bruce de Graaf.

Stuart and his partner Rhoda are the backbone of Artarmon's Sustainability Street group. He is also a member of Willoughby Walking Volunteers (responsible for much of the local route finding and signage you may have noticed around our parks and reserves) and of the Artarmon Reserve Bushcare Group

Bruce is the proud father of two beautiful and talented girls who attend local schools, he is Secretary of Crow's Nest Rotary and plays football for the West Pymble Pymble over 35 division 1 Premiership winning team. Perhaps because he works locally he can also find time to support Naremburn's Bushcare Group!

Thanks so much for your support guys!

Giant burrowing cockroaches @ Willoughby Park!

But not normally found there!
On show at Willoughby's Fauna Fair today, courtesy of the "Bug Man" were a range of stick insects, spiders and the giant - being shown around here by Daniel, an enthusiastic member of the audience. Apparently they're the world's biggest (up to 80mm & 35 grams) and thankfully, mostly found in north Queensland. Also on display were bats from the Ku-ring-gai Colony, a tawny frogmouth, lorrikeets and butterflies from Ossu, our sister city in East Timor. A great day, made possible through e.restore, Council's Environmental Levy - for which we have recently won an extension.

On the way there, I took this photo of Telford Lane - Willoughby's only surviving cobbled street runing between Eastern Valley Way and Fourth Avenue. An unexpected but wonderful relic don't you think?!

No news..... is that good news?

The news about Naremburn Primary School is that the meeting scheduled for this Thursday has been "postponed" for about 3 weeks. For the reason that no one seems prepared to report anything.

In the email advising this, Council officer Lyn Smith says that :

. DET's Assets Division has appointed a Mr Terry White "to analyse the demographics" across the lower north shore and that the Dept is taking this "very seriously"
. A Mr Michael Slattery has been appointed as the consultant for the Catholic Schools Office & he is undertaking "a full study of the existing site at Naremburn, a feasibility study that will be available in the near future" and promisingly,
. "Mr Slattery and Mr White are in regular communication"

Can anyone read between these lines?!