News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[Llessur2002]

Interesting interview with Haese. I wonder how much is true and how much is spin...

“My views are liberalising”: Haese’s road to Damascus



Adelaide | Lord Mayor Martin Haese has conceded he was wrong about the food trucks industry and Frome Street was his road to Damascus, declaring “my views are liberalising”.

In a candid interview with InDaily yesterday the former retail chain businessman admitted he had changed his mind on key issues since he took power.

“I’ve converted in a couple of areas. I have. I’m going to be unapologetic,” he told InDaily.

But Haese has apologised, he revealed, to food truck operators.

Having promised during last year’s election campaign to support fixed city businesses that felt food trucks had been prioritised by the Adelaide City Council, Haese held a meeting with 17 mobile food truck vendors last month.

He says he called the meeting because he didn’t believe the figures in a council administration report showing the nascent industry made about $600,000 in total each year – a tiny fraction of city lunchtime revenue – and thus had a negligible impact on the profits of bricks-and-mortar city businesses.

“I didn’t believe it,” he said.

“I wanted to validate it to myself.

“I wanted to know how many days a week they trade, how many hours they trade, what their average sale is, how many transactions they do per day, how many of them are there.”

Haese says he did the maths “while I was sitting there with them”.

“And it came out to about $650,000,” he said.

“I shook all of their hands. I thanked them.

“I said, ‘I apologise – I should have met with you six months ago’.

“I said, ‘please accept my apology’.”

The meeting was a turning point.

“I’ll swallow my sword,” said Haese.

“I’ve got to say, my level of respect completely changed.

“When we’d finished it together, I think we really had a good understanding of each other.

“It was an awkward conversation at the beginning, but it was a fantastic conversation to have.”

Haese said the food trucks policy agreed upon by the council at a committee meeting this week balanced the interests of all major stakeholders.

Responding to Premier Jay Weatherill’s “alarm” at the council’s foreshadowed clamp-down on food trucks in August, Haese said he would “champion” an exemption to exclusion zones which would have effectively banished food trucks from city squares.

The policy would increase fees for food truck vendors and cut the number of mobile vending licences from 40 to 30.

However, the policy also gives food truck operators permission to trade on city squares.

“That policy position is a compromise, and it’s a good compromise,” he said.

“That’s our job – to find the compromise.

“The mobile guys are happy.

“The bricks-and-mortar … are happier. But I’m sure some are terribly unhappy.”

He told InDaily the reduction of licences was not as threatening to food truck operators as it may appear – because not all of the licences available were currently being used – but that that element of the policy helped to win over organisations lobbying on behalf of fixed city businesses.

Haese agreed the policy said something about a pragmatism underlying his politics, and it was not the only policy to do so.

As a candidate to succeed then Lord Mayor – and Frome Street bikeway advocate – Stephen Yarwood, Haese described the controversial bikeway as “overengineered” and said he did not want to see similar infrastructure rolled out across the city.

But this week he urged the State Government to help the council extend the bikeway all the way to the River Torrens, including a whole-of-streetscape upgrade estimated to cost $10 million.

He now hopes a memorandum of understanding can be reached to jointly fund the project by March next year, and that that memo will include the intention to construct a complementary east-west cycleway.

Haese told InDaily his conversion to the Frome Street cause came after he was presented with design options by council administration.

“Quality – there’s my road to Damascus,” said Haese. “Quality.”

“If I could wind back the clock a year, I would have said we should’ve gone for quality every time.

“I think we should always just have done it at the highest possible standard, at the most reasonable cost.

“I know it comes at a higher cost, but I am convinced that you go for quality every time.

“You do it at a level that you can say ‘that’s how it’s going to be’ … and it will last decades.”

Haese said that describing the bikeway as “overengineered” was “the wrong choice of words” and, again: “I’ll swallow my sword”.

“We need to have an Adelaide Design Manual solution, ultimately, from Carrington Street to the river, and then going the other way – east-west.

“This involves new footpaths, new gutters, new drainage, new cycling lanes, undergrounding of power lines.

“There’ll be some discomfort … during construction, but when it’s done it will be a standout.

“Once we do the first stage of something of an ADM quality – you watch the conversation change.

“It will be ‘this street is functional, this street is aesthetic, this street has been beautified’ and ‘this street works’.”

On the bikeway question, Haese again revealed he is taking a pragmatic approach.

Responding to the suggestion that there was little evidence returning Frome Street to a four-driving-lane road would have any impact on car traffic, Haese told InDaily: “If it takes four lanes of traffic to keep majority of stakeholders, if not all, supportive of the outcome, and not fighting it every step of the way, to keep the cyclists safe, and to get what we want, we’ll do it.”

“It’s the pragmatist in me.

“It’s not an ideologue, it’s pragmatism.”

Haese said his confidence was “high” that the a deal could be reached with the State Government to jointly fund the upgrades.

Overall, Haese said that “progressive is a word that many people interpret in many ways … but I think my views are liberalising”.

On Wednesday evening, Haese said he met with a group of 18 potential candidates to fill the area councillor seat vacated by now-Greens Senator Robert Simms.

Asked if he believed council’s balance would tip in a conservative direction in Simms’ absence, Haese told InDaily: “I think it’s actually tipping the other way, quite possibly myself included”.

“I hope we get a progressive outcome, and I think we are certainly moving in that direction.

“I don’t think (conservative and progressive politics) are mutually exclusive.

“Sometimes, in order to determine your future you need to look back to your past.

“You don’t just discount everything that was done yesterday as rubbish – I think that’s short sighted.

“However, we need to be a council that puts one foot after the other and keeps going.”

http://indaily.com.au/news/2015/10/23/m ... -damascus/

[monotonehell]

Interesting interview with Haese. I wonder how much is true and how much is spin...

He's basically backed down on the things that got him elected... I guess that's good?

[Wayno]

More from Lord Mayor Haese. Will be keen to hear more about the action he will take to make up the expected ~5000 population shortfall.

Indaily

Adelaide | Lord Mayor Martin Haese wants the population of the City of Adelaide to surge.

Haese says his “personal aspiration” is for 30,000 people to live in the city by the end of his first term in 2018.

Haese told InDaily that boosting the population of the city (including North Adelaide) by nearly 8000 people in under three years would boost everything from Adelaide’s evening economy, to the safety of its streets, to the fate of its universities.

Acknowledging that higher density city living was “not always politically popular with everyone,” he told InDaily, “we need to get to 30,000, quickly”.

“That’s a stretch, but by council elections 2018 – 30,000 people in the city,” he said.

“It’s a stretch … but it’s doable.

“If we want to have a vibrant city, if we want to have an evening economy, if we want to have a safer city, if we want to have sustainable budgets for Adelaide City Council – there’s the pragmatist in me coming out – if we want to attract tourists, if we want to enhance our brand, if we want to stimulate the construction sector, if you want to create employment, if we want our universities to thrive, if we want more international students … every bit of what I just rattled off is about residential growth.”

Haese said there would also be a cultural benefit to higher-density living in the city.

He said that “closer-knit” communities, in the physical sense, can often translate to “closer-knit” communities, in the social sense.

“(That way) you’ve got a community in your townhouse area, your apartment area, whatever it is,” he said.

“We need … high density, greater affordability – you’ve got to have both.

“We have to have an affordable, good quality product, and you need to have the luxe end.

“We do have a lot more mobile lives (these days).

“I think that people want a lifestyle that is a little less-maintenance, so they can get up and go.

“More young people living in the city – that’s where the city growth will be.”

However, in the Yes Minister sense of the phrase, 30,000 by 2018 is an ambitious goal.

Experts from population consultancy .id forecast that the City of Adelaide will have to wait until the year 2024 to edge over the 30,000 residents mark.

The city’s population is forecast to increase by:
* 1200 residents in 2016.
* Nearly 1000 in 2017.
* And another 850 (approx.) in 2018.

Those forecasts would bring the city’s population to just over 25,000 in 2018 – well short of the Lord Mayor’s target.

While Haese’s “personal aspiration” may be ambitious, his demographics are on the money.

Young adults make up the largest proportion of the City of Adelaide’s population: around 20 per cent.

More than six-thousand 20 to 24-year-olds are expected to reside in the city and North Adelaide by 2026, rising to nearly 7500 by 2036.

[phenom]

I'd hazard a guess we at least have a chance of getting to that target now that we're not so uptight about a tallish building here and a tallish building there. It still blows my mind to realise that the 'City of Adelaide' proper had 43,000 people living it a century ago - obviously related to transport options etc but still quite the bustling city at the time.

[Torrens_5022]

Where did all these 43,000 people live? A lot of houses would have been knocked down since then. One thing that would make a lot of difference is the 2 bedroom cottages that would house two (maybe three) people now probably had a family of five in 1915. This population also includes North Adelaide.

[phenom]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/p ... bd/6886702

This is a great idea. Those car parks on Pitt St are token in the scheme of things (and shouldn't really be there even without the footpath being extended) and it's such a massive pedestrian thoroughfare that it's virtually guaranteed you will have to walk on the road if you want to use it. Hopefully forming part of a bigger picture (ie including the Topham walkway, Leigh St) to make it easier for locals/tourists to get to/from the central markets back to the main CBD area.

[phenom]

Where did all these 43,000 people live? A lot of houses would have been knocked down since then. One thing that would make a lot of difference is the 2 bedroom cottages that would house two (maybe three) people now probably had a family of five in 1915. This population also includes North Adelaide.

You're exactly right on average family size and it's scary to think how many houses must have been knocked down... I'm not a huge fan of heritage preservation for the sake of it but restored properly a lot of those late 19th century cottages and houses add an amazing feel to the streets. That said I'm sure some of what was knocked down was probably effectively 'lean-to' and no great loss.

[Wayno]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/p ... bd/6886702

This is a great idea. Those car parks on Pitt St are token in the scheme of things (and shouldn't really be there even without the footpath being extended) and it's such a massive pedestrian thoroughfare that it's virtually guaranteed you will have to walk on the road if you want to use it. Hopefully forming part of a bigger picture (ie including the Topham walkway, Leigh St) to make it easier for locals/tourists to get to/from the central markets back to the main CBD area.

This is great news. Momentum is clearly turning in favour of pedestrians and cyclists

[ChillyPhilly]

Love it! Been waiting for this for years.

[mshagg]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/p ... bd/6886702

This is a great idea. Those car parks on Pitt St are token in the scheme of things (and shouldn't really be there even without the footpath being extended) and it's such a massive pedestrian thoroughfare that it's virtually guaranteed you will have to walk on the road if you want to use it. Hopefully forming part of a bigger picture (ie including the Topham walkway, Leigh St) to make it easier for locals/tourists to get to/from the central markets back to the main CBD area.

Agreed, great idea and much-needed. Given the western footpath is essentially useless (so narrow) there's a lot of foot traffic along the eastern side, further compounded by including it in the central market pedestrian route.

Given the street is dominated by the church, the blank eastern-side of HM's theatre and the truscotts carpark it doesn't seem like much amenity is being lost.

Don't know what to think about the lord mayor's comments. Good on him, but his mea culpa essentially sees him arrive at what many of us where saying whilst he was busy belting yarwood over the head about MFVs and Frome St. I think he'll also find few people travelling the road to Damascus these days.

[Shahkar]

Congratualtions Adelaide City Council, you've outdone yourself once again!

Adelaide City Council cuts the number of daytime CBD food trucks to just 10

ADELAIDE City Council has slashed the number of food trucks allowed to operate in the CBD during the daytime to just 10, in the latest development in the controversial issue.

Under the new rules, passed by the council on Tuesday, only 10 food trucks will be allowed to operate in the city before 6pm, except on special event days such as the Fringe Festival or major sporting fixtures.

The surprise move comes after a council committee last week recommended reducing the number of permits to 30 — including 20 for regular operators, five fee-free permits for entrepreneurs and five half-price permits for bricks-and-mortar businesses — from the current limit of 40, and increase fees to $2500 annually.

But Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad on Tuesday successfully proposed slashing the number of food trucks allowed in the city during daylight hours to just 10.

“There is a massive perception issue around (the) impact (of food trucks),” he said.

“By doing this (change) we have eliminated the fear that there will be 30 food trucks travelling around the city at once.

“I have seen the (council’s) data and there are rarely more than six or eight food trucks in the city at once but it is about dealing with the perception.”

The change in direction on food trucks came after several of the city’s biggest landowners met with council representatives on Monday.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said he advocated for the committee’s previous position at the meeting but councillors supported the changes to slash the number of food trucks in the city during the daytime at Tuesday’s council meeting.

He said councillors were within their rights to change a committee recommendation.

Commercial lawyer Greg Griffin spoke at the meeting representing prominent city landowners — including the Polites Group, the Karidis Corporation, the Makris Group and others — and raised the idea of limiting the number of food trucks allowed to operate during lunch hours.

“They (bricks-and-mortar businesses) are struggling big time,” he said.

“Lots of these tenants are struggling to pay their rent.”

City cafe owner Talia Wyman said she was considering walking away from her premises near Hindmarsh Square because food trucks had such low overheads and could undercut her prices.
She said she paid nearly $90,000 in rent and could not drop her prices in response to food trucks, whose operators presently paid between $100 and $1000 in permit fees to trade for 10 days through to six months during the summer.

“You keep talking about supporting young entrepreneurs. Well, I’m one of them,” Ms Wyman said.

“I want to support Adelaide city, but it needs to support me, too.”

The move is expected to cause a backlash from food truck operators who believed the policy debate was largely settled last week, and many of whom would effectively be locked out of the city’s lunchtime trade.

The new rules would apply until July 2019.

Joe Noone, who founded the food truck festival Fork on the Road, said he was disappointed with the last-minute rule changes.

“We had negotiated in good faith and then we come here tonight and it seems like politics has gone and bitten us on the bum,” he said.

“There’s this myth that persists that food trucks don’t work hard or pay overheads and it’s just not true.”

Mr Noone said the changes went too far.

The introduction of food trucks in 2011, as part of the council’s Splash Adelaide program, has been credited as making the city a more vibrant place but bricks-and-mortar businesses have complained the fee structure for mobile operators has been too low and unfair.

Premier Jay Weatherill took to social media yesterday to praise the council’s previously stated position which was passed at last week’s committee meeting.

“This moves strikes a far better balance than the restrictions that were proposed and will be a strong launching pad to grow Food Trucks and city vibrancy in the future,” he posted.

A proposal to defer the food truck policy debate was defeated on the council floor.

Councillor Phillip Martin said the latest changes to the food truck rules, after several proposals and a community consultation process, was “policy on the run”.

The council also passed a plan to investigate and negotiation with the State Government for a multimillion-dollar fix for Frome St, which could cost up to $11.5 million, without debate.

A proposal to investigate closing Ebenezer Pl to vehicle traffic during certain hours of the day was also supported by the council.

But Cr Abiad’s plan to scrap outdoor dining fees next financial year, was held up, with the final decision on the proposal to be made after council staff prepare a policy report on the matter.

“The council is supportive of waiving of outdoor dining fees but the policy needs to come back to councillors (before being approved),” he said.

[crawf]

This is why Adelaide can't have nice things.

How about some of these existing businesses quit their whinging and lift their game. The food truck scene was starting to become an attraction for the city, but now it's disappearing off our streets due to politics and scare mongering. Same goes for the Royal Croquet Club, it's ridiculous and damaging all the hard work done to improve Adelaide as a destination and place to live.

Don't get me wrong many of these existing businesses do a wonderful job and a massive vital part of the city, though there are some businesses that seem to blame everything around them and not realise that it's their own business model that is the problem.

P.S what is the point of a public consultation??!

[how good is he]

Ridiculous decision after Haese accepted they make just $650,000 per annum combined anyway. Why don't the bricks and mortar businesses also do there own food trucks? I say de-regulate it altogether. Does this mean the food trucks will be heading to the suburbs, maybe a good thing!
Btw how do they police it? I imagine somebody has to drive around the whole city and then how do they decide if there are more than ten, which operators have to pack up?

[ChillyPhilly]

This is why Adelaide can't have nice things.

How about some of these existing businesses quit their whinging and lift their game. The food truck scene was starting to become an attraction for the city, but now it's disappearing off our streets due to politics and scare mongering. Same goes for the Royal Croquet Club, it's ridiculous and damaging all the hard work done to improve Adelaide as a destination and place to live.

Don't get me wrong many of these existing businesses do a wonderful job and a massive vital part of the city, though there are some businesses that seem to blame everything around them and not realise that it's their own business model that is the problem.

P.S what is the point of a public consultation??!

I'm curious to see the outcome of the 'community consultation'. I highly doubt the outcome would have been a reduction in food trucks, unless the participants were conveniently restaurant owners.

[Vee]

I was shocked to read this news.
Having received an email yesterday about the public consultation and the position to be taken to last night's Council meeting, this completely trashes the 'compromise' solution that appeared to have been arrived at .... before last night's vote!!!

It is a complete kick in the the teeth to the MFV and the people who bothered to respond to public consultation.

The ACC appears hell bent on killing many of the recent progressive moves in line with 21st century thinking, at the expense of our increasingly vibrant city.
Disgusting.