News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[SRW]

lol, withdraw funding from the event which fills the city hotels & fills the city traders cash registers.

[edit]abusive comments removed

Wow, you're a civil one, aren't you...

I assume you're referring to the council's decision to end financial support for the Adelaide 500. FWIW, I agree it's probably not the best PR move by the council, and that it would have probably sufficed to reduce the amount given rather than withdraw altogether. But let's not pretend here: the event is wildly successful and does not need council funds, which are limited and better spent elsewhere.

[Nathan]

I would have thought that giving use of city streets, and quite substantial use of Victoria Park is generous enough without having to throw additional money at a profitable commercial event.

[david]

In defence of Council's decision to cut the funding to Clipsal:

Roger Cook, Chairman of the SA Motorsport Board reportedly says that the City Council are a “peculiar bunch of people” and of course he is entitled to his view but a few facts might help to explain our peculiarities.

• Council allocation for Grants and Sponsorship this year is $1.2m – up 20% on last year.
• 45 applications totaling $2.2m were received, many from new organisations.
• 32 groups received funding with an emphasis on community events, cultural festivals, events with broad appeal and affordable access such as the Fringe, Festival of Arts, and Tour Down Under which generally don’t have access to deep-pocketed sponsors and the bottomless pit of media money.
• Clipsal pays no fees to the Council for its extensive and costly use of the Park Lands, valued at $60,000 and receives much in-kind support from the Council including loss of on-street parking.
• Council provides $40,000 cash support for the SA Motorsports Board Solar Car Challenge.
• Economic benefits to the State may well be substantial but none flow directly to the Council and one wonders why the Adelaide City Council ratepayers should be expected to fund a highly successful and fully commercial event which benefits the whole State.

SA general manager of the AHA inexplicably rants about the “impact on east coast perceptions”; one wonders how much his members discount their rooms and hospitality for the event (?)

Council will continue its support for the Clipsal event but is determined to direct its limited funds to a wider range of community-based and creative events that will bring greater diversity to the vibrancy of the city.

David, Councillor.

[Nathan]

Thank you David. That all sounds completely reasonable to me.

[SRW]

Completely agree, David. Council made the right call.

[Will]

The councils decision was the right one.

However, like many council decisions the execution is lacking, and leaves the council as well as Adelaide in general appearing to be backwards and anti-development.

The ACC should hire some PR people so as to help them spin news in a positive light. Adelaide cannot afford more negative publicity. It receives more than its fair share from various sources, in particualr the Advertiser which turns every negative comment against Adelaide by C-grade people into a major story.

[Wayno]

Thanks for taking the time to respond David. I too agree with the ACCs decision. In fact, being a commercial event the Clipsal 500 should (at a minimum) be required to pay sufficient funds to cover the expense of parklands repatriation.

As Will correctly points out in his post above, ongoing PR does appear to be lacking. Perhaps the Lord Mayor should be playing a bigger role in promoting the many Council funded projects and initiatives?

[Clr Yarwood]

This was my blog:

I find it unfortunate the Chairman of the Motorsport Board would call Adelaide City Council’s decision to withdraw $40,000 from a profitable event dripping in private sponsorship opportunities “stupid”. Council will still provide $40,000 in infrastructure costs and lose $35,000 in on street parking revenue; we do support the event, just not with a cash handout.

My training tells me slinging insults is unbecoming of any Chairman, especially for 0.2% (thats 1/5th of 1%!) of the Motorsport budget - an amount Roger Cook described as “neither here nor there”. This attack shows a lack of understanding of Local Government's role in stimulating the economy; to go where the private sector cannot. Why should council continue to fund profitable big business when we should seed innovation and create new opportunities?

Council has a limited sponsorship budget and significant demands – we support a wide range of events and communities. Start-ups struggle to get private sector funding because big events like Clipsal dominate the market; it is not until an event demonstrates it is worthy of investment/brand collaboration that they get consideration in the marketplace.

Council should be at the cutting edge, creating opportunity to stimulate the economy and communities in ways the private sector cannot. Those funds will now go to activating Hindley Street Laneways during the Fringe, helping the Irish and Lebanese Community get festivals running and reinvigorate the Festival of Ideas. Most of these will happen outside of “Mad March”, a move a majority tell me is much needed.

Being called stupid and suggesting a “backlash” sounds like bullying; certainly promoting a backlash on council is hardly conducive to economic progress. Is Mr. Cook offering solutions or problems to facilitate a diversified and innovative economy where Adelaide, not egos, are the winner?

[david]

Councillor David Plunridge's Notes - Issue 51

- Tourism Action Plan
- Development Assessment Panel decisions
-Committee Meeting recommendations
(Note next full Council meeting is 26 July at 5.30pm)

Notes from Councillor Issue 51.doc.pdf

(366.56 KiB) Downloaded 197 times

[Wayno]

The first part of the meeting was a Workshop to enable the Committee to be briefed on the Integrated Design Strategy; how it will be implemented and its impact on the design of the City and our relationship with adjoining Councils. Council’s Jason Pruszinski will be seconded to the IDC from September

Hi David, who briefed the council on the Integrated Design Strategy - Mr Horton perhaps? and what can you tell us about the implementation and impact?

[david]

Hi Wayno,

That's a good question!

The briefing was done by Jason Pruszinski of ACC staff.
I will try to get a copy of his presentation electronically and then post it on this site.

Incidentally, Jason has been seconded to the IDC and will be moving across in September as part of the Council's contribution to the State/Local combined resourcing of this project.

David

[david]

Councillor's Notes - Issue 52

- First mass-produced electric car
- Adelaide Oval
- The London Electric Bus Company
- Adelaide park lands Authority
- Development Assessment Panel (meeting cancelled)
- Reconciliation Committee
Council Decisions - 26 July.

David Plumridge

Notes from Councillor Issue 52.doc.pdf

(253.6 KiB) Downloaded 196 times

[Clr Yarwood]

Hi All,

Find a link to a blog about cycling in Adelaide and Copenhagen http://bit.ly/dgXake

Also a must see video that will blow you away! http://bit.ly/bnK64p

Finally the article in Today’s advertiser… http://bit.ly/8YZp7r

Enjoy – feedback welcome!

[Waewick]

realistically to make this election relevant you should be going in promising that people who work in the CBD are also eligible to vote.

All the ideas are fine, but considering more people come in and out of the city daily than actually live here it makes sense.

[monotonehell]

Hi All,
Find a link to a blog about cycling in Adelaide and Copenhagen http://bit.ly/dgXake
Also a must see video that will blow you away! http://bit.ly/bnK64p
Finally the article in Today’s advertiser… http://bit.ly/8YZp7r
Enjoy – feedback welcome!

"Buckets'o'kids" lol Brilliant stuff. I stopped riding my bike when I moved out of Adelaide up to the NE suburbs, there's just no where to ride where cars are trying to left turn through you out here. (want to move back to Adelaide, the quality of life is so much better)

Re-sharing your Facebook post...