News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[Clr Yarwood]

Hi All,

I have been experimenting with the best, and most interesting, way to keep people up to date with what is happening at the town hall and life. Sensational Adelaide and Facebook have been an important part of that but I want to reach a wider audience.

Whilst I will still use Sensational Adelaide & Facebook to send updates - I thought it best to push on into some creative writing that others can access – blogging.

Hence if you are interested in what life is like as an Adelaide City Councilor and statements I make on key issues; please drop by, bookmark and enjoy my new blog site:

http://stephenyarwood.blogspot.com/

I the meantime I can advise that at the last council meeting we locked in place funding to match the federal government’s $415,000 grant for solar panels on the Adelaide Central Market next financial year – a dream come true to help make our wonderful market cleaner and greener!

Next Monday night I will be calling for a report into the possibility of kicking off a Saturday night market in China Town as we will be making some decisions regarding the Torrens lake fiasco.

Don’t forget to enjoy the Adelaide Film Festival and Garden of Unearthly Delights – both of them opened last night! www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/

[Ben]

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/141/2009
Lodgement Date: 19/02/2009
Location: 26-40 Blyth Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install 7 light boxes to create a light box gallery

[Wayno]

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/141/2009
Lodgement Date: 19/02/2009
Location: 26-40 Blyth Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install 7 light boxes to create a light box gallery

i thought this DA was received by the council 6-8 months ago? resubmitted perhaps?

[Ben]

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/141/2009
Lodgement Date: 19/02/2009
Location: 26-40 Blyth Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install 7 light boxes to create a light box gallery

i thought this DA was received by the council 6-8 months ago? resubmitted perhaps?

There are some already up but my understanding is the building they are on are due for demolition for the new Majestic Hotel on Hindley so these are either replacing those or relocating them.

[SRW]

Next Monday night I will be calling for a report into the possibility of kicking off a Saturday night market in China Town...

Fabulous news. China Town really ought to be better utilised.

Don’t forget to enjoy the Adelaide Film Festival and Garden of Unearthly Delights – both of them opened last night! http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/

Yup, great vibe in the East End last night. And the Garden is better than ever

[It's Our City]

Agree, the garden is great - looks like they've changed the layout a bit this year too.

[crawf]

Next Monday night I will be calling for a report into the possibility of kicking off a Saturday night market in China Town

A asian night market would be great for the city!

[Will]

Agree, the garden is great - looks like they've changed the layout a bit this year too.

I agree, I was at the garden yesterday and the vibe was great. I plead to the councillors of the ACC oppossed to the garden to back down. It is a great attraction for Adelaide for both locals and visitors and getting rid of it or sending it to Mount Compass would be a tragedy. The parklands are meant for the enjoyment of the citizens of all of Adelaide, and in this era this is the method by which people enjoy them. I dare say that there were more people in Rundle Park yesterday than what there would be throughout the whole year. Why is this a bad thing?

[Clr Yarwood]

Indeed there was an unfortunate error in letting out 300 ML of water from the Torrens Lake, be it human or technological. Council is still determined to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, but let’s face it, errors happen…who does not make at least one good mistake a year??!

What bothers me is the sudden decision by many to care about the Torrens despite over 17 tonnes of waste being pulled out in the last 10 days. That’s not including the pollutants and waste that have daily seeped in year in and year out, ensuring our Torrens River and Lake are a toxic waterway gasping for life.

I am sure you do not litter, but do you insist your friends and family don’t throw their cigarette butts on the ground when the finish? Please do!

This event has not been the disaster the mainstream media would have us believe. Years ago the Torrens Lake was drained every two years to be cleaned and this process has been long overdue, albeit unplanned and not the best time.

Council staff has done a brilliant job of taking advantage of this opportunity by:

• Removing over 17 Tonnes of rubbish;
• Working to eradicate the Carp;
• Implementing a planting program of appropriate water vegetation to improve the natural habitat; and
• Protecting local animal life.

The water level has risen dramatically from underground sources. Over one half a meter within the first few days and 230mm last week. There are no smells, no dust and people are not cancelling their trips to Adelaide because the water is down!

I am pleased the Highbury quarry water is high in sulphate and inappropriate as a Torrens refill– at over $½ million it would have been a waste of money, money that can be spent on transitioning to sustainable living rather than fighting against Mother Nature.

The simple fact is we live in the driest state of the driest continent on the very edge of the second biggest desert in the world. Furthermore we are in the middle of a serious drought and facing some tough decisions about how our community will cope.

With flooding in Queensland the size of the entire South Australia and fires reaping death and destruction in Victoria, these events are an important message that we are not the masters of nature but that in fact nature is our only true master.

So the water level is down, big deal…lets stop to think about all the farmers that lives are being devastated by a more serious lack of rain that is needed to feed not only their families, but ours.

The only thing Adelaide City Council, and all of us for that matter, should be doing is praying for rain and planning for a future that works with, rather than against our host, the Adelaide Plains.

[Will]

One thing that has greatly annoyed me about the draining of the Torrens is the fabrication by the media of a pong. I was there on Saturday afternoon and there was no bad smell. The Advertiser and David Koch should be ashamed of themselves for creating this farce which is creating bad publicity for Adelaide!

[SRW]

To be fair, I was walking along the riverside path adjacent to War Memorial Drive the other day (near Hackney Road), and there was a definite odour. However, the smell probably does not affect the length of the River, or the Lake itself, and it's certainly no worse than is the Patawalonga every day of the year. Not worth making a fuss about.

[omada]

It smelt in certain sections of the river anyway, water or no water !

[Omicron]

To be fair, I was walking along the riverside path adjacent to War Memorial Drive the other day (near Hackney Road), and there was a definite odour. However, the smell probably does not affect the length of the River, or the Lake itself, and it's certainly no worse than is the Patawalonga every day of the year. Not worth making a fuss about.

These days, it's far more likely to be the nearby sewage treatment works than the much-maligned Pat. I'm surprised that the works are still there, to be perfectly honest; I'd have thought they would have succumbed to the lure of development dollars years back and relocated to airport grounds or disappeared entirely. Of course, there could be a fundamental infrastructure/collection issue with that, but my sewage knowledge is (thankfully) somewhat limited.

[Wayno]

latest from Clr Plumridge:

NOTES__FROM_COUNCILLOR_Issue_21.pdf

(262.63 KiB) Downloaded 162 times

* keeping parks green is good use of water, and is necessary for community well being
* bicycle sales outstrip car sales
* Clr shows some displeasure at 20HS overhanging the heritage building next door
* Black Gothic Sails over St Peters Cathedral (a wierd way of protesting the AO redevelopment)
* Deny approval to cut down 25 trees for the tram extension
* various other bits and pieces...

[Clr Yarwood]

I heard last week at the Capital City Committee that there are 11 electric cars in Adelaide at present so I decided to look into what I want for my birthday!

Some images about what is around the corner can be found on my blog at http://stephenyarwood.blogspot.com/