Full Council Meeting 22nd November - Fantastic !
What happened ?
There was a full scale outbreak of representative democracy, how we always hope it will work - but almost never does.
The meeting was set up with all three council meeting rooms at the Richmond Town Hall joined into one big room - full of chairs. We arrived about 5 minutes early, and the room was already half full. By ten minutes into the meeting - it was standing room only
Well over 400 citizens and friends of the City of Yarra were in attendenace.
Mayor Amanda Stone, started by acknowledging the traditional owners, thanked everyone for attending, then we all took the white ribbon day oath.
Then it was on.
Main Agenda Items :-
Town Hall Meeting Resolutions
Council Resolutions following from the motions from the Town Hall Meeting on Thursday 17th November led by the FRA (Fitzroy Residents Association), with respresentatives from most of the various residents groups throughout Yarra. The Council press release is Council Resolutions - 26-56 Queens Parade
The detailed council resolutions, relating to 26-56 Queens Parade are in this link Hot Topics
Passed : resolution to complete the DDO covering 26-56 by early February, _and_ fund the council representaives at VCAT.
The developer Tim Gurner (tm) spoke to the motion. He opposed the DDO. His arguement was a selective reading of the urban designer's report on the development. The council head of town planning replied with a less selective reading of the report he commissioned. This was followed by a big round of applause for the head of planning, Mr Phillips. The motion was passed unamously.
- Walmer Street Bridge
After a community consulation Salta had taken the community input and come up with two options to the Walmer Street bridge they were happy with. The community wasn't, and neither was the council. Neither of Salta optios were approved. Both options were rejected on a number of grounds, especially safety of cyclists and pedestrians.