The editor of the Northern Leader, Caitlin Lewis, entitled her editorial in this week’s paper “Better off under Administration?”

With many people in Coledale outraged about the Administrators’ decision to keep Sharkey’s Beach an off-leash dog beach, it is a good thing she had the journalistic nous to add that question mark. It leaves room for some real debate.

I really doubt if the Administrators have any real knowledge of where Sharkey’s Beach is, let alone any real knowledge of how people relate to this beach.

Our hard working elected Counicllors knew these things very well indeed, and would know that the Council officers recommendations in their dogs on beaches report had failed to strike the correct balance in regard to Sharkey’s.

Councillors Dave Martin and Alice Cartan regularly attended our monthly Neighbourhood Committee meetings and had their finger right on the local pulse. I have not seen an Administrator at our regular monthly meeting since they were appointed in March 2008.

But what we have at the moment in lieu of a real Council is merely theatre – theatre of the absurd at that.

A correspondent – who has recently made use of the Public Access forum to address the Administrators – shares my view that there is no real consideration of what is said. The Administrators listen politely and then accept the Council officers recommendations without modification.

In regard to the Public Access Forums the few that i have witnessed seemed to me to be a total waste of time in comparison to when we had real debate with real live Councillors, and there was a real chance of engaging with our community’s forebrain.

All we have now is a bureaucratic hind-brain

When we had elected Councillors there was a real chance of engaging with our community’s local political forebrain (even if it was dominated by a mind-numbing dullness from the ALP majority).

The Independent Councillors would often make good use of the situation when members of the public made presentations.

It was good theatre – instead of the theatre of the absurd which has replaced it.

No need to travel to Sydney to see “Waiting for Godo” – what now takes place once a month on the tenth floor of Council’s tower in Burelli Street is real live absurdity – right here in Wollongong.

I don’t why they bother to call them “Council meetings” any more. Not only is there no Council, the three Administrators merely rubber stamp Council officer recommendations.

Our local lives are now well and truly dominated by a state appointed bureaucratic hind-brain.

This is not good for our city – but this seems to be acceptable to a large number of people in Wollongong.

Where is the leadership? Can’t say i have heard anyone raising these issues.

People seem to be passively twiddling their thumbs waiting for September 2012 (next Council election) to roll around before they become active. None of them will get my vote.

The time to be preparing for the new WCC is now – to be ready to rock and roll with a change of state government in March 2011.

What we need from papers like the Northern Leader, which reach far more people than a blog like this can ever do, is some reporting of these issues which has some sense of depth and – here’s a novel word for local government matters – a sense of soul.

Our local communities do have our own special soul, you know, even if it is presently in need of some springtime nourishment after years of neglect.

We deserve far better than dull Administrators, bent Lord Mayors and the acts of abuse which come with party politics. Let’s leave the old style 20th century politics behind, and enter into the freshness of the new 21st – and put back into life the lively spirit that was previously restricted to music under the old God Save the Queen/Fascist regime.

Rock and roll
Sense of soul

Oh, and with David Campbell, out they go!

cheers

Bruce R

I do love to see a dog run free, but I don’t agree that Sharkey’s Beach should be the place for dogs from anywhere to run at any time, especially in large numbers during summer. We locals used to enjoy seeing the late Ray Joyce and his iconic dog there.

There were also a few other local dogs – characters in their own right. So, Local dogs and those of genuine visitors (actually visiting local peoples) is part of our local cultural heritage.

And, while i wonder if this will let the dogs out, I do have another item from the “correct me if I am wrong department”. There have been emails going around during the last week which have been highly critical of the role of Neighbourhood Forums in relation to WCC latest Dogs on Beaches policy.

My recollection of the attendance of the anti-dogs on Sharkey’s group at Neighbourhood Forum 2 consisted of coming to a couple of meetings early last year – stacking one meeting at which the then CCNC/NF2 voted to support their position (with most of the regulars wanting to defer discussion to ensure a balanced debate with both sides present) – and departing.

From my perspective this use of the NF lead to the pro-dogs people making sure they had the numbers for the subsequent large CCNC/CCNF/NF2 meeting at the Coledale Community Hall. It was payback time!

And by virtue of the heat being generated by this issue – and maybe by the tactics being employed by both sides – this very important community meeting at the Coledale Community Hall quickly turned into a fiasco instead of a constructive debate which could have come up with a working compromise.

As this blog documented at the time, there was a real problem with the way that large meeting was handled. As far as I know this problem has never been adequately addressed. I did raise it at several NF2 meetings but there has been an absence of support. NF2 need to accept a degree of ownership for this shortcoming. (I must add that the WCC Community Consultation division has proven itself to be worse than useless in dealing with these vital matters in a competent and timely manner.)

I don’t go to every NF2 meeting, but I go to quite a few and read the minutes etc. From what I have seen neither the pro or anti dog people have attended the regular monthly meetings to participate in the workings of NF2, and certainly have both been missing in action in terms of discussion at NF2 about the resources and reforms necessary to make Neighbourhood Forums work better to handle community business.

As I say, correct me if I am wrong – but we should have had a balanced solution to the dogs on Sharkey’s Beach problem in the middle of last year. And that would have put us in a good position to put our case to Council for a classification of Sharkey’s with something we can all live with.

If I am correct, then I make a plea to all sides (and for both the pro and anti dogs on Sharkey’s Beach groups) to accept some degree of ownership of their own contribution to this problem as well – rather than seeking to belittle the hard working people who have been attending the regular Neighbourhood Forum 2 meetings (and its earlier versions) for many a long year.

Let’s maturely identify the problems and work out what we really need to get our local community humming, and on the same song sheet.

Those who prefer to bury their heads in the sand may be unpleasantly surprised at what they find there!

Bruce R
2 October 2010