Monday 13 October 2008

Suburban graffiti costs millions

as posted TheWest

Perth is losing the war on graffiti, with a survey of major councils throughout the metropolitan area revealing many are struggling to cope with soaring clean-up bills collectively costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Many councils say they are fed up with vandals thumbing their nose at authorities and have demanded immediate reinstatement of a graffiti taskforce which was abandoned by Labor in 2002.

By far the worst hit is the City of Stirling, with 10,876 reports of graffiti in 2007-08, up from 6845 the previous year, and a massive clean-up bill of $658,000, despite initiatives to combat the problem.

The City of Swan also faced a big bill of $619,000 after recorded incidents almost doubled to 2458 from 1270 in a single year.

But almost every council is facing big increases in graffiti reports and clean-up bills.

They have had to install CCTV, employ graffiti removalists, set up hotlines and websites and provide anti-graffiti diversionary programs, among other measures.

According to the Office of Crime Prevention, the State Graffiti Hotline received 3724 reports of graffiti damage in its first year to August 2008 and 4805 reports via the Goodbye Graffiti website, but just two $1000 rewards for tips leading to cautions or charges were given out.

At the Town of Vincent the cleanup bill almost doubled from $36,375 to $63,700, with reports jumping from 1455 to 1882.

City of Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard said that after the substantial increase in incidents in his suburbs — 3857 graffiti removals costing $497,789 — the city would lobby the State Government for the “long overdue” reinstatement of a graffiti task force.

He was keen to see harsher penalties for repeat offenders.

City of Bayswater Mayor Lou Magro said he had joined the cities of Stirling and Wanneroo in a regional partnership to tackle graffiti after his costs jumped 20 per cent to $165,723.

Graffiti was a “problem bigger than any one local government” and a problem the State Government must provide leadership and funding to tackle.

City of Gosnells Mayor Olwen Searle said graffiti attacks had cost his council $234,765 to clean.

He said it was time to call graffiti what it was — criminal damage — and jail offenders.

“Magistrates have the ability to fine these vandals up to $12,000 but do not apply the maximum fines or punishments . . . all our work is undermined when the vandals responsible walk away from court laughing at the authorities,” he said.

The City of Belmont was one of the only councils where incidents fell, to 10,012 in 2007-08 from 11,214 the previous year.

City of Perth executive officer Frank Edwards, whose council stumped up $360,000 in the past year and voted to spend an extra $197,000 to extend the removal service, said graffiti was a blight on the city.

Police Minister Rob Johnson yesterday blamed the previous Labor government for allowing the “scourge” of graffiti to proliferate.

He said his Government had committed to reintroducing the graffiti task force and to increasing the fines for graffiti vandals and retailers who sold spray paint to minors.

He declined to say when the measures would be introduced, saying they were part of the Liberals’ “100-day plan”.

“I am currently being briefed by the Police Commissioner about a range of issues, including graffiti, and will be better placed to comment on the details of our overall graffiti strategy once those briefings have concluded,” Mr Johnson said.

FLIP PRIOR

as posted TheWest

Friday 10 October 2008

Gosnells CEO raises consultant threat


as posted here back in March 2000

8-March-00 Written by Noel Dyson

GOSNELLS City Council CEO Simon Holtby has found a way to make himself unpopular with consultants.

As part of his study to finish the first Doctor of Business Administration ever completed at Curtin University, Dr Holtby examined innovation and the screening of ideas.

The text books say the criteria for screening ideas apply to all industries.

However, Dr Holtby found this was not the case. He determined that for three different industries, three different sets of criteria applied.

Hence, those consultants promoting a black box solution face redundancy.

Dr Holtby said he found industries had to develop their own innovation criteria.

He argues that some good ideas are not necessarily good within an industry.

“For example, what if a food manufacturer invented the television?” Dr Holtby asked.

“The TV is a good idea but it is not compatible with food manufacturing.

“It doesn’t mean the company should discard the idea.

“It could spin off a new division to deal with it or it could patent the technology and sell or licence it to somebody else.”

Dr Holtby has shown a strong interest in innovation throughout his career.

He began his working life as a civil engineer with British Rail before spending time in the energy industry in Tasmania and WA, finishing as marketing manager for Western Power.

Dr Holtby said his appointment to Gosnells was his first foray into local government.

Since he took the helm at Gosnells, the council has embarked on a major restructuring of the city centre.

It also won the WA Municipal Association Best Practice for Innovation Award in 1999.

“When I came here the council indicated it wanted change,” Dr Holtby said.

“The town centre redevelopment came about from a survey that was innovative in itself.

“We were asking people to make trade off decisions about what they wanted for their city.

“As far as I know that approach has not been used in local government in Australia,” he said.

as posted here back in March 2000

Court penalty for ignoring clean-up orders

as posted on COGsite

Owners of a property in Southern River have been fined a total of $2,100 after ignoring warnings from the City to stop storing commercial equipment in their yard.

After receiving complaints from nearby residents, the City’s Planning Compliance Officer inspected the property and issued a warning to the owners to remove the items within 14 days.

A subsequent site inspection revealed that the owners had made no attempt to remove the equipment and the City then proceeded with legal action.

Neither property owner responded to the prosecution notices nor did they appear at Armadale Magistrates Court on 24 September 2008 and legal representation was not made on their behalf.

The matter proceeded and each property owner was found to be in breach of the City’s Town Planning Scheme No.6 and Planning and Development Act 2005 for storage of commercial equipment on a residential property.

Each owner was fined $500 and ordered to pay $550 in costs.

A second prosecution is underway for a continuing offence at the property and this will go before the Magistrate on Wednesday 15 October.

City of Gosnells Planning and Sustainability Director Len Kosova said people in residential areas had a right to expect certain standards of amenity in their neighbourhood.

“This case serves as a good reminder that inappropriate activities will not be tolerated,” Mr Kosova said.

as posted on COGsite

Day one ..

the following reply was given ...

Thankyou for your enquiry. Council meetings are conducted under the provisions of the City of Gosnells Standing Orders Local Law 2003, a co...