Discussion - Adelaide City/Suburban Councils

Thanks all!

Sorry I haven't dropped past the site before now - I have been inundated with emails, requests meetings etc and I must concentrate on the relationship with councillors etc.

I will use social media but am still building a new office team so we are all very busy right now.

And I'm a little tired after door knocking for a 1/4 of a year all day every day!

More later...new year will be a new look office of the Lord Mayor.

Cheers

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Dilaz89 said:

Congrats. I remember how happy we were when Scaffidi was elected, especially since she posted here spreading her progressive agenda. They seem quite similar.

You guys should contact him and organise a meeting to discuss your shared vision for Adelaide and what can be done.

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Mato2000 said:

Sensational-Adelaide (where all the South oz SSC people went)

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Adelaide City Council a 'progressive body', says Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/busin...-stephen-yarwood/story-e6fredel-1225966550411

LORD Mayor Stephen Yarwood wants to reassure businesses that the newly-elected city council is a progressive body.

Mr Yarwood said if Adelaide is to compete globally it has to position itself as a niche "smart city" which brings together its strengths in the arts, education and information economy.

While former councils have been tainted as anti-development, he would be happy to see more residential development and even some iconic buildings of "40 or 50 storeys".

"Ultimately we have a progressive council that wants to get outcomes," he says.

"I think this council should be pro quality and integrated design. This council is not anti-development; there is no-one on this council that is anti-development ... tell me a great city in the world that hasn't embraced its heritage as a strategic economic asset and then built great buildings in and around it."

While he did not commit to cutting much-hated red tape for small business, he said he wants to change Adelaide City Council culture to be more customer and outcome focussed.

He is enthusiastic about creating more outdoor dining, and clearing some of the regulatory hurdles that prevent restaurants and cafes from expanding their footprint.

"One of my really strong pushes is going to be turning (restrictions) around so council is actually asking small businesses to have outdoor dining rather than making it difficult," he says.

As part of this, he wants to develop a strategy to bring together traders on each main street - such as Hindley, Gouger and Hutt streets - under one banner to ensure appealing street fronts and encourage united marketing.

"We are competing against Westfield, and they have a single point of contact for marketing, for actually running the centre, and then you go down a main street and it's a bunch of small businesses operating totally in isolation with no single point of contact for maintaining the street, for marketing, for ensuring the buildings are up to scratch, for determining the appropriate mix of land use," he says.

"They're the sorts of things that a strategic co-ordination role focussing on the streets will ensure they can punch above their weight."

While some of these aims will give traders assurance, the question in the business community's mind is how he hopes to achieve any of his stated aims (given the Mayor only gets a vote in a deadlock). Also how "friendly" to business and development will this new council be?

BusinessSA says the council needs to use its term to prove its worth.

Chief executive Peter Vaughan said candidates had been "disarmingly candid" during the recent local government elections about previous councils' failures. If the new councillors do not do help advance the city, the State Government should finally "turf them out".

"We've now come to the acid test because - unless this council performs in the next (three) years, we will deliver critical harm to the future of South Australia because we will not be able to catch up on what should have been done in the past 15 years," he said.

"If we're going to be welcoming of tourists and festival goers...we need a vibrant, elegant, go-ahead city, not a city characterised by tumbleweeds."

Mr Yarwood said while he did not exert direct power, he would exercise "leadership and influence" to bring councillors with him.

He has experienced a "tremendous amount of goodwill and strong support" from the councillors, and says they appear to be on board with key redevelopments such as Adelaide Oval and the riverbank precinct, he says.

He believes he has general backing for his ideas and his vision to make Adelaide's CBD more technology friendly.

He campaigned on city-wide free wireless internet connection and argues this - and the expansion of outdoor dining - is a key plank in creating a more dynamic and attractive CBD environment.

It would also help market the city globally, he said.

"If we've got international students sitting outside during summer in an outdoor dining culture accessing free wi-fi and blogging, tweeting and facebooking about how awesome that moment in their life is, that goes viral across the planet and that's the sort of stuff that I think we really need to be thinking strategically about."

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and brilliant news about Yarwood becoming mayor, a sign that there is hope for Adelaide. Now all that needs to be done is to get rid of counsellors like Anne Moran and the City Council should be doing much better.

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if we can't build a building in the city, then where can we build it?

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Salisbury Town Centre overhaul
http://news-review-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/three-plans-for-centre-of-town/
16 NOV 11 @ 07:30AM BY ROB GREENWOOD

A JOHN St mall, apartments overlooking Pitman Park and buildings up to 12 storeys high are among options for a Salisbury Town Centre upgrade.

The council released three concept plans this week, including more shops and cafes, a new High St circling Parabanks Shopping Centre and apartments and businesses around the interchange.

Salisbury’s general manager of city development Greg Waller said the project was based on a 30-year push to bring more people to live, shop and dine in the town centre.

“We’ve got to provide a range of attractions and a range of environments that will draw people here,” Mr Waller said.

“The Salisbury Town Centre is only going to be successful if we come up with a plan that the community supports and wants.”

Under option one John St would be rejuvenated with a wider range of shops and cafes at street level and shop-top apartments in buildings three to six storeys high.

Option two includes a new High St linked to the northern end of Church St, featuring shops and apartments with views of Pitman Park.

The final option would have the heart of the town centre moved to an upgraded Salisbury Interchange.

Buildings between eight and 12 storeys high above and beside the station would house shops, restaurants, offices and apartments.

Mr Waller said this would deliver a “high-rise” development similar to Glenelg.

There is no funding at this stage, but it would need a mix of public and private investment.

Mr Waller said rooftop and underground carparks would be included in the project.

He said the council would need to develop its sites in the town centre and encourage major landholders to embrace the upgrade to turn the plan into reality.

“There’s a lot of people out there that are excited and motivated,” he said.

“We’re very keen that this planning process doesn’t result in a planning document that simply sits on the shelf.”

TWO long-term Salisbury traders have backed the option to build a new High St with shops and cafes as part of a town centre renewal.

Mattiske Funerals owner Robert Mattiske said the design would bring shoppers to the western side of Parabanks Shopping Centre.

Mr Mattiske, who has run the Wiltshire St business since 1966, said the plan would help the town centre realise its full potential.

“John St is reasonably well set-up with shops, but if we can extend it ... I think that would attract a lot of people into the area,” he said.
“It’s a new area and people like new things.”

Mr Mattiske, chair of the Salisbury Town Centre Association, was encouraged by the council’s plans for the town centre.

“Salisbury has traditionally been the focal point of the whole area, but we’re now competing with large shopping centres all around us,” he said.

Salisbury Printer Cartridges owner Bernie Elliott also backed the High St proposal.

Mr Elliott said the option, coupled with a minor upgrade of John St, would keep shoppers in the busiest part of the town centre surrounding Parabanks.

“We’ve got a whole area over there untouched and just waiting for something to be done,” he said.

Mr Elliott, who has run his John St business for 14 years, said he would prefer new businesses and cafes in the town centre, rather than apartments.

He said more carparks needed to be built to compliment the renewal.

“Salisbury is the hub of the whole area, but it hasn’t been developed over the years,” he said.

“We’ve got banks, doctor surgeries, the railway line and three major roads coming into Salisbury, so it’s all here waiting.”

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