Kirsten Alexander with her family at St Clair Reserve

Kirsten Alexander, Chair of the St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association has been a driving force behind efforts to counter the unjust development at St Clair Reserve in Woodville.  Kirsten will stand for the position of Mayor in the upcoming Council Elections.  More information will follow.

I’ve recently been blessed through reading a wonderful book called “Tribal Wisdom” – Copyright Axiom Publishing, 1997 – Author Peter Dunn. The book is about our interconnection with all things and has many wondrous passages about how we really should be looking after this world for the sake of our children.  On reading the book I came to the realisation that we have destroyed so much of this world, and are continuing to do so, when our tribal forefathers new what to take and what to give back to the land.  How terribly sad that we have stolen so much from the earth and its creatures.

One particular passage struck me as so relevant to the St Clair Reserve land swap being proposed by the City of Charles Sturt Council.  I have been told that the ashes of returned servicemen have been scattered on this land, and as such, the land is sacred.  The City of Charles Sturt Council have removed plaques that I understand expressed this fact. Here is the passage I refer to:

The wind that gave our grandfather
his first breath
also receives his last sigh,
and the wind must also give our children
the spirit of life.
We are part of the earth
and it is part of us.
The ashes of our fathers
are sacred
their graves are holy ground
and so these hills,
these trees
and this portion of earth
is consecrated to us.

Chief Seattle

I’d encourage all to read the book, published in South Australia – it’s a great read.

Mark Walker

Note: The above excerpt was reproduced with written permission from the publisher.

I attended the above workshop arranged by Council at the West Torrens Football Clubrooms on Wednesday 21st April 2010.  There were around 80 people in attendance, with each of the 9 tables of around 8 people having 2 Council staff, plus a number of other Council staff & members, including the Mayor Harold Anderson and the CEO.  The workshop was led by a Gilbert Rochecouste, employed by the to guide us in, I believe, accepting Council’s unmovable point of view.

The workshop commenced with  Mr Rochecouste providing a summary of what was proposed.  His view was that the precinct would be revitalised (with an additional 2,000 new residents & 4 new roads into Woodville Road – which he omitted to mention), by new shops, restaurants, cafes and markets as well as “Indian Traders” (what the?), & multi-story high density housing.  Mr Rochecouste claimed that such developments worked internationally and were warranted in the St Clair development to draw people to the Woodville Road precinct, with a particular target being those on the south side of Port Road (e.g. the QEH district) who currently had difficulty utilising the area.

The workshop progressed with a number of by-table discussions, wherein thoughts were gathered on participants’ vision for the area, and then compiled into lists by council staff.

Some of the key issues raised were:

• The development would totally change the heritage character of the Woodville area, something that was not favored.
• The increase in traffic into Woodville Road from new roads in the development, noting that all who lived there would not necessarily utilise the train station for transport to and from work, given that the rail network access to major employment centres other than the CBD was limited.  Each participant was asked to prepare post-it notes with the 3 major opportunities and  3 major negatives.  By a significant majority, traffic increase was the major concern, with the post-it notes covering over 40% of the window space allocated to stick them.  In summarising the 11 major issues identified however, Council staff produced a point sheet which just simply omitted to include that major issue, that is until I approached staff to rectify that anomaly.  If council does not even take record or notice of the most prominent of concerns, what hope do we have in being listened to and our concerns and opinions being taken notice of and acted upon by this Council?
• The lack of parking facilities.  One Council staff-member suggested the potential for underground parking, however that was quickly ridiculed by those at my table based upon the high ground-water table, which would ensure flooding of any underground parking development with some certainty.  Interestingly, I noted a conversation between one council staffer and a participant wherein the participant suggested Woodville would soon be beachfront.  The council staffer suggested his view that existing coastal suburbs were indeed at risk. If this is the case, what are Council doing about it?
• The security risks to children playing on St Clair Reserve (or what’s left of it), noting that the new high story TOD will overlook  playing and playground areas and form a barrier that Woodville High students must pass through on the way to the train station.  The sort of people that will live in this type of development must be considered in my view. As the high density housing will not have yards for pets or children, the likelihood of a typical family-oriented development is nil.  We must question just what type of people Council are targeting to attract to this area, given they most certainly won’t be families.
• Alarmingly, there was a suggestion by one group that a major shopping centre should be incorporated in the development (where will the space for that come from and how could it compete with West Lakes and Arndale?) and that Woodvile Road should be closed for markets. There was reasonable support for a market atmosphere generally, with stalls and the like.  It was also noted there were no hotels or drinking places in the area, and some support was heard for such facilities.
• Our group strongly supported a full and extensive and fully transparent engineering, roads and planning study, noting the high risk of flood in the area, particularly given that Cheltenham Racecourse, which should be a wetland in its entirety.
• Support was voiced for a significant “buffer zone” between the TOD and Woodville Road, primarily for the safety of children walking from school to the train station.  A council staffer suggested a corridor with a width of a mere 2 metres, grossly inadequate.
• Strong support was voiced for a low density development, which by council’s definition is still comprised of buildings up to 3 stories in height, which is by no means low density. Also that buildings maintain the heritage character of the Woodville area, rather than a Mawson Lakes type development or the dog boxes that no-one wants at the Quays in Port Adelaide.
• There was a call for the plaques council had removed from St Clair Reserve being returned and that significant trees be retained, noting that many had already apparently been poisoned.
• Strong support was maintained for retention of the St Clair Reserve as is, given that Charles Sturt had one of the lowest ratios of open space of any Council in Australia.

During the proceedings, a council staffer started filming participants, until I voiced my objection, as did the participant sitting next to me.  I requested that the video be deleted, however have no assurance this occurred.  For council to video us without authority is a serious breach of privacy in my view.  Our Mayor and CEO did not participate in discussions, but stood or sat at the rear of the room along with what I can only call were a number of “heavies”.  Other council staff and Mr Rochecouste milled around tables listening in on discussions and offering less than helpful opinions.

In summary, this was yet another attempt by a council that will not listen to the opinions of residents and ratepayers, to whitewash the real issues and to justify the corruption of the heritage of Woodville in favor of new residents, who won’t be families, who have never paid a cent in rates.

The heritage character of the suburb is in serious risk, as is the safety of children near such a development, and the resultant effect on traffic in Woodville Road will simply be horrendous.  Its all about a pack-em and stack-em development on a park that was given to the people, but stolen by the council. They are merely engineering a future slum in my opinion.

Why can’t council address the area the other side of Torrens Road and the housing opposite Arndale Shopping Centre which is ripe for development and refurbishment? The area is also in dire need of much more green space, something the City of Charles Sturt is determined to take from us all. Let council develop a Village there, instead of stealing our pristine park (which was never theirs to take) while giving us much less valuable contaminated land in return.

This proposal is all about stealing from existing ratepayers and residents and making money to their detriment.

Mark Walker

Note: Council will hold 3 more events as part of this review process:

1. Monday 17th May 2010 7.00 to 9.00pm at the Civic Centre
2. Wednesday 19th May 2010 7.00 to 9.00pm at the above venue
3. Saturday 22nd May 2010 2.00 to 5.00pm at Council (Open Day)

Phone 1300 116 747 to register attendance – all are encouraged to come along and voice their opinion and to fight for our heritage and open space.

Hi everyone – apologies for not being in touch for a while; we have been busy making plans for the SCRRA AGM on 24th May (there will be notices out via the post on this shortly asking for nominations for the committee and providing an outline of some amendments that are proposed to our constitution to tidy a few things up) and we have also been getting our letter-boxing campaign up and running again in advance of the Council Elections in October (more about that later).

We have also had a few meetings with Council and government representatives over what is planned at St Clair. There is not much to report so far from these meetings other than that we have continued to raise questions that they do not apear to have fully thought through and a further meeting is planned on the 29th April with the Council and LMC CEOs at which we hope to get some answers. We will keep you posted and please come along to the SCRRA AGM so that we can give you a good update. (Please let me know if you don’t receive a notice in the next week or so).

You may have heard there was a “community day” at Cheltenham recently on the new “Actil Park”; those that were able to go can report that there were generally more Council “green shirts” in attendance than there were residents (at what cost we can only imagine!!). I have attached a copy of the feedback sheet (and my email below) that I have forwarded to Michelle Mader at the Council, to describe some of the things that we value about St Clair Park and our opposition to the loss of it as open space. I am sure that there were others who also handed in their thoughts on the day!

The Council will also be consulting next week on the “revitalisation” of Woodville Road – this includes the TOD on St Clair – so please feel free to go along to their “visioning workshop” on the 21st April and tell them exactly how you feel about the proposed TOD apartments on the park!! It will be held at 7pm at the Woodville West Torrens Football Clubooms off Oval Ave at Woodville South. We have made no commitment to contribute to this as an organisation as we do not agree with what they are doing at St Clair, however you may want to go along and have your say about it!!

Please let us know if you are interested in getting involved in the campaign to get better representation back onto the Charles Sturt Council – we would be happy to hear from you! We will also be cranking up our fundraising again and getting the cake stall etc back into action – stay tuned!!

Lastly – thanks very much again for your help and good wishes during the election campaign; I am pleased to report that we did give them a scare, and we were also successful in helping to get another independent candidate into the Upper House; Kelly Vincent of Dignity4Disability – we wish her all the best!! The Community Voice Coalition is alive and kicking and we intend to grow this as an avenue for grassroots community groups like ours to support one another and campaign for more accountability and honesty in local and state government.

All the best and hope to see you at the AGM, if not before!! Please don’t forget the Council meetings are on every 2nd and 4th Monday at 7pm; it is always good for them to know that they are under scrutiny!! Also stay tuned to the Save St Clair Recreation Park!!! Facebook page or CharlesSturtRatepayers.org for regular updates.

Thanks & Regards……..Kirsten

PS Email to Charles Sturt follows….

Michelle – you and Natalie received much of this feedback from us at the meeting, but I thought it would be useful for you to have a written copy of it too. I have not bothered to repeat all of the questions that we have raised previously (and I look forward to discussing these with the two CEOs), but in this feedback sheet I have concentrated on what I know the residents value about St Clair Park in the vain hope that someone, somewhere in the Charles Sturt Council administration actually does care about what we think.

The residents we represent are totally opposed to the use of St Clair Park as anything other than open space. You only have to look at the previous referendum held by Council in 1964 on St Clair Park to know what the result would be today if you had truly put this to the residents of Charles Sturt. There is no reason to suspect that the answer would be any different today and all the pretty pictures and propaganda in the world from you and the LMC are not going to change our minds about apartments going on our park; surely you can not blame us!!

Regards…….Kirsten Alexander

PS I realise that this is slightly after your cut-off date, but I trust you will accept a late submission from us, as you did from the LMC in relation to the land swap…

Just a reminder everyone the feedback to the council needs to be done by Friday the 16th of April 2010 at 5pm. Things that you could write about are the increase of traffic on Woodville Rd if there was to be a road coming out onto there, the increased risk of flooding, the unfair exchange of land as it isn’t one for one (roads and already allocated space does not equal 4.7 hectares) the disadvantage to existing residents by moving the new park onto the Cheltenham racecourse making it really a backyard for the new residents and the TOD.
Also reading in last weeks messenger the 170 people that went through the community day want a pooch park and an outdoor adult gym! well those things also eat into the open space. Why can’t we have the open space that already exists in St Clair and add those things onto the Cheltenham site?

The feedback form can be downloaded from the following link, filled out electronically and emailed to council@charlessturt.sa.gov.au – Note: We do not recommend using the “email” link at the bottom of the form as it is set to access multiple links and may pose a computer security risk.
Download Link: http://www.charlessturt.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Community_Open_Day_-_Feedback_Sheet.pdf
Kelly Thomas

We are ready to continue our fight on behalf of the people of South Australia to protect and defend what we value and believe in. There will be a public protest meeting this Sunday, March 28th at 1pm on the Steps of Parliament, North Terrace.

Come along and let your voice be heard.

Mr Rann has said the Labor Party is out of touch. Here is your chance to come and tell him what you think about his party’s election fraud in the key marginal seats as well as reminding him that he hasn’t been listening to the people of South Australia with regards to Glenside Hospital, St Clair Reserve, Cheltenham Race Course, relocating the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Protecting our Parklands and our Communities from inappropriate development, and a range of water-related issues including the Murray and Desalination.

Bring your posters, bring your banners, and bring your family and friends. Its time to remind the Government of South Australia who is in charge of this state, namely we the people of South Australia.

Please publicise this article by sending it along to your fellow South Australians who care about the future of our State. I look forward to seeing you there. The text of the flier is below.

Community Voice Coalition – Community Protest

Come Join Our Community Protest and Help Stop Labor’s Election Fraud

When – Sunday 28 March 2010 at 1:00 PM
Where – Parliament House Steps – North Terrace, Adelaide

Real Community Action Against Fraudulent Election Processes
The Community Voice Coalition is organising a public protest rally against the fraudulent how-to-vote card practices of the Labor Party during last weekend’s elections. Like most in the community, we are disgusted and dismayed by this fraud perpetrated against the people of South Australia by candidates of the Labor party who want us to entrust them with the responsibilities of public office and government.

Come along and express your opinion regarding this election, the lack of the most basic principles of honest behaviour expected by our Community, and the loss of your support for these people to represent their electorates and the people of South Australia.

Mike Rann has said that they have lost touch and he wants to know what you think! Come tell him.
Come tell Mike what you think of his government. Its failure to expel these candidates and its failure to call fresh elections in the electorates where these un-ethical, immoral, and un-Australian activities of fraudulent how-to-vote cards took place.

If you want honest, ethical government, you have to fight for it. Its never been any different. Come join us in the next battle for honest, open, and accountable government.

Community Voice Coalition

CVC is a cooperative undertaking by disaffected citizens who care about our community – including the St Clair Reserve, Glenside Hospital, Cheltenham Racecourse, Burnside Save Open Spaces, Save Our Suburbs Adelaide, Parkland Preservation, Save The RAH and a range of water-orientated issues.

Please click on the link below to download a “How To Vote Card” for Max Gallanti, who is standing against Michael Atkinson in Croyden.

Remember, Max stands for saving St Clair, while Michael Atkinson is in favor of building high density housing on our pristine park and giving us contaminated land without grass or trees in its place.

HOW TO VOTE CARD FOR MAX GALLANTI IN THE SEAT OF CROYDON

We are unable to apologise in regard to a comment made against Michael Atkinson by an individual on the Save St Clair Facebook site.  This site is not, and has never been, associated or affiliated in any way with the above-mentioned Facebook site. The authors and domain owner have absolutely no control or influence over posts made on that site, which merely addresses the same issue as this site – that of the stealing of the St Clair community land from residents and ratepayers to their detriment, by the City of Charles Sturt.

An apology has been requested by Mr Atkinson and is refused, as such may incorrectly indicate some liability on the part of this site – and we have absolutely no liability in the matter. The previous apology posted on this site was done so in error and is withdrawn.

Mark Walker
Administrator

To update you on the next event to Save St Clair; come along and show your support at the next Council meeting on Tuesday 9th March at 6.30pm. There will be a rally at the meeting; we will have some more Save St Clair verses to sing and will again be circulating a petition calling on the government to conduct an independent judicial review of alternatives to the TOD on St Clair. It is extremely important that we maintain the pressure on the government and on the council. Don’t let them get away with this ridiculous plan to destroy our beautiful park!

NEWSFLASH!! The Liberals have confirmed that a Redmond Liberal Government will not proceed with a TOD on St Clair; even if it is owned by the LMC they will ensure that it is retained as a community park and are totally opposed to a TOD on this site. Make sure that your vote counts on March 20 and PUT LABOR LAST TO SAVE OPEN SPACE AT ST CLAIR!!!!

Help protect our priceless treasures like St Clair from government, council and developer alliances!! Bring your signs, banners and most of all your voices to the rally at the next Council meeting!! Bring your neighbours and friends!! Remember that banners are not allowed inside the chamber and will need to be left outside in the corridor, but feel free to come wearing a shirt with an appropriate slogan! Some points to remind Council are that roads are NOT considered to be open space, and that we refuse to accept ending up with less open space than we enjoy today, along with the destruction of a treasured landmark – St Clair!

ALSO - the next Community Voice Rally is on this Sunday 7th at 12pm on Parliament House Steps; the theme is Communities Against Corruption – something very near and dear to our hearts. Come and add your voices to the growing number of people calling for an Independent Commission Against Corruption in this state!!!