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.

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!!!

What a busy year 2010 is shaping up to be for us!

We are surrounded by lots of political activity and media news at this time with our forthcoming State election. Our continuing efforts to save St Clair are being referenced in the press/media along with Cheltenham and other related matters. (Latest article in the Australian on Friday February 26 on page 7; we have made the national news! There have also been weekly stories in the Weekly Times Messenger).

Thank you to all our enthusiastic members and supporters who continue to write letters, pound pavements, send donations, bake cakes and attend rallies!!!

Political Candidates

The exciting news is that we are supporting 3 candidates at the upcoming State election on March 20.

Two will be in the Lower House (House of Assembly) and they are………………..

Henrietta Child in the seat of Cheltenham; Vote 1 Henrietta Child

Max Galanti in the seat of Croydon; Vote 1 Max Galanti

And in the Upper House (Legislative Council) as number two on Independent MLC David Winderlich’s ticket, our very own Save St Clair Spokesperson: Kirsten Alexander.

To vote for Kirsten, vote 1 for David Winderlich above the line, as the votes are pooled to get David and then Kirsten in.

David Winderlich has been a strong supporter of the Save St Clair campaign, as well as other open space issues such as Glenside. He was instrumental in getting the Ombudsmans Inquiry into the St Clair land swap. We really do need him to be re-elected so that we can have a voice in the Upper House. If Kirsten is elected also that would be a wonderful bonus!

We congratulate these candidates on their preselection and wish them all the very best in their endeavours which they will be making on our behalf.

Let’s offer them our support in any way we are able. We also urge you all strongly to consider supporting these candidates when voting and remember “PUT LABOR LAST” if you want to support our community candidates and Save St Clair.

We have formed an alliance with other independent community groups standing in the election (Save the RAH Party, Save Glenside, Dignity for Disabled, the United Party and other independent candidates concerned about community issues) called the Community Voice Coalition. Together we have identified common ground and share a commitment to community and democracy. We have agreed to support each other with preferencing and to support one another’s campaigns.

Financial Support

Electioneering requires financial support which is especially difficult if standing independently. We would really appreciate any donations and have opened a new account in anticipation!! Donations can be sent by cheque made out to:

St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association

PO Box 418

Woodville 5011

Alternatively we ask that you consider automatic debit into our

Bendigo Bank Account

BSB 633000

Account No 139245427

Please don’t hesitate to contact us on info.csratepayers@gmail.com or stclaircommittee@gmail.com if you can help in some way.

Cake Stalls

Yes, we will be running a Saturday cake stall at St Margaret’s Church on the corner of Woodville and Port Roads. Come along 8.30-11.00am Saturday 6th March and stock up on some delicious homemade cakes and treats and support St Clair Reserve at the same time. The two cake stalls held already have been a great success and we sold out completely!! Many thanks to those who donated for these and we welcome donations for the next one! Please wrap and label all ingredients and deliver to the stall on the day from 8.00am

T shirt sales

You can now purchase your very own Save St Clair T shirt to help advertise our message. We would love to see lots of people out there wearing them. Please contact Leni Brown or Luciano Agostino via the Save St Clair Recreation Park!! Facebook site to order one and see the design!!

Letterbox Fitness Club

This runs nearly every Sunday morning. Participants can look forward to getting fitter and leaner while making new friends and letterboxing. We are looking to increase our walking membership as the more walkers we have the greater the area we can letterbox and the healthier our residents will be. If you haven’t already joined us, why not come along? Help save the park and a create a new, fitter, leaner you!

Contact; Craig Cameron on 0417 039 324 for details.

If you are unavailable Sunday but would like to help in your own time, we would still love to hear from you.

Ombudsmans inquiry into St Clair

Hearings are currently underway. A big thank you to Woodville Councillor Robert Grant and MLC David Winderlich along with other supporters who have had the courage to stand up and really get this up and running. The inquiry will now be a Royal Commission. Please contact Megan Philpot Deputy Ombudsman on 8226 8699 if you have information that you think will be of interest.

Charles Sturt Council Meetings

These are held on the first and third Monday night of every month, and we will be attending these meetings to keep reminding the Council of who they were elected to represent: the ratepayers! SEE SEPARATE UPDATES!!

At the last meeting residents attended wearing their T-shirts with various messages!! As signs are no longer allowed (under which regulation exactly we are not too sure!) we had to resort to T-shirts and some specially composed verses to get our message across!

Please come and support Cr Robert Grant who continues to try to obtain some transparency for the community in the form of an independent valuation for St Clair as a residential site, to ensure that ratepayers are properly compensated for its disposal.

Please note for all future meetings; We are no longer able to carry in banners etc any more so please attach your message to your clothing. Wear It!!

We need to continue to make our presence felt in strong, peaceful, unity, and our focus for the next meeting will be to remind the Council once again that they do not represent the majority view. LEST THEY FORGET WHAT ST CLAIR MEANS TO THE COMMUNITY. We are currently circulating a petition calling for an independent Judicial Review of the land swap as we do not believe that the decision by Minister Hill to approve it can be considered independent of the government. Turn up from 6.30 onwards, and  those of us not allowed access the the chamber will hold their own meeting in exile!!

Most of all: Thank you for your continued support and stay strong – people power will win at the end of the day!!! (Just look at the Government backflips and embarressments over the past few weeks – it’s not a good look going into an election is it!?).

St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Committee

Dear Charles Sturt residents – hope you had a good holiday break and enjoyed time with friends and family; we  just have a quick update for you this week as it is a busy weekend!!

The Save St Clair Reserve residents group have had a very busy Saturday morning and joined one of their favourite western suburbs pollies on his jaunt to some eastern suburbs parks; I am sure you can guess who that might be? Yes, that’s right – Mr Atkinson. It is wonderful to see him taking such an interest in the parks of the eastern suburbs as well…..

Apart from enjoying the lovely green surrounds of Heywood Park and the Unley Soldiers Memorial Park, the St Clair mums and dads displayed some appropriate signs on saving our lovely St Clair Park, met some friendly mums and dads from the eastern suburbs and protested the loss of free speech (their mouths were gagged with tape, I don’t think we need to say why!!).

The St Clair group were joined by other concerned residents from community groups in the Community Voice Coalition, who are also concerned with the loss of our open space and significant trees in favour of shopping centres and apartment buildings (eg Glenside). Unfortunately they were not able to find anyone interested in answering their questions or concerns, despite it being a “street corner” meeting for residents; Mr Atkinson was unusually quiet…….oh well, better luck next time?

As you may already know, on next Monday 25th January the Charles Sturt Council has its first meeting for the year and we are of course maintaining a keen interest in its activities!! Given the government preparedness to spend big money on the Pandas at the Zoo, we are encouraging concerned residents and ratepayers of Charles Sturt to come along dressed as Pandas (let your imagination run wild!), with some appropriate signs about  money for Pandas, but not for Parks!!! Make sure you get there early (6.30 or so) as the council seem to have developed a nasty habit of locking the doors to their meetings and stacking the seats with invited guests! There will be a prize for the best Panda costume/sign.

It is planned to have the Fitness Club up and running very soon; thanks for your patience to those who have contacted us about this already. This initiative will assist with informing residents who may not otherwise find out about issues of concern to them, other than through letter-boxing (St Clair is a good example!!). It is a good cause, with the added bonus of getting us out into the sunshine and improving our fitness with our friends and family! It will be particularly important in the lead-up to local and state government elections to help promote candidates that we believe will be genuinely concerned about issues of concern to our community! If you are interested in joining the Fitness Club; see the membership page for details on how to join as a member. The more members we have, the stronger our voice!!

Lastly, an update on the next meeting of the St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association; it will be in the Woodville Primary School Hall on Monday 1st February at 8pm – come along and join in the fun!

Attention         Attention         Attention

This is a Reminder and a Call to Arms (figuratively)

A Reminder: Remember that we are holding the Christmas Picnic in the Park at St Clair this Sunday from 12 midday on.  There will be events for children and a sausage sizzle for those who don’t want to bring a picnic lunch.  Don’t forget your wallet or purse as we are always looking for donations to supplement our costs in running this campaign.

“A Call to Arms”: As a consequence of Minister John Hill’s hasty decision, Charles Sturt council will now be reconsidering their decision to approve the Land Swap, at the council meeting next Monday evening (14th December, 2009) at 7.00pm.

Therefore we need residents to turn up to this meeting to once again put councillors under pressure when revisiting their previous decision.  Again, we should be disciplined at the meeting but not ashamed to voice our objection if they simply vote to proceed as they did previously.

We urge you to get in touch with all your friends and neighbours and encourage them to turn up to the meeting.  This time we do not intend holding a rally however the recently formed St Clair RRA Choir will be singing a number of specially “reworded” Christmas songs with a St Clair “flavour” before the meeting.  Be there early to join in.

Let as many people know about these two events as you possibly can.  See you all on Sunday.

Save St Clair     Save St Clair      Save St Clair

Did you ever believe that Hill’s review would find anything other than rubber stamping Gago’s decision?

By now you will be aware that Minister Hill has approved the St Clair land swap again in record time and passed it back to the Charles Sturt Council for decision at their meeting on December 14, 2009.

Everyone come along to our sausage sizzle at St Clair Park on Sunday 13 December at 12pm to catch up with your fellow members and enjoy our specially created Christmas Carols presented by our community choir!!

· Dress up as Mayor Anderson; prizes for the best impersonation on the day!

· Children’s Treasure Hunt

· Other activities

The St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association Committee will outline a range of alternative strategies for your input and consideration leading up to Council and State elections. But most of all, we will enjoy St Clair Park and being part of a strong and vibrant community!

Of course, don’t forget to come to the Council meeting at 6.30pm Monday and remind your forgetful Councillors of who they are here to represent!

Website: http://www.charlessturtratepayers.org

We have re-enabled our Forum today for another test to see if everyone involved can play fair and let the people have their say.  New monitoring measures are in place. If anyone is unable to join, have experienced PC or internet problems since joining, or are unable to see their posts, please email us at info.csratepayers@gmail.com with full details, which will be passed on to the authorities.

Regards,
The Charles Sturt Residents & Ratepayers Team

Members and supporters of the St Clair Reserve campaign,

This is the Reserve & here are some of the Trees we are fighting to keep for the enjoyment of residents & ratepayers.

This Thursday at 5.00pm, there will be a rally on the steps of Parliament House at 5.00pm.

You might have heard today’s news that the Government has backed down because of our legal challenge and that they will be having an “independent” review of Minister Gago’s decision.

How independent can that review be if it is conducted by another Minister in the Labor Government, Minister John Hill, you might ask.

While the St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association Committee (St Clair RRA Committee) welcomes the Governments decision to review the decision, we cannot but wonder what motivated the government to move so quickly.

Could it be that they knew they were going to get court orders against them and they wanted to avoid the embarrassment?

Could it be that they wanted to avoid being questioned about it in Parliament?

Or could it be just a delaying exercise to drag this on till after the next election when they will simply “plough ahead” despite any community protest?

We can but hope that Minister Hill, once he looks at the facts will feel compelled to direct the Council to engage in a much more widespread consultation process.

You should e-mail him immediately, demanding that he calls for a ratepayer’s poll to properly judge the feelings of the community.

John Hill can be contacted at:-

kaurna@parliament.sa.gov.au

Tel: 08 8326 6055
Fax: 08 8326 4389

With this decision, now more than ever, we need to be there at Parliament House this Thursday to demand that they take note of the community opposition to this proposal.

Come along on Thursday and bring at least 5 of your friends to show this Government that we, the people have had enough of being ignored in preference for the interests of the DEVELOPERS.  Who knows what else they have promised them in parks and open space near you?

The colour theme is GREEN while we still have a little green space left. Bring your banners, and your loudest voices and let them hear your concern.

Catch the train in and march from the station to Parliament House.

We have several speakers including we understand Isobel Redmond, leader of the opposition who can be contacted on:-

We suggest that you contact the Leader of the Opposition and recommend that she gives a clear commitment not to touch our park.

Important Meeting next Monday evening.

Where:            Woodville Primary School, Evans Street Woodville South (click for Map)

When:             7.30pm on Mon 30^th November 2009

Please come along and have your say at a very important meeting of the St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association where we will be discussing strategies on where to next in our campaign to save St Clair Reserve Woodville.