Dear Mayor Carey
I am sure you will not be surprised to hear than I am extremely disappointed that the information on the flier for Sunday's Town Hall Meeting is not consistent with Council's own position nor the motion passed at the last Council meeting (25th February), which stated:
"Ensure such information [on the website, admittedly, but the principle surely applies here, too] reflects the City’s position on amalgamation from 5 November 2013 and overwhelming majority view on the plebiscite of 19 October 2013 for Vincent to remain its own Local Government entity."
The Council resolution of 5 November 2013 "recognised the local community’s first preference, based on the results of the City of Vincent plebiscite (held on 19 October 2013) and ongoing community feedback, that the City of Vincent remain as its own local government entity".
The first point in the box of 'submission points' on the flier should, therefore, be along the lines of 'Keep Vincent as it is' - not only on the basis of community views but also because no substantial arguments have been made for it to disappear. The points already there should, correspondingly, be qualified with the words 'If Vincent is not kept as a separate local government…'.
I am concerned that Vincent Council has fallen into the trap of passive negativity by focussing on what it regards as achievable rather than what the community really wants. If submissions to the LGAB simply state what is on the flier, the best outcome achievable is that the whole of Vincent merges with Perth as equals. Whilst this is a better outcome than that proposed by the State Government, it is not the preferred outcome of the Vincent Community.
And for those who still maintain that the community's preferred outcome is not achievable, I simply say "If you don't ask, you won't get".
Regards
Ian Ker
No comments:
Post a Comment