Success - but what a pain

At last - someone from Maritime NSW has come along and fixed up this rubbish trap. It's been a month since I first noticed that it was broken and adrift, and reported it to them. I followed up again a week later. I concluded over the weekend that the message was not getting through, so I wrote the CEO a good old fashioned letter and posted it on Monday. I guess he got it on Tuesday or Wednesday and action happened shortly thereafter.

Not much rubbish was caught by this trap for a bit over a month. What a crying shame.

This is not a swimming pool

I hate the fact that you can't walk or ride around The Bay when it rains without having to trudge through an endless stream of deep puddles in the Leichhardt area. The existing path has been laid down with no thought as to how water is supposed to drain away. Instead of building up the path in the middle so that water drains towards the edges, Council has instead built a concave path, so water runs into the middle and stays there.

There is only one drain grate along the entire path, and it isn't at the lowest point so it doesn't do much good. The entire path is built at or below the level of the surrounding turf, so water running off the hill on the right runs straight onto the path and settles there. The drainage is so bad, puddles hang around for days after any rain.

I sent the above photo to the Mayor of Leichhardt 3 months ago with a plea that when the next section of path was built, that drainage be factored in - he never bothered to respond. If the Romans could build well drained roads 2000 years ago, I don't see why we can't build properly drained paths today. A road engineer would never dream of building a road without thinking about drainage - why then do we spend taxpayers money on building paths without thinking the same way? Conceptually, they are the same - a ribbon of concrete. Just because one carries bikes or people rather than cars, doesn't mean that drainage should be ignored.

As the Mayor is ignoring me, and work is about to start on the next section of path, I dashed off a letter to the General Manager today. Maybe he'll take note - I asked him to ensure that his staff or contractors build a path, rather than a canal or a swimming pool.

One more Council in the mix

Over the weekend, I had a look at how often the Mayor of Canada Bay, Angelo Tsirekas, was appearing in Council funded publications compared to the Mayors of other Councils in our area.

Incredibly, he appeared in 72 photos, whilst the Mayors of 4 other Councils had a total of only 43 photos between the lot of them.

I have just had a look at the publications of Ashfield Council, and can now add them to the mix.

Ashfield publishes three community newsletters. Photos of the Mayor hardly appear in any of them.

The Bulletin:

• April 2009 - 0
• March 2009 - 1

Ashfield Council News

• June 2010 - 0
• March 2010 - 1
• Sept 2009 - 0
• June 2009 - 3
• Mar 2009 - 0

Ashfield Community Report

• 2008 - 1

That's a total of 6 photos in 8 publications - an average of 0.75 photos per edition. That now means that 5 Mayors have had a total of 49 photos in their Council funded publications, as opposed to Angelo Tsirekas having 72.

Here's how they rank (average photos of the Mayor per publication):

• Ashfield - 0.75
• Strathfield - 1
• Leichhardt - 1.3
• Canterbury - 1.5
• Burwood - 1.9
• Canada Bay - 5.5

You could say we are head and shoulders above the other Councils in our area - except that it is Angelo's head and shoulders that we are seeing so much of.

--------

Update.

I just couldn't resist the urge to check out some more Councils.

Ryde

City View

I could only access one back copy, but the count of Mayoral photos was zero.

Hunter's Hill

Council Newsletter

• June 2010 - 1
• Dec 2009 - 0
• Sep 2009 - 0
• July 2008 - 0

Holroyd Council

Holroyd Herald

• Sep 2009 - 3
• Apr 2009 - 1
• Nov 2008 - 1
• June 2008 - 2

Lane Cove

Jane 2010 - 0

Couldn't access any back issues.

So the updated league table looks like this:

• Lane Cove - 0
• Ryde - 0
• Hunter's Hill - 0.25
• Ashfield - 0.75
• Strathfield - 1
• Leichhardt - 1.3
• Canterbury - 1.5
• Holroyd - 1.75
• Burwood - 1.9
• Canada Bay - 5.5

However, after going through 9 Councils, I am still only up to 57 photos of their Mayor's, as opposed to 72 of our Angelo. How many Council web sites do I have to trawl through before the total of all Mayor's exceeds Angelo? 15? 20?

I give up.

NSW Maritime - 3rd time lucky

Around 15 June, I used the "contact us" section of the NSW Maritime website to let them know that the rubbish trap on Iron Cove Creek was broken.

A week later, I rang their call centre to let them know again - just in case any computer gremlins ate my initial attempt at contact.

The trap still hasn't been fixed - it's now almost 4 weeks since I first tried to let them know. Therefore, I have just wasted 10 minutes of my Sunday morning writing a polite letter to the Chief Executive of NSW Maritime, Mr Steve Dunn, to ask him if my messages are getting through to those responsible for maintaining and repairing these assets. I don't care what their problems are - I just want the trap fixed!

As I was doing a bit of Googling on this topic, I found a website for Harbourkeepers, which is worth a look.

How much exposure is enough?

In October last year, I wrote to the local paper regarding the incredible number of photos of our Mayor - Angelo Tsirekas - that were appearing in the Council funded community newsletters - he's appeared 72 times since November 2008.

It didn't get published.

One of the Councillors had a go at the Mayor in the paper last week for the same thing - and apparently copped a bit of flak from him at the next meeting.

I've written a followup letter to the Inner West Courier - we'll see if I get published this time.

I don't mind seeing a few photos of the Mayor in Council funded publications - but a few does not mean 10 or more photos. Out of interest, I had a look at the newsletters of five councils this week - Canada Bay (where I live), Caterbury (which employs our Mayor), Burwood, Strathfield and Leichhardt (as they are all close by). Note that every newsletter includes two photos of the Mayor as a matter of course - one photo with all the other councillors, and one over the Mayoral column. I have not counted those photos.

Incredibly, the Mayors of those four other Councils appear in a total of 43 photos, whilst our Mayor clocks up 72 just on his own!

Canada Bay publishes two newsletters - one for residents and one for business.

Bayside business newsletter:

• Autumn 2009 - 11
• Winter 2008 - 0
• Autumn 2008 - 2
• Summer 2008 - 8

Bayside Brief:

• June 2010 - 11
• April 2010 - 2
• Feb 2010 - 6
• Dec 2009 - 8
• Oct 2009 - 11
• Aug 2009 - 2
• Apr 2009 - 1
• Feb 2009 - 5
• Nov 2008 - 5

That's an average of 5.5 photos per publication and a total of 72 photos over 13 editions.

Burwood:

• Winter 2010 - 3
• Autumn 2010 - 2
• Summer 2009 - 3
• Spring 2009 - 0
• Winter 2009 - 0
• Autumn 2009 - 0
• Accent on Seniors - July 2009 - 2
• Accent on Safety July 2008 - 6
• Accent on Environment 2008 - 1

9 publications, 17 photos, average of 1.9 per edition.

Strathfield:

• May June 2010 - 1
• Mar/Apr 2010 - 2
• Jan/Feb 2010 - 1
• Nov/Dec 2009 - 2
• Sept 2009 - 0
• July 2009 - 0
• May 2009 - 0
• March 2009 - 0
• Jan 2009 - 3

9 publications, 9 photos, average of 1 photos per edition.

Leichhardt:

• Dec 2009 - 3
• Oct 2009 - 4
• Autumn budget 2009 - 0
• Autumn 2009 - 1
• Spring 2008 sustainability - 0
• Spring 2008 - 0

6 publications, 8 photos, average of 1.3 photos per edition.

Canterbury:

6 publications, 9 photos, average of 1.5 photos per edition.

If the Mayor wants to publish a newsletter at his own expense, he can put 100 photos in it for all I care. However, it's a different matter when ratepayers are funding it. Most other Mayors appear on average once or twice per newsletter - that sounds about right. The newsletters are about Council business - they are not the private property of the Mayor.

Dealing with some councils is so bloody draining

Here's a drain in Balmain back at the end of May. I've been going through here now for over 4 years, and every time we get a bit of rain, a big puddle forms here because the drain is blocked.

I finally did my block and contacted Leichhardt Council and asked them to clean it out. I don't know if the council does the cleaning, or whether the drain belongs to Sydney Water or whoever - if it's not their job, they should at least pass the message on, or tell me that it's not their problem.

It looks like they can't be bothered doing either - here is the same drain again tonight. Except that the puddle is slightly smaller than usual.

Is it really that difficult to lift the grate and clean out the muck underneath?

Cleaning up at UTS

As I walked past one of the UTS buildings in Chinatown a few weeks ago, I noticed a lot of graffiti on the wall facing the Entertainment Centre. It took me about 5 minutes of hunting through their website to find a contact for their building maintenance people, and I sent them an email as a bit of a stab in the dark. I was pretty doubtful anything was going to happen.

Going past again this morning, I spotted this bloke using chemicals and a high pressure hose to scrub the graffiti off. UTS never bothered to respond saying that they were going to clean it off - but this is as good a response as any.

If you ask someone to clean their property, generally they will.

Following up the following up

It's getting on three weeks since I first tried to tell Maritime NSW about a busted rubbish trap down our way. The longer they leave it broken, the more rubbish we'll see flowing into the harbour. Apparently today is World Environment Day, and Maritime NSW aren't doing much towards making the world a better place at the moment.

I might make another follow up phone call tomorrow. After that, it's time to start writing a proper letter to the CEO.

A rubbish example of follow up

Last Tuesday, I tried to contact NSW Maritime to let them know that one of their rubbish traps was busted and no longer collecting rubbish. As their call centre closes at 4.30pm, and there appears to be no option to leave a message, I tried using a form on their web site to lodge a report.

One week later, the trap is still broken. I had another look at the contact page at NSW Maritime to see who to call. It told me to call 131256 - but when I did so, the options that the computerised voice gave me didn't match what was listed on the website. I had no idea what option is select, so I just took a punt.

At least the bloke that I spoke to seemed to have some idea of what I was talking about. We'll see how long it takes them to hook the boom back up to the trap. I wonder what happened to my first attempt at contact? Have the gremlins been attacking the Maritime computer network as well?

Rubbish collection all adrift

Maritime NSW operates a number of rubbish collection traps where creeks flow into the harbour - there are two in our area. One of them has had a bad habit of late of coming adrift from one of its moorings - whether this is a result of wear and tear or foul play, I don't know.

Without the trap in place, great wads of rubbish will drift down the creek and into the harbour - not a nice thing to happen. The amount of rubbish that backs up at this point after heavy rain has to be seen to be believed. Without the traps, our harbour foreshores would be a real mess.

The Maritime call centre closes at 4.30pm, so I sent them an email this afternoon to let them know that this needs fixing.

It's a pain when the rain does not go down the drain

First, the good news - Canada Bay Council has removed all the graffiti from the playground at Livvi's Place.

This is the Downing Centre courthouse in the Sydney CBD - a very impressive and ornate building (it used to be a department store). The flags were at half mast recently following the death of Jeff Shaw. And what a tatty and battered pair of flags they were. I emailed the court administrators, and they've replied that the flags are going to be replaced. I doubt they are taken down much, as the seam on one of them has split away from the flag and wrapped around the pole, meaning that it can't fly freely. If the flags were being taken down each night, I'm sure whoever was tasked with that duty would have noticed the poor state of the flags.

The rain is coming down in torrents this week, and there are flash floods being reported in some areas of Sydney. It doesn't help if the drainage system isn't maintained when it isn't raining, resulting in the drains utterly failing to remove water when it does rain.

This drain in Leichhardt has been like this for at least 4 years - I finally got around to reporting it to Leichhardt Council this week. Yes, I have been bone idle, ignoring it and hoping it would go away.

It's probably choked with leaves and litter. I was told years ago that in Perth, the councils rent those big sucking machines, and spent autumn cleaning out the drains before the rains come. That sort of pro-active, common sense forward thinking maintenance doesn't seem to happen in Sydney. Given the mindset of most of the Leichhardt councillors, they are probably more worried this week about events off Gaza than problems in their own backyard.

Closer to home, we have a silly piece of Council infrastructure. I took this photo standing on the bike path of the Bay Run. It shows a bike ramp or pram ramp leading onto the road, then across to a cut out in the road dividing concrete island (for bikes to pass through) and then linking up with the bike path on the other side.

Unfortunately, the way Council (or its contractor) has painted the lines on the road implies that it is OK to park across this bike ramp - which is a silly thing to do. However, the owner of this car has done just that - and as they are advertising the car for sale, it has sat here now (blocking the ramp) for about two weeks.

I've emailed Council and asked them to repaint the lines to remove the impression that this is a parking zone. You know it makes sense.

Just wrong in the head

The Livvi's Place playground was hit again over the weekend. I've reported it to Council (as usual), and it will be cleaned up again...

Not even the trees are safe from the spray can.

There was an article in the SMH just after the first Graffiti Action Day. They managed to dredge up a couple of clowns who said:

He said the government should create more spaces for legal graffiti and give young people who tag - write basic names or signatures - the chance to develop their artistic skills.

"If you encourage more legal spaces it increases the quality of the work because kids can spend all day and improve their technique," he said. "[The government is] never going to make it go away so they should try to make it better".

Cameron McAuliffe, a fellow at the centre for cultural research at the University of Western Sydney, said he helped organise ''Keep Australia Colourful'' because he was concerned the state government's campaigns against graffiti were criminalising people who did legitimate work.

Well, here is a proper bit of art in the playground, and some "numskull" has applied a tag next to it. How this is supposed to have improved their "artistic skills" is beyond me. Maybe Dr McAuliffe can explain this to us.

The canteen and toilet block were hit as well. I can't make out the big tag properly, but it starts with "big bad". Yeah, right. Probably a puny little weed with zits and an ego problem.

Charles Purcell wrote a column on graffiti for the SMH recently and copped a lot of flak in the comments. I agree with everything he said. Here is one comment:

One of his great quotes is "Any advertisement in a pubic space that gives you no choice whether you see it is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head" (Wall and Piece)

Why is it ok for oil companies to put out unsolicited greenwashing campaigns or junk food companies to promote obesity in public space, while somebody who wants to improve society through discussion is not acceptable? I guess brick walls are much prettier than thoughtful attempts at social discourse and humour...

The only "advertising" at Livvi's Place are a number of small plaques that name the companies that helped pay for this playground. There are no billboards or hoardings anywhere near the place. So what justifies someone tagging this wall?

I know it's very non-PC to say this; but anyone who tags a playground for the physically disabled must be mentally disabled. You can't be right in the head and think that this is a good idea. It's plain retarded. I just had to say that - I don't know how else to put it.

Abandon cars, all ye who enter here

I did a ride with Baybug (the Canada Bay Bicycle User Group) on the weekend and couldn't help myself when I spotted two abandoned cars in Guildford (Holroyd Council). This one was being used to store a dozen or so wheels.


Neither car was showing rego plates, and we were moving too quickly for me to stop and check for rego stickers.

I emailed Holroyd Council this morning and have already had a response saying they will look into it.

"The RTA estimates there are around 65,000 unregistered and uninsured vehicles on NSW roads".

These two don't look like they have been driven for a while - they are just eyesores on public property.

Some might call it art

Once in a blue moon, I spot a bit of graffiti that is quite out of the ordinary.


99.99% of it is just mindless tagging - like this.

But very occasionally - and I mean very - something different comes along. It's quite mad. Not my thing, but quite arresting nonetheless.

Whoever did this even has a proper signature.

Graffiti can be art - but most of it isn't. To describe most graffiti as "art" is an insult to artists. Most of it is immature talentless worthless crap.

We build it, they break it

If you've ever done a lap of the Bay Run, you would have passed these cabinets. They're owned by Jemena, and I reported them this week for a cleanup. Jemena don't have a web page where you can report graffiti - I just happen to have the phone number of the manager responsible for them.


I got an email recently from PushOn stating that the Parramatta Valley Cycleway was finally open. I went out and had a look, and found that all the recently installed lights had been smashed, and every light pole vandalised.

I imagine that the cycleway must have been liberally coated with glass when all those lights were smashed. The glass has been removed, but none of the lights have been fixed. I've reported it to Parramatta Council.

The poles are nice looking "heritage" style poles too - graffiti doesn't make them look any better.

Further out along the cycleway is a bridge that has been named after Bill Brewer. The sign is a nice tribute to the man, and some knuckledraggers have defaced it.

Every bridge along the Parramatta River has graffiti on the supports. As these are all road bridges, I am assuming that the RTA is responsible for them - they've all been reported. Most look like they have not been cleaned up for some time.

I also found two sets of bike lockers that have been heavily vandalised. This set, outside a ferry wharf, were also unusable due to bags of rubbish that had been dumped in front of the locker doors. I reported these to the Ministry of Transport, and they passed the messages on to Sydney Ferries and RailCorp.

Another vandalised bridge support along the Parramatta River. I'll go back in a few weeks time and see if they have been cleaned up.

Nice playground - shame about the litter and graffiti

I took one of the kids to Livvi's Place in Timbrell Park this morning (you'll have to Google it as my browser is not letting me insert links today). It's a great playground, completely refurbished in November last year. It's also popular.

Unfortunately, some of those that visit the playground don't care about other visitors. There was a Jim Beam can and beer bottle at the entrance when we walked in, and as I found out soon after, a smashed bottle in the BBQ area - a girl of 2 or 3 sliced her foot open on some glass when we were playing in the sand pit. That was just the tip of the iceberg - the entire area around the playground was covered with rubbish.

A Council worker showed up just after we arrived and spent about an hour walking around picking up rubbish and putting things back where they should be. I hate to think what it costs the ratepayers to supply a worker and a vehicle on a Saturday to visit our local parks to clean up after lazy people who can't be bothered carrying their rubbish to the nearby bins. I'm glad the Council is doing it, but I wish they didn't have to. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to do the area outside the playground - that would have kept a crew busy for the rest of the day.

And then there are those that leave their mark all over the playground equipment and BBQ facilities. There are plenty of partly visible tags on the playground equipment, showing where older tags have been not quite cleaned off, so I take it that the place has been vandalised a number of times since the re-opening in November.

Cool murals

More RTA traffic light cabinet murals around Balmain/Lilyfield. I like this one the best so far.

Not my thing, but better than being smothered in tags.

A school theme.

Quirky!

Imaginative.

Can't wait until our council gets a similar program up and running!