Tag Archives
Calls for gender balance on recruitment panel
By KATE RAFFERTY Inner West Councillors have expressed concern about a lack of gender representation on the next General Manager recruitment panel, voted through in a council meeting on Tuesday 10 November. “We have a majority of female councillors in council, eight versus seven, yet we couldn’t get a majority of councillors to vote for […]
Inner West councillors clash over monitoring allegations
By SCOTT CARROLL In a meeting on Tuesday October 27, councillors denied a motion that Inner West Council should report its monitoring practices. The motion follows multiple accusations that Inner West Council staff are monitoring councillor correspondences including intercepting mail, emails and phone calls. Councillor John Stamolis, who put forward the motion, said: “There were […]
Rozelle calls for WestConnex noise reprieve
By ALEXI DEMETRIADI With Sydney on lockdown, the city has been forced inside their homes. Everyone who is not employed in an essential service have readjusted their lives to adapt to the new work from home environment. That begs the question as to why WestConnex, the huge underground highway construction, is seemingly exempt from the […]
The strange case of the Illegible logo
by ALEC SMART The new logo for the Inner West Council (IWC) has ruffled feathers across the inner-west region. Opponents criticise the text legibility and its significant costs, propounding that the public should have been more involved in the decision-making process, especially since ratepayers financed the project. And, surprisingly, it cost $90,000 of inner-west ratepayers’ […]
Yabun calling as Australia Day becomes history
by JOHN MOYLE Whoo hoo! Australia Day has passed and Aussies did what they love best: party, party, party! But was not the case for many of Australia’s First Nations people who regard the 26th January as the “Day of Mourning.” Besides the orgy of beer, prawns and general skylarking, 26th of January is also […]
Tree felling falling-out
By ALEC SMART The Greens and several independent councillors on the Inner West Council (IWC) are fuming after a revised plan for tree protection was amended at the last minute and voted into policy. The aggrieved councillors claim they were ‘ambushed’ when it was revealed the amendments, which permit residents to fell trees within three […]
To be, or not to be heritage
By Joan Henson The fast-tracked demolition of Lilyfield houses, on streetscape that residents have been advised to maintain like heritage, has surfaced in a 2004 Leichhardt Council report that recommended local conservation areas be expanded. This extension would have incorporated the streetscape of Mary Street, where a house was demolished about six weeks ago using […]
Historic walkout defers plebiscite demerger vote
BY JOAN HENSON A historic walkout of Inner West councillors has deferred a vote on whether a plebiscite should undo the council’s amalgamation. On Tuesday 26 March, Mayor Darcy Byrne used the first council agenda item to request a retraction and apology from two colleagues for alleged Facebook comments made last July. At the time of […]
WestConnex dirty secrecy games
BY WENDY BACON AND LUKE BACON Fresh evidence of poor air quality in St Peters has been actively hidden from parents and the community by WestConnex. This includes higher levels of fine particulate matter which is known to be dangerous to health, especially that of small children, pregnant women, older people and those with heart […]
Nursery rhymes with empty facility
By ALEC SMART Opposite Leichardt Oval, the former home ground of Balmain Tigers Rugby League Club, now the merged Wests Tigers, construction on a childcare centre began in 2015. Comprising of multiple classrooms and three partitioned play zones, the building work was finally completed in 2018. The premises, consisting of citrus trees, sand pits, an […]
