HCC: Anti-social behaviour …

Margot Giblin

Anti-social behaviour was the topic of the night and this brings to mind another way of looking at individuals and dynamics on Council.

Hobart City Council
Open Portion of the Council Meeting
Monday 10 September 2007
5pm

Councillors Present: Mayor Rob Valentine, Deputy Mayor Eva Ruzicka, Jeff Briscoe, Ron Christie, Philip Cocker, John Freeman, Eric Hayes, Marti Zucco, Lyn Archer

Leave of Absence: Darlene Haigh, Peter Sexton, Helen Burnet

A petitition received from 1068 people asked Council to rescind its decision to allow the building of a telecommunications tower at Sandown Park in Sandy Bay because neighbouring residents weren’t notified and new scientific advice is available.

Freeman’s argument that Council couldn’t rescind the decision didn’t outweigh Christie, Briscoe and Zucco’s desire to ask for an urgency motion (for which there was no basis, the term being confined to use for items already on an agenda) calling for a public meeting to address the petitioners’ concerns. They felt these should be addressed, whether or not Council was in a position to satisfy them. The General Manager’s advice was that clear and qualified legal advice needed to be sought before contemplating such a public meeting. A report including this was finally agreed to.

Some Other Agenda Items
70-82 Argyle St – Demolition and Redevelopment for Supermarket, Car Park and Offices was approved with several councilors expressing the view that the maximum potential of the site was not being explored. Cocker was the only councillor to vote against suggesting to the developer that consideration be given to adding a storey or two of residences, indicating that he was supportive of the application as it stood.

4 and 6 Ellerslie Road Hobart – approval for subdivision and three new flats. This was considered to be appropriate given the mixture of building styles and uses already in the area.

23 Pitt St North Hobart’s application for partial change of use to domestic business (hair dresser) brought extended debate on what, precisely, that term means. In this case it’s to be one head of hair being cut at a time. To ensure this only one hair dressing chair will be permitted – Valentine’s whimsical surmise that standing while having a hair-cut was possible, if unlikely, notwithstanding. A report will be prepared on clarification of the definition of domestic business.

32 Hampden Rd Battery Point – Partial Change of Use to Visitor Accommodation was deferred back to committee. Sympathy was expressed for the applicant who bought the place on the understanding that continued use for that purpose was permitted. It seemed that a failure of the applicant’s lawyer to grasp the ramifications of Council advice, given at the time of purchase, led to the current difficulties.

Development Applications – in future these will need to be accompanied by the relevant plans and associated documents on CD or DVD as well as in hardcopy. ‘Mums and Dads’ level applicants will be helped to do this by Council staff. All advertised applications will be placed on the net, which it was hoped would reduce the concerns of residents who felt they missed out on vital notifications placed in local newspapers over holiday periods when they were out of town.

Salamanca Lawns and other Inner City Parks are to be prescribed as public places for the purpose of the Police Offences Act. This will affect Salamanca Lawns, Princes Park, St David’s Park and Franklin Square. They will be prescribed between 10pm and 10am daily, with increased hours between 3pm and 10am daily between 10th December 07 and 1 January 08. Christie argued for a gradual introduction of the new legislation which will allow action to be taken in relation to the consumption of alcohol in these places at these times.
The basis for requesting Knopwood’s Retreat to provide fencing around its outside drinking venue is to be clarified as a result of the licensee’s expression of dissatisfaction with the decision last year. The fence was requested following police advice. Failure to heed that advice could make Council vulnerable to legal action. Freeman said how impressed he had been by the presentation in which police had said they were not just concerned but ‘afraid that things could get badly out of hand’ without a fence. Joking parallels with APEC police requirements and readiness arose. It was agreed that the fence would be required again this year and that the licensee be advised of the reasons. Valentine said that if Knopwoods didn’t want the fence it could choose not to serve alcohol outside. It was anticipated that with the gradual enforcement of the Salamanca Lawns alcohol free status at night the need for the fence would disappear within two years.

Hobart Waterfront Late Night Activity – Implications for Council
This dealt with activities and concerns associated with the previous agenda item and focused heavily on the need for clean toilets, orderly taxi queues and the possibility of additional CCTV cameras in the area.
Christie maintained, while brandishing front pages of Melbourne’s Herald Sun with coverage of ‘Booze City’ that if it could happen there he saw no reason why it wouldn’t happen here. It’s time to ‘Clean Up the Cove’ he said. Briscoe queried the worth and intent of cameras but accepted the argument that, with associated signs, they do act as a deterrent and don’t simply shunt anti-social behaviour to other spots. Cocker was concerned that the expression ‘riff-raff’ as used by Christie not be indiscriminately applied to all indulging in what was, he said, ‘a piece of our culture’. He agreed that the combination of alcohol and lack of adequate transport for people keen to get home fuelled dangerously volatile situations for both the public and taxi drivers. Ruzicka suggested that some-one be employed to organize the taxi queues but while all agreed the present situation is chaotic there was not universal support for that solution. There was general agreement that adding/moving taxi ranks away from the area of highest density of drinkers might be a good idea.
Zucco moved that the responsible serving of alcohol be specifically referred to, querying whether this was in fact taking place at all licensed establishments in Sullivans’Cove.

George St/Wellington St – Right of Way
‘It’s a lost piece of land. It’s an orphan’, said Freeman, in the debate over whether Council had any right to place gates at either end of what locals regard as a right of way, in an attempt to curb reported antisocial behaviour.
It was agreed that Council negotiate with all relevant parties as a first step to resolving an issue of access to a piece of land whose owners can’t be traced.

Anti-social behaviour was the topic of the night and this brings to mind another way of looking at individuals and dynamics on Council.
There are chasms between those councillors who treat each other reasonably or rudely, those whose thinking is issues-based rather than personality centric, those who argue for the greatest good and those moved by narrower vested interests, and between those who accept an opposing view at the table with aplomb and those who react with a spray.