HCC: Party to a holey mess

Margot Giblin

This weekend there was a party in L’Aquila, Italy to celebrate 10 years of sisterhood with Hobart, but Rob wasn’t there. Councilors Jeff Briscoe and Ron Christie toughed that one out for their ratepayers. The workload was lightened by the presence of one Council officer. At last week’s open Council meeting Ruzicka, in the Chair, had to tell a group in the public gallery that the item of concern to them couldn’t be debated for lack of a quorum. Before they left she advised them that this situation may still hold at the next open meeting on Monday 28 July. TT later asked what she had meant by this. Ruzicka said there could still be a lot of ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ going on. So it might be a while before we get Rob’s views on the city’s future, delivered, no doubt, with the docks in question behind him. The Myer hole in the ground would be a more relevant backdrop.

Most open Council meetings include a shot at the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority. They point to big salaries for small results. They include references to the State Government’s determination to reduce the power of the Hobart City Council and to the perception that the Authority is trying to shift the CBD seawards.

Premier Bartlett is now suggesting a revamp of the Authority and the possibility of some of its responsibilities being given back to Council.

What does Hobart’s Mayor think about this?

Anyone interested will have to wait for him to come in from the sun to find out.

Last weekend saw him at the Brest Maritime Festival in France. In part this was to explore the possibility of some future formal relationship with Hobart. Five other councillors, with visits staggered over the summer, helped. There was one Council officer to support the official delegation.

Rob’s wife, Margaret Laird Valentine, was also there, paid for by ratepayers. Her role has not been clarified by Council.

This weekend there was a party in L’Aquila, Italy to celebrate 10 years of sisterhood with Hobart, but Rob wasn’t there. Councilors Jeff Briscoe and Ron Christie toughed that one out for their ratepayers. The workload was lightened by the presence of one Council officer.

At last week’s open Council meeting Ruzicka, in the Chair, had to tell a group in the public gallery that the item of concern to them couldn’t be debated for lack of a quorum. Before they left she advised them that this situation may still hold at the next open meeting on Monday 28 July.

TT later asked what she had meant by this. Ruzicka said there could still be a lot of ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ going on.

So it might be a while before we get Rob’s views on the city’s future, delivered, no doubt, with the docks in question behind him.

The Myer hole in the ground would be a more relevant backdrop.

This space is not going to be built on soon and whatever happens on the waterfront will impact on the CBD, as will the burgeoning DFOs and associated activities at the airport. Bus services to them, targetting shoppers from Hobart and surrounding suburbs, are being tendered for now.

Perhaps it’s time for Council to act on the suggestion made at a recent meeting in relation to the Myer site. This was to help the owner put in a temporary attraction, a practice adopted by other Australian cities to keep such places vibrating.

The open sky, industrial strength patchwork of exposed brickwork and length of blank cladding along the footpath are crying out for thought which, at the moment, only graffitists are expressing.

A site design competition with a trip to Paris prize should attract some other starters.