Aldermen should consider their future on Council

Alderman Philip Cocker today called the Hobart City Council’s decision to give a minority group of businesses veto rights over Council decisions about Salamanca as bizarre and in conflict with their obligations to act in the best interests of the people of Hobart.

The motion put forward by Alderman Ruzicka and supported by the slimmest of margins with 6 to 5 votes at Monday night’s Council meeting gives a Salamanca traders group of fifteen businesses the right to approve or disapprove any decision the Council makes on Salamanca issues.

‘This is an extraordinary abrogation of civic responsibility,’ Alderman Cocker said.

‘It brings into question why we have Alderman if we are prepared to give our elected responsibilities away to an unelected group of lobbyists. I firmly believe that the Aldermen who deliberately voted for this motion knowing the implications need to consider whether they should continue as elected representatives.

‘They have handed over rights to a small lobby group of businesspeople which are given in trust by voters to the Aldermen to act in the best interests of the city and its people. By making approval of this lobby group a necessary step in making changes to Salamanca and its traffic organisation, we have surrendered our ability to act in the best interests of the City and Sullivan’s Cove.’

Alderman Cocker said, ‘Council has pathetically acquiesced to a lobby group before we have even begun our consultation with the people of Hobart on the Gehl plan for the City and Salamanca. The question needs to be asked of the Aldermen who voted for this motion why they have acted ahead of listening to the people of Hobart and made this bizarre decision.

‘This Council is just embarking on an extensive consultation on the Gehl plan so that Aldermen can consider the views of all Hobart people; and now at Monday night’s meeting a slim majority of Aldermen voted to give a small lobby group an unprecedented power to veto Council decisions about Salamanca’.

‘The Green members of Council believe we should be waiting for the results of the consultation, particularly before making key decisions. Trying to pre-empt the consultation process poorly serves both the community and the integrity of the decision making process,’ Alderman Cocker said.

The motion passed by Council (6 votes to 5) on 28 February is as follows (see part 3):

COUNCIL RESOLUTION:
That: 1. A report be prepared in relation to an investigation, in conjunction with the Waterfront Business Community, regarding the financial implications and likely impacts of a one way thoroughfare down Salamanca Place, with return on Castray Esplanade, incorporating angle parking on both sides, and an increase in footpath width to accommodate Salamanca Market requirements, with a reasonable trial period.
2. The report also address the following issues:
(i) provision for wide consultation and information gathering in relation to the travelling habits of people frequenting Salamanca Place, from the Silos to the Supreme Court, and the Quarry,
whether they be pedestrian or parking, and also providing evidence in relation to the use of public car spaces by workers in the area;
(ii) dialogue with key stakeholders in relation to improved security and safety which may arise from such a proposal;
(iii) reducing the speed limit in the trial area to 20kph, and
(iv) introducing a shared zone in the trial area.
3. The Waterfront Business Community be required to agree to any proposal trial, prior to its implementation.
4. The Council write to the State Government requesting the provision of an improved public transport service linking Salamanca Place and its environs to the City, in accordance with the Council’s Sustainable Transport Strategy.