City of Parramatta Local Council Elections
Nov. 3rd, 2021 07:08 pmAfter two separate delays (thanks COVID), NSW local council elections are FINALLY happening on Saturday, 4 December 2021.
When everyone kept positing a late November/early December 2021 federal election, I was about done, because I'm not sure I could have faced these elections being delayed a THIRD time. That would be becoming ridiculously undemocratic, though it DOES mean that we are finally over 4 years past the last set of local council elections (with most of Sydney's councils having had their last election in 2017, not 2016, due to amalgamations).
Parramatta elects 3 candidates in each of 5 wards. My aim is to cover Rosehill Ward, however I've decided I'll also check in on the independents in the other wards if I get time.
Rosehill Ward is going in to this election with 5 parties running:
Yes, there are no Liberals running. This is a surprise, as they've had councillors for the last two decades. However, despite the SIX current Liberal councillors, the party had decided not to run due to a number of scandals, factional disputes and simply being lazy enough to not find alternate candidates. You can read a rundown here.
I'm anticipating a level of chaos due to this decision that will be frankly hilarious.
Hot Topic Issues:
Parramatta Powerhouse Museum: at this point I feel like if there is one issue that the rest of Sydney knows about Parramatta Council, it is the division over whether or not a new Powerhouse Museum should be built in Parramatta, and the destruction of Willow Grove as part of the site. The for side of this argument argues that Parramatta deserves its own museum and more cultural activities locally that a CBD area should have. The against side of the argument are distressed about the loss of Willow Grove and the fact that the site chosen is directly on Parramatta River. All the way down to river level. Where it floods. There is naturally some local scepticism that the proposed plans are TRULY floodproof for a MUSEUM, especially given the river height has flooded above the ground floor of the proposed building during both the 2020 and 2021 summer floods.
Public Transport: so we are getting a brand new light rail line AND a metro line. You might have heard, André. Construction of the light rail line has shut down some of the busiest streets through Parramatta, including Church Street, where all the restaurants are (also known as Eat Street). This has only just reopened. Construction works plus COVID has driven a BUNCH of businesses under in the past 2 years, so feelings over all the drilling for construction are certainly mixed.
Urban Renewal: Parramatta is also in the middle of a multi year project of tearing down old sections of the CBD and putting in new buildings, including new council buildings. Some of the areas that have disappeared into the current urban renewal towers were some very, very tatty old buildings. Nevertheless, the CBD has been a construction site for YEARS at this point. As part of this exciting moment in urban renewal, my favourite debate at present has been over the name for a new council building with the address 5 Parramatta Square.
In short summary: Council solicited various stakeholder groups for name suggestions for the building, including asking Darug community leaders for in-language name suggestions. They were offered Yuwingalyang (yew-in-galang, “Place of Truth”), Baramada Butbutyin (“Heart of Parramatta”), and Baramada Ngurra Nuru (nara nuru, “Parramatta Camp Central”). Council then ignored these suggestions and sought feedback from the public on two names: Civic Place and The Civic. They were deluged in complaints over the names. Huffily, Council then rounded up another set of name proposals: Civic, Prisma, or Phive (short for Parramatta Hive). Labor, who do not currently control the council but who wanted to put one over the Liberals, decided to support "Phive", easily the most ridiculous of all the suggestions, and somehow talked Phil Bradley from the Greens, independent Lorraine Wearne, and Benjamin Barrak, one of the Liberal councillors, to join them. The remaining Liberals and Michelle Garrard tried to oppose the motion and substitute "Civic", but lost. (No idea which Andrew Wilson voted for. No report has told me). The FOLLOWING council meeting, the Liberals tried to rescind the new name and substitute Civic again, and the minutes include another long appeal for "hey why not use one of the Darug suggestions? Or another Darug word, Mirrung, that means "belonging"? No? We're sticking with Phive. Ok."
Someone on Council, probably from the Liberals, really REALLY wants to name this building "Civic" and they keep losing. Possibly because it's one the most boring suggestions possible. Labor really did decide to troll everyone and support "Phive" just to prevent this. I can't stop laughing.
Parramatta Pool: Give Us Our Pool Back! This is another longrunning local drama that is getting close to a conclusion, but people will still have Strong Positions On. The new football stadium, currently named CommBank Stadium, took over the land previously occupied by Parramatta Pool. The replacement council pool was not built BEFORE this destruction took place, which has been a local grievance for Some Time Now. Currently my local public pool is in fact the Macarthur Girls High School Pool, because they ended up having to make a SCHOOL pool a public amenity due to the fact that the replacement pool has not yet been built. It is now under construction, on a site that involved destroying the local 9 hole golf course. The rest of the golf course has now just sort of been resorbed into Parramatta Park, even though it's divided by a road and train line, as Parramatta Park is a many tentacled beast that fears nothing and has been getting handed every spare parcel of land around its borders, including getting Wistaria Gardens officially off the Westmead Hospitals Zone. And all the golf whingers seem to have mostly finally shut up as there's still two 18 hole courses in the council plus several just across council borders.
In any case, we are currently +1 replaced old stadium, +1/2 new pool under construction but not open, -1 golf course. Once we are up to +1 replaced pool I will only have to complain about the fact that they didn't replace the water slides and the diving pool.
When everyone kept positing a late November/early December 2021 federal election, I was about done, because I'm not sure I could have faced these elections being delayed a THIRD time. That would be becoming ridiculously undemocratic, though it DOES mean that we are finally over 4 years past the last set of local council elections (with most of Sydney's councils having had their last election in 2017, not 2016, due to amalgamations).
Parramatta elects 3 candidates in each of 5 wards. My aim is to cover Rosehill Ward, however I've decided I'll also check in on the independents in the other wards if I get time.
Rosehill Ward is going in to this election with 5 parties running:
- The Greens
- Socialist Alliance/Community Need Not Corporate Greed
- Small Business Party
- Our Local Community
- Australian Labor Party
Yes, there are no Liberals running. This is a surprise, as they've had councillors for the last two decades. However, despite the SIX current Liberal councillors, the party had decided not to run due to a number of scandals, factional disputes and simply being lazy enough to not find alternate candidates. You can read a rundown here.
I'm anticipating a level of chaos due to this decision that will be frankly hilarious.
Hot Topic Issues:
Parramatta Powerhouse Museum: at this point I feel like if there is one issue that the rest of Sydney knows about Parramatta Council, it is the division over whether or not a new Powerhouse Museum should be built in Parramatta, and the destruction of Willow Grove as part of the site. The for side of this argument argues that Parramatta deserves its own museum and more cultural activities locally that a CBD area should have. The against side of the argument are distressed about the loss of Willow Grove and the fact that the site chosen is directly on Parramatta River. All the way down to river level. Where it floods. There is naturally some local scepticism that the proposed plans are TRULY floodproof for a MUSEUM, especially given the river height has flooded above the ground floor of the proposed building during both the 2020 and 2021 summer floods.
Public Transport: so we are getting a brand new light rail line AND a metro line. You might have heard, André. Construction of the light rail line has shut down some of the busiest streets through Parramatta, including Church Street, where all the restaurants are (also known as Eat Street). This has only just reopened. Construction works plus COVID has driven a BUNCH of businesses under in the past 2 years, so feelings over all the drilling for construction are certainly mixed.
Urban Renewal: Parramatta is also in the middle of a multi year project of tearing down old sections of the CBD and putting in new buildings, including new council buildings. Some of the areas that have disappeared into the current urban renewal towers were some very, very tatty old buildings. Nevertheless, the CBD has been a construction site for YEARS at this point. As part of this exciting moment in urban renewal, my favourite debate at present has been over the name for a new council building with the address 5 Parramatta Square.
In short summary: Council solicited various stakeholder groups for name suggestions for the building, including asking Darug community leaders for in-language name suggestions. They were offered Yuwingalyang (yew-in-galang, “Place of Truth”), Baramada Butbutyin (“Heart of Parramatta”), and Baramada Ngurra Nuru (nara nuru, “Parramatta Camp Central”). Council then ignored these suggestions and sought feedback from the public on two names: Civic Place and The Civic. They were deluged in complaints over the names. Huffily, Council then rounded up another set of name proposals: Civic, Prisma, or Phive (short for Parramatta Hive). Labor, who do not currently control the council but who wanted to put one over the Liberals, decided to support "Phive", easily the most ridiculous of all the suggestions, and somehow talked Phil Bradley from the Greens, independent Lorraine Wearne, and Benjamin Barrak, one of the Liberal councillors, to join them. The remaining Liberals and Michelle Garrard tried to oppose the motion and substitute "Civic", but lost. (No idea which Andrew Wilson voted for. No report has told me). The FOLLOWING council meeting, the Liberals tried to rescind the new name and substitute Civic again, and the minutes include another long appeal for "hey why not use one of the Darug suggestions? Or another Darug word, Mirrung, that means "belonging"? No? We're sticking with Phive. Ok."
Someone on Council, probably from the Liberals, really REALLY wants to name this building "Civic" and they keep losing. Possibly because it's one the most boring suggestions possible. Labor really did decide to troll everyone and support "Phive" just to prevent this. I can't stop laughing.
Parramatta Pool: Give Us Our Pool Back! This is another longrunning local drama that is getting close to a conclusion, but people will still have Strong Positions On. The new football stadium, currently named CommBank Stadium, took over the land previously occupied by Parramatta Pool. The replacement council pool was not built BEFORE this destruction took place, which has been a local grievance for Some Time Now. Currently my local public pool is in fact the Macarthur Girls High School Pool, because they ended up having to make a SCHOOL pool a public amenity due to the fact that the replacement pool has not yet been built. It is now under construction, on a site that involved destroying the local 9 hole golf course. The rest of the golf course has now just sort of been resorbed into Parramatta Park, even though it's divided by a road and train line, as Parramatta Park is a many tentacled beast that fears nothing and has been getting handed every spare parcel of land around its borders, including getting Wistaria Gardens officially off the Westmead Hospitals Zone. And all the golf whingers seem to have mostly finally shut up as there's still two 18 hole courses in the council plus several just across council borders.
In any case, we are currently +1 replaced old stadium, +1/2 new pool under construction but not open, -1 golf course. Once we are up to +1 replaced pool I will only have to complain about the fact that they didn't replace the water slides and the diving pool.