Autumn Newsletter
The current Newsletter details:
Conservatory betrayal
In our last newsletter we stated that “It seems Glen Eira Council never acknowledges a mistake and consequently never feels the need to say ‘sorry’”. FoCP would like to work cooperatively with them but Council actions make this all but impossible.
A waste of time and of community resources!
We are not sure whether Council is merely incompetent or totally cynical. Having agreed in 2011 to put up the money to renovate the Conservatory, the plan was set aside while Camden Ward Crs. Lipschutz and Delahunty persuaded the Council to consult the community about conversion to a café or full restoration.
Having lost a full year, had a clear rejection of the café, and strong community endorsement to restore and renew the Conservatory, Council agreed to go ahead and FoCP foolishly thought that community will had prevailed. Not so!
At the Council meeting of 29th April, on a split vote, an unrepentant majority of Councillors including the two above named, voted to remove the Conservatory because it would cost more than they had expected and Cr. Delahunty prefers to use the money for a park in Elsternwick. But how could Council not have known the projected cost before the charade of public consultation? Unprofessional!
Perverse
Council now argues that it has been little used and lacks heritage values. Of course it is little used! It has been neglected into an almost derelict condition with no proper planting or care. Council ignored the fact that when asked in the ‘consultation’, half the community had explicitly rejected razing the conservatory. So perversely, that is exactly what Council has decided to do. We are protesting!
This last minute turnaround signals neither respect for the majority who wanted a Conservatory, nor those who did not want it removed.
What values!
Council was willing to spend over $600K on two ovals for a few kids to play on at weekends, but cannot find the far smaller additional amount to restore the Conservatory for everyday use by the whole community for decades to come.
In practice, the sports lobby, a minority of park users gets all the attention, while majority informal usage is left out over and over again.
The mayor, who also voted to demolish the Conservatory, says community consultation isn’t the only thing to consider. He has still not apologised for his ‘elitist’ comments about informal users of Caulfield Park. He is confused about what elitist means - the situation is totally inequitable, especially when well over two-thirds of the park’s area is taken up for sport, the pavilion and associated parking, and the Depot (more parking).
The 39 Trees and Ovals 3 and 4
Well done! Thanks to the level of outrage shown by the community and led by FoCP, the Council successfully transplanted 10 small trees and left 4 alone. This means they removed 23 and have now planted forty, a net gain of 15 young trees.
On 29th April councillors told themselves how lucky we all are to live in Glen Eira and how wonderful Council is. Council were ‘over the moon’ at approving over $9m on the Booran Road Reservoir to make it into a park.
Pity about the poor old Conservatory
Pity about the very old and beautiful cork oak that was needlessly sacrificed along with a well-developed ash and a large elm.
Congratulations councillors! We are happy to have achieved even a modest outcome with this over paternalistic council.
New Plans for the Depot
If Council really wants to make amends for its neglect of casual users, unneeded tree destruction, exploitation of Caulfield Park for sports users, and now the destruction of the Conservatory, then FoCP calls on it to create open space by getting rid of the Depot from Crown Land which is designated to be used for community recreation, not an opportunistic council truck parking area.
Council wails when the MRC abuses access to, and use of, open space in the centre of Caulfield Racecourse (which Cr. McGee has emphasised should be accessible public space because it is Crown Land). Council’s double standards show up clearly because it has a different and totally inconsistent attitude when it comes to removing vehicle parking from the Depot.
While Council has been cutting down trees and approving the destruction of the Conservatory, FoCP has been consulting amongst our members and has developed a plan for the Depot to turn it, and the area surrounding it, from a parking lot into an integrated area for community use.
Highlights include: · An Education Centre
· A ‘biblical’ garden with olives pomegranates, vines, date palms etc.
· A meeting space
· An art and sculpture garden
For more information and illustrations of what to expect, go to our website at www.caulfieldpark.com and click onto Depot Plan. We invite you to send in your comments to us at [email protected] and help us show Council your support for this project to regain community Crown Land to be used the way it was intended.
The current Newsletter details:
- The events surrounding the farcical plan to demolish the Conservatory.
- The guest speaker at our forthcoming AGM which we hope you can all attend.
- Some more on the fate of the trees, several needlessly destroyed to update ovals 3 and 4.
- An exciting insight into our plans for how to use the Depot site when Council relocates it out of Caulfield Park.
Conservatory betrayal
In our last newsletter we stated that “It seems Glen Eira Council never acknowledges a mistake and consequently never feels the need to say ‘sorry’”. FoCP would like to work cooperatively with them but Council actions make this all but impossible.
A waste of time and of community resources!
We are not sure whether Council is merely incompetent or totally cynical. Having agreed in 2011 to put up the money to renovate the Conservatory, the plan was set aside while Camden Ward Crs. Lipschutz and Delahunty persuaded the Council to consult the community about conversion to a café or full restoration.
Having lost a full year, had a clear rejection of the café, and strong community endorsement to restore and renew the Conservatory, Council agreed to go ahead and FoCP foolishly thought that community will had prevailed. Not so!
At the Council meeting of 29th April, on a split vote, an unrepentant majority of Councillors including the two above named, voted to remove the Conservatory because it would cost more than they had expected and Cr. Delahunty prefers to use the money for a park in Elsternwick. But how could Council not have known the projected cost before the charade of public consultation? Unprofessional!
Perverse
Council now argues that it has been little used and lacks heritage values. Of course it is little used! It has been neglected into an almost derelict condition with no proper planting or care. Council ignored the fact that when asked in the ‘consultation’, half the community had explicitly rejected razing the conservatory. So perversely, that is exactly what Council has decided to do. We are protesting!
This last minute turnaround signals neither respect for the majority who wanted a Conservatory, nor those who did not want it removed.
What values!
Council was willing to spend over $600K on two ovals for a few kids to play on at weekends, but cannot find the far smaller additional amount to restore the Conservatory for everyday use by the whole community for decades to come.
In practice, the sports lobby, a minority of park users gets all the attention, while majority informal usage is left out over and over again.
The mayor, who also voted to demolish the Conservatory, says community consultation isn’t the only thing to consider. He has still not apologised for his ‘elitist’ comments about informal users of Caulfield Park. He is confused about what elitist means - the situation is totally inequitable, especially when well over two-thirds of the park’s area is taken up for sport, the pavilion and associated parking, and the Depot (more parking).
The 39 Trees and Ovals 3 and 4
Well done! Thanks to the level of outrage shown by the community and led by FoCP, the Council successfully transplanted 10 small trees and left 4 alone. This means they removed 23 and have now planted forty, a net gain of 15 young trees.
On 29th April councillors told themselves how lucky we all are to live in Glen Eira and how wonderful Council is. Council were ‘over the moon’ at approving over $9m on the Booran Road Reservoir to make it into a park.
Pity about the poor old Conservatory
Pity about the very old and beautiful cork oak that was needlessly sacrificed along with a well-developed ash and a large elm.
Congratulations councillors! We are happy to have achieved even a modest outcome with this over paternalistic council.
New Plans for the Depot
If Council really wants to make amends for its neglect of casual users, unneeded tree destruction, exploitation of Caulfield Park for sports users, and now the destruction of the Conservatory, then FoCP calls on it to create open space by getting rid of the Depot from Crown Land which is designated to be used for community recreation, not an opportunistic council truck parking area.
Council wails when the MRC abuses access to, and use of, open space in the centre of Caulfield Racecourse (which Cr. McGee has emphasised should be accessible public space because it is Crown Land). Council’s double standards show up clearly because it has a different and totally inconsistent attitude when it comes to removing vehicle parking from the Depot.
While Council has been cutting down trees and approving the destruction of the Conservatory, FoCP has been consulting amongst our members and has developed a plan for the Depot to turn it, and the area surrounding it, from a parking lot into an integrated area for community use.
Highlights include: · An Education Centre
· A ‘biblical’ garden with olives pomegranates, vines, date palms etc.
· A meeting space
· An art and sculpture garden
For more information and illustrations of what to expect, go to our website at www.caulfieldpark.com and click onto Depot Plan. We invite you to send in your comments to us at [email protected] and help us show Council your support for this project to regain community Crown Land to be used the way it was intended.
AGM and Guest Speaker 27th May
The AGM will be held at
Caulfield Park Croquet Club
at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 27th May.
Judith Smith, President of the Friends of St Kilda Botanical Gardens has graciously agreed to speak to our members about working with St Kilda Council
· Learn about their activities and experiences and how other Councils work productively with and not against their communities.
· Learn more about the Depot Plan and take the opportunity to input your ideas.
· Find out the latest on the Conservatory.
· Join the committee and participate in the development and protection of Caulfield Park.
The room is in the north-west corner of the club with entry via Balaclava road through a gate on the west side of car park – see signs on the night.
Sunday Afternoon Concerts
The Glen Eira Band performed its last concert of the summer on Sunday, April 6th. It was a great success and the questionnaire, completed by attendees, clearly shows how welcome the joint initiative of the Friends and the Band, along with other supporting entertainers, has been.
Future Concert Program
We have developed a strong program for the next summer season with six concerts in all. We are applying to the Council for support and for grants to help finance the cost of arranging these non-profit community activities.
Overall Tree Program
The present tree management program is ad-hoc. FoCP urge Council to prepare and commit to a plan to plant many more trees in Caulfield Park combined with a proper Tree Maintenance Program.
Expression of Regret
In a previous newsletter we used the term “storm trooper” to refer to Council tactics involved in the obscene and unnecessary felling of trees in Caulfield Park in December 2013. We were told this was an offensive term and that Cr. Lipshutz had received over 40 complaints. In spite of our contact details being clearly available on the newsletter, we received precisely none. Storm trooper is defined in Wikipedia in non-offensive terms and we were at pains to find a correct term to describe the council’s behaviour. If anyone was offended we regret this, but believe the councillor exaggerates reaction.
Friends of Caulfield Park
We are an incorporated group of concerned residents and park users formed in 2007. Since then we have successfully engaged with Council on many matters concerning the park: tree labelling, a brochure about tree walks, increased tree planting, tree retention, prevention of fencing, the preservation of historic structures and more.
We believe that as a strong community group we should and will continue to play an important role in monitoring, proposing, and questioning Council’s plans and activities in the park.
To do this we must have your active support. Join the committee and play a part. It’s not hard and it’s a most worthwhile thing to do for the community!’
The AGM will be held at
Caulfield Park Croquet Club
at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 27th May.
Judith Smith, President of the Friends of St Kilda Botanical Gardens has graciously agreed to speak to our members about working with St Kilda Council
· Learn about their activities and experiences and how other Councils work productively with and not against their communities.
· Learn more about the Depot Plan and take the opportunity to input your ideas.
· Find out the latest on the Conservatory.
· Join the committee and participate in the development and protection of Caulfield Park.
The room is in the north-west corner of the club with entry via Balaclava road through a gate on the west side of car park – see signs on the night.
Sunday Afternoon Concerts
The Glen Eira Band performed its last concert of the summer on Sunday, April 6th. It was a great success and the questionnaire, completed by attendees, clearly shows how welcome the joint initiative of the Friends and the Band, along with other supporting entertainers, has been.
Future Concert Program
We have developed a strong program for the next summer season with six concerts in all. We are applying to the Council for support and for grants to help finance the cost of arranging these non-profit community activities.
Overall Tree Program
The present tree management program is ad-hoc. FoCP urge Council to prepare and commit to a plan to plant many more trees in Caulfield Park combined with a proper Tree Maintenance Program.
Expression of Regret
In a previous newsletter we used the term “storm trooper” to refer to Council tactics involved in the obscene and unnecessary felling of trees in Caulfield Park in December 2013. We were told this was an offensive term and that Cr. Lipshutz had received over 40 complaints. In spite of our contact details being clearly available on the newsletter, we received precisely none. Storm trooper is defined in Wikipedia in non-offensive terms and we were at pains to find a correct term to describe the council’s behaviour. If anyone was offended we regret this, but believe the councillor exaggerates reaction.
Friends of Caulfield Park
We are an incorporated group of concerned residents and park users formed in 2007. Since then we have successfully engaged with Council on many matters concerning the park: tree labelling, a brochure about tree walks, increased tree planting, tree retention, prevention of fencing, the preservation of historic structures and more.
We believe that as a strong community group we should and will continue to play an important role in monitoring, proposing, and questioning Council’s plans and activities in the park.
To do this we must have your active support. Join the committee and play a part. It’s not hard and it’s a most worthwhile thing to do for the community!’
