PADD and City of Nedlands Correspondance

Paola Lovi email to Cr Tan - 07 July, 2008

Subject:

Dear Cr Tan,

I have not at all misrepresented Cr Mazzucchelli's Motion on the PADD website. I have heard from local residents that this is what you are telling them.

I made a point of including the entire text of the Motion in the opening paragraph on the website.

To prepare a new concept plan using the "design elements and vision discussed by the DRASC" does not include the parameters of development which are height, set backs, plot ratios and the like.

The Motion makes a clear distinction between the "design elements and vision discussed by the DRASC" and "the parameters suggested by the commercial landowners".

If the writer of the Motion intended to direct the Administration to prepare a new concept plan in accordance with the recommendations of the DRASC then the Motion would have presumably been worded that way.

I wondered, when I first read the Motion, whether Cr Mazzucchelli had simply used poor and clumsy wording or if her true intention was as the Motion reads. Around the same time I heard from local residents that Cr Negus has been saying that the intention of the Motion is exactly as it reads. He has now circulated that in writing. What then are we to think?

What is the urgency of the Motion for tomorrow night when everyone knows how many councillors have given advance notice of their absences for that meeting and many residents are away for the school holidays?

Why is it not withdrawn and re-presented in a different wording for the meeting of 22 July after councillors have put their collective heads together to come up with the appropriate wording?

I note that the standing orders require that notice of such a motion be given four clear working days prior to the meeting and be made public. From what I understand, notice of the motion was put on 3 July and if that is correct, that is not four clear working days - it is only three. The Motion is still not on the website and is not on the published agenda for the meeting and much of the public does not have any knowledge of it. I would have had no knowledge of it had it not been for the efforts of councillors who thought that some of the residents should know about it.

Is this a deliberate attempt to ambush the absent councillors and the residents?

Perception is sometimes just as important as reality. Again, what would you think of the situation if you were in our shoes?

We have pleaded with Council to communicate with us so that we know what is going on. Again and again this has not happened and that is when we get angry. Is clear communication and cooperation so difficult for the City of Nedlands to deliver?

Yours sincerely
Paola Lovi
Chairperson
PADD