1 October 2012

Basic council work now "essential community infrastructure"

| johnboy
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After 12 years in office ACT Labor is promising to invest more in their basic services if re-elected:

If re-elected in 2012, ACT Labor will invest $67.2 million to make our city the best it can be.

We will invest in upgrades and new essential community infrastructure.

We will give communities a direct say on improving local places and spaces through a trial of Your Voice, Your Choice program.

ACT Labor will set up two new rapid response teams to respond quickly to fix, pot holes, footpaths, maintain our trees and mow the grass.

To ensure we remain a truly Connected Capital we will also set up ‘Mobile Canberra’ to see development of local government service apps – to provide local information using mobile technology.

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PrinceOfAles11:50 pm 02 Oct 12

Masquara said :

PrinceOfAles said :

miz said :

While apps are all very well, I don’t think govt services should be relying on the general public to alert them about problems with basic infrastructure. Shouldn’t things such as roads, footpaths, parks etc be subject to regular maintenance checks?
Maybe TAMS should have a word with a local council on how to keep things schmick (say, one on Sydney’s north shore, where there are lots of roads, parks, footpaths etc that never seem to look unkempt).

Surely it`s preferable to be able to report problems in real time via your mobile than wait 6 weeks (6 months) for a government inspector to come past and discover that half the road has fallen into the lake. As for the north shore of Sydney, it could hardly be any more different from Canberra if it tried.

Reporting problems quickly has always been an option – phone call; fax; letter. How on Earth does “real time” come into it? Potholes aren’t going to be “fixed in real time”! Councils in the UK have had responsive “potholes etc” units for over 20 years. This fixation with social media for its own sake is an “attempt to charm, dazzle with techology” matter. Much like those convenient “town meetings by twitter” which successfully contained the public to 140 characters, and conveniently allowed the government ministers to avoid answering questions – by dint of that same character limit.

I concede a better choice of words would have been “report problems as soon as they occur.” The point that miz was trying to make was that our department of fixing things should be on top of any maintenance issues with our infrastructure without needing the public to alert them to it. But in the real world this will never happen and the best way to get things attended to ASAP is by having the general public report it as quickly and easily as possible. Simple concept really.

Masquara said :

PrinceOfAles said :

miz said :

While apps are all very well, I don’t think govt services should be relying on the general public to alert them about problems with basic infrastructure. Shouldn’t things such as roads, footpaths, parks etc be subject to regular maintenance checks?
Maybe TAMS should have a word with a local council on how to keep things schmick (say, one on Sydney’s north shore, where there are lots of roads, parks, footpaths etc that never seem to look unkempt).

Surely it`s preferable to be able to report problems in real time via your mobile than wait 6 weeks (6 months) for a government inspector to come past and discover that half the road has fallen into the lake. As for the north shore of Sydney, it could hardly be any more different from Canberra if it tried.

Reporting problems quickly has always been an option – phone call; fax; letter. How on Earth does “real time” come into it? Potholes aren’t going to be “fixed in real time”! Councils in the UK have had responsive “potholes etc” units for over 20 years. This fixation with social media for its own sake is an “attempt to charm, dazzle with techology” matter. Much like those convenient “town meetings by twitter” which successfully contained the public to 140 characters, and conveniently allowed the government ministers to avoid answering questions – by dint of that same character limit.

I think I read somewhere recently that statistically most people don’t report problems because they assume that somebody else has reported or that the Council or Government should know about it. Making it as easy as possible for people to report problems as soon as they see it or think of it is a good idea. I don’t think it matters how often a problem is reported and, probably, the more often something is reported the better.

Having said that, I have become quite cynical and disillusioned with all of the studies and invitations for consultation. I can’t help feeling that the Government makes their decision beforehand and these “consultations” are simply an opportunity to buy time, delay spending money and hopefully have public buy in to whatever proposal is eventually implemented. Consultations would be a good idea if they were faster and if the Government stuck to deadlines during the consultation period. As well, wherever possible, the Government should be trialling more ideas before fully implementing proposals.

PrinceOfAles said :

miz said :

While apps are all very well, I don’t think govt services should be relying on the general public to alert them about problems with basic infrastructure. Shouldn’t things such as roads, footpaths, parks etc be subject to regular maintenance checks?
Maybe TAMS should have a word with a local council on how to keep things schmick (say, one on Sydney’s north shore, where there are lots of roads, parks, footpaths etc that never seem to look unkempt).

Surely it`s preferable to be able to report problems in real time via your mobile than wait 6 weeks (6 months) for a government inspector to come past and discover that half the road has fallen into the lake. As for the north shore of Sydney, it could hardly be any more different from Canberra if it tried.

Reporting problems quickly has always been an option – phone call; fax; letter. How on Earth does “real time” come into it? Potholes aren’t going to be “fixed in real time”! Councils in the UK have had responsive “potholes etc” units for over 20 years. This fixation with social media for its own sake is an “attempt to charm, dazzle with techology” matter. Much like those convenient “town meetings by twitter” which successfully contained the public to 140 characters, and conveniently allowed the government ministers to avoid answering questions – by dint of that same character limit.

PrinceOfAles11:47 pm 01 Oct 12

miz said :

While apps are all very well, I don’t think govt services should be relying on the general public to alert them about problems with basic infrastructure. Shouldn’t things such as roads, footpaths, parks etc be subject to regular maintenance checks?
Maybe TAMS should have a word with a local council on how to keep things schmick (say, one on Sydney’s north shore, where there are lots of roads, parks, footpaths etc that never seem to look unkempt).

Surely it`s preferable to be able to report problems in real time via your mobile than wait 6 weeks (6 months) for a government inspector to come past and discover that half the road has fallen into the lake. As for the north shore of Sydney, it could hardly be any more different from Canberra if it tried.

While apps are all very well, I don’t think govt services should be relying on the general public to alert them about problems with basic infrastructure. Shouldn’t things such as roads, footpaths, parks etc be subject to regular maintenance checks?
Maybe TAMS should have a word with a local council on how to keep things schmick (say, one on Sydney’s north shore, where there are lots of roads, parks, footpaths etc that never seem to look unkempt).

HenryBG said :

Masquara said :

HenryBG said :

Anyway, what I want is a town council that has NO POLITICAL STAFFERS and other parasites milking the ratepayer.

Speaking of which, the Canberra Centenary program lists one Teresa Comacchio as the “Government Writer” for the Centenary. Clarification would be very welcome – how much is this “Government Writer” costing? Is she producing “Government Content” or what?

In point of fact, if this is what she’s written, she demonstrates that if you pay the big bucks, you can even get somebody with the advanced literacy skills required to compose a dozen paragraphs without a single mis-placed apostrophe!

http://www.canberra100.com.au/programs/innovation-and-discovery/

Awesome work – ACT Policing PR department take note!

There’s a typo in the first sentence your link took me to. I’ll leave you to research that.

The forced enthusiasm for next year is beginning to annoy one little duck at least. Still, it could be worse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMCYiGzH3EY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Heavs said :

First to post negatively on an ALP issue again. No astroturfing here.

Howzabout arguing the issues rather than stalking/trolling?

Masquara said :

HenryBG said :

Anyway, what I want is a town council that has NO POLITICAL STAFFERS and other parasites milking the ratepayer.

Speaking of which, the Canberra Centenary program lists one Teresa Comacchio as the “Government Writer” for the Centenary. Clarification would be very welcome – how much is this “Government Writer” costing? Is she producing “Government Content” or what?

In point of fact, if this is what she’s written, she demonstrates that if you pay the big bucks, you can even get somebody with the advanced literacy skills required to compose a dozen paragraphs without a single mis-placed apostrophe!

http://www.canberra100.com.au/programs/innovation-and-discovery/

Awesome work – ACT Policing PR department take note!

Masquara said :

HenryBG said :

Anyway, what I want is a town council that has NO POLITICAL STAFFERS and other parasites milking the ratepayer.

Speaking of which, the Canberra Centenary program lists one Teresa Comacchio as the “Government Writer” for the Centenary. Clarification would be very welcome – how much is this “Government Writer” costing? Is she producing “Government Content” or what?

More to the point, who is she related to and does she fudge the letters if required?

HenryBG said :

I want a town council that calls the tip, a ‘Tip”, and not a ‘Resource Mgt Centre”.

Narnia Town Council would be your best bet.

HenryBG said :

Anyway, what I want is a town council that has NO POLITICAL STAFFERS and other parasites milking the ratepayer.

Speaking of which, the Canberra Centenary program lists one Teresa Comacchio as the “Government Writer” for the Centenary. Clarification would be very welcome – how much is this “Government Writer” costing? Is she producing “Government Content” or what?

Masquara said :

Over the last 12 years ACT Labor government heads have gradually crept up their backsides – in between grinning-head PR bouts, and announcements on issues irrelevant to what should be a competent Town Council political milieu. Why hasn’t this government been keeping an eye on the seriously poor roadworks happening via contractors all over town? I’m talking road markings that don’t match up, and ludicrous time taken for simple roadworks – case in point being that one lane of the intersection between Northbourne and Bunda Street has been blocked off for literally months. Potholes and city infrastructure have been far from Katie Gallagher’s thoughts for more than a decade now – a fact made worse over the last couple of years by an obsession with supposed economic benefits for the ACT from cash contributions to federal cultural institutions and dodgy sporting events. I’m surprised ACT Labor hasn’t tried to create a car manufacturing base for Canberra, so deluded they are! It’s too late for a sudden attempt at catchup on the pragmatic issues Canberrans are interested in, sorry.

First to post negatively on an ALP issue again. No astroturfing here.

ACT Labor *could* create a car manufacturing base for Canberra…

a/ Devise a policy forcing all ‘L’ & ‘P’ platers to drive vehicles meeting a very particular specification (not met by any current manufacturers).
b/ build a plant to manufacture vehicles to said specification.
c/ provide labor from the AMC
d/ Re-write laws and sentencing guidelines to ensure the AMC receives a steady stream of suitable labourers.

Anyway, what I want is a town council that has NO POLITICAL STAFFERS and other parasites milking the ratepayer.
I want a town council that doesn’t employ an army of contractors and consultants to do the work not being done by its army of unindustrious permanent “staff”, aka bludgers.
I want a town council that focuses 100% on the task of providing the services a town council is supposed to provide.
I want a town council that calls the tip, a ‘Tip”, and not a ‘Resource Mgt Centre”.

I have to say that the public servants providing frontline services have done an excellent job, despite their masters.

Over the last 12 years ACT Labor government heads have gradually crept up their backsides – in between grinning-head PR bouts, and announcements on issues irrelevant to what should be a competent Town Council political milieu. Why hasn’t this government been keeping an eye on the seriously poor roadworks happening via contractors all over town? I’m talking road markings that don’t match up, and ludicrous time taken for simple roadworks – case in point being that one lane of the intersection between Northbourne and Bunda Street has been blocked off for literally months. Potholes and city infrastructure have been far from Katie Gallagher’s thoughts for more than a decade now – a fact made worse over the last couple of years by an obsession with supposed economic benefits for the ACT from cash contributions to federal cultural institutions and dodgy sporting events. I’m surprised ACT Labor hasn’t tried to create a car manufacturing base for Canberra, so deluded they are! It’s too late for a sudden attempt at catchup on the pragmatic issues Canberrans are interested in, sorry.

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