Tree news

Not exactly about trees, but important in that the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from street lighting was debated just last night at the Marrickville Council Meeting.  The Municipal Association of Victoria has called on State & Federal Governments to help local Councils replace old street lighting with new energy-efficient technology. Called the Give Our Streets the Green Light campaign, it aims to replace an estimated 330,000 local street-lights with 80W mercury vapour lamps. This change will provide an energy saving of approximately 70%, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 78,000 tonnes & save $7 million per year. Significant.  http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2010/06/08/article/DYGMLVICND.html

On to trees proper: The UTAS School of Geography & Environmental Studies is conducting a national survey to help build a comprehensive picture of Australian attitudes related to trees in cities so if you have an attachment to a tree or a memory relating to trees from your childhood, then tell your tree story now. http://www.media.utas.edu.au/general-news/all-news/surveying-social-attitudes-to-trees-in-cities-across-australia

It looks like the beautiful Nobbys Headland Newcastle will soon be opened to the public for the first time in more than 150 years. http://newcastle.iprime.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/nobbys-to-open-after-more-than-century,427001?

Bridge Street, the tree-lined main street of Murray Bridge is lined with Eucalypts & Jacaranda trees.  The Eucalypts are going to be removed by Murray Bridge Council because they believe the trees are too big. Now several business owners have said they want the Jacaranda trees removed as well as “they frequently dropped leaves and flowers, forcing businesses into a constant battle to keep their sidewalks clean.”

Some of us look forward to Jacarana flowers & their purple carpet. I wonder what the financial impact will be once Bridge Street is devoid of trees?  Research has found that shops in tree-lined shady areas earn 11% more as shoppers stay longer & spend more.  If I owned a business, I would be clamoring for the trees to be retained. http://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/news/local/news/general/jacarandas-caught-in-crossfire/1860964.aspx

Green sites in Maitland are vanishing with close to 90% of the city’s green field sites marked for development. Less than 10% of remnant vegetation, including woodlands & native scrub, remain in the Maitland LGA.  http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/green-sites-vanishing/1859493.aspx

As part of a tree rejuvenation project, Singleton Council is removing an unspecified number of trees in Burdekin Park to rid the park of bats that live there. They will chop the trees down between dusk & 11pm so the bats have no home when they return at dawn. “The State government has granted approval under the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act for the removal of the trees under specific conditions.” “It was resolved by council to plant trees of a similar species to the ones being removed.” http://www.singletonargus.com.au/news/local/news/general/burdekin-park-singleton/1856059.aspx

Now that the bats which have lived for a couple of decades in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens are about to be kicked out, Campbelltown Council quite reasonably wants to know whether the Macarthur area is at risk of being swamped by 22,000 grey-headed flying foxes. The Botanic Gardens Trust, said, “it was unlikely the flying foxes would come this far west & were more likely to settle in Gordon or the eastern suburbs.” My last post https://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/hungry-bats-birds/ spoke about flying foxes leaving QLD & migrating as far as Adelaide & Tasmania. The Botanic Gardens Trust said, “If the bats moved into areas that were inappropriate, like out west, we’d follow a contingency relocation program.” Hope they do this for the bats about to lose their home at Burdekin Park as well. My guess is that people are going to be complaining loudly because bats have come to live in suburban gardens.  I hope I am wrong & the bats find perfect new homes where people won’t decide they have to move on again.  http://www.wollondillyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/foxes-could-fly-in-to-macarthur/1859620.aspx

A COMPANY accused of allowing illegal tree trimming in an environmentally protected zone on a prime Hastings Point Property says it was carrying out maintenance.  http://www.tweednews.com.au/story/2010/06/08/officers-swoop-on-hastings-point-site/

The EU is set to finally ban illegal timber in 2012 with MEPs to vote on the proposal in July with the European Council voting in autumn. Companies will be required to state where their timber was harvested. This is a terrific move with up to 40% of the world’s wood production thought to come from illegally logged tropical forests. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10341925.stm

11 members of the US Congress have written to Prime Minister Rudd, urging him to fulfill an election promise to ban imports of illegally logged timber. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/stop-importing-illegal-timber-us-tells-rudd-20091214-ksd4.html

In magnificent news, the Sindh Forest Department Karachi Pakistan has decided to declare the entire mangrove forests of the Indus Delta as Protected Area. The mangrove forests are located at four geographic locations along 1,046 km of coastline. http://citynewspk.com/?p=7441

Also fantastic news, The Global Environment Facility will fund a “Great Green Wall,” a pan-African proposal to reforest the continent from west to east to battle desertification & reforest northern Africa. $119,000,000 (96 million euros) has been allocated to achieve this. The wall of forest would be more than 7,100 km (4,400 miles) long & average 15 km (9 miles) wide.  The Great Green Wall will travel through Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal & Sudan. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/wl_africa_afp/chadafricasummitforestsdroughtenvironment

Fossils found in the Isle of Wight in England have shown the way Fig Wasps pollinate fig trees has remained unchanged for at least 34,000,000 years. Fig trees need wasps to transfer their pollen to other trees, while the wasps need figs to lay their eggs inside.  Each of the more than 800 species of Fig tree needs a specific wasp, just 1.5 mm long, to pollinate it.  For me, it’s nice to know that both the Fig Wasps & Fig trees existed 34,000,000 years ago. http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=742

There is a very interesting article with Agus Purnomo & Yani Saloh, Special Assistants to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for Climate Change regarding Indonesia’s pledge to reduce deforestation.  It’s a multifaceted issue involving palm oil developers, timber companies & the livelihoods for tens of millions of Indonesians. http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0614-indonesia_purnomo_saloh.html

Breakfast amongst the Grevillea flowers

Report from the Gallery – 20th April 2010

The following is my take on the meeting.  All mistakes are mine.  There are likely to be mistakes because the sound system has been deteriorating for weeks & is now on its last legs.  The microphones alternate between soft/loud & it is often difficult to hear the Councillors over the air conditioning system & a strange bubbling sound that makes one feel they are in a fish tank.  Nevertheless, the proceedings were blessed with plenty of incisive debate.

1. Sydney Fringe Festival – The Director of the Festival addressed Council asking for $40,000 ‘seed funding’ & free use of Petersham Town Hall & Enmore Park saying that if Council didn’t provide financial assistance, the festival would not go ahead.  He expected the festival to generate $54,000,000 in local business.  Clr Macri was concerned about the money donated to the events sector because of Council’s poor financial situation.  Clr Peters asked Council to organise green transport options to bring the expected 80,000 people to Newtown & Enmore.  Carried.

2. Street by Street – Residents of Wilga Avenue Dulwich Hill have created verge gardens along the street.  They requested $1,000 to ‘further enhance their sustainability efforts.’  Carried.

3. Support for the Peloponnesian Confederation – A representative asked that fees be waived for use of Henson Park for the October Festival.  Discussion centred as to whether Henson Park was an appropriate venue, with Tempe Reserve offered as an alternative.  The Confederation will need to put in a DA.  Carried.

Petersham Oval - Don Bradman played here

4. Maintenance & use of turf wickets – A speaker representing Inner West Cricket Group (Randwick Petersham Cricket Club, Crickets Club of NSW & South Sydney Cricket Club) wanted the retention of 3 cricket turfs at Petersham Park, Camperdown & Marrickville Parks for their use.  Council will continue to maintain turf at Marrickville & Camperdown Parks while the cricket clubs will cover the costs of maintaining the turf at Petersham Oval.  The cricket clubs will also sub-lease the grounds to other cricket clubs throughout the summer season 2010/11.  Council will sell 1 of its turf rollers valued at $5,000.

Clr Marci said Council spends millions on maintaining grounds so Council shouldn’t have to fiddle with the budget to find $5,000.  Clr Wright disagreed saying this was a small price to pay for the overall benefits.  Clr Peters was concerned that they were making a decision to outsource 3 of the LGA’s major ovals without having previously discussed this.  Said the cricket group had no legal status & for transparency, there should be a process regarding insurance, liability & legalities & while the cricket club can sub-let ovals to other groups, their process has no transparency.  She wanted the issue deferred until these issues are dealt with.  Clr Phillips was also concerned that the community loses its ovals to sporting groups & wanted transparency in the clubs’ charges.  The request was carried with Clr Peters & Kontellis against.

5. Marrickville Rotary Club – Request for financial support– They asked for $1,350 to pay for a driver & bus hired to take 25 refugee children to Jambaroo Amusement Park in April 2010.  Carried.

6. Sister Cities (SC) leave for the General Manager (GM) Marrickville Council for overseas trip – long debate about the value of the SC with Clr Thanos saying he will not support it in future meetings because the benefit to the community

Planter boxes along Brighton Street Petersham. It would be good if planter boxes were a common thing around Marrickville LGA

is nil and the cost high.  He also said Marrickville Council cannot reciprocate on the levels of money that other cities had spent when our officials & would rather see the money spent on Child Care Centres.  Said nothing ever gets done with the SC except for a few photos.

Clr Kontellis disagreed, saying Council has a Strategic Plan as well as a process of review, but despite these she would not support special leave for the GM.  Clr Phillips also did not support special leave saying he could not see the value in SC & would rather see Council spend money that would go on the GM’s salary while he was away go towards Council’s Green House Gas Reduction Targets.

Clr Wright supported the special leave, as did Clr Byrne, but only for the visit to Bethlehem because it is a new SC.  Clr O’Sullivan spoke about the “connections kept & forged within our community” & “that credibility with faith organisations was an assertion of our values as a community.”  Clr Tsardoulias said the program was about exchanging knowledge, ideas & resources.

Clr Peters asked that the GM visit Christmas Island to see what we can do about the refugees there, as some will live in Marrickville LGA.  Clr Hanna said that on previous tours, the GM phoned Council daily & worked on his computer at night, thus his work for Marrickville Council didn’t stop. As examples of the benefit of the programme he said Cyprus liked the Magic Yellow Bus & was going to do one of their own. He said perhaps the trip would give the GM ideas on how to reduce the rates.

Clr Macri supported the special leave.  He agreed we haven’t brought anything much back, but the SCs are poor & benefit from knowledge from us.  Mayor Iskandar who is a strong supporter of SC spoke about the benefits in depth saying the GM will educate people about our systems & advanced programmes.  Carried with Clrs Phillips, Peters, Kontellis & Olive against.

7. Draft Management Plan & Budget 2010-2014 – Clr Phillips reminded that Council put up an amendment regarding climate change in 1997 to lower our emissions by 2010, but we are not going to meet our target.  He said

Ashfield Council buries slotted ag-pipe at the time they plant trees. The pipes help to get air & water down to the soil surrounding the rootball of the tree, especially in cases where the tree is completely surrounded by paving. This is a great thing.

Marrickville LGA’s biggest user of energy is street lighting & Council should move to powering by green power instead of coal power.  Recent price costing was reasonable & he wanted this to be included in the budget saying “it was the moral issue of our time.”

Clr Peters questioned whether graffiti & rubbish removal were major projects. The GM said these are significant issues for the community.  Clr Peters noted  that tree planting & landscaping were not included as key issues. Clr Hanna said residents care about graffiti & clean streets & they do not speak about tree planting.  Clr Thanos said he would like to see sidewalks be other than concrete & wanted to see something done about our energy consumption.  Said again we spend too much money on SC & $500,000 per year on ‘Events’ was “ludicrous.”  He supported the plan.

Clr Kontellis wanted affordable housing included.  Clr Olive did not agree that NFP local organisations should pay for hall hire, saying they should continue to get it for free.  Passed to community consultation before coming back to Council.

8. Draft Core Asset Management Plan – Clr Phillips noted there were limitations to what Council could do because of rate pegging & said he thought the community would support an increase in rates.  Clr Wright said the report provided a framework to allow us to make assessments & go to the community with facts & options.  Carried.

9. 10 Big Ideas to Grow NSW – The NSW Business Council Discussion Paper proposed the formation of 10 ‘Super Councils’ in Sydney to replace the current

spectacular tree at the start of the Newcastle expressway

41 councils.  Clr Olive thought it was a “preposterous idea.”  Clr Thanos said City of Sydney Council has a surplus of half a billion dollars & can’t get that below $200,000,000/year.  Said we should be leaders & not wait until the state government forces amalgamation upon us.  Saying if it benefits our residents, we should say this to the State Government.  The vote was to oppose the idea.

10. 2010 Year of Women in Local Government – Clrs O’Sullivan & Byrne nominated to attend.  The program allocates $17,000 to collect stories from women working in child care, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or multicultural communities working in positions where they don’t usually have a voice, opportunity to move ahead or have formal qualifications recognised or obtain formal qualifications.

11. Audit Committee Charter – The Mayor & Deputy Mayor are on it, with the third member as chair and not a councillor.  Clr Phillips put up a motion  saying he was concerned  that as the holders of these offices change, may have both representatives coming from the same party & he wanted the committee to have one more member. Mayor Iskandar said it could be discussed if it happens. Clr Wright said this committee is “an oversighting committee at the highest level & above politics.”  The committee does not have decision-making powers. Motion lost with the Mayor using casting vote.

12. National assembly of Local Government – this is a conference in Canberra in June 2010.  Marrickville Council will attend.  Carried.

13. Financial Assistance for Marrickville Greek Orthodox Church – Clr Phillips put up a motion to reverse the previous decision to give $5,000 to quieten the church’s bells.  Said it was totally inappropriate to financially support a DA & sets a bad precedent & other churches or community groups could feel entitled to $5,000 lots as well.  Clr Thanos, who set the first motion to grant the money, said it was a good will gesture.  Its significance is in that it is for a permanent fixture & not a once-off event.  Clr Olive said that he was bothered because it was a permanent structure & thought it was a bad decision heritage-wise.  Clr Peters said she didn’t think we should be funding a DA. Clrs Peters & Macri were out of the room when the vote took place.  Recision motion unsuccessful. See – https://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/report-from-the-gallery-–-16th-february-2010/

14. Saving Marrickville from Financial Disaster – See Clr-Thanos-Notice-of-motion-Saving-MC-financial-disaster-2010 Clr Hanna said, if in 2011 there is

a friend's garden

a special rate for the environment, he would not support it & will vote for amalgamation to a Super Council.  Clr Kontellis asked that staff could prepare a study brief that determines the cost/benefit of amalgamation.  Clr Wright opposed the motion saying it “was a wild goose chase that won’t happen unless the state government make us.”  Clr O’Sullivan agreed & mentioned that Glebe Books is coming to Dulwich Hill (yay!) because City of Sydney’s improvements works to Glebe Point Road negatively impacted on businesses. Clr Phillips said amalgamation was a way out from having to vote for a special rate variation (rate increase) as Council’s costs are far greater than the rates coming in.  Clr Thanos spoke about the history of City of Sydney Council amalgamating with South Sydney Council saying it was “a secret agenda of the government for years & he wanted to know the facts & be ready for it.”  Clr Hanna, Byrne, Olive, Kontellis against with Mayor Iskandar using his casting vote.  Motion defeated.

And here ends Report from the Gallery for this week.

New grass planting at Cooks River Marrickville