Nearly Everything Is Better

I had a few questions today about deliberative budgeting which I’ve committed to introduce immediately if i’m elected Lord Mayor. 

The process started in Brazil but has been used around the world to engage citizens in directly allocating their taxes. In my view public servants and politicians are too removed from the people who pay for the work they do. Deliberative budgeting puts the taxpayer back in charge and engages community energy and ideas. Giving people incentives to participate is a great antidote to political fatigue.

My husband Paul went to Brazil and brought the method back to his electorate where he used it allocate local grant money. Initial concerns raised by bureaucrats, advisers and other politicians about average people making bad choices were not only unfounded but shown to be patronising, anti-democratic nonsense. 

If you are interested the links below will get you started. Professor Lyn Carson’s New Democracy Foundation is well placed to help and I would propose to use them at least in the first stage and then go to tender in the future. 

http://www.unesco.org/most/southa13.htm

http://www.dpwg-lgd.org/cms/upload/pdf/participatory_budgeting.pdf

night all and god bless democracy

Cass

All economic regulation involves some dead weight costs but we do it because pouring battery acid into rivers or starving outworkers sucks. However economic regulation has gone too far in this country and the roll back may as well begin with the idiotic practice of regulating buskers.

I used to busk outside the Goldfish Bowl as a teenager and it was a great way to get a few bucks before heading out to spend them listening to better musicians. 

These days to busk you need a permit from the Council. So a person heading out to make a few bucks has to be subject to the attention of a bureaucrat who will probably spend half the total economic value of that busking session processing the permission. Come on folks are we really at risk of deadly pollution, unsafe work practices, or consumer fraud at the hands of a few guitarists and human statues?

Sydney Council claims to regulate busking due to “noise sensitivities and safety concerns”. They are time restricted and their permits “must be displayed at all times while performing”. 

Those folks performing in a group all need individual licences. “Groups of up to 5 licensed buskers can perform at any one time providing all members have their license on display”.

Buskers can be pinged and fined for

• Causing a nuisance or obstructing pedestrian or vehicle traffic and entrances to shops or buildings
• Excessively loud performances
• Acts that involve animals
• Selling or offering for sale any articles, commodity or services with the exception of the busker’s own original CDs and DVDs
• Using dangerous implements or materials as part of the performance without a Special Busking Permit (See information below)
• Vilification of any community members, including, but not limited to, racial, sexual, gender or disability discrimination.

That last point is pretty troubling because it’s essentially giving the council a censorship power. Most comedy acts would have a hard time getting past it if enforced seriously.

And if it’s not serious, really what is the point?  

thanks to Terje Petersen for the referral all to this awesome adventure park

I think we need one in Sydney Park -  how awesome would that be?  

http://www.treetopadventurepark.com.au/home.php

So with my political advisers at camp I’ve been out and about this week exploring the neighbourhood delights. Living above a pub we are lucky that it trades late enough to provide a drink whenever we happen to be passing back in after a show as we did tonight. 

We walked back from Sydney theatre this evening past ATYP rehearsing Animal Farm which judging from the energy of the kids running around the wharf will be outstanding.

Further down the pier some nice folks were practicing show tunes in a studio. What a great area to walk around at night - but so cut off from the rest of the city. Barangaroo gives us a second chance to reintegrate that stranded cultural precinct connecting it better to Millers Point and King st wharf and I hope stimulate a bit more street life there. 

The current council administration claims to support the ‘night time economy’ but has so far talked more about social engineering than the economy. The preference for ‘sit down dining’ against take away and the ridiculous move to licence only a hand picked selection of food trucks shows no interest in buyers and sellers working out between them what tasty snacks should be available where and when and more interest in making sure there are places for people who can afford napkins at the expense of those who want a hot dog and another beer.

The 3am lockout proposed for the Cross is not something I support. Whenever we’ve had arbitrary closing we’ve had unintended consequences from the six o clock swill to street level chaos of tossing all the drunks out onto the street together at the same time. And 3am is changeover for cabs so how are they supposed to quietly go home? I don’t stay out past 3 much since my political advisers came along but I don’t hold with telling other adults what time to go home.

The streets need assertive policing and I’m for enforcing the law against anti-social drunks - but on the basis of the behaviour not the time of night or numbers of beers a person has had. We have been trying to make police out of publicans for years with ‘No More its the Law’ etc and it doesn’t work. There’s clearly pretty boozy culture in this country which isn’t something to be proud of but shutting the pubs won’t help. The criminalisation of human vices generally does more harm than good. 

WHile the current Lord Mayor has done good work with small bars in the city, I remain concerned that music venues are not getting the support they could. WIth Tone and the Gaelic closing recently it remains a challenge. Order of occupancy rules, noise laws and licensing permissions all make a difference to struggling venues. The experience of the Annandale Hotel over in Leichardt council shows us what not to do.

The 2010 Business Partnership has a few good ideas about improving the 24 hour economy and has pointed out a some of the over regulation of local businesses. the frequency with which many venues and pubs have to reapply for their permits is a waste of time and money. Some simple things like waiving footpath fees and not fining people for signage and lighting seems a good idea - especially as ‘activating the street’ is what everyone seems to want.

Goodness, that all went a bit longer than i intended but if you have specific questions, complaints or suggestions please send them my way.

night all

Cass  

So with my political advisers away at their grandparent’s farm for a few days.  I caught up with the good people at Kings Cross branch of the ALP last night. The issue of wards came up again and it seems pretty clear a lot of people think they are a good idea. I remain unconvinced. What divides people in a community isn’t geography, it’s opportunity, access, engagement and the strength their voice. Most people in the City don’t need the Council’s help but those who do have lost out to powerful voices, NIMBYs, wowsers and rent seekers. This is not confined to one or two geographies.

The poorer families across our cities would benefit from less money being spent on state and federal issues like coal seam gas and more on lowering the barriers to participation for recreational facilities. Less public money spent paying people to draw beautiful pictures of a light rail system that is beyond the council’s budget and out of its jurisdiction and more money on basic community transport which is a service relied on for hospital visits, weekly shopping and community centre participation by the old, disabled or ill. Community transport actually sits within the Council’s jurisdiction - light rail while a decent idea is firmly in the bailiwick of the state government. 

Back on my obsession with the state of our playgrounds, last night I walked through the children’s’ playpen next the El Alamein fountain – it may be saddest little pigpen I’ve seen yet in the city. The miserly length of the swing ropes, the stunted little slippery slide, the grubby AstroTurf. Horrible. Imagine that lovely St Kilda playground I posted the other day there instead and how much better it would be for the growing humans who live nearby.

live long and prosper

Cass  

The campaign is hash tagged on twitter as #cos12. Today’s twitter chatter was equally spread between homelessness and swimming.

On homelessness I have said I think the most important thing any purchaser of public services can do is introduce outcomes based contracting so that we sort the better programs from the worst and move money to what gets results. One of my competitors wants to hire more Council staff, I definitely don’t. With outcomes contracts we can give the money to the best providers and save on 9-5 staff at town hall.

On swimming pools I favour sorting out the filth in Pyrmont pool with a filter membrane like those proposed for Plus Pools. These are a developmental proprietary product but I’m sure a public tender would soon attract some good similar options for Sydney. with this system any site in the inner harbour can be free of flotsam. www.pluspool.org/

There was mention on twitter from another candidate about wards. I don’t support that. Proportionate representation delivers a better mix of a wider ranges voices. I dealt with independents and minor parties in parliament for many years and i’ve always felt the mix in the upper house gave us a chance to tease out issues from a range of community perspectives. it’s messy but it’s fairer. 

Some of you have asked about my plan for deliberative budgeting. here’s what’s going on in Canada Bay http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/the-buck-will-stop-with-you-people-power-council/story-e6freuzi-1226305659675.  Check out the New Democracy Foundation for more details. www.newdemocracy.com.au/

If you’re an ALP member I’ll be at Kings Cross branch on tuesday night and at Alexandria next month so let me know if you want me to prepare in advance on any issue that matters to you. After nearly 20 years of public policy work there’s a fair bet I have view on nearly everything but I’m always learning new things and I can change my mind when presented with better arguments than my own so feel free to make them!

My political advisers and I had a good playing at Darling Harbour today - my goodness that new park is chockers! The crowd there just shows how much excess demand there is for good playgrounds in this city. We also caught another day of Hoopla which continues to be outstanding - great to spend this afternoon’s storms under the big top.

night all and god bless democracy 

Cass 

Great day in Sydney with my political advisers. Hoopla at Daring Harbour not only absolutely rocked wit sword swallowing, juggling, trapeze and hoola hoops but with tickets of five and ten bucks and free for kids it’s exactly what we need more of in the city. God knows if the people promoting it are making money but if it’s at all sustainable to repeat at these prices we need to have it on more than once a year. If you can get down there this long weekend do it. 

More chat on twitter today about homelessness and the endemic youth homelessness problem. If have some links below to the two programs I have the most confidence in but am still looking at more options. The youth homelessness problem is fuelled by a flawed foster care system that sees kids thrown out when payments stop at 18. If a ‘carer’ can throw a kid out when the money stops you have to wonder how loving the family can have been up to that point. There isn’t a lot the city council can do given its entire budget is less than the state government’s community services budget but what the council can do is free up more community housing stock through development approval trade offs; put some direct money in to pilot evidence backed programs and work better with the state to coordinate services. 

I see Clover is calling on the Governor not to give assent to the Bill that would see her forced to choose between state and local government. To be clear, i think it is very bad that the choice of the voters is being overturned. The voters were well aware she was in both jobs and clearly believed she was doing well at both. However, asking the governor to intervene would not be as she suggests a defence of democracy but rather a denial of democracy in that the vice regal authority would be defying the people’s elected government. 

Had a good walk round the Harbour with the family and we’re looking forward to taking a ride on the monorail tomorrow before somebody pulls it down. I would love to keep it as sort of skinny High Line which i realise it a bit of indulgence but I’d love to see how much it would cost to make it a walking track. just for fun!

Some nice preliminary coverage in the SMH today noting that while going after Clover may well be a fool’s errand, shaking up the ALP is no waste of anyone’s time. I couldn’t agree more. The nice thing about this primary is I don’t have worry about a caucus or a platform, I just have to say what I think - which for the record used to what Labor stood for back in 1995 when I joined. Liberalisation for prosperity, effective safety nets; equality of opportunity (not outcomes) and optimistic patriotism.  

Good night fellow travellers!

Cass

Today I took my political advisers for a park tour. Being 5 and 10 their reports are vital for our family recreation policy development process. 

The findings so far are thus - playgrounds in the city range between good and very good if you are quite small.  if you are ten they suck. i have observed disappointingly short swing ropes, low slides and very little to climb high on. This is will not do.

My dear friend Eleanor has referred me to outstanding work of apes at play shown below. this stuff rocks and is the kind of thing we need more of in our parks. have a look at Tim Gill’s rethinkingchildhood.com for good reasons to put a bit more fun and a bit more risk back in our parks.

I was aslo drawn in to a wonderful discussion on twitter about locating the #corepromise giant water slide in Redfern. This idea rocks. it would be great for local kids to burn off steam and get healthy. I think adding it to the refurb of Prince Alfred park makes sense but I’m open to ideas if anyone has better locations. 

Apes at Play 

The playgrounds in our city are not very exiting and not very challenging. The flying fox at Victoria park is great but nothing else there has the slightest edge of thrill except perhaps when the spinning disc is piled up with a half dozen more little people than is ‘safely’ recommended 

Rushcutters park appears to have been built for toddlers. Sydney Park at least has a few slides but not the rest is mostly sandpit. good playgrounds are a bit wilder. Darling harbour has water which is great but still suffers the modern problem of too little climbing, swinging, hanging - too much risk management. 

i like these ones. send me pics of the playgrounds you like and maybe we can get some decent ones built 

Thanks so much to John Humphries, my friend, fellow board member and founder the Human Capital Project for setting up the Cass for Lord Mayor page. I’ll be sharing the blog to that page now. John’s great work financing student loans in Cambodia can be found at humancapitalproject.com.au/ 

A quiet day today mostly spent earning a so-called living instead of begging for your votes. Cameron joined us on twitter today - you can follow him at @MurphyforMayor. Damian can be followed at @sprucia. 

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook I’ve had a few queries and so I’ll get on to answering them.

Mixmif wants to know what I think of the idea of imposing taxes on empty properties and he asked me to have a look at  http://ardvaark.net/vacant-property-tax-working-exactly-as-intended.  I did have a look and  think the simplest answer is that we have land tax in NSW at the state level and that’s an incentive not to leave property idle. I’ll leave it to Mr Baird to set the rate and deal with the many long standing problems in the land tax system. 

Maiko wants to know if I favour compulsory bike helmets. I don’t. I think they are an impediment to establishing a city bike hire scheme for starters. the reason companies like Veolia have established these schemes in London and Paris but not in Sydney is that mandatory helmets mean everyone would carry a helmet around or share hire helmets which given the virulence of head lice in recent years doesn’t seem a good idea to me. I wear one and I make sure my kids do but I think adults should be able to choose.  check out http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17032-bicycle-helmet-laws-could-do-more-harm-than-good.html

Final comment today is on Clover having to chose between state and local politics. I don’t support the government forcing this choice on her - the voters made an informed choice and that should have been good enough.

Happy Easter everyone, be excellent to each other!

Cass 

Today I had the first take up of my offer to attend a lounge room discussion, met Linda Scott for a coffee and made some new friends at the Shaken and Stirred Supper Club dinner with the ladies from Thought Broker.

Some concerns were raised with me that my proposed playground reform will run afoul of public liability law and insurance companies. As a mum of two I’ve looked into the playground issue in a lot of detail and councils are going further than is required by law to maintain acceptable risk. Here is one if my several columns on the issue if you are interested

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/playing-by-the-rules-makes-prisoners-of-children/story-e6frgd0x-1226173452613

I commit if elected to ADVENTURE playgrounds where kids can learn how to assess risk, dominate obstacles and if they have to deal with the occasional bruise so much the better. Below is St Kilda adventure playground - to use the local lingo, how grouse is this?

 @_jbradley and @redrabbleroz both blogged about my blog raising questions about housing supply and i promised to blog back with further details. how good is this internet?

They raised the sensible point that my plan to support cheaper entry will increase demand when the solution to affordable housing is increasing supply. 

My response is supply absolutely matters most but models of ownership can help as well. 

The Council can affect some influence on supply by allowing cheaper and denser development but of course that involves trade offs on street appeal, sunlight and open space. In my view the current council approach is too restrictive and a constraint on supply. Council can’t completely change the economics of building flats but it can help by speeding up approvals and reducing conditions.

The City’s current approach to affordable housing has contributed only a couple of hundred dwellings and needs a serious rethink. The key worker strategy remains largely unimplemented. I am keen to use developer contributions for social housing but rather than the current model I am a fan of shared equity models where the Council retains the land portion of equity.  here’s some coverage of how some similar schemes work in the UK

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/shared-ownership-schemes-the-way-to-a-smart-city-pad-1636529.html 

I am also keen to leverage the council property portfolio to support mutual associations to pursue the shared equity approach. 

now to parking

The current regime has been asking developers to cut the number of residential car parks in new blocks. I would like to see more underground car parking and this could be achieved with the conversion of some of these residential levels into commercial car parks. 

On street parking is a wasteful use of scarce CBD corridors and even outside the CBD there is a clear need for more space than is available along the kerb.

Finally today to music policy. If elected I promise at least one free weekend musical event per month in a public park performed by musicians resident in the City of Sydney. 

Some people have asked me about preferences. I will preference whoever has the most similar policy agenda to me. Worst case I will give them to the candidate who promises to peruse deliberative budgeting. 

And thanks to all the people who have offered money - In the words of Wendy James I don’t wan’t your money honey, I want your love! or at least, you know, your vote. 

Love you long time

Cass 

So it turns out that giving people straight answers to straight questions really sorts your friends from your foes at lightning speed. 

Looking at the positive feedback first, Red’s plan for a giant water slide is tracking well with voters concerned that the city’s pools “are not as fun as that one at Homebush”. Also the wave machine needs to stage a comeback at Cook and Phillip. 

 @DysfunctionalJ I appreciate your pro-waterslide stance.

 ‏ @viveka Cityofsydney has one waterslide at the moment, although sadly impermanent and not giant.

I’d like to clear up these persistent rumours that my five year old political adviser is in the pay of Big Water Slide - he is just a concerned citizen and hardworking volunteer.

Some nice feedback from Mission Australia about my suggestion that we adopt the Michael Project for CIty of Sydney as a better approach to homelessness.

Mission Australia ‏ @MissionAust

@tlcassandra Thanks for the Michael Project mention today. Stay tuned for news about its progress later this month.

I certainly will and I urge interested reader to check it out as a great example of what can be done for people living rough in our magnificent city.

The Coal Seam Gas people on the other hand are not happy. below are the things they said to me and things I said to them. 

them

@tlcassandra as lord mayor - what steps would you take to prevent#CSG in the City of Sydney @StopCSGSydney

me

@serenity13 @stopcsgsydney in brief - I’m 4 CSG to reduce CO2. Rules for sea gas not strong enough for land gas. Council not consent athority

me again

@serenity13 I could tell you ‘I’m concerned’ or ‘further study is needed’ but I’m being straight. Council doesn’t issue mining licences

me again

@serenity13 @stopcsgsydney to be super clear - if by some mad chance I win I will not waste ratepayers money campaigning on state issues

them

@tlcassandra heaps of other councils are finding ways to fight #CSGin their areas 

me

@serenity13 yes they are. They are trying to buy your vote with your neighbours money. CSG is Barry’s problem. Parks, pools & garbage for me

Also the Sober Up folks are not thrilled with my plan for less regulation of entertainment

them

@tlcassandra Concerned re your view on K’s Cross. Still major alcohol problems (Oxford St, George too), not just “people having a good time”

me

Stamping out music is not the solution to street violence. Kicking people out of venues onto streets makes things worse

them

@tlcassandra Research continues to show the negative impacts generated by clustering of late-night licensed premises & take away outlets

me again

Research shows a lot of stuff. I’m not in favour of a six o’clock swill or ten or three.

I’m clearly not in favour of people being drunken morons at 3am but ever since the imposition of six o clock closing we’ve kept imagining that some other hour of closing would be more successful when it isn’t. 

If you want to know more about what I think of playgrounds, the economy, alternative medicine, charities, robert menzies or the increasing bubble wrapping of life this blog has much of my published writing linked below.

the last word today goes to my new friend Tony Barry ‏

@tlcassandra Good luck! Your plan for honest dialogue, individual responsibility and sensible budgets is so crazy it might just work!

here’s hoping!

So a few of you may have seen in the Sydney Morning Herald that I’m running for Labor preselection to be the candidate for Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney.

A few obvious points

Lefties usually win preselection in the City of Sydney 

Clover usually wins the election  

So what the Sam Hill am I doing?

Well… let me tell you. Since I got out of the professional hench woman business, I’ve been writing a lot and talking a lot about freedom and opportunity and Big Gubmint and riding what John McCain called the straight talk express.

Thanks to my friends at the Australian, Sky TV and ABC’s The Drum I’ve been very privileged to give my prejudices and conceits a good airing lately and I’ve made a lot of new friends in the process. People who are sick of some of what I’m sick of and excited by some of what I’m excited by. 

Things I’m sick of

Playgrounds where you can’t possibly hurt yourself. No risk, no challenge, no lesson.

Regulating buskers - just let people play some music without red tape. The bureaucrats choosing now couldn’t do a worse job than random chance. 

The war on parking. Call me crazy but more underground parking seems to me a thing that would get some cars off the streets.

Fake poles built at public expense for pole posters - real poles evolved naturally for the purpose and have no other higher calling as public infrastructure

Expensive swimming pools. Swimming pools are not just aquatic gyms - they should be cheap; brimming with kids and at least one pool in the city should a dirty great water slide. 

Turning into a pumpkin at midnight. Seriously. If you don’t like music and crowds move the five blocks from Kings Cross to Elizabeth Bay. The rest of us are trying to have a good time.

The wee on my door every day. The homelessness strategy clearly doesn’t work. It has a lot of general good will in it but i think most of us are a bit stunned at the growing number of folk sleeping rough around the CBD. I would be keen to see something like Mission Australia’s Michael program in place. 

Christmas lights are lit too late for small children who let’s face are the only ones who actually believe in Santa. 

Things I’m a bit excited about

Clipping back luxury projects like the pretty but mostly empty Surry Hills library to focus on simple activities that matter for local families like free swimming lessons for local kids and live music in public parks 

Giving developers a bit less grief over green tape and instead tapping them for some square metres to try out some shared equity community housing based on London models where the council shares equity to keep prices down for low income workers and artists. Helping artists may seem a bit fey but Sydney earns its living being a great place to live for a wide range of Aussies and foreigners. Being an exciting place is helped by being full of entertaining people.  

Cycleways - I declare this upfront because I know some of you would like to rip them up and throw them through Clover’s window. Just so we’re clear, I love them. 

Now that we have a carbon tax - love or hate it! - we can cancel any sustainability program that doesn’t pay its own way. There is no need for a Green Infrastructure Program at the local level when the tax system has good solid price signals in it for cleaner construction. That money should be available for plenty of alternative uses including at least water slide.  

Deliberative budgeting - this is my favourite. The city has around half a billion dollars a year of our money. Starting with the 5 million that is spent on quick response grants I’d like to see the residents have a direct say what is funded. My husband Paul did this in his former electorate of Heathcote  and voters there allocated more than half a million dollars through direct voting to local projects. It was fair, it was friendly, it engaged all the local volunteers and street level heroes to make their case to their friends and neighbours for funds.

I’m going to try to keep this all above the belt. No old school ALP preselection hard stuff - just a good clean fight about the future of our town.

I’m putting my issues on the table because I think everyone in this process owes the voters a chance to make an informed choice. If you like what I’m on about and you want to know more contact me on Facebook.

If you have ten mates who are voters in the CIty of Sydney election and would like to get together for a chat, I’m happy to come around for a cup of tea and a bit of an argument. 

Thanks and good on you if you made it this far,

Cass