Mayor4Unley

What a simple, yet fantastic idea. Secret messages and poems written on footpaths using a super-hydrophobic paint. The paint repels water, so the stencilled words remain invisible until it rains. Many of the streets of Adelaide will have poems stencilled on the footpaths. The messages will come to life when it rains. I would love to see this happen across #Unley. Such a simple and low cost activity. It will put a smile on people’s faces - when it rains 🌧🌨 Read the story

Grow Grow Grow Your Own , an Unley based sustainable community group is holding a workshop on Sunday 8th July, 2.30pm. The  topic is " Managing water use in your garden ". This is a fantastic community group and the workshops are popular. I encourage you consider attending. Below is an extract from an email I received about the upcoming event. See you there - Bob Hi fellow veggie growers Please find attached our flier for the fourth workshop for 2018; the topic is  "Managing water use in your garden".   The workshop is at  2.30pm on Sunday 8th July at Unley Community Centre, 18 Arthur St, Unley.   The workshop will be led by Melissa Bradley, Program Manager for  Water Sensitive SA.   Melissa is a strong advocate for the creation of more liveable cities and towns using integrated water management objectives and best practice water sensitive urban design.  Please see the flier for more information on the workshop and dates for our othe...

A fabulous Sunday night at the #Unley Town Hall hosting the ‘ The Travelling Table ’. Many courses of simple Italian food cooked by a team of Nonnas, just like they cook at home. The decorations were rustic style - branches of olive tree (with olives still attached) supporting strands of mood lighting. On the balcony, Italian voices entertained us and encouraged us to singalong. Good Italian tucker and excellent company. The Unley Town Hall should be used more for such events. The Travelling Table = ‘ Celebrating migrant food, culture & stories from South Australian kitchens ’. about The Travelling Table

The Unley Repair Cafe held monthly (on the last Saturday of the month) at Clarence Park Community Centre would not be successful without the many volunteer skilled workers. Most are Unley residents. When I took my broken chair to be repaired I was assigned to Peter Moors . It took a while to remove the broken screw. The rest of the repair job went quickly. Here's a photo of Peter Moors holding the repaired chair. more info on the repair job ... #Unley #RepairCafe #UnleyRepairCafe

The Unley Repair Cafe held monthly (on the last Saturday of the month) at Clarence Park Community Centre is just fantastic. Such a great concept and all made possible by a large group of skilled volunteers. I went to the May session and took my broken bentwood chair. The chair had a wonky leg with a screw broken off (inside the wood). It was a tricky job, but Unley resident and volunteer Peter Moors fixed it. Peter did a great repair job and I picked up a couple of tips. Every repaired job gets a photo. Here is a pic of me absolutely delighted with the repaired chair. #Unley #RepairCafe #UnleyRepairCafe

Volunteers are the backbone of most community organisations. At Unley Council there are 400 volunteers who service the community. Many Council services would fold (or be reduced) without the help of volunteers. I salute all of these volunteers ... from bus drivers to home services to the library ... the list just goes on. I was delighted to read that one of the best new release camellias has been called Volunteer to honour the volunteers across Australia. This camellia has gloriously ruffled blooms. They really are quite different with petals that open a soft pink with white at the edge. As the season progresses, the colour deepens and retains a white edge. The centre of the flower is heavily textured and has a pin cushion in shape. The bush grows to 2m in height. If you're thinking of planting a camellia then consider the Volunteer .

What to do when at the chemist when waiting for a script to be filled? Read the pharmacy health care magazine. I read with interest about Ubercare which is nothing to do with Uber (I think). I’m not too keen on Uber and its pervasiveness; and also stories about cold food delivered by bike in the rain ⛱ Ubercare sounds like a great service, especially for the elderly and the frail, for times when that little bit of help is required. Services include: Helping to dress, shower, iron Preparing meals, shopping Temporary carer Assist with correspondence, emails etc. Companion for a walk, dining out etc. The hourly fee is ‘reasonable’ with a discount for National Pharmacy members. All Ubercare people are police checked and are covered by insurance. And, according to the blurb, support staff are highly available around the clock; with many different skills. All up, I’m confident that it’s a good service that fills a niche. Google Ubercare.com for contact details. ...

Remember the saga of the 3 noisey in-ground trampolines at the Katherine Street Reserve. A nearby resident complained of noise and bouncing people being able to see over the fence. The trampolines were removed. After receiving a petition from 600 people, Unley Council decided to re-install the trampolines. 2 will be installed at Katherine Street Reserve (in a central location) and 1 will be installed at Ridge Park. This will happen in 2 months. A great outcome showing #Unley Council responding to public demand. I fully supported the re-installation of the trampolines at Council.

I was delighted to learn of the Repair Cafe being established at Clarence Park Community Centre @ Black Forest in #Unley. Just love the concept ❤️ It’s a growing trend across the globe. Volunteers will assist people to repair home appliances. These people may over time (with increased confidence) offer to volunteer their services at the Repair Cafe and assist others in the community. I would like to see more Repair Cafes across Unley. Read more about the Repair Cafe concept

Last night I attended the Unley FOCUS meeting. I was accompanied by Unley Councillors Peter Hughes and Rufus Salaman. All (but one) of the candidates for the SA seat of Unley were there to give a talk and respond to questions. I scored the candidates and rated their worth to represent us in Unley. The candidates ranged from good to bad to absolutely woeful. One was just so bad; with totally outrageous comments; a racist pun didn't go down well. It was a good evening to assess the candidates. It's a pity that the average voter won't get to see their party's candidate in the candid light that we experienced. Three of the candidates did a bit of Council bashing; two quite heavily. They obviously had no idea of where State Government funding (and involvement) ended and Council involvement started; all rather sad. Councillor Salaman asked a couple of heated questions of one of the candidates. I asked the last question of the night viz. "Will you run...

The State seat of Unley is heating up for one hell of a fight in the upcoming SA Election. It's going to be a fight that Unley has not seen before. Incumbent, Liberal David Pisoni was looking safe, in his very safe seat that he has held for 12 years in opposition. SA Best candidate Anthony Olivier will give the traditional Liberal/Labor polling a solid shake-up. There will be a lot of Liberal money splashed about in Unley to get their message out. Liberal priorities like rate capping and a cycle path to Melbourne will be real election issues. My reflection is that: Rate capping is just a vote grabbing ploy; I mean what voter wouldn't want reduced Council rates? The reality is that rate capping won't actually work. I don't imagine there will be a huge influx of cycling tourists pedalling over from Melbourne. Seriously, this huge spend needs a rethink; it just sounds a bit looney. I won't give my forecast or reflect on my political views, but Unley...

At the Australia Day Ceremony in #Unley, Professor Rob Morrison was the Australia Day Ambassador. He delivered a lively speech that reflected broadly on the make-up of Australia; a character portrayal of what it is to be an Australian. His speech encouraged debate on the subject. However, I disagree with his main thrust that it is too soon, too early to categorise Australia. He said that only just over 200 years had past since colonisation and that it was too early. Nonsense. And there was no mention of the Aborigines who have been here for 65,000+ years. The culture of a country evolves over time, so there is no problem with our perception of our country changing over time; as it will; as it has. Australia has the richest cultural diversity of any country and that adds to the problem of achieving consensus on what it is to be Australian. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of Australia's newer cultures are constrained (or are in silos) in our society and a...

Good news for short term shoppers at Goodwood. Unley Council intends to install four 1 hour parking spaces on Surrey Street, on the north side near Goodwood Road. This will be ideal for short term shoppers eg. people going to the Chemist or Post Office. This has been the outcome of a request to me from a resident. It is good to see Council rapidly respond to the request from the community. ps It is likely that by the time the signs are installed in February 2018, two of the parking spaces will be limited to 30 minutes.

Golden Gnomes are again popping up across the City of Unley. This time it is official. Council is rewarding residents with a small golden gnome for excellence in landscaping (and greening) their verges. Students from Concordia College assisted by painting the gnomes and creating gift tags. Also, at my suggestion, the students selected the worthy residents to get a gnome. A great outcome in helping to transform dolomite verges to blooming greenery. A year ago I unofficially launched the concept and bought a bag full of gnomes and painted them gold with a few special ones painted a distinctive rose gold. I delivered them to worthy homes across Unley. Residents have been delighted with the recognition. If you missed out in getting a gnome, why not buy one (or two) and paint them gold. They would make excellent Christmas presents.

Come and celebrate the transformation of Goodwood Road @ Goodwood. The road and footpath works are complete and it's time to party. A huge street party is planned for Sunday 22 October 10am to 2pm. It's a collaboration between the City of Unley and the Goodwood Traders' Association. The official launch will be at 11am in Rosa Street. See you there. Bring some cash to splash on the day and support the local traders.

The Advertiser headline was Queen's Birthday Honours: SA's Tireless Heroes . It annoys me that people who get the prestigious awards are mostly people just doing their paid job; like the winemaker. Yes, he makes good wines, but he gets paid handsomely for doing his job. And then there's the actor who got a gong. Damn annoying. It annoys me that average Joe down the street doesn't get a mention. He works tirelessly as an unpaid volunteer. He contributes so much to his neighbours and the local community; but he gets no mention. He contributes so much more to the community than highly paid winemakers and actors and others who are just doing their job and earning a huge salary. Maybe it's my fault or your fault. Maybe we should have nominated average Joe or his wife Maud. If we had then Joe or Maud would have maybe got a lowly award; not a big one reserved for the high flyers (like the Qantas boss) with influential friends. It's all a bit sad. I'm sorry J...

The State Government has recently released a pilot IT facility that enables residents to subscribe (to DPTI) to receive email/sms alerts about upcoming scheduled works on the rail and tram network. I understand that the intent is reduce the extent of letter-boxing residents to inform them of scheduled track work, especially work scheduled at night. Here's the link to subscribe ... www.dpti.sa.gov.au/worksnotifications It's an excellent initiative. However, there must be an ongoing need to letterbox residents in the immediate location. Thinking about this, I propose that Council launch a similar facility and request all residents to subscribe. That way Council would be able to quickly alert residents of planned works in their local area eg. road works, road closures etc. The benefit would a reduction of letter-boxing the broader area; a significant cost reduction. I ask the Council Administration to assess and pilot this proposal.

The 2016 Australian Census had a bit of a hiccup and was considered a failure. Yet, it had a 96% response rate. A good outcome; eventually. Data analysis is starting to emerge. The big surprise is that the 'typical Australian' is a 38 year old married woman who has been called 'Claire'. Here's an extract from a media report ... Her profile says she’s 38, has two children, a high school education and owns her own home. Her name is ‘Claire’, and she is the ‘typical’ Australian, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which on Tuesday released a series of profiles based on the most common responses to last year’s national census. It’s the first insight into the controversial 2016 census, which was dogged by a flawed roll-out that spawned the viral hashtag #censusfail. The ‘typical’ Australian was born in Australia of English ancestry. A high school graduate, ‘Claire’ is married with two kids and lives with her family in a three-bedroom, two-car home...

A fantastic good news story from Unley Council ... Unley has a number of strategically placed Wildlife Boxes at various locations within the City to support the breeding and habitat survival of our local fauna. A total of 28 Artificial Hollows/Boxes were installed in June 2009. They were erected in Ridge and Heywood Parks, with a single box installed on Windsor St. Over the years Council has built up the number of boxes to where we now have 121 located across all part of the City on Council parks, reserves or verges (106), schools (12) and private property (3). Each year, as part of an environmental initiative, Council is provided with a report on the outcomes, success or otherwise of fauna use. As part of this monitoring process, each box is assessed for any changes that have taken place and to determine whether possible maintenance issues have arisen. This process is required to ensure that the wildlife value of the boxes are maintained and that public safety is observed. Tow...

last night (Thursday 30 March 2017) Unley Council debated and resolved the Unley Central DPA ie. the rezoning of the Unley Central Precinct. Here is what Council resolved: In broad terms, what it means in terms of possible development is: ·           Unley Road west side Area behind soldiers memorial gardens – 5 storeys  Unley Shopping centre site- 7 storeys Target/ Barzaar/ Medical centre site- 9 storeys. ·           Unley Road Eastern side North of Oxford Terrace- 5 storeys ·           Oxford Terrace  (north side) e.g. St. Spyridons etc. – 3 storeys. ·           Civic Centre Block Cottages on Edmund Avenue to be kept as is. Village Green to be kept as is. The kindergarten to be kept as is. The Cottage (community services) to be kept as is. The existing civic...