Mayor4Unley

  Unley Council needs to take a fiscal reality check about spending $6.1m on a second stage redevelopment of an Unley Oval Grandstand. The project may have merit, but it is irresponsible to add huge debt just after spending $15.5m on upgrading King William Road. Ratepayers will bear this new debt by future rate rises. I urge Unley Council to postpone the project for a few years until the growing debt is reduced. It’s simply time to tighten the belt ✅ It’s time for Unley to recalibrate its fiscal strategy ✅

 I get lots of emails from wineries spruiking their wines 🍷 don’t we all? Anyway, the latest was from a Coonawarra winemaker who explained that his 2019 Shiraz was a bit ‘tight’. He gave a great tip on how to loosen it, rather than decant it. A great tip for when you open a red ... see the winemaker’s comments below 🍷 While this vintage is tighter than Kylie's gold hotpants - all is not lost. A tight wine usually refers to young wine, and it can be applied to a wine's aromas, flavours or structure. Being tight isn't always a bad thing. In fact, it's kind of a backhanded compliment.  So how do you loosen up a tight wine? Pour a single glass for starters. Whack the lid back on and 'shake it like a polaroid picture' Alternatively, if Outkast is not your thing you can just gently roll the bottle on its side which creates a greater surface area for the wine, allowing it to breath. Consider this a cheeky wine saving way of decanting in the bottle. Tannins bind toget...

  I am dismayed by the proposed 4 storey high density 46-dwelling apartment complex on Fullarton Road, Fullarton; 295 Fullarton Road, on the site of the old FuIlarton Private Hospital. Despite an Unley Council recommendation for approval, it was refused by the independent Council Assessment Panel due to height, setback and insufficient car parks. However, the developer has said it will submit an amended plan. I’m sure that it come back as 4 storey with a few more car parks. They always seem to have a plan B in case of refusal. Given that back in 2018 residents had strongly objected to another inappropriate high density development further south on Fullarton Road, I am staggered that Unley Council did not urgently pursue rezoning this main road. And without trying, there’s no point saying the Minister for Planning would not approve it. The character and amenity of Fullarton Road and the adjacent streets will be destroyed by the current development plan that allows inappropriate high...

It looks like there will be quite a few candidates for the position of councillor, in Parkside Ward, Unley Council. It will be difficult to replace the calibre of Mike Hudson who has retired. He had a track record of speaking his mind and not being swayed by a faction. I met one of the candidates the other day and had a bit of a chat. My prediction is that due to Covid-19 there will be a lower % of residents voting. I reckon that those voting will be less than 20%.

SALA 2020 is almost here. It’s a strange year with Covid-19. I feel like I’ve already done #SALA. Two weeks ago I attended the #Unley launch of a pre-SALA event, hosted by an acclaimed local artist. Her works were stunning. My name is on the sold sticker on 3 of the paintings. I can’t wait until SALA is over and the paintings come home  ❤️

So many people have embraced TikTok - a ‘fun’ video app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance. There are 1.6 million Australian users and more than 800 million global users. If you’ve downloaded it, you’re mad with no regard to your privacy and cyber security. All of your personal details are siphoned up and hosted on Chinese servers. There are global cyber security alerts about the danger of TikTok. Do yourself a favour and delete the app now! The Australian Government won’t block it (Chinese style) but it does highlight the extreme cyber risk of using the app.

I’m annoyed with myself and others  😡  at being the target of fake news delivered by a supposedly credible source. In the future I will make more effort to verify the information before posting it  😷