Greens try to ruin the Doggies plans

[RoyBoyTurnedDog]

Surely they have other things on their minds, like, doing up a roster for fire fighting come the Vic bushfire season. Oh no, they don't do they, never seen a Green with a fire hose in his/her hand.

Firstly, let me say I don't agree with this politicians point of view in this matter. Secondly, let me point out that I (and several other members of my CFA brigade) would be considered "greenies" by most. We have spent countless hours on the end of a fire hose. I don't ever remember the CFA asking my political leanings, so I'm not sure where the perception that "greenies" never fight fires comes from - ignorance I guess.

But I will be emailing this particular person and pointing out why I think she has it wrong - not that I think she will succeed anyway. But let's not politics divide us, we are a football club, not a political party. Who cares who we vote for?

 

[Mingo]

I don't think some of the emails that are being sent are very productive...

 

[Panda Watch]

As with most things political, its not the content of the emails that is important, but rather the number of emails.

The more we send, the more she will realise she may have made a bad decision in regards to the matter.

 

[divvydan]

Does anyone know if the Victorian Parliament voted today on Hartland's motion to overturn the State's Government's intervention in the planning process for the Whitten Oval redevelopment?
I have heard nothing in today's news on this matter.

Yes, the Liberals sided with the Government and the motion was defeated.

 

[Butane]

I have made comments about the ongoing stuff-ups before re- the pokies proposal

(But before I to say what I have to say I wish it to be noted that I have been a member of the Bulldogs for around 30 years and I have lived in the Western suburbs for longer so I will take exception if anyone accuses me of disloyalty).

But ...


I reckon this project has been badly managed; it has had to be called into state parliament because the club administration couldn't even get it together to go through the proper planning process that any Joe Citizen would know how to do. (Like get the planning permit in at the right time - not expecting for a major proposal to have to go through a consultation process like any other developer etc etc).

Like derr - it wasn't going to happen or something and oh yeah, it is because everyone hates us and OMG no one in the club administration could have ever in their wildest dreams predicted anything like this was going to happen.

Smart thinking and really helps you head off any problems in the future. Just blame everyone else.

What's really at stake here is bad project management. Why isn't the club trying to head this stuff off before it happens? This is a chain of events which began with the Club administration's failure to manage the planning process properly in the first place.

Where is the Edgewater proposal up to - is that ever going to see the light of day? Are we going to end up in the VCAT everytime we put up proposal or have to rely on Peter Gordon everytime to go cap in hand to Brumby every time we stuff up?

So the Whitten Oval project will go ahead but surely there must be an easier way than going through all the crap we have just gone through. Looks like a lot of hard work to me - which could have been avoided by getting it right in the first place.

Wake up, club administrators.

And we have no ****ing major sponsor. People have to start pulling their heads in and do it fast!

Of course this motion from the Greens was bollocks and that's why it failed but it's still no excuse to go around saying 'we are nearly finished' every 6 months.

Anyone else remember last time we went in to a season with out a sponsor. I thought those days were behind us but now according to our president we'll be lucky to even get to the start of the season. What a joke.

 

[wian]

Yes, the Liberals sided with the Government and the motion was defeated.

Thank God for that !

Cheers

 

[kookadog]

Surely there is a bulldog supporter involved with a large company who wants to get some great exposure.

Get Centrebet, they want us!

stuff U AFL

 

[Butane]

Get Centrebet, they want us!

stuff U AFL

They haven't even approached the Bulldogs - only the papers.

I'm sure something is in the works but for god sakes we aren't going to get 20'000 members at this rate which will well and truly be the end of us.

 

[GetDimmaBack]

Certainly not. According to Australia Post I am in West Seddon. And I am more of an anarcho-syndicalist leaning toward post-structuralist feminism. But I havent finished the book yet.

Do the feminists know about this, fdotm?

Sounds like a semantic "blind", allowing for a return to the days of fundamentalist McCarthyism!

 

[SurftheWorld]

Scray, I understand how you might have formed that opinion on how the dogs admin might be perceived to be handling the project but I think you are only basing your thoughts on everything you have read from the councils propaganda spinning machine on its vented interest in the project. If you think it has been badly managed by the dogs, then you have to make the same accusation towards the council, they have members on the project team sitting at the same level as the dogs. If the council were so worried about the direction of the project and how it was run, then why have they only voiced these concerns after the state govt intervened????? There are always two sides to the story, unfortunately the council always like to spin its own propaganda take on the whole situation by releasing statements in the media trying to defend the crap job they have done on the project and why they were trying to bring the club down to its knees and back them into a corner to force the clubs hand to get what the council want. How many times have you seen the dogs release a statement in the media ridiculing the council on its mismanagement of the project??? Once, and that was when the State govt intervened….. and then what happened…. The council said they were going to revoke its $1m pledge….. for landscaping.. what a joke!! And that 1m was spread over 3 years and would be completed by its own landscaping program….. Yet again, it looks like the councilors have had a couple of afternoon teas and a few lunches paid by the Greens to get them involved in something they honestly could not give rats arse about let’s be honest. The council are still on their tirade of trying to dig themselves out of the already large hole they are in and are still clutching at straws. Let’s be reminded here boys and girls, since the intervention, the builder has now been paid, construction has re-commenced, all the pledges of funds are being released, the project is back on track, the next phase of construction is about to commence and wait… yet again the council has tried to step in by rubbing the greens back to try and derail the project and potentially kill the club, all when it was full steam ahead……. You tell me who has the best interest of the community in their sights.

And another thing, the WRFL pulled out of the deal to secure tenancy not the club rejecting them, the plans have always remained the same even when they were first consulting apparently, if you believe the greens spin on this then you would be misled to believe it was the dogs who rejected them. The council just need sit back, let professionals do the job they can’t do and get the project done, they can use their $1m funding in upgrading bus stops that are no longer on any bus routes like they have a tendency to do.

 

[acker]

I just found this story on the web

Have the Green's declared war on the Dog's or something ?

Post causes Lyons pain

By Charlene Gatt

30th October 2008 10:58:57 AM

Above: Disgraced Greens candidate David Lyons (far left) with Greens nominees. 24029

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


GREENS party member David Lyons has withdrawn his candidature in the Maribyrnong City Council elections after a seemingly innocuous online posting on a local newspaper website.

Mr Lyons, who was running as a candidate in Saltwater Ward, withdrew his nomination on Thursday night after lying to a journalist about the origin of the posting.

“A friend of mine posted a post on the website from my computer, which I had no knowledge of,” he said.

“When I found out the details, I misled him (the journalist) as to who the friend was in an attempt to try and protect the friend and that isn’t really appropriate for someone running for council.

“I’ve made a bad choice and I’ve got to live with it now.”

The post, which was submitted on a local newspaper website on 14 October under the moniker John Cola, slammed the Western Bulldogs for “stuffing there (sic) local community about.”

The post said the council should be in charge of the Whitten Oval redevelopment.
The journalist called Mr Lyons after noticing the IP address and email address were the same that Mr Lyons had previously used to post an earlier comment.

Greens Melbourne West regional convenor and current Saltwater Ward councillor Janet Rice said the issue wasn’t the post itself, but the way David Lyons had handled the situation.

“It was poor judgement and inexperience and it was disappointing he didn’t immediately say what had happened,” she said.

The Greens have moved pre-selected Bluestone Ward candidate Elwyn Davies to run in Saltwater Ward, while Maribyrnong resident Shaun Murray will run in Bluestone.

The 32-year-old music teacher said he would work hard to implement the council’s Carbon Neutral Action Plan if he was elected.

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/65841

 

[kookadog]

"Proper council process wasn't followed" = we didn't get a chance to put the proposal in a draw and leave it there for 6 months before opening it.

 

[acker]

Are the Greens posting on here ?

 

[dogupya]

This whole debarkle has illustrated the utter incompetence of both the Western Bulldogs FC & The Maribrynong city council to palan and manage a project of this magnitude.

To point the finger squarely at the council is incorrect as it would be to point the finger directly at the club, both have equally deralict in their duties to meet deadlines and keep so called promises.

Our Green MP may be well within her rights to feel as though the Bulldogs are managing the project poorly and are not keeping up with their end of the bargain. However, her alternative was to hand the balance of power back to the council who share half the blame for whole sorry affair.

Not a very good alternative solution is it, Ms MP?

What other alternatives are there, does the club give the planning over to an independant 3rd party and have them oversee the project?

All I know is, with no major sponsor our commitee need to pull many fingers out of many assholes and do the right thing by this project. I sense shady dealings from both sides and it's just not good enough. When will this club just get it right from start to end.

 

[Butane]

Are the Greens posting on here ?

I'm pretty sure at least 1 has.

 

[Butane]

To point the finger squarely at the council is incorrect as it would be to point the finger directly at the club, both have equally deralict in their duties to meet deadlines and keep so called promises.

Agreed.

 

[Scray]

I'm pretty sure at least 1 has.

Ummm .. I hope guys we are not starting a witch hunt here. It's certainly not going to help membership drives ..

 

[Butane]

Ummm .. I hope guys we are not starting a witch hunt here. It's certainly not going to help membership drives ..

Nah, we already know where the witch works. Not much of a hunt

Seriously, I've already said the club is as much to blame for all this but how is witch hunting going to negatively effect membership? At the moment all it's doing is having a negative effect in the polls for the Greens.

 

[Sgt Slaughter]

Us v the World it seems now.

Politics has no place in footbal..

Unless of course they want to give us 20 million dollars to redevelop....

 

[acker]

More comments from Ms Hartland in this article

Job cut fight

By Charlene Gatt and Kate Bonsack

30th October 2008 10:58:06 AM

Critical of move ... Greens MLC Colleen Hartland

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VICTORIA University (VU) will axe up to 270 staff across the board as part of a plan to “future proof itself for (a) new competitive education environment”.

VU spokesperson Andy Gash confirmed last week that the university would slash up to 150 higher education staff, 20 TAFE teachers and 100 general staff by April 2009.

The staff cuts are not campus-specific but will affect the St Albans and Sunshine campuses.

Ms Gash also confirmed some courses would be cut from the curriculum.

“There are some courses that are just not attracting student numbers,” she said.

Vice chancellor Professor Elizabeth Harman said the cuts would help the university concentrate on courses like teacher education, law, business, health and sports sciences.

“This is a matter of pre-emptive action and sound financial management.

“Without action now, we could face difficulty by 2010 which would short-change the communities we serve,” Prof Harman said earlier this month.

The university is currently in a two-week consultation period to decide which staff and courses will go.

At a National Tertiary Education Union meeting held last Tuesday at the Victoria University Footscray campus there was a unanimous vote for the resignation of Prof Harman.

The meeting attracted more than 300 VU staff members and students and a number of actions were reached.

NTEU president Paul Adams said the retrenchments were not a result of the current global financial crisis but the institution’s financial mismanagement, which was why people voted for Prof Harman to resign.

“This is the biggest single job cut in Australian universities that has a surplus budget,” he said.

“They want to build more buildings but they won’t have the staff to fill them.

“It doesn’t make much sense that VU wants to construct more buildings, such as spending millions on a facility at Whitten Oval for the Western Bulldogs, when that money could be used to keep at least 80 jobs.”

The union will be looking at starting a ballot over the next few weeks for work bans and it hopes to host public meetings to keep the community informed of developments.

“The campuses are community assets that need protecting,” Mr Adams said.

The move has been criticised by Greens MLC and former VU student Colleen Hartland.

“Victoria University is the biggest provider for education in the western suburbs, and it would be terrible to limit choices and availability,” she said.

“All this at a time when Victoria University is planning to spend millions on a facility at Whitten Oval that they will never own.”

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/65776

 

[Butane]

Unless of course they want to give us 20 million dollars to redevelop....

...

 

[Z_K]

Someone should write to Ms Hartland and ask if robbing the Western Suburbs of a much need community facility which will assist in the education of the disadvantaged youth in some of Melbourne's neddiest areas is in keeping with the philosophy of her "socially progressive" political party.

 

[Arkangel]

I've voted Greens at Federal, State, and Council elections in the past few years because I've perceived a lack of action on behalf of both major parties with regard to environmental issues, and I think they do a bang-up job in that area. I can't say I'm particularly enthused about the party's forays into much beyond that, which is why they'll not be receiving my vote at future elections (at least, unless things change a bit).

I think it would be hard to accurately characterise Ms Hartland's move as "political pointscoring"; surely the very fact that any challenge to the club's existence would basically amount to a form of political suicide for a representative elected by the Western Suburbs should be testimony to that (although given the way in which those in the upper house are elected, there are probably just as many from the west the voting habits of whom this issue would have no impact on whatsoever). I do think the description of the club as a "political football" was apt though – in a sense the club is simply a bystander in a larger battle over planning rights, a domain in which the Brumby government has been criticised quite heavily in recent years. If those elected to the Maribyrnong Council were capable politicians and decision-makers, I would be firmly on their side (and, by extension, that of Ms Hartland) in this debate on an ideological basis, despite being a Bulldogs member for the past 20-odd years. Unfortunately for all concerned, this doesn't appear to be the case – and thus I'm not.

 

[stefoid]

ahaha - his 'friend'. why didnt he just say his mum, or a 'bad man' did it.

I just found this story on the web

Have the Green's declared war on the Dog's or something ?



http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/65841

 

[Sween54]

My God you didn't, vote Green why, what do they do, what policies do they have

I've voted Greens at Federal, State, and Council elections in the past few years because I've perceived a lack of action on behalf of both major parties with regard to environmental issues, and I think they do a bang-up job in that area. I can't say I'm particularly enthused about the party's forays into much beyond that, which is why they'll not be receiving my vote at future elections (at least, unless things change a bit).

I think it would be hard to accurately characterise Ms Hartland's move as "political pointscoring"; surely the very fact that any challenge to the club's existence would basically amount to a form of political suicide for a representative elected by the Western Suburbs should be testimony to that (although given the way in which those in the upper house are elected, there are probably just as many from the west the voting habits of whom this issue would have no impact on whatsoever). I do think the description of the club as a "political football" was apt though – in a sense the club is simply a bystander in a larger battle over planning rights, a domain in which the Brumby government has been criticised quite heavily in recent years. If those elected to the Maribyrnong Council were capable politicians and decision-makers, I would be firmly on their side (and, by extension, that of Ms Hartland) in this debate on an ideological basis, despite being a Bulldogs member for the past 20-odd years. Unfortunately for all concerned, this doesn't appear to be the case – and thus I'm not.