Category: community
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I am what’s called a “serial candidate”. Which is a nice way of saying “serial loser”. I ran for Council in 2016 after the frustrating experience of being a stay-at-home parent and substantial user of Council services. Playgrounds were boring, booking a Council venue was hard, walking down street, after street, with a pram was…
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The toy library needs more support – a second premises, a better deal on rent and most importantly, ongoing funding. The toy library runs on volunteer effort and goodwill with a small amount of paid staff time. However Council only funds it on a limited-time basis. Funding needs to be provided on an ongoing basis.…
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We are lucky to have range of small local venues in the area available to hire. But booking these is not easy. We need simpler, easier, faster booking that facilitates community groups and individuals utilising public facilities for meetings, events, fundraisers, birthday parties, and all those other events that build community. Many council facilities are…
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I’ve been involved in both successful and unsuccessful council Community Grants. Both times the experience has been bureaucratic, complex and slow. While accountability for public money is crucial, council needs to be more focused on how to facilitate community activity, not limit it, by wasting volunteers’ precious time. Hidden criteria and opaque decision-making reduce confidence…
Mel Yuan for Brunswick 