LETTER TO THE CEO OF THE HUNTER BUSINESS CHAMBER

Dear Peter,
I write in response to your request for the views of candidates with regard to “how they are going to fix the city up and revitalise business in the CBD”.
My name is Terence Mahony and I head a group of community focused candidates, standing in Ward 1, who are committed to the opening up of Councils policy planning and implementation process at all stages to the day to day involvement by the people affected by the policies and strategies formulated. Thus having, a Council whose management and strategic direction is one that all citizens have had the opportunity to express their views directly through participation in the environmental, economic, social and planning decisions that affect our lives.
As a post-industrial city, Newcastle is working hard to rebuild its economic, social and physical infrastructure. Central to this, is the need to set a context within which development can deliver the employment, housing, educational and business environment that will sustain Newcastle as a competitive city.

As a Councilor I will seek to influence positively the future well-being of the City by participating in the setting of strategic aims that will guide the development control process and help shape the City into the future. A strategy that would emphasizes the social, physical and economic fabric of the City. A strategic direction too maintain and enhance the city’s infrastructure and ensure the delivery of cost effective and efficient services and position the council so that it is equipped to respond to competing demands for resources. A Plan for action based on a commitment to deliver the best possible outcomes for all of Newcastle citizens. A plan that would recognize the importance of working partnerships, in order to deliver innovative and sustainable change.

To this end, I would encourage everyone with an interest in securing a better future for Newcastle to explore ways in which they can contribute towards shaping a City which is adaptive and can act creatively to economic change and is able to innovate to improve.

My long term vision for the City is to promote growth and opportunities, the civic infrastructure needs to support the growth and development of a city centre visually revitalised with quality architecture and design while offering a public domain which is safe, clean and accessible.
The Mall is the retail core of the city centre. The Mall needs to be a pedestrian friendly environment so as to provide a relaxed shopping and meeting place during the day and well lit and safe environment in the evening. With a major development planned in the area it is an opportunity to enhance the Malls atmosphere. If the installation of CCTV was part of this revitalisation I would support its introduction as long as the framework for contributions to be made towards the funding and provision of such infrastructure and its ongoing running costs was not the sole responsibility of Council.

The Civic is the heart of the city centre. The civic and cultural facilities within this area play an important role within the city centre. The area contains concentrations of jobs, service and cultural activities. It has good access to the growing density area for jobs Honeysuckle. It is accessible to public transport users, both Rail and Bus. As a councilor I would promote civic and cultural improvement projects that would ensure facilities have the capacity to accommodate increased use. I would also seek to encourage development of sufficient floor space to accommodate the requirements of the cultural industry beyond the provision of performance space.

The development of the city centre for commercial and residential uses will not happen overnight and unfortunately one of the negative impacts of a city in transition is an increase in the number of vacant buildings. These city centre assets stand vacant awaiting tenants, refurbishment or redevelopment their security and ongoing maintenance being the responsibility of the owners. I believe that Council has a duty of care to raise concerns with property owners who’s buildings are not properly secured or maintained and considered to pose a danger to the public. However I do not believe that Council has the legislative power to require property owners to improve the visual appeal of their properties or the legal right to carry out such activities without the owners consent.

Council does have in place strategies to encourage authorized graffiti and strategies to deter unauthorised graffiti. Council presently works in cooperation with the Police and seeks to notify all unauthorized graffiti incidents to them. While Council encourages all members of the community to report incidents of unauthorised graffiti, I believe the effectiveness of this vital information gathering can be improved, as Councilor I would seek to improve the information gathering by implementing a graffiti hotline which would operate 24 hours a day combined with a designated email contact for the reporting of incidents. This information is vital for the identification of areas most targeted and to enable the police to allocate appropriate resources to combat the issue. I would ensure that graffiti on Councils buildings would be removed within 48 hours through the deployment of a Rapid Response Team and encourage and support business owners to do the same.

As councilor I would support opportunities for additional mixed use and residential development in and around the city centre. Developments that would provide new residents and bring additional retail and service activity to the city centre and create a “city buzz” in culture, tourism, shopping and leisure.

The development of the city centre will need to be supported by new and upgraded community facilities. As councilor I would work to ensure a Living City which provides good quality, affordable services for strong communities in a sustainable environment.
As councilor I would promote and support a public domain strategy that creates a connected City which aids accessibility for goods and people and encourages sustainable choices. A strategy that creates spaces that will provide a sense of security and safety so as to increase the number of people who will use these spaces throughout the day.
As an elected councilor I would have the role of setting of strategic policies, objectives and direction for the Council as well as the role to review the organizations performance at the same high level. I have the business and management experience to carry out these roles effectively so as to ensure a well-governed City with community involvement and strategic engagement. I would press the elected body to use its meeting time effectively to resolve issues in order to enable the organization to move forward.

Yours sincerely
Terence Mahony
Lead candidate of the Community Focused Group of Candidates standing in Ward 1.