Candidate’s Statement for election to represent Unley Ward              Michael Hewitson AM 

WHAT I STAND FOR:

Integrity: I am not for sale, for money or votes.

Independent:  I am not a developer, and I do not work for one.

Honesty: Public consultations with real choice and accurate information.

Listening: After consulting I listen and support the wishes of our community.

Results: others now seek to help; great staff support; Things now happen: Water in our next drought; a green cool city with sunlight for all; cycle and pedestrian paths and crossings; well-maintained parks; planning rules with heritage; good library; lower rates, better footpaths….….

Newsletters: My newsletters are checked and reliable and keep you informed.

Why am I running again to minimise rates with good services new ideas and sound management?

                With your support we have made a difference …. I thank you for the past opportunities …. But now we have more to do… We can do better…

RESULTS: 

Unlimited money means unlimited waste……rather than the provision of focussed quality services our community seeks. With a set income from a fair rate rise, Councillors would have to choose what is worthwhile and what has to be cut to achieve this. What we do will matter and the quality of service rises. We become focussed.

RATES:  would be about 8% higher if I had not been on council. (See table below) If two others had not been supporting setting a target rate first, our rates would have been 16% higher! Yes Unley Council has the lowest expenditure rise of all councils across Metro Adelaide but we can do better! Our rates over the past ten years have risen 16.2% above wages during a wage boom!

PLANNING RULES:         

As PRESIDING OFFICER of our CITY STRATEGY AND POLICY COMMITTEE, we have won rules that enable a GREEN, COOL, LIGHT city that maintains its heritage with planned development. I have fought for rules that ensure sunlight for all, rules that maintain our street trees and green parks. All new medium and high density buildings must be below a 30 degree shadow.

PEDESTRIAN/CYCLE WAYS:        Against stiff opposition we developed our first and only across Unley path along Charles Walk with lights across Unley Road that line up with the walk all the way up Windsor Street. It is heavily used with 2,000 hits for the lights per week. If elected I will pursue its extension across King William Road to the Glenelg-Adelaide Cycle path and up to Ridge Park near Glen Osmond.

We have pedestrian refuges often where they are needed by pedestrians.

WATER:   I initiated the research to plan for an Unley independent of mains and Murray water. We now have recycled water for our parks, gardens and ovals which went brown in the drought…No more!  We save water, prevent phosphate-rich run off to the ocean, we save money as the water costs us less than half of mains, and when our reservoirs run dry we can continue to water. If re-elected I will seek to ensure we keep putting in new footpaths with water wells for all our street trees …. Over forty years we will save money and water. We have healthier trees with roots that go down which stops the lifting of pavements and the walls of nearby houses.

LIGHTING: If re-elected I will seek to revitalise our old fashioned, expensive street lighting, as, with the help of others, I have done for water. I will come up with new ideas including: LED lighting which is artistic, safe, illuminating and fun; lighting with Wi-Fi, which changes with time, switches brighter when needed and low when not… Clever lighting. We are using less electricity at home for more… Why not for our city? A better city at a lower cost!

RECREATION:   We are slowly being left behind with expensive facilities that cost us rates. Unley central in the evening dies. We go to Mitcham for movies, we pay 3% of our rates to support an outdoor pool that shuts for many months and we have disparate sporting facilities such as the Wayville/Forestville basketball stadiums. As past CEO of STARPlex, modelled on council facilities interstate that covered all their costs, I know we can do better. New ideas for Unley are ideas that work well for others.

Rates: I have made a difference. In my eight years 2006-2013 rates rose by 16% above CPI and in the previous SIX years by 37%

My policy is ‘TO SET A FAIR RATE FIRST AND THEN CUT OUR EXPENDITURE TO FIT”

 A fair rate to maintain good and new services is no more than CPI plus 1%. More money does not mean good services…… Our staff made $1.8 million worth of cuts with no loss of service in the past three years… This $1.8 M is a 6% cut in our costs, yet we raise rates well above CPI.           

What has been achieved?

Cr Michael		rate increase	ABOVE CPI	Time
BEFORE	1999-2005	56.33%	36.62%	Six years
AFTER	2006-2013	38.63%	15.87%	My Eight years

Other Issues:   These are important: safety, parking, traffic flow, footpaths, roads, rubbish and so many more. Ask for past newsletters detailing these and other issues. The bottom line, if I am re-elected I will continue to listen, to represent you when needed and to be effective in making a difference. NOT talk… It’s action that matters, not words.

 

VOTE                   1            MICHAEL HEWITSON   

 FOR HONEST INFORMED REPRESENTATION, Fair rates, focussed expenditure, new ideas, and good services…….

 

CHOOSE YOUR SECOND VOTE        2         CAREFULLY then 3 and 4.

Authorized by Michael Hewitson 10 Ramage Street Unley.

Michael Hewitson to run again

Michael acknowledges with thanks and appreciation the support from the people of Unley over the past eight years in which so much has been accomplished.

With so many achievements and with the strong support of staff I am able to bring immediate effectiveness that has taken years to earn.   

   

 More details when the election period starts. 

There is so much more that can be done.