The necessity to hold such a meeting on a Sunday morning, and at such short notice, suggests that there is much that is being hidden from ratepayers. The financial advantages of the amalgamation have not been disclosed. After the initial capping, within six years of the amalgamation, rates will go up by 20% to 30%. This estimate is conservative. The combining of the three councils will create greater costs, especially if proposals, such as the one mooted by a Liberal councillor that the elected officers of the new amalgamated council be paid salaries, are adopted. The murky interim administrative arrangements between dissolving the old councils and the election of new councillors offers a window of opportunity to put through highly contentious proposals that will have costly and lasting effects on the operation of any new Woollahra/ Waverley/Randwick Council. In particular, Mayor Sally Betts and her Liberal colleagues’ proposal to create a ‘civic’ centre on Denison Street has a chance to be adopted without proper public scrutiny. Besides furthering the traffic mess of Bondi Junction, the proposed ‘civic’ centre will mean the destruction of Waverley Library and the further mar-
18 The Beast | April 2016
ginalisation of the Mill Hill historic residential precinct. The ratepayers of Woollahra and Randwick may not appreciate having to pay for Mayor Betts’ vision for a costly, unsustainable and gridlocked combined councils civic centre in Bondi Junction. There should be a referendum on the amalgamation of Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick, not extraordinary meetings on a Sunday morning. Our members of parliament, Bruce Notley-Smith and Gabrielle Upton, should be at the forefront persuading their Baird/Liberal Party colleagues that the ratepayers of Woollahra, Randwick and Waverley do not want a forced amalgamation. Gil Morris Bondi Junction Privatisation by Stealth – Who Benefits? The Bondi Pavilion has always provided a focal point for the local community. It has over decades hosted a multitude of community events and classes (many of which have been lost due to economic rationalism). The local people have been able to utilise this precious open space when many of us live in cramped apartments. The current Waverley Council, voted in on a backlash against corrupt federal politicians, is making deci-
sions on perhaps the most important development in Bondi history. Let’s be totally clear here: they cannot do so after the council merger, hence a complicated piece of legislation is being pushed through by releasing it for public debate on December 15 (when I for one was away for an extended break). At the recent council meeting, despite a pressing request from the community to extend this deadline, we were refused a realistic extension and given a token two weeks. We were also refused a meeting with the architects. Why? All costings have not been made available to all councillors (despite numerous requests) due to ‘commercial sensitivity’. It’s hard to imagine this is legal. The criteria used to decide on community space ratio has likewise not been made available despite being told that community space ratio will not be changed. There is no specific information about the internal heritage listed parts of the pavilion. The proposed theatre, which is lauded as the great white hope of all that the pavilion stands for, will be overbooked and is poorly thought out with a dressing room in another building. The entire top floor, with its wonderful heritage listed balcony, is to be privately leased despite it being