Hello Israel, Moldova, Brazil, and Russia...welcome to the blog...and I'm sure there are some of you whom regard my relentless bloggy bleatings in the same light as the relatively petty and globally irrelevant malfeasance of our Mt Gambier City Council and our South Australian Rann/Weatherill Labor government that I inevitably bang on about...that is, petty and irrelevant...
And I can only apologise for yet again repeatedly re-iterating my oft stated philosophy about this relentless mismanagement and malfeasance by Mt Gambier City Council, and the devastating effect this is having on the City...and I'm still trying to do the right thing about the Thing that I'm not sure I can even mention...ridiculous...
Not My Fault: that every time I engage with an issue, I have to wade through the swamp of nepotism, insider trading, fraud, malfeasance, corruption and general bastardry of the officials involved...and I would disagree with myself in stating that it is not all globally irrelevant...particularly with the sale of Australian farms, mines, infrastructure, etc, to overseas based companies.
The corrupt sale of Cubby Station to a Chinese led consortium is a perfect example...how did this prime property end up in receivership in the first instance, then to be sold by a corrupt Receiver so as to garner favour for their future trading with China...and where are the Australian authorities to rectify this act of fraud?...where the hell is the Australian Securities and Investment Commission?...what a pointless pack of incompetent bureaucrats.
And news that Warnambool Cheese and Butter is considering a $690million takeover bid from Canadian company Soputo, ahead of a $610m offer from Bega Cheese, and a South East Olive Grove of 119000+ trees has been sold to an 'Overseas interest' with an 'incorporated Australian interest in other olives' for $1.6 million along with it's water license and allocation...there were Australian bids but they were not successful, but I don't know why...and I digress...
The corruption of appropriate process and lies about time frame and costs apparent in the awarding of the Old Hospital Demolition Contract to Adelaide based McMahons are already starting to unravel and it will increase the cost, and before the work has even begun...
As per previous posts, whilst Council have used often vague and unspecific language, they have repeatedly stated that the Demolition, or at least parts of it, would be completed by Christmas and that this was part of the reason for choosing McMahons, and in The Border Watch Wednesday 25th September 2013 City Council Operational Services Director Daryl Sexton repeated these claims;
"We are still hopeful the multi-storey building will be on the ground before Christmas."
But even in the same article he is then quoted as saying that 'he understood the crews would begin the project by removing asbestos and junk on the site...some material would be salvaged and sold...the company would then move into full swing in the demolition phase, which was expected to take around 12 weeks.'
There seems to be an effort by Council to infer a certain time frame whilst allowing massive 'wriggle room' for a massive time and cost blow-out, and it's already happening...if you add up the various versions offered by Council, the Demolition could take 4-5 months...at least...
Only yesterday (08/10/2013) on ABC Local Radio Mr Sexton casually stated that there will be "6-8 weeks" for the removal of Asbestos, and 'following that will come the actual demolition, starting with the Old Nurses Quarters' (paraphrase)...this seems to be an adjustment of previous statements, and given it is already 10 days into October, this time frame surely sees the project carry well into 2014.
I'm very concerned that the moment that some one complains about the outrageous noise, dust, etc, then that will be used to reverse justify a massive blowout in the time frame and costs...Council has a well defined history of doing whatever it wants and then saying 'we're reacting to public opinion', eg, the outrageous Lady Nelson Bus Shelter fiasco...
And it's an open-ended Contract so Council can just vote more and more money into the project...and of course there's Council's horrendous track record with the 100%+ cost blowouts of 'Open Contracts' on the Library and Main Corner Projects.
May I be so very, very wrong, but I'm seeing a $6million+ Demolition project that ends up with a swanky little cafe run by a Councillor's son...and if you're going to spend $6m, why stop there?...just another million for some lights perhaps...and that cafe really should have a Commercial Kitchen...sound familiar...and it's all borrowed money...
And in the same ABC interview yesterday, Mr Sexton then rolled straight into the corruption, malfeasance, and mismanagement of the Old Rail Lands and work on that site, with a load of babble about moving the ballast by first removing 'clean fill' and dumping the 'contaminated ballast' there, then to be re-covered with the clean soil and topped with bitumen for a bike way/footpath...bollocks...
There is no reason to move anything anywhere on the Old Rail Lands, this is purely the Rail Lands Retail Agenda (previous posts) dictating yet again what Council does...this 'remediation plan' is all about moving the Rail Easement to clear the footprint for the proposed Centro/Lakes Plaza Expansion that Council has pursued since 2005.
This is Council's way of being seen to do something on that site, without compromising the RDRA...and the 'remediation' expenditure of under $500,000 is less than a third of the money that Council received in funding ($1.7million) late last year/earlier this year, allegedly specifically for the Rail lands site...
In November 2011 Council released, with great pomp and ceremony, the Park Lands Concept Plan with an alleged price tag of $10million...it was a complete lie then, and it is a complete lie now...nearly 2 years on and not one tree in the ground, not one bit of landscaping...and the only works underway are those that clear the way for a shopping centre...ahhhhhh...
Apologies, but it's getting late, so I'll finish here hoping that today's post makes sense...I've spent all day chasing the Things that I'm not sure I can even tell you about...but if you go back about 10 posts that'll give you some idea...
Tomorrow: Cel-e-brate Jail Time, Come On.
Let Lionel Richie serenade us into a post about the glorious expansion of Mt Gambier Gaol...which is actually in the District Council of Grant, who made the decisions to expand...and the little cluster cuddle they had out there today for the official opening...oh, and be grateful for the jobs...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...toodlepip...
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