Following the decision to postpone the Clean Up Kogarah Bay event as a result of inclement weather, we have new dates and times as follows:
8.30am on Sunday 27 March
10am (low tide) on Saturday 26 March
Find out more and register to attend at the button below.
Michelle Ford, winning Olympic Gold in the 800m freestyle at the Moscow Games in 1980
Michelle Ford is an Australian former long-distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-metre butterfly and came 4th in the 400-metres freestyle at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Michelle was the only non-Soviet bloc female swimmer to win an individual gold medal at the 1980 games. She also set two world records in her career, and was the first Australian woman to win individual Olympic medals in two distinct specialised strokes.
Michelle grew up in Sans Souci, attended St George Girls’ High School and trained at Kogarah War Memorial Pool at Carss Park with Dick Caine – she’s a local hero.
(PDF may take a few seconds to load)
“We were the first group of athletes ever invited to present to the IOC. We took our chance to be bold —gender equality, doping, boycotts, professionalism—little did I know then that we were laying the foundations for the creation of the Athletes’ Voice within the Olympic Movement. This is that story.” Michelle Ford.
“The Athletes’ Voice by Michelle Ford offers a significant contribution to Olympic history. A must read.” Anita de Frantz, IOC Member, twice Senior Vice-President and long time Chair of the IOC Women and Sport Commission
“Michelle has written a compelling story of the amazing beginnings of the Athletes’ Voice in the Olympic Movement. It is an important read for all athletes!” Claudia Bokel, Chair, IOC Athletes’ Commission, Member IOC Executive Board, Aug 2012 – Aug 2016
The Leader published an article on our Associations’s celebration of 100 years service in being the voice for the community.
See the article here:-
Kogarah Bay Progress Association celebrates 100 years of community service
The Kogarah Bay Progress Association wrote on behalf of our members to oppose the application from Georges River Council to IPART for a Special Rate Variation (SRV) to increase rates above the rate peg and to increase the minimum rate. Read our submission and review the rates fact sheet prepared by one of our members.
Almost 100 residents participated in a community walk around Beverley Park Golf Course to express their objection to the amended plans submitted by Beverley Park Golf Club to the Land and Environment Court for a prison-like style security fence around the perimeter of the golf course.
Steve Kamper MP, State Member for Rockdale attended and addressed the crowd.
Kogarah Bay Progress Association was featured in the Leader following our submission on the Development Application to demolish and subdivide the Sans Souci Bathers’ Pavilion.
Kogarah Bay Progress Association President Jeff Powys with John McCormack
At last night’s Council meeting Councillor Landsberry demonstrated again her strong support to Save Carss Park Pool and attempted to move an amendment to the 20/21 Operational Plan (budget) to defer the $3m allocated to demolish and remediate Carss Park Pool.
Councillor Landsberry’s Amendment:-
That the $3m allocated in the proposed changes from the Draft Budget 20/21, item CCL036-20 (Kogarah War Memorial Swimming Pool Demolition and Site Remediation) be deferred for consideration to the 21/22 Financial Year to reduce pressure on Council’s budget during the current financial year.
The Mayor sought advice from the GM who ruled that Councillor Landsberry’s amendment was Out of Order. The advice was that the amendment breached Section 16.7 of the Code of Meeting Practice.
Section 16.7 of the Code of Meeting Practice
Councillor Landsberry challenged the Mayor with a point of order stating that her amendment was a different motion entirely and did not seek to substitute the resolution of the May 25 Council meeting, nor the rescission motion that was lost. The amendment was a completely separate item and was purely in relation to the allocation of funding for a resolution of Council.
Yet, the Mayor insisted the amendment was out of order under Section 16.7 of the Code of Meeting Practice and prevented it from being considered and voted upon by Councillors.
Councillor Landsberry valiantly challenged this ruling, stating it was outrageous and that she didn’t accept it. But unfortunately the Mayor stated that his ruling still stands.
Watch the webcast to see for yourself (go to 2.03.23).
Supporters of Save Carss Park Pool will remember, this is not the first time The Mayor has used this tactic, stopping a Councillor from making an amendment in favour of Carss Park Pool, by ruling it out of order.
Transcript from the November 2019 Council meeting.
Councillor Landsberry also questioned why $3m was allocated for the demolition and remediation, when in June 2018 the estimate to decommission the site and return it to 60 additional car spaces and passive recreation was estimated to cost $1.15m. (Refer Page 30 + 31 from the Finance and Governance Committee Meeting in June 2018)
Further Councillor Landsberry raised that she had asked a question in writing to the GM and had not yet received a response regarding the lawfulness of the May 25 resolution in which Councillors determined to immediately demolish the Carss Park Pool. Given that Councillors no longer have any legal authority in relation to Development Applications, which includes demolition, her question to the GM is whether Councillors can even lawfully resolve to immediately demolish the pool.
Councillor Hindi raised the point that when Councillors voted on the May 25 motion to demolish the pool they were not provided with financial implications of this decision (this was in breach of Section 2.12 of the Code of Meeting Conduct, as Councillors are not meant to make decisions without knowing the financial implications). The $3m was only added to the budget last week. Had Councillors known that the implications of their decision to demolish the pool was going to cost $3m, then perhaps they would not have supported the motion to ‘demolish’ the pool and the vote may not have been lost 8-7.
Section 2.12 of the Code of Meeting Practice
To top it all off…...all of this happened on the same night that Council voted to cut pensioner rebates to save $1.2m in the budget!
The Leader published this article Pool study scorecard changes questioned on Feb 14.
Carss Park Pool supporters should be outraged that Council management instructed Otium Planning Group to change the Pool Location Scorecard after it was endorsed by Councillors to go on public exhibition.
We now have GRC and the consultants (Otium Planning Group) pointing the finger at each other.
This fluffy response from the GRC spokesperson in this article is not only untrue (Councillors were unaware the scorecard would be changing from what they endorsed), it is also appears to be unlawful. The scorecard in an amended form should not have been placed on public exhibition, as the resolution from the Dec 16 Council meeting does not give the General Manager any delegated power to amend the Pool Study that was endorsed by Councillors.
If you haven’t already, please send submissions telling Council you want Carss Park Pool Rebuilt on the current site. Deadline Feb 28.
We already know there has been skewed investment towards cricketing facilities since the merged Georges River Council formed. Many people have been scratching their heads asking ……’how is this allowed to happen?’.
Certainly the supporters of Carss Park Pool would like to know the answer to this question.
Well, on Monday night, thanks to some pertinent questions from Sam Elmir - Councillor for Blakehurst Ward - Georges River Council, we got some answers.
Whilst considering a report asking Councillors to select a location for the $2.2m second pavilion at Hurstville Oval, the Director of Assets and Infrastructure gave some background on the funding source for this project.
The Director explained, when 6 councils refused to merge, there was $120million left in a State Government bucket that merged councils could apply for. Georges River Council submitted a list seeking funding for 15 projects, totalling $40m. 4 projects were successful totalling just over $10m.
Councillor Elmir first asked how this list of 15 projects was developed. The answer; Council staff developed the list (ie: there was no opportunity for Councillors or the public to have a say on what projects were put forward to request funding).
Councillor Elmir then asked if there were any criteria for a project to get on this list (ie; the length of time it had been on the back-burner awaiting funding). The answer; essentially no criteria, just what council officers thought was most important.
People can draw their own conclusions as to why 2 of the 4 projects approved for funding were for cricket and a 3rd for golf (the 4th project was the Poulten Park synthetic turf).
Councillor Elmir’s third and final question was ‘was Carss Park Pool one of the 15 projects that Council applied for funding for’? The answer; No.
Council have known since 2011 that Carss Park Pool needed investment. Even since Sept 2017, just before the Council elections when they took management of the pool in-house, they knew it needed investment. Yet why didn’t Council include Carss Park Pool in one of the projects they put forward to seek State Government funding?
The Rebuild Carss Park Pool campaigners sat through Monday’s Extra Ordinary Council meeting to listen to the debate over the proposed rate rises. We had to endure listening to the Mayor lecturing Councillors on why they needed to put the rates up. Some of his reasons included ‘We need to continue to invest. And we need to do that based on fairness and equity’. He also stated ‘We as a community need to provide the best possible services. We can cut staff and do all those things, but eventually you have to cut services’.
Mr Mayor, the Rebuild Carss Park Pool campaign is offended to hear you preach about fairness and equity and threaten the loss of essential services when we have watched you close our pool, delay any decision on its future and invest our rates into cricketing facilities where there has been little demand and that seem to have very low levels of patronage.
Mr Mayor, it is now time for fairness and equity for the swimming community of Georges River Council. Please get on with preparing a Business Case to commence the Rebuilding of Carss Park Pool at the current site.
Watch the webcast (starting at 2mins) to see Clr Elmir's questioning yourself.
On Monday night (Feb 10), Council will consider whether to increase our rates by 10.6%. Plenty of people are wondering how, after merging Councils to ‘reduce costs’, Council is in the financial position of needing to hike up rates after just 3 years.
There may be some explanation in Council’s seemingly insatiable desire to spend our ratepayers $$ on cricket and golf facilities. Makes us wonder if there is someone senior at Council who loves cricket and golf?
Let’s take a look at some of the projects that have been delivered by Council in the last 3 years: -
1. $6M cricket training facility at Penshurst Park.
2. $2.2m two-storey pavilion at Harold Fraser Oval, a cricket oval.
3. $2.5m for Hurstville Golf Course for a new two-storey Golf Course Pavilion, new greens and pathways.
4. $2.2m for Hurstville Oval for a 2nd pavilion. A cricket oval and cycling velodrome.
5. $177,000 for resurfacing Hurstville Oval’s velodrome
At risk of losing the $2.2M funding set aside for the 2nd pavilion at Hurstville Oval (if funds aren’t used by 30 June 2020), Councillors on Monday night will be asked to rush through a decision on the location of the pavilion, with the feasibility report on this project listed as ‘confidential’. Where is the business case and community survey for this 2nd pavilion?
Why, when its for a cricket facility can a decision on a location for a NEW facility be ‘rushed through urgently’, yet when its for the replacement of an EXISTING facility of a pool, deciding on the location is a long and drawn out process costing another $1million of our rates.
Council, not satisfied with the investments so far in cricket, has touted Hurstville Oval (in the Hurstville Oval Plan of Management) as the ideal location for a ‘Sports Museum’. There has been no overwhelming community demand for a Sports Museum, however Council have recently spent $35K to investigate the feasibility of constructing a permanent Sports Museum and in a report to Council it was suggested that similar Sports Museums in other parts of Australia had cost $17million!!!!
Although a Sports Museum is a ‘nice to have’ facility, at $17m, it certainly should not be prioritised ahead of the replacement of a community aquatic facility that the ratepayers are simply crying out for Council to replace at the existing site at Carss Park.
Councils such as City of Gold Coast are delivering an aquatic centre redevelopment at Miami Aquatic Centre for $18m. This redevelopment has everything we need at Carss Park and it is being delivered in 12months.
With the $5million funds pledged by the Prime Minister, together with the amount spent on cricket and golf facilities in the last 3 years, the redevelopment of Carss Park Pool could have been funded and underway.
Don't forget to write your submission to Council. Email regionalaquatics@georgesriver.nsw.gov.au before Feb 28 with your reasons why you think Council should Rebuild Carss Park Pool. Make sure you CC councillors on your submission.
Edith Blake, WW1 Nurse
The Kogarah Bay Progress Association supports the naming proposal of the South Street Reserve (corner of Montgomery and South Streets, Kogarah) to ‘Edith Blake Reserve’.
Edith Blake, a WWI nurse, Australian heroine and local, was the only Australian nurse to die in WWI as a direct result of enemy action. She was only 32 when the hospital ship she was serving on, the HMHS Glenart Castle was torpedoed off the English coast by a German submarine on 26th February, 1918.
With the reserve being located in the medical precinct, opposite St George Private Hospital, the name change is a wonderful way to pay tribute to and is an important step in acknowledging the ultimate sacrifice Edith Blake made in service as a medical professional to her country. It is also taking positive steps to honour the women who have supported our community and will help preserve our connection to the history of our area.
Read these recent articles from The Leader on the proposal; Aug 29, May 16, Dec 6.
KBPA wrote the following submission to the Geographical Names Board.
The community is encouraged to write their own submission to the Geographical Names Board before the closing date 21 Sept 2019. Details below:
Visit Geographical Names Board. Select CURRENT PROPOSALS, scroll down to the Edith Blake link and complete the online form. Or email submissions may be lodged with the Secretary, Geographical Names Board, at ss-gnb@finance.nsw.gov.au or written submissions mailed to 346 Panorama Ave, Bathurst, NSW 2795.
Love local Artisan Market
Please support local Carss Park business Studio Onethirty which is launching a new Love Local Artisan Market.
Saturday 12 OCT 2019
10am-6pm
Claydon Reserve Sans Souci
Love Local is a free event, and visitors can enjoy market stalls, free workshops, community groups, art installations, food pop-ups, live music and more.
Love Local Artisan Market was born out of a desire to connect our local community with artists, makers, eateries and local businesses in the St George area and surrounds. The name “Love Local’’ is a celebration of what makes our area of Sydney so wonderful; bush, bay, river and beach all on our doorstep; a melting pot of cultures and cuisines.
Georges River Council shows double standards when it comes to protecting the water health of Kogarah Bay. Council state they have a moral and legal obligation to prevent chlorinated water polluting Kogarah Bay and as a result have permanently closed down Carss Park Pool.
Where is Council’s environmental concerns on the quality of the water in Kogarah Bay, when members of the Kogarah Bay Progress Association, who annually participate in cleaning the foreshore of Kogarah Bay (below the sea wall) as part of Clean Up Australia Day collect over 14 bags of rubbish?
Why doesn’t Council regularly clean out the road drainage pits surrounding the roads of Kogarah Bay to stop all the rubbish from their roads discharging directly into the Bay after it rains?
The outboard motor pictured below was first spotted by a KBPA member during the March 2018 Clean Up. This member reported the illegal dumping to Georges River Council at the time and thought nothing more of it.
Come the Clean Up in March 2019 and the KBPA member was astounded that the outboard motor was still there from the year prior. This member again contacted Georges River Council and then begun the bureaucratic runaround. In July 2019 the outboard motor still sits in the same place on the edge of Kogarah Bay. Where is Council’s urgency and moral and legal obligation to protect the bay in this instance?
There is even a bicycle in the Bay adjoining Claydon Reserve which has been there for many weeks.
The Councils' environmental credentials when it comes to the health of the waterways of Kogarah Bay are dismal.
With a record like this it is complete double standards for Council to profess to be concerned with a small amount of chlorinated water seeping from the Carss Park Memorial Pool and self-report to the EPA and then use the EPA as justification to take such divisive action to close the pool.
Outboard Motor in the bay by the edge of Park Road Reserve, Kogarah Bay (since 2018). First reported to Council in Mar 2018 and multiple times since. It still sits there today.
Outboard Motor in bay adjacent to storm water pipe outlet. Pic July 2019
Outboard motor in Kogarah Bay, first reported to Council in Mar 2018 and multiple times since. It still sits there today. Pic July 2019
Bicycle underwater at the northern reaches of Kogarah Bay, adjacent to Claydon Reserve. Pic July 2019
Oil in open canal alongside Charles Pirie Reserve, Carss Park that discharges directly into Kogarah Bay. Pic early 2019
Rubbish in the canal at the southern end of Beverley Park Golf Course
Rubbish in the canal under the bridge of Beverley Park Golf Course
Rubbish on the foreshore, adjacent to Sans Souci Leisure Centre
Rubbish on the foreshore, adjacent to Sans Souci Leisure Centre
Front page story in The Leader on Weds 24th July, 2019
Kogarah Bay Progress Association is urging all residents to write a submission to Georges River Council before May 13 in response to Council’s Draft Code of Meeting Practice. The Leader published the article below about this issue. For more information read Kogarah Bay Progress Association’s full submission.
Article published in The Leader on Weds 8th May
Letter to the Editor published in The Leader on Weds 1st May from Kogarah Bay Progress Association Committee Member T Kot questioning the positive spin being given to over-development versus the real views and concerns of the community.
T Kot, Letter to the Editor, The Leader; Weds May 1st 2019
Kogarah Bay Progress Association Committee Member, T Kot attended the Sydney South Planning Panel in December, 2018 and wrote a letter which was published in The Leader on 9th Jan 2019.
T Kot, Letter to the Editor, The Leader; Weds Jan 9th
Many members of the Kogarah Bay Progress Association attended the meeting on 19th Jan 2019 to support the Save Carss Park Pool campaign. There was approx 200 supporters in attendance at the meeting which was also attended by State MPs, Mr Chris Minns (Labour) and Mr Mark Coure (Liberal), as well as Georges River Council Councillor Mr Con Hindi. It was great to hear that both our Labor and Liberal State MPs support saving the pool and we call on them to help secure funding for its refurbishment.
To help save Carss Park Pool you must write a submission to Georges River Council in response to their Draft Open Space, Recreation and Community Facilities Strategy currently on Public Exhibition until Friday 1st March.
The Leader wrote this article about the rally.
Chris Minns, State Member for Kogarah addresses the crowd
