Elected a Leichhardt Ward Councillor on 9 September 2017 (Leichhardt Ward renamed Gulgadya Ward in December 2018)
Marghanita da Cruz wants to build a community with good footpaths to public transport, community centres and green spaces. Facilities to help us lead active lives. An environment in which we look after our waterways, and harness energy from the sun and wind.
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What has Marghanita been doing? Blog - 2019 onwards | NewsFeed 2017-8 |December 2018 | November 2018 | October 2018 | September 2018 |August 2018 | July 2018 | June 2018 | May 2018 | Spotlight on the approval of Westconnex M4-M5 Link | April 2018 | March 2018| February 2018| Annandale to Lilyfield, 4 Feb 2018 | January 2018 | November-December 2017 | September-October 2017 | Solar our Community | Election Diary | Campaign Log: June | 1-10 July | 11-31 July | August | September
Member of the Flood Management Advisory Committee along with Clrs McKenna and Hesse.
Clr da Cruz voted to retain the industrial employment zone.
The issue with the proposal to turn the entire Sydenham industrial area into a “dedicated creative hub” is that this would have displaced a number of businesses who are employing hundreds of people.
The economic study showed there is vacancy rate in the area is less than 2%. There are a variety of small businesses in the area from coffee roasters to chicken processors. It was also found that pedestrians and cars associated with the creative precinct would conflict with the trucks delivering goods to and from the light industrial businesses particularly at night to avoid Sydney’s traffic congestion and commuters who park in the area to catch the train.
The alternative motion labor put up at the meeting was to drop small bars and office space from the original proposal that has been bouncing around Marrickville Council. There was no economic impact study done for the original proposal.
Also, since the time of the original proposal industrial space has become more scarce in the Inner West as industrial sites are converted into appartments.
The amended approved proposal does not eliminate the creative precinct proposal completely. It just confines it to Marrickville Road between Railway Parade and Sydney Street, where there is also work to make this an active transport route to Sydenham Railway Station. The additional use is limited to small bars, cafes and restaurants.
There are a number of creative activities in the Sydenham precinct already such as the Camelot Lounge. They are not precluded but they need to fit in with the industrial nature of the area.
Those advocating for the creative space such as event organizing and pubs came from elsewhere, the locals were defending their business operations.
After amendments to the draft Council submission were rejected
Marghanita da Cruz's private submission
That council publishes a plain English Comprehensive guide to Commerical Footpath Occupation on its website to encourage and assist businesses to apply for licenses to occupy and enliven these public spaces without negatively impacting pedestrian amenity.
The guide is to include Council’s policy(s), scale of occupation, application fees, lease charges, relevant legislation and other requirements that the businesses need to comply with including Food Safety, Licensing, Work Place Health and Safety, Public Liability and Pedestrian Amenity
The Westconnex Update on the Council agenda for 12 December meeting included three acquisition letters from the RMS advising that they would be acquiring parts of King Georges Park (Rozelle) and Buruwan Park and another grassed area on the Crescent in Annandale. The letters indicated that they would be repairing the Bay Run when they had finished construction of Westconnex and that the footpath, cycleway and greenspace had no value so, Council should waive compensation.
Honoured to join two 78ers, who took part in the first Mardis Gras a cold June night in 1978!
It was an auspicious day as the Marriage Equality bill would come into effect at midnight.
Political Children uses Hansard transcripts, newspaper articles and online content to shine a magnifying glass on the debate around the Safe Schools program and gives young people the chance to respond. more
Meeting 8 December 2017 at Redfern Community Centre.
The Eastern Region Local Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum is a network of six Councils: Waverley, Botany Bay, City of Sydney, Randwick, Inner West, and Woollahra...more.
Walking along Croydon Road to Anthony StreetFollowing up on Notice of Motion and community input to Oct 12 meeting, met with Staff and Community to discuss pedestrian safety issues on Croydon Road, at Anthony Street, and traffic issues at Church Street.
Both meetings were well attended by the community who raised and elaborated on many issues include - safety of school children crossing Croydon Road, Parking, speeding and traffic flow issues.
Report expected March 2017 to allow for traffic study when school resumes.
The Local Government NSW Conference was held in Sydney 4-6 December.
Several motions were put forward by the Inner West Council including four which were initiated by Clr da Cruz. The LGNSW Board rejected two of the motions and the other two were lost on the floor of the conference.
That NABERS Energy Rating and BASIX be extended to include operational cost of dwellings including base charges for electricity, gas and water,[and the] pro-rata cost of strata management fess, operation lifts, swimming poolis and other shared facilities
Reason Rejected
LGNSW was of the view that both NABERS and BASIC tools currently account for common area energy usage in mutli-unit dwellings.
That the Local Government Association recognsies the Social, Health and Economic importance of Walking. That the local goverment association form a Walkability Task Froce/Comittee to work with Councils to include Walkability as a performance indicator.
Reason Rejected
LGNSE has a 'Sustainability" Position Statement endorsed in Augst 2017 (available at: www.lgnse.org.au/policy/policy-principles). LGNSW advocates for "decision making in land-use planning and urban and regional development strateies to include sustainability objectives to achieve integrated outcomes that enhace community wellbeing and liveability." As he motion aligns with LGNSW policy and because it is an operational matter for LBNSW to enact internally, we will commence research on creating a walkability index without needing a Conference decision.
That Local Government NSW lobbies the Australian and NSW State Governments to incorporate air drying of laundry, with associated access to sunlight and air circulation, into the building code for all dwellings.
Note from Council
The Building Code of Australia makes provision for dwellings to have either a clothes dryer area
within an apartment/unit or provide a clothes line. Given the cost to the environment of running
clothes driers within apartments/units, Inner West Council proposes that LGNSW lobbies the NSW
Government to amend the Building Code to make air drying of laundry a mandatory provision
including associated access to sunlight and air circulation.
That Local Government NSW calls on the NSW Government to:
1.Develop legislation to allow local councils to follow the NSW Chief Medical Officer’s ad
vice and phase out Wood Heaters;
2.Introduce effective education and incentive program commensurate with the $8 billion health
cost of residential wood heating pollution in NSW that will create widespread understanding of
the benefits of switching to non - pollution heating; and
3. Provide effective powers for councils to take action against unhealthy levels of wood smoke
pollution, including local exceedances of National PM2.5 Air Quality Standards.
Note from Council
The Environment Protection Authority estimated that 75% of Sydney’s fine particle pollution in July
came from wood heaters. The level of pollution can be much higher on individual days.
In 2014, the NSW Chief Medical Officer said “Not only do wood - burning heaters pollute outdoor air, they also worsen indoor air quality”. Further, “Long-term exposure to particulate pollution, especially finer particles known as PM2.5, can cause heart and lung disease while brief exposures can aggravate asthma and worsen pre- existing heart and lung conditions”.
Volunteers meet at the Rozelle Bay Community Native Nursery on Wednesday and Friday mornings to propagate Local Provenance native vegetation. There are no prerequisites and people of all ages are welcome. More at Rozelle Bay Community Native Nursery
Saw this share bike in the creek on the way to the Inner West Council sustainability awards at Camperdown Commons. Reported it to Sydney Water via facebook
Cottages with scaffolding about to be demolished but saved by previous night's rescind motion.
9,11 Marion Street are part of Wetherill Street, Heritage Conservation Area
Mural by BLAK DOUGLAS (2015, Fringe)
Cottages at 9,11 Marion Street feature are a stop on the Marietta Gallery Public Art Trail and feature a mural by Shannon Crees (2009, W2W)
Photo (IWC): From left: Blake Myatt, Tom Higginson, Inner West Councillor, Leichhardt Ward Marghanita da Cruz, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne, Darby Judd, and Craig ScottProud to be at Dawn Fraser Baths yesterday to see Inner West Council lifeguards Darby Judd and Tom Higginson presented with the the Royal Lifesaving 2017 Lifeguards of the Year award for their response to a swimmer found face down in the water, at Dawn Fraser Baths, after suffering an epileptic seizure.
Lifeguards Blake Myatt and Craig Scott were also recognised with awards of Excellence Certificates from the Aquatics Research Institute for their handling of incidents at Ashfield Pool.
It was Tom Higgins second shift as supervisor and Darby Judd’s third shift as a lifeguard when the swimmer was found face down in the water. Within 30 seconds Tom and Darby had turned the swimmer onto her back and provided a ‘text book’ response while also managing other pool patrons, including two water polo teams. The ICU doctor at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital advised the next morning that "the response given to the patient from the staff was exceptional which has resulted in the patient showing no ill-effects of the immersion or the seizure".
Over 10 years Blake Myatt, a full-time lifeguard at the Ashfield Aquatic Centre, has handled four major incidents including heart attack, drug overdose, resuscitation and serious head injury. Craig Scott has been working at the Ashfield Pool for five years as lifeguard and swim school instructor.
In October 2016, a a young learn-to-swim student was found unconscious in the water. Blake immediately activated the emergency action plan, clearing the busy pool hall and successfully resuscitated the little girl, with Craig’s assistance. The student made a full recovery and was back swimming at the pool two weeks later.
Exhibition of Bark paintings and ceremonial poles by Gunybi Ganambarr, Djambawa Marawili AM, Garawan Wanambi, Naminapu Maymuru-White continues at Annandale Galleries until 2 December 2017
After speaking of the role of painting on the body and on bark, Djambawa sang a walk through the paintings and poles in the gallery. Bark paintings have long been used in land title negotiations. Djambawa was involved in the preparation of paintings (as documents) for the Barunga Statement (1988) and Blue Mud Bay case (2008) He is also a member of the PM's Indigenous Advisory Council.
Works by Boomalli's 10 founding artists - Jeffrey Samuels, Michael Riley, Eupemia Bostock, Tracey Moffatt, Arone Meeks, Bronwyn Bancroft, Fion Foley, Brend L Croft, Fernanda Martins and Avril Quail. More at Boomalli Art Gallery
Appointed as alternate chair to (Clr Passas) to the Local Traffic Committee. Chaired the meeting on 2 November 2017 minutes
