Arron Wood pledges new committee focused on “the basics”
Independent Lord Mayoral candidate and small business owner Arron Wood will establish a “Back-to-Basics Committee” made up of local residents and businesses who will provide direct feedback to City of Melbourne councillors.
Mr Wood told Docklands News that the committee will focus on issues such as street cleaning, graffiti removal, potholes, unsafe footpaths, mowing, tree pruning and managing disruptions from construction projects.
Having heard “loudly and clearly” from the community that they are not being listened to by Town Hall and their feedback falls on deaf ears.
“Melburnians want Town Hall to be responsive to their requests, but they are getting spin, denials and deflections when they raise issues,” Mr Wood said.
Residents are reporting graffiti, and it is taking months for it to be removed and it’s the same situation for fixing dangerous potholes and unsafe footpaths.
“These issues are really important to locals, but it seems like the current group of councillors and the management at Town Hall don’t care enough about them.”
The Back-to-Basics Committee will provide a quarterly report on these issues and, according to Mr Wood, provide frank and honest feedback about how the City of Melbourne responds to these queries.
The committee membership will be selected through an expression-of-interest process and the structure of the committee will be designed in partnership with residents’ associations and business groups.
Mr Wood said it was important for Town Hall to become more connected with the local community.
“Over the past few years, there has been an increasing disconnect between Town Hall and the community it serves,” Mr Wood said. “That’s why it is so important to get new and independent leadership to give Melbourne the fresh start it deserves.”
Caption: Arron Wood with Deputy Lord Mayor candidate Erin Deering. Photo: Hanna Komissarova.

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