Whitehorse Council elections 2020
We wanted to know what the candidates in Whitehorse think about issues important to us and to you, so we asked them in an online survey.
And there’s plenty of choice for voters in Whitehorse!
At closed of nominations 47 hopeful candidates had registered for a single Councillor position for each of the new 11 Wards.
Some Wards have eight candidates vying for one position.
With such a big field to choose from, and Covid-19 restrictions making normal campaigning impossible, how will voters choose between them?
Whitehorse residents can check their candidates’ attitudes to issues by reading their responses to our survey. Issues such as council consultation with the community, walking and cycling, support for small business by re-purposing street space, rates and budgets are ranked and rated by the candidates.
Click here to read the candidate responses.
BikeSpot Survey 2020
In conjunction with Amy Gillett Foundation the BikeSpot Survey 2020 was a great success. They received over 31,000 submissions (spots, comments and ‘likes’) overall in the 2 month period between 31 March 2020 and 31 May 2020. This is an increase of 260% from of the BikeSpot project conducted back in 2016.
Four things to know about community consultation
Bringing the community into local government: 4 things learnt from an expert citizen “hack”
Replace expensive community consultation with methods that bring citizen experts into problem-solving. This was tried it out in an inaugural, and highly engaging, “Arts Hack”. Four things were learnt.
1. THE FIRST RULE OF ARTS HACK …
The first thing was the importance of putting real problems on the table. For the Arts Hack this was how we could re-vision a large and underutilized theatre and community facility… (See full article)
2. UTILISE CITIZEN EXPERTS
The second thing we learned is that engagement methods that mobilise citizen experts work. There is a layer of people in our communities that want to be more active with their governments… (See full article)
3. GET OUT OF TOWN (HALL)
What worked for Arts Hack was getting out of a bureaucratic setting, and using people’s time in a short, sharp hack (rather than committee meeting, hearing or all day forum)… (See full article)
4. IDEAS INSPIRE CHANGE FOR OUR COMMUNITY
The final thing we learned was this facility could contribute enormously to community life if we think long term. To make it its best, citizen experts argued it needs an artistic vision… (See full article)
2017 Active Transport Survey
To collect information about who is currently using Active Transport as part of their everyday life, how often they are doing it, and find something about what encourages or prevents people from doing more, the 2017 Active Transport Survey is now online and open for people to participate.
To encourage participation, a FABULOUS 21 speed Hybrid bike will be given away to one lucky participant in the survey after it closes on 30th November.
Click here to participate now! You could be the lucky WINNER.
In 2017 Whitehorse Council participated in the WalkSpot campaign to enable communities around Melbourne to give feedback about places they walk by clicking on an interactive map online. Some of the comments made rather sensationalist headlines in the local paper!
WATAG made many suggestions. A summary of the WATAG suggestions can be seen by clicking: WATAG Unsafe Walking Locations – Whitehorse April 2017
Whitehorse Active Transport Action Group Inc. 