time to get on board again

It's nearly time to get back on board the No Maccas express, the appeal for McDonalds in Tecoma will recommence at VCAT on Monday 3rd of September and is scheduled for 2 days (Mon 3 and Tues 4).

No Maccas in the Hills are coordinating the No Maccas Express, departs Belgrave Station at 8:31am (last carriage), might see you on board.

The hearings commence 10am daily and VCAT is located at 55 King Street, Melbourne.

You can find out campaign info at the No Maccas in the Hills website.

One of our community's more creative submissions, Hambuggery by Joy Serwylo.


HAMBUGGERY
by Joy Serwylo

My Daddy drove me up to see
The forest lush and green,
When I was just a babe in arms

And hardly even weaned.

He held me in his arms and sang
And showed me birds and trees.
He marvelled at the grandeur
Of the forest in the breeze.
Though I was far too young to know
He wanted me to feel,
How precious was this lovely place
How sacred and surreal.

 

Well, I grew up but always longed
for forests rich and green.
To live where good folk knew my name,
To breathe air fresh and clean.
To share in a community,
Believe in what is good.
To put my faith in honesty
And do the best I could.
And part of that, is cherishing
The gifts that we’ve been given.
Not always wanting greater, bigger,
Always being driven.

We’re just a little village
And we don’t want huge and tall,
We don’t need fast food megamarts
Or fancy shopping malls.
We don’t want yellow lights all night
With all their advertising.
Or that awful black box building
Spewing out those fast food wrappings
We’re fighting rampant urban sprawl
And cooperate domination,
That says to us that “we need this”
But feels like strangulation.
And all that extra traffic
Clogging up our little roads.
If we’d had really thought it out
We’d never have cane toads.

Well, its clear I am no poet,

I’m an artist, I just paint.
And the reason that I live up there
Is that its never changed.
Now, I understand there’s “progress”,
And there’s “moving up and on”.
But mega modern fast food joints
Don’t fit our sleepy town.
Tecoma’s far from perfect,
Its a cute and small and neat.
A tourist spot, a family place
A holiday retreat.
Please let our hometown stay the way
that we want it to be,
Without a truckstop mega drivethru
huge hamburgery.

all aboard, mcdonalds at vcat

All on board for the McDonalds VCAT hearing.

Next week sees the McDonalds in Tecoma appeal start at VCAT, the appeal runs for six days from the 6 August through to the 13 August.

I encourage community members to attend to show VCAT members just how much we have rallied as a community to stop this inappropriate development.

I'm pleased to report that there will be 33 community submitters and I'll be providing daily updates on the proceedings via this blog and my facebook site.

No Maccas in the Hills have uploaded a handy map and details of the VCAT schedule on their website.

I'll be joining community members on board the "No Maccas Express", I hope you can make it to VCAT for some of the hearing.

VCAT is located at 55 King Street, Melbourne and hearings commence at 10am daily.

samantha in the press - mcdonalds

Ronald round up
Mail Newspapers
by Casey Neill
25 July 2012

community loads slingshot

The No Maccas in the Hills group are encouraging community members to attend the upcoming VCAT hearing for McDonalds in Tecoma.

There's no doubt this has been a David and Goliath battle with the next battle scene set for Monday 6 August at VCAT.

It would be terrific to see as many community members as possible attend the hearing as a show of support for those people who are submitting on behalf of the community. It would be a great morale boost for them to be supported by a gallery of community members.

TVAG and No Maccas in the Hills have said "the community has worked tirelessly to voice their opposition to this development, put in hundreds of unpaid, after hours work and fundraised to mount this battle. While round one resulted in council unanimously rejecting McDonalds development, round two at VCAT is critical"

I will be attending the VCAT hearings, I hope you can too.

Details are:
When: Monday 6 Aug to Monday 13 Aug from 10am to 4pm
Where: VCAT, 55 King Street, Melbourne
Commuting: last carriage Belgrave Train departing 8:31am (8:33 – Tecoma, 8:35 – Upwey, 8:39 - UFTG)

I also know that No Maccas in the Hills are fundraising to pay for some planning expertise, if you'd like to know more click here. 

hamburger - fast food vs slow food



Rod Quantock was moderator for the debate, Fast
Food is good for you.



Hamburger, the cultural event at Burrinja over the weeked was a great success. My congratulations to the Burrinja team who were inspired to put it together.

The debating teams...from left to right:
David Jewell - TVAG, Joy Serwylo, Cr Samantha
Dunn, Rod Quantock - moderator, Paul O'Halloran
and Nick Johnson - comedian.

Fast Food Friday saw the debate, Fast Food is Good For You, moderated by Rod Quantock and a screening of Supersize Me. Compelling and many hilarious, if not dubious, reasons were put forward by both sides to argue their case. It was very entertaining, the room was packed with people who brought along their picnic dinner to start the night's entertainment.

Local artist, Joy Serwylo, put foward some
hilarious reasons as to why fast food was
good for you.

Slow Food Sunday was a different affair. Community members came to workshops to learn how to make zines, soft sculptures and collages. The key theme, the proposed McDonalds in Tecoma.

Rod Quantock presenting some of Joy's 'interesting'
graphs to prove her point of why fast food is
good for you on Fast Food Friday.

TVAG provided lunch with a sausage sizzle and scones with jam and cream. TVAG are currently raising funds along with the No Maccas in the Hills group to fund the appeal for the VCAT hearing.

If you'd like to be kept up to date with what's happening with the No Maccas in the Hills campaign you can visit their website here.

Fast Food is Good For You, the Black Box at Burrinja
was packed for a night of hilarity.

no maccas pledge

Those dedicated community campaigners at No Maccas in the Hills are asking people to sign a "pledge".

The pledge is intended to convince McDonalds that the community don't want an outlet in Tecoma.

The No Maccas in the Hills group are asking people to download the pledge, sign it and get others to sign it too.

If you'd like to know more about the pledge, click here, on the No Maccas in the Hills website.

samantha in the press - planning

Bid to fry Tecoma McDonalds
Leader Newspapers
by Emily Webb
15 May 2012

Monbulk soccer club closer to goal
Yarra Ranges Weekly
by Melissa Cunningham
15 May 2012

no maccas call for experts

The No Maccas in the Hills group are calling for experts to help with the upcoming appeal at VCAT. 

The community protests at the proposed site of the
 McDonalds in Tecoma, 2011.

The appeal, commencing 6 August this year, will see McDonalds put forward 5 experts to assist their case for a McDonalds in Tecoma. And they've got very deep pockets to pay for it.

At the practice day hearing the community also nominated 5 experts to assist with the case. Now they're on the hunt to find people who are committed to the cause to help out.

Are you an expert (this means professional qualifications) who is willing to help the community pro bono, or at reduced community friendly rates? Do you know someone who might want to help out?

No Maccas in the Hills are particularly looking for 'experts' in:

• Architecture and Urban Design
• Town Planning
• Traffic and transport
• Health and community wellbeing
• Marketing and tourism
• Acoustics
• Lighting
• Media relations
• Environmental impacts.

The help of experts will really bolster the community's case, if you can help or know someone who might be able to help out please contact No Maccas in the Hills on nomaccas2012@gmail.com.

For the latest information on the No Maccas campaign visit http://nomaccasinthehills.info/.

report back: maccas practice day hearing

Today I attended the Practice Day Hearing at VCAT, for the McDonalds, Tecoma appeal, to see what orders the tribunal would make in terms of how the appeal will run later this year.

The good news is that the community has been granted 3 days to present their case against McDonalds. This is a great result. Claire Ferres Miles spoke for the No Maccas in the Hills group and put forward a number of requests including asking the tribunal for 20 community members/groups to speak as well as 5 experts. Deputy President, Helen Gibson, granted the community their request and has set aside 3 days of the hearing for them.

The Deputy President has also set aside 2 days for McDonalds and 1 day for council to present, so in total six days have been set aside for the appeal hearing, which starts Monday 6 August.

No Maccas in the Hills asked for a number of things, including the more time for community to lodge their statement of grounds (objections) due to the timing of notification by McDonalds over the Christmas holiday period. Deputy President Gibson felt that their had been adequate notification and that the community had had good opportunity to participate.

No Maccas in the Hills also asked for the venue to be moved closer to home due to the high level of community interest. Deputy President Gibson said all hearings were conducted at 55 King Street, due to the recording facilities in place. She did say she would request a larger hearing room in the complex to accomodate community who wanted to attend in the public gallery.

In relation to the request for advance notice of scheduling speakers, No Maccas in the Hills were told it's up to the community to organise who's presenting when, so at least there'll be ample opportunity to coordinate people who need to take time off work or other duties to present the case on behalf of the community.

The request in relation to material being circulated to all 304 parties was declined as all information is available at the council offices. I'll also be making sure that the information is at council's Community Links in Upwey and Monbulk.

No Maccas in the Hills request for advance circulation of expert reports was also declined. Deputy President Gibson was not persuaded to change the timeframe (10 days is the prescribed timeframe) citing the unlikely submission of amended plans and doubt that the witness material is likely to depart from that already in the public arena. She felt the case wasn't unusual enough to warrant a change.

It's terrific to know that the community has been allocated ample time to present their case. Don't forget to mark 6 August to 13 August in your diary if you want to attend the appeal as a public onlooker, you can come for a day, a week, an hour, it would be great to see you there.

tecoma maccas vcat papers arrive

Community members have contacted me because they've received a wad of documentation from Maccas (via Norton Rose) about the VCAT appeal.

Although the paperwork can look a little daunting its very easy to lodge a "statement of grounds" and become a party to the appeal at VCAT.

YOU MUST LODGE YOUR STATEMENT OF GROUNDS BY 26 JANUARY, 2012 TO VCAT, COUNCIL AND McDONALDS.

By lodging a "statement of grounds" doesn't mean you have to present a verbal submission to VCAT (but you can if you want to), it doesn't cost you anything to lodge, it is a very important way to make sure your voice is heard and your concerns are taken into account.

So don't be daunted by the paperwork, this is how you make sure the VCAT Members know how you feel and how the application will impact on you. Remember, just like the council process, it's important to make sure your "statement of grounds" is based on planning matters. If you'd like to read the reasons I raised at the council meeting click here.

For more information on how to fill out your "statement of grounds" visit this community webpage: http://nomaccasinthehills.info/

samantha in the press - planning

Tecoma McDonald's: Group launches a Mac attack
Yarra Ranges Weekly
by Melissa Cunningham
22 Nov 2011