COMMENTS:
28/08/2016 20:16:06 The Anti- renewal Movement Is Becoming A
Bit Of A Circus "The article
makes mention of the anti renewal movement being a 'circus' three times.
Perhaps mention should also
be made that the renewal movements repeated ignoring of 'anti's' is what has
created and given voice to the group.
This started with a
consultation progress that lacked any real intent to involve the community in
discussion be it traders or customers.
Traders have not been
effectively communicated with over the consultation period and there has
effectively been a 'we know what's best for you, do as we say' attitude towards
them from both City of Melbourne and QVM Management.
I am well aware that we need renewal, however when I
look back at the points David O'Neill made about what is needed for a
successful market renewal it becomes clear to me that we are heading down the
path towards being a market that fails post renewal. The key point that sticks out in my mind is
his statement that traders and management must work together and this is
definitely not happening. For fresh
produce at least far too many decisions are happening without any trader
knowledge or involvement."
Thanks for your input and apologies for the multi
reference to “circus”.
I have extracted from David O’Neils recommendations
the points where he referred to working together. Here they are –
· .- You should be open and transparent with
traders and customers
· - Communication, communication, communication
· - The challenge is – getting the staff and traders
to work TOGETHER
· - Traders must be part of the decision-making
on some things, many things – not things where there is a conflict of
interest.
· - The more you involve people the better – yes
it costs time and money – but you must involve them in the planning.
O’Neil definitely talked about working
together although he drew the line at decision-making that might involve a
conflict of interest for traders. Transparency would seem to be the key here. Perhaps
we should know what decisions that management feels may involve conflict. It
would certainly help our understanding and that could be a good subject for
discussion with Malcolm McCullough on a Thursday afternoon. –
Thanks again – Ed.
29/08/2016 08:03:06 Consultation
Process "Lets be honest here.
The real problem here is not the consultation process
(if only it were that simple).
If traders (and community members) look at the
guidelines for public consultation processes as established by the
International Association for Public Participation (iap2) they will note that there are varying levels of input possible in a
'Public Participation' process.
The real issue here is that some traders and members
of the community are not happy with level 1 (inform) level 2 (consult) level 3
(collaborate) but demand level 4 participation (empower).
They may be right, but to be able to argue
successfully that you should be engaged at that level you will rightly need
some very (very) compelling reasons to justify that level of involvement. Given
traders unique understanding of what happens on the trading floor, I honestly
believe that good sound advice from traders is essential to getting things
right.
But given the difficulty for traders to distance
themselves enough from their personal
business interests, their willingness (and ability) to look too far into
the future and their ability to truly have an in depth understanding of the
complexities from both an infrastructure as well as a global retailing
perspective I doubt that the argument for a level 4 involvement is a
'compelling argument'.
Its time to stop the politicking and myopic approach
to this very essential discussion on the future of the market and have serious
in depth discussion on the many single issues that need trader input so as to
ensure that the least amount of 'errors' are made as we collaborate to ensure
the future of the market.
We cannot do that by only looking in the rear vision
mirror or taking an 'as is' approach to the markets future, or by masking the
real issues with politicking, flag waving and obstructionism." Ivano
Thanks for your input Ivano - Ed
29/08/2016 11:38:09 Re:
Ivano on consultation "Perhaps
it's just me but I'm not aware of traders who are asking for or demanding level 4 - empower. As traders we are currently floating between
level 1&2, more often stationed at 1 despite being promised interaction
which to my interpretation would see us between 2&3.
For the process to work traders have to have level 2/3
participation which you have also agreed with - ""Given traders
unique understanding of what happens on the trading floor, I honestly believe
that good sound advice from traders is essential to getting things
right.""
The prime example of not meeting those levels for me
is the ongoing saga of what will be done to H&I sheds, despite the food
traders insisting that the one thing that absolutely could not be done was the
splitting up of the fresh produce quadrant.
I am all for renewal and it should have happened many,
many years ago, the market is in a sorry state overall at the minute. As much as I would like to see the market
improve, trader input (not control) is essential as a renewal without proper
trader input will be just as much of a death sentence as no renewal at
all.
What if originally mentioned in reference to the
article was that the 'circus' has been created by a lack of information being
shared to the various groups, creating the anger & frustration which makes
the process impossible. Would a better
consultation process stop the negativity from the customer group? Probably not,
but it wouldn't have such large groups of traders offside with the process."
Great input. Thank you - Ed
29/8/2016 12:45 Consultation "For
what its worth I agree entirely with the need for meaningful trader involvement
at level 2/3 on the iap2 spectrum." Ivano
Thanks Ivano - Ed
09/09/2016 12:41:15 Anti
renewal movement movement is becoming a bit of a circus article "We are writing in response to your
""Anti Renewal Movement is Becoming a Bit of a Circus""
article.
If you had attended any one of the many meetings that
S.T.A.G., NUW and Friends of Queen Victoria Market have held over the last six
months, you would realise that none of the above groups are anti renewal at
all. They are just not happy with the current renewal plan put forward by
Robert Doyle.
May I remind you that S.T.A.G. has over 80% of stall
holders and businesses in the market signed up and further to that, hundreds
have now joined the NUW. Yes, we all have a good laugh and shake our heads when
Doyle and his cohorts, including Rob Adams, get on the radio and say it's only
about half a dozen unhappy traders.
We realise that you are out of the loop and seem to be
getting a lot of your information from newspaper articles. May we inform you
that S.T.A.G. has regular meetings with
Councillors, Unions, Ministers and Federal and State Politicians. You have
mentioned celebrities and yes, many have approached us. Furthermore, we
anticipate that you will be hearing a lot more from them in the weeks to come.
Recently, many QVM traders who are members of the NUW
met at Trades Hall to vote on a list of claims for a redevelopment of the QVM.
This will be released soon and presented to the market CEO. We have also worked
very closely with the Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate Phil Cleary and his team.
This includes trader Michael Caiafa who is number one on the Cleary ticket.
Together, they will be discussing the traders list of claims. Team Cleary will
be using these and other great ideas as one of their policies for a fairer,
less expensive and more efficient redevelopment.
We are not a circus. On the contrary, S.T.A.G. is a
well organised, dedicated group and the majority of stall holders at the market
which we represent are not a bunch of clowns. They know when they see a land
grab and a crazy development plan that pleases the developers more than them
and the community. That's why they have stood up and created a voice.
The team at S.T.A.G. " The
team at S.T.A.G.
Thanks for your input Team At STAG. And I agree the majority of traders at QVM are not clowns. - Ed