Save The Brickworks Inc

How do the candidates in South Ward stack up?

Media Release - 9 November 2004

As part of its ongoing campaign, Save the Brickworks invited the eight candidates facing election for 3 vacancies in the South Ward of Moreland to respond to some burning issues on the fate of the brickworks.

Seven of the eight candidates responded, indicating that conserving the Hoffman's brickworks continues to be a high profile issue within Brunswick.

So how do they stack up?

There are some clear leaders and some also rans. The leaders, standing tall like Hoffie's chimneys are Jo Connellan, Alice Pryor and Ken Taylor.

Jo Connellan is a member of Save the Brickworks and an active campaigner for this site. Jo's vision is for a `vital public space used to help tell the story of the brickworks'. Importantly, she wants to see the `retention of one kiln and its equipment unmodified, as a minimum'. She's willing to try and renegotiate `the current Council's agreement on the return to the community which provides very little back to the community for its $400,000 investment'.

Alice Pryor is also strongly committed to the brickworks, acknowledging how much she has learnt from former Councillor Andy Ingham who ensured that she understood the `full value of this site and the merit of fighting to preserve our heritage'. Alice favours an investment of Council funds with equity and ownership so that community gets a return on what it has invested in the brickworks.

Ken Taylor has a strong passion for the brickworks, with long family and personal connections and as a member of Save the Brickworks. Ken's vision for the brickworks is as a `centre for the local artist/artisan industry' and he wants to see `ongoing public control of the historic core'.

A little further down the stack, but still scoring well is the combined response from Judy McVey and Terry Costello. They demonstrated a strong interest in and affinity with Brunswick's history, but lacked knowledge of the site and some issues. Their vision for the brickworks is exciting: `a museum about working practices and local art history ... the equivalent of the Western Suburbs Living Museum of the West' and with an emphasis on community education and participation.

Lambros Tapinos expressed an interest in the heritage values of the brickworks but seems out of touch with current issues and the history of development decisions on the site. He suggested wide consultation to work out how the historic core could be best put to `community use'.

Cr Joe Caputo says he wants better quality development on the site, but offers nothing new. As the current ward councillor for Hoffman Ward which contains the brickworks and a member of Save the Brickworks in 2001, he presents the status quo as the best option. Based on his record, he would likely continue to do little to represent the community's views to the Council.

Jack Amanatidis? A complete no show despite our email, SMS and several phone calls.

What about the redevelopment of the brickworks so far?

So what do the candidates think about the redevelopment of the brickworks to date?

Collectively, they have some serious reservations. Alice Pryor suggests that the `overall quality of the development appears quite disappointing given the significance of the site', while Ken Taylor thinks that it is a `profit motivated disaster'. Jo Connellan says that the `historic core has been overshadowed by the scale and intensity of the surrounding housing'. And sitting Councillor Joe Caputo says that `with hindsight it would have been far better to have had "better" quality units and homes on the site' and will definitely `advocate for better quality works in the entire remaining project'.

So how did we score them?

The survey asked six questions (see attachment). Candidates were told that their responses would be used in publicity material during the forthcoming Moreland Council Election Campaign. They were given one week to respond.

In scoring the responses, Save the Brickworks looked for an awareness of local history and heritage, an inspiring vision for the brickworks, knowledge of the issues, a willingness to listen to the community voices that continue to be raised in opposition to many of the redevelopment proposals and a commitment take a stand.

We scored each question, using 1 to 3 pluses (+) to indicate how well the candidate's answer responded to the key issues from our perspective. A zero meant a neutral or no response, and an minus (-) a negative. The table below summarises our scoring of the responses.

The list of candidates is presented in alphabetical order by second name.

Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
Click on the names to see each candidates full response, or click on the ratings for each answer to see the text of the corresponding answer.
To view all responses in a single page for easier printing, click here.

How the scores stack up

The following graph shows the scores with 1 point represented by 1 brick. (The bricks are part of one of the Hoffmans kilns, near wicket 15.)

Caputo, Joe	Connellan, Josephine	McVey, Judy and Costello, Terry	Pryor, Alice	Tapinos, Lambros	Taylor, Ken

Authorised by: Carmel Ward (Media Spokesperson for Save the Brickworks Inc.)

Mobile Telephone: 0409 334 737. PO Box 217 Brunswick Vic 3056

Save the Brickworks Inc. www.savethebrickworks.org.au

Home