Pages tagged "Night-Time mayor"

Meet a mayoral candidate: Jess Whittaker

Posted on In the News by · August 06, 2024 10:00 AM

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

"Hi! I’m Jess and I was born and grew up in Bulli & I now live in a great little village, Port Kembla, with my husband and two wonderful daughters. I work as a paramedic in the Illawarra and volunteer as a dunecare coordinator at Port Kembla Beach and as the Vice President of the Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce. Besides bike riding, surfing, bushcare, and live music [you’ve got to love the talented musicians and performers we have in the city] I spend most of my time with my family & friends. As a working mum, you might understand how hectic life can get.

Why are you the best person to be Wollongong’s next Lord Mayor?

"Our city is, simply, wonderful with beautiful beaches, majestic escarpment and strong communities. If I’m elected Lord Mayor I would bring fresh green ideas and a bold vision for a welcoming, fun city with interesting and exciting things to do and see, a city that looks after its community and its environment, and is easy to get around. I also want to see Wollongong refresh its once thriving nightlife. Wollongong can also become a region that embraces new industries in the renewable energy industry and the jobs that will come as we make the transition to a Net Zero nation.

What would be your top priorities if elected to the city’s top job?

"As a new Lord Mayor I’d work to:

  • Build footpaths, pedestrian crossings and cycleways

  • Revitalize our nightlife by creating a dedicated position for Night Time Mayor.

  • Provide secure bike parking and push for Opal-activated bike sheds.

  • Encourage urban farming and community gardens to increase our local food security and build communities that say hi to their neighbours. 

  • Support new housing developments with affordable housing

  • Push the State government to give us more trains, more buses on the weekend and broaden free public transport options like the Gong Shuttle.

  • Invest in skateparks and spaces for young people.

  • Open our Libraries and Art Gallery all weekend.

If you could deliver one key project in your first term, what would it be?

"I’d like to continue the work of our previous two Greens councillors and see the budget for walking and cycling in the city increased again by funding new footpaths, shared pathways, pedestrian crossings and cycleways. We need to increase the pace of roll out of the safe routes to school program so our kids can walk and cycle safely and cross roads at well designed pedestrian crossings. There are so many benefits from improving participation in walking and cycling, and by helping people with low mobility move about easily in our city. 

Why do you want the job?

"I just love Wollongong. It’s a fantastic city and we are lucky to call it our home. Wollongong is at a crossroads and we need people with fresh ideas and new energy so we can make our city an easy place to get around with lots of fun and interesting things to do. I think we can do more to look after our community and the environment and we also need to build enough affordable housing so our kids can live and work here in the future.

"I want to be Mayor so we can achieve these things together in the next term of council.

 

Story in The Illawarra Flame, 6 August 2024.

Greens want to bring a 'night mayor' to Wollongong's towns, CBD after dark

Posted on In the News by · May 22, 2024 4:02 PM

Wollongong's Greens candidates for the upcoming council election are once again pitching a plan to install a "night mayor", to help boost after-dark activities across the city.

While the job - which the Greens have hoped to create for the past eight years - might have a snazzy, slightly spooky name name, a night mayor is simply a permanent part time position at the council, the party's candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker said.

The new employee would responsible for prioritising the night-time economy and streamlining clunky venue approval processes, that the Greens said has left many venues delayed or unable to open at all, resulting in a struggling, empty night scene. It would also work with music venues, bars, 24-hour gyms and late-night grocery stores, and help cluster night-time businesses together to create small night-time precincts within the likes of Port Kembla or Thirroul.

"The thing we're hearing from businesses is that it can be a clunky process dealing with council DAs, so a way we can make it easier would be to have someone to support new businesses and young businesses and make it a good experience for them," she said.

Ms Whittaker said the state's first 24-Hour Economy Commissioner Michael Rodrigues, who has been working in with businesses in Sydney, demonstrated how effective having someone overseeing night time activities could be. She said the job would suit a bar or venue owner, or someone from the music or events scene, who knows the dynamics of the industry and can give the council inside knowledge about the local nightlife scene.

The Greens have been pitching the "night mayor" vision at elections since 2017, when then mayoral candidate Mithra Cox said it was based on a similar idea in Amsterdam.

Ms Whittaker said it still had a lot of merit eight years on, especially in tough economic times. "Our nighttime economy has taken a beating from COVID and a lack of adequate help for venue owners, promoters and others to get through the council's red tape and clunky channels," she said.

State Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said Wollongong was a thriving, diverse city that deserved music and the night-time economy to be a priority. "All too often owners of restaurants, cafes and bars who want to provide diverse night-time options for the community find themselves struggling with a confusing and over-the-top regulatory environment and a lack of planning," she said.

"This isn't great for business and it's not great for the community with a lack of lively, safe spaces on offer for people who want to go out late with their family and friends."

 

Story by Kate McIlwain in the Illawarra Mercury, 22 May 2024.

Greens call for Night-Time Mayor to lively up our city

Posted on Media Releases by · May 22, 2024 2:57 PM

Greens MP and night-time economy spokesperson Cate Faehrmann joined Wollongong Lord Mayor candidate Jess Whittaker on Wednesday to launch the Greens plan for a Night-Time Mayor in Wollongong.

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Outdoor seating, live music and a vibrant township. That's the Wollongong Greens' big vision

Posted on In the News by · May 22, 2024 1:02 AM

"We need a night-time mayor to help businesses make it through tough times. That's what we're going through now and we need a vibrant, diverse, creative night-time industry and that's what they champion." - Cate Faehrmann, Greens Music and Night-Time Economy Spokesperson.

"We want to be able to go to a bar or restaurant in your local village, it doesn't necessarily have to be in the CBD. We want these small bars to be in our villages and towns and operating really successfully with the full support of Wollongong Council." - Jess Whittaker, Wollongong City Council Greens Lord Mayor Candidate.

"Labor does have the biggest block on Council and I think it's also on them that this hasn't already happened, because it should have happened." - Jess Whittaker.

 

Olivia Blunden reporting for WIN News, 22 May 2024.

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