Perth Voice Interactive

HAVING retired from Vincent council two years ago but spending many a Tuesday night in the public gallery ever since, Dudley Maier is making a formal comeback bid, seeking election to south ward.

Mr Maier was on council from 2005 to 2013 and earned a reputation as having an eye for detail with financial matters. He often clashed with former mayor and Labor strongman Nick Catania.

Even after retiring from council he spied problems with the council’s budget, pointing out a massive looming deficit in 2014.

One reason he wants to return is “there is a lot that still needs to be done with finances”.

“Next year’s budget is going to be really difficult.”

He says this year the council relied on selling $2.5 million of land to prop things up but it won’t be there next year.

“We need to go to square one and question each line item on the budget, assigning priorities. It’s something we haven’t been good at. It has to be pretty rigorous and we have to start early.”

The other two main issues are traffic and planning snarls.

Mr Maier says local policies need to be watertight given the power the state government-imposed development assessment panel has over decision-making. He believes the DAP is approving projects that are too bulky and out of step with community expectations.

On traffic he says the council needs to abandon its piecemeal approach of fixing four or five streets a year (which moves problems one street over) and instead introduce an across the board “reclaim the streets” approach to lower speeds and make the streets safer.

He says the council could look at interstate and overseas approaches: eastern states public spaces expert David Engwicht has found cars slow down if you do something as simple as hang a swing in a verge tree or paint hopscotch squares on the road.

There are two spots in south ward and Mr Maier will be up against two candidates backed by mayor John Carey—Jimmy Murphy and Susan Gontaszewski.

Mr Carey says Mr Maier has pointed out useful things from the public gallery and Mr Maier says “we get on quite well, I think the only difference is the speed: I’m a bit slower and analytical.”

by DAVID BELL