4 May 2022 – Steve Kretzmann
The award-winning Observatory Civic Association, which has led the opposition to the River Club development, has been excluded from the ward committee in ward 57 following new rules being adopted by the city in January.
Ward committees were established by the Municipal Structures Act “in order to enhance participatory democracy in local government” and are supposed to be a direct link between communities and the municipality. They are also, according to national and local government policy, supposed to reflect the diversity of organisations active within the ward.
Yet ward 57, which extends from Rosebank to Salt River, and includes Observatory, is dominated by safety and security organisations and business, with no civic organisation represented…