Mayor Morris Hanna confused about what choice really means
Posted March 23rd, 2007 in The Desk
I’m going to post on something off topic today. The starting point is the subject of clothes dryers in apartments, but it’s really about the Mayor of Marrickville, Morris (Mr. Choice) Hanna.
Residents living in unit blocks may soon have to resort to hanging out their laundry to dry over balconies if a Sydney council moves on plans to ban clothes dryers. Marrickville Greens councillor Sam Byrne is lobbying to change development control plans to ban - or at the very least minimise - the number of clothes dryers in new developments.
It’s an interesting idea, and one with some merit, after all, when it comes to conservation it’s the little things that count. I have a drier that I never use, preferring the passive solar option of hanging the freshly washed clothing out to dry on the balcony.
However, according to the idiosyncratic Morris Hanna, if I hang my washing out to dry on the balcony I’m some kind of third world slum dweller.
Mr Hanna said he also did not want his local government area to be turned into a slum, with people hanging their laundry over their balconies. “I travel overseas and I see them doing that here and it’s quite shocking. I don’t want to bring that to Marrickville,” he said.
Shocking? I can think of quite a couple of things more shocking, like the indiscriminate use of coal fired energy resources, and the neglecting of a free passive source like solar. And where is a residents right to choose the passive option in this if you’re not alowed to hang your washing out to dry from the balcony?
“It is about freedom of choice and no one can force them to not have a dryer. I don’t want to be the one to say to people they can’t have a clothes dryer”
But he can say that you can’t hang your laundry out on the balcony. Of course this is not what the Greens are suggesting at all. The choice still exists, it’s just presented differently.
Mayor Hanna has used this line before, previously on the issue of parking fees. Here is what he had to say back in February.
The Mayor of Marrickville, Morris Hanna, said his council would continue to charge one fee. “I don’t want to interfere in someone’s freedom [in choosing] what car they want to drive”
But he does appear to be highly selective when it comes to issues of freedom of choice. Like freedom of Chinese merchants to sign their businesses in the language of their choosing.
He is supported by the Mayor, Morris Hanna, who said: “You can’t say you’re being inclusive if you’re using signs that most people don’t understand.
Unfortunately for the residents of Marrickville, they are stuck with a mayor who’s idea of choice is the status quo of use more, drive more - all while speaking English of course.
technorati tags: marrickville, environment, thegreens, morrishanna
What others have to say…
Enough people voted for Independents and Greens to give them democratic representation? Crazy!
Council laws often prevent people from hanging their washing however they are never really enforced. Some body corporates can be nastier. I think the proposal is a great idea. At a model urban sustainability project in Kogarah Town Centre they developed private drying areas that were north facing within the units, but not designed to be a visible balcony area. They should make such facilities standard in all new flat developments.
I’m subject to those strata rules as well Simon, but I ignore them, I’ve always thought them silly.
And yes, unfortunately sometimes democracy throws up silly men and women like Hanna, him and his mates spend way too much time spinning this kind of right wing wedging crap to do much good for their council area.
As Adrian points out there are alternative ways to do this, Mayor Hanna should spend some time exploring them.
I got a nasty letter from our building manager last week for having my washing on a clothes rack INSIDE my unit. NOt on the balcony, but in view. I stopped using my dryer about a year ago.
Bloody ridiculous.
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I’ve lived in apartment blocks where the by-laws prevented residents from putting a drying rack on the balcony.
When I did so, I got stinky notes from the neighbours!
The mayorship in Marrickville is all silly anyhow, divided up between independents and Greens to keep the ALP out of the seat. How is that democratic?
(But that’s another story.)