Cr. Jim Magee (above) at Caulfield Racecourse, soon after he was elected as Mayor.
Image sourced from an article by The Herald Sun: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/inner-east/alp-party-members-elected-to-top-jobs-at-glen-eira-council/story-fngnvlpt-1227120312496
Earlier today, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview the Mayor of Glen Eira. Cr. Jim Magee.
He has a great love for the community he lives in and because of this; he decided to join the city council and later on, run for Mayor.
‘I was one of those people who had no interest in politics whatsoever. Until one day, I found out that a local pool was being closed.
‘My family and I spent a lot of time down at our local pool in East Bentleigh. That started a little bit of a campaign in trying to persuade the council not to close the pool but instead to develop it, repair it and to keep it open.
‘We did a little petition. People always say ‘the council won’t listen.’ Within a few weeks we raised nearly 7000 signatures.’
Today if you were to drive down East Boundary road, where the old pool was, you would now see the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatics Centre (GESAC), which is a 41 million dollar state of the art centre with close to 15,000 members and over 1.1 million visitors each year.
‘This facility isn’t costing the rate payers one cent. On its own, it’s paying all of its costs, operations costs, and wages and still returning a modest amount to council.’
When I asked Jim about the council’s major achievements, I was surprised that in all of his seven years on the council, it was his very first campaign (the pool) that still resonated as the achievement that he was most proud of.
‘I see it as I drive past. That’s my baby,’ he says fondly.
It’s not an easy job being on the council. The council of Glen Eira face difficulties every day. The mayor, as the head of the council, probably feels the pressure of up keeping the city more than anybody else on the team.
‘It’s difficult trying to please 140,000 people. I struggle sometimes just to please both my sons.’
It isn’t just making the community happy that’s challenging. Working with the land and making good and practical use of the area itself is also quite a hardship.
‘Glen Eira’s got the smallest amount of open space out of any council.
‘We’ve got to try and provide some space for the people that live in the area. We’ve endeavoured to take on a responsibility of finding open space. What we’ve done is imposed an open space levy on commercial and high rise development projects where the developer has to pay 5.7% of what the project is worth. We use that money, generating about $5 million per year, to purchase houses that are close to the places where we believe we can start putting in parks. We’ve already completed two in the city of Glen Eira.’
In the future, the mayor is looking forward to the big things that are to come.
‘We are going to be opening up the Ormond train station on North road and put the train underground. We’re also opening up of the centre of the Caulfield Racecourse.’
Caulfield Racecourse is one of the most iconic racecourses in Australia. The first race was held there in 1859 and has been operating since, for nearly 160 years. The centre of the racecourse is actually a public park.
‘The community has been locked out of this space, by the Melbourne Racing Club. They occupy the space and won’t allow any community sport to take place there. We believe that there are 15 MCG’s sitting empty within the centre of the racecourse because of politics and the might of the racing industry keeping people out. I would love their board of trustees disbanded, sacked, and a committee of management put in place to open up the centre of the racecourse to the community. It is crown land and it was originally set aside for racing, recreation and for use as a public park.’
Before the mayor finishes up on the council, he would like to see ‘kids playing sport on a regular basis on proper ovals in the centre of the racecourse’.
When I first thought about interviewing the mayor of my local city council, I never would have thought that he would have time for me to interview him. He’s a busy man. He has a lot of things to do. I guess one of the most important things about being the mayor is to make time for the people in the community that you lead. He made time for me and explained how he manages his day-to-day life.
‘It’s quite easy to balance my personal and work life. I’ve decided to put 27 hours into every day,’ he laughs.
‘My day starts at around six am and finishes at around midnight. This is my 23rd working day in a row. I’m ready to put my feet up,’ he says.
‘After ANZAC Day my calendar opens up quite a bit. It’s been a fantastic couple of weeks with ANZAC commitments and it’s just humbling.
‘I look at how much work I’ve got but, then when I look back at what the ANZACS did. I think to myself, c’mon smarten up and just keep going. My job’s easy compared to what those heroes did.”
The Councillor’s passions spread far and wide, from local swimming pools to international issues. When I asked what he would do if he was Prime Minister for a day he answered quite confidently.
‘I’d help the asylum seekers by bringing them on shore. I would be processing them here on the mainland and I would be doing everything I possibly could to integrate genuine refugees into our community. I would abolish that whole scheme.’
Jim has lived in East Bentleigh for 27 years with his wife and two sons. I too, have lived in the Glen Eira area for quite some time and have no issues with what’s happening around me. I’ve lived in East Bentleigh, McKinnon and now Ormond. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Jim agrees.
‘Glen Eira is just a really terrific place to live and I think I’ll be here for quite some time.’
Images below: Murrumbeena Playground, the centre of Caulfield Racecourse and the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre.