Wednesday 9 January 2008

Selective Factman our new superhero

CairnsBlog regular, Paul Taylor, shares his observations about the unfolding comments over recent weeks.


I have been noticing the comments that "Factman" make are very selective. The author like a coward, won't reveal himself, but it is obvious Kevin Byrne's staffer Dennis Quick and Councillor Paul Freebody, with the limp-wristed hand of the Mayor involved.

In the recent story about the Villa Romana, he mentioned “The plans that were submitted for the outdoor dining permit approval showed the encroaching wall as a "wind break", ala plastic sheeting.”

Now, he says that Cairns City Council has control over how buildings are constructed. But, to me, this appears to be a very real breach on behalf of Villa Romana, and also the certifier in question.

From what I understand of the laws involving building approvals, and outdoor dining approvals, the person placing the application must submit plans stating what the construction is, what it going to be used for, and what it is being made of. Now, if this is the case, Villa Romana has lied in their application. Their outdoor dining license should have been revoked once all the scaffolding was removed.

Now, "Factman" also states that Cairns City Council no longer has building inspectors to liaise with building contractors to make sure that all the rules are being followed, and the plans submitted are being followed.

Now, maybe, he may be able to answer a few questions for me.

  1. I am presently doing some renovations. Nothing external apart from painting and gardening. I am removing carpet, replacing it with tiles, Repairing internal walls etc.
    One of my neighbours decided to ring Council to complain about me cutting tiles during the day with an electric tile cutter and doing unauthorized renovations.

    Two days later, I had a visitor from a building inspector to see what I was doing. Funnily enough, this inspector was wearing a council shirt, driving a council vehicle, gave me a council card to identify himself, was wearing a council badge/ID card on his shirt. He looked around the property, and I showed him what I was doing, and he left complaining that the complaint was a waste of council time and money. He also told me that if I was to do something that I was unsure of whether I would need approval for, to call him at the council offices on the number on the council business card. If council doesn’t have building inspectors, who was this person?

  2. A friend of mine was doing some major renovations to a property in town. After he had the architect do all the plans for the house, and what he was going to modify, he had to submit the plans to Council for council approval. During the time of the renovation, a Council building inspector regularly come out to the property to inspect what he was doing.

    Every time he had to make a modification to the plan, the modification had to be given to the building inspector for him to look at before the modification could be carried out. If council doesn’t have building inspectors, who was this person?

To me, this sounds like, If you are a major developer, someone who cooks dinner for the mayor, or one of his bum buddies, the council doesn’t have a building inspector to look at the buildings/renovations to ensure they meet the council and building codes, because it is the state labor governments domain and fault.

If you are a private individual trying to improve the appearance and value of your property, the council has plenty of building inspectors with plenty of time, to slow your progress and cost you money.


I think that "Factman" is too selective in his comments to be of any advantage to the Mayor and the current council. He is quick (most probably Denis Quick!) to defend the council, and blame the state labor government .

What he and Kevin Byrne need to understand is that they are Cairns’ spokespeople, and if they are so transparent as he keeps on saying, why is there all the behind closed door meetings.

There is also a list of things that they should consider. Why all the threatening legal letters. The Blog has had two of them now, and there is a lot of other people out there who have had them.

To me, people who are willing to disagree with the Council shows that you have people living here who love the city of Cairns, and want the best for it and are intelligent enough to say something. Not a bunch of idiots that you guys seem to think live here.

If there was only a handful of people who where reading CairnsBlog, and commenting against the Council, I could understand why Factman, KB and the rest of the Kelly gang would be against this blog.

But, with the number of hits it's getting, along with the number of anti Cairns City Council comments, they should be looking at what they have done, and are doing and think, “maybe we should listen to them a bit more.”

This to me shows the arrogance of this Council and leaders. For this reason only, I wont be voting for them on March 15th.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear oh dear, Paul Taylor ...

Q. Why do you think Factman exists?

A. To try and give this inaccurate, biased and possibly libelous political blog some sort of credibility of course.

Factman is not Gary Schofield and the bum sucking comments about him just lower the standard of this blog ... ask Val.

1. The plan that showed the plastic windbreak was for an outdoor dining permit, not for building approval. Council issue these permits as a part of its road reserve management responsibilities.

2. Building approval for the tTrillogy Development was issued by a private certifier, licenced by the BSA.
The Building Services Authority (BSA) is a statutory authority established under the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991.
BSA's charter is to regulate the building industry through the licensing of contractors, educate consumers about their rights and obligations, make contractors aware of their legal rights and responsibilities, handle disputes fairly and equitably, protect consumers against loss through statutory insurance, implement and enforce legislative reforms and where necessary prosecute persons not complying with the law.
Council do not carry out building (structural), inspections.

3. Your visitor re. cutting tiles was a local laws officer doing their duty as a result of a compliant from your neighbour. Probably checking an issue such as noise or dust or whether you were operating a business from your residence.

4. The "inspector" visiting your friends house could have been looking at water supply, sewerage or drainage issues, all Council responsibilities, as they connect to council controlled infrastructure.

You can continue with your abuse and inaccuracies all you like because Factman will always counter these fallacies with THE FACTS!!!

Anonymous said...

ROFL, Paul Taylor has hit a nerve somewhere. Look at all the defensive replies above. Bwa hahahaha. This blog is getting good.

Anonymous said...

Factman, I understand who the BSA is, as I have dealt with them quite a lot over the years.
You say the plans for Villa Romana where submitted for the purpose of out door dining, and, the plan showed a plastic wind break. Now, the council would have approved the plan with a plastic wind break. I can understand that. Dont have a problem with that. But, when the scaffolding revealed a solid wall, why didnt the council cancell the permit as what was approved, was not what was done. .. the council was led to believe one thing was happening and appropriately approved it. then, something completely different was done, which went against what was approved. What has the council done to fix the problem. I know the answer will be, "this is the state government issue as the private certifier is enlisted by the BSA.". But even a private certifier has the local and state building codes to abide by, and, even tho I dont know all the said building codes, I doubt that any of them would allow someone to build on a footpath. Either way, state and local building codes where broken, and the structure that was approved for outdoor dining doesnt exist. This council, with it reputation, could do themselves a lot of good by openly fighting this type of thing, to show that they are not to blame. This council can do something in this instance. And, many others that have been brought to light. It tries to claim innocence when people object to something that is happening. Why dont you take an active role in stopping this type of thing from happening.
As for my visitor, he introduced himself as a council building inspector. I have dug out a copy of the complaint, which he was not supposed to leave with me, but he thought the complaint was a joke and did, and the complaint states,"unauthorised construction". now, if the council does not have building inspectors, they should instruct their officers, not to introduce themselves as one.
As for my friends visits, he currently is overseas, and I cannot clarify all the details accurately, so I will have to concede on that one.
As for the innacuracies, this council has done nothing to alter this belief. I have lived in many towns and cities around queensland, and have never come across a council so desperate to hide the truth and to destroy what beauty there is around it.

Anonymous said...

Dear "Paul Taylor said".
Factman is obviously someone from the Mayors camp. You would think, that if they had balls, and really believed in the crap that they are trying to convince us is fact, they would put their name to it, and stand behind it. It would go a long way to show people that they really are interested in the direction the town is going in, and not just the mighty dollar.
As for waving my dick around, well, after a few bevvies I have been known to do so. The main reason for it is a have a terrific dick, and people have commented that they do like to see it. As for wanking, well, I dont have to as I have a great partner who does it for me, obviously unlike you cos you are so concerned about said dick. And on the odd occasion that I do have a wank, I enjoy it because a fantastic person is doing it. As for my life, it is full and harmonious. Obviously unlike yours, becuase you brought up the subject of my dick in a public forum that is directed about the upcomming council election.
Finally, yes, this is just the f**cking internet. And yes, this is just a little f**cking blog complaining about the current council. But, it has enough strength to it, to get the attention of the Mayors office, the Cairns post, and as a poster commented before, most of the radio stations. I also wouldnt doubt weather it goes further afield than that. If you notice the passion some of us have about some of these comments, you will realise that it is because we are concerned about the future direction of this town. Not only for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren.
And as for my name being "mundane", well, it was good enough for you to use it when you made your comment. Not that I would take that as a compliment.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I forgot. Intimidated??? ... I think not. If factman would be interested to meeting face to face, I would be more than happy to meet him. Talk about the issues raised by this blog. We could invite Mike Moore, a reporter from the Cairns Post. Someone from one of the television stations even. We could all sit down and discuss issues raised here, and anything else that people would like to send in to be discussed with him. But, that would mean that factmans real identity would be revealed. And, being one on one with someone who cares for Cairns, he would not have his spin doctors on hand to tell him what to say, but the media would be there to record it.

Anonymous said...

Who cares who Factman is, he/she/they provide information that appears to come from someone well informed behind the council doors. I enjoy the Cairns Blog, it gives an outlet to those of us who want to vent their frustration and it is encouraging to know that none of us "are alone" in our endeavour to keep Cairns the place that we love and enjoy. My only whinge is that "gutter language" has to be used - there are adequate words in the English language without resorting to the gutter. However, I guess it is a "man" thing with the preocupation of their anatomy. However, it does show that people are angry and upset and I guess it is indicative of the behaviour set by those in higher positions in council.

Anonymous said...

I'm with anonymous. I also lol @ your behaviour. Good to see grown adults acting like children. Totally makes this blog worth reading..

Please...do...carry on!

Anonymous said...

First we had Charlies man Mark in the Fed election, now factman for the local. I'm glad we have them and heres why...
The world neads these weirdos to show us where the normal line is. It's only opinions people and we are each entitled to one.
If less time was spent getting personal and more on solutions we might have a way out of the sh!t hole we've been digging Cairns into.
We can all be tough guys on line, so show a bit of respect to each other and dont get so personal.
Thats what most people seem to not like about this mayor.

Anonymous said...

I don't even know why 'factman' bothers with you lot.

You're a lost cause. Obviously Labor voters as well.

You all cry and whinge about any progress that Cairns may have. We're growing, deal with it.

You're either a yokel local, or an import that thinks they've found their bit of paradise and want to keep it to themselves.

Grow up and come to the realisation that Cairns is growing, and the infrastructure is necessary, if it wasn't, new developments wouldn't sell out so quickly.

Development is coming. A council that resists it will only yield problems.

Vote Unity.

Anonymous said...

Tyson Hayter, if you read through all the comments and postings made on the blog over the last several months, you will find that most of the people commenting on here aren't against developement and growth. I know I'm certainly not.
What people are against is the wholesale raping of the natural resources that is the number one thing that draws the tourists to Cairns. If we loose all the bushland and rainforrest around cairns, the run off will damage or destroy the reef. Without the bushland, rainforest and reef, there will be no tourists. Without the tourists, Cairns has nothing. The sugar industry is dissapearing and houses replacing it. The tobacco industry is gone. The dairy industry is gone, and Cairns has very little else to support its growth.
That is what you will find we are all against when it comes to developement.
As for the council, we are just tired of the schoolboy bullying that the current Mayor uses to get his own way.

Anonymous said...

Ben, you hit the nail on the head.... the locals aren't against development and growth.
We just want it to be done right and done well so we can attract the kind of people who build communities and will make them stronger for years to come.

We locals are the ones who have been investing our money into the Cairns economy for years building our homes and business's as the town grows and we are excited about the future growth to come.

We don't want it to stop, just be better than what is happening now. To have class and style and be the envy of the World.

I want my kids to have a future in this town and don't want them to have to leave to make it like so many of my school friends did 20years ago.. and once they had spent a few years in the City there was nothing to bring them back here permanently.
We lost our locals who became Doctors, Scientist, Nurses, Teachers, Dentists ect to the South... now we have a chance to build an attractive lifestyle, to bring these professionals in and we are stuffing it up.

Why is it every time we ask for something for "us"(the residents, new and old and those who are still to come) we are told that we don't have a clue and to stop moaning about it and that we are anti-growth? We know what attracted us and why we stayed..and we keep telling this Council what they are doing is not the way they should be heading but they are just not getting it.

Please send more tourist and more new residents, bring it on... however they won't stay if what they come to is crap and has no charm, culture or infrastructure to interest them and their families .

Anonymous said...

Tyson Hayter do you see any real infrastructure worth a damn in this city? Where are the sububan rail commuter networks? Where are the open park lands, cycle and foot paths? We have a pretty good dump....yay....if you pee in city place the cameras will spot you (no one else goes there). This council has done some good things but they have been too blinded by the mighty developers dollars to spend where most rate payers need it for a secure future.
I'm far from anti developement but lets spend on infrastructure to support that development and the people that are here and that come here to build and maintain it who live in the 'burbs' before we commit to more.