Hi my name is Rafaela Pandolfini and I’m an Artist, activist and mum of two children living on sovereign Bidjigal and Gadigal land in Randwick. I love feeling a part of a local community and Randwick is a beautiful place – the land, the sea and the community. It is a privilege to work to make this area a place where we can all feel safe and thrive.
Council is responsible for so much of what happens in our daily lives, and it should reflect who we are as a community. This means creating parks, playgrounds and community spaces that are inclusive and safe, libraries to inspire and bike and walking paths to get around.
It also means listening to community concerns. I’ll keep working with you to deliver affordable housing, to stand up for renters and keep pushing for community control of how our neighbourhood changes.
My first motions have focussed on making our under utalised council buildings more accessible for arts and culture and more spaces are open and available for arts and cultural activities. I am working with the Greens to ensure that Arts & Culture is recognised as a priority and action is taken to recognise this.
As part of your Greens team on Council we’ve delivered increased access to solar programs and we’re working hard to make it easier for renters to get access to renewables. We’ve got change which means council is on a path to dual naming and First Nations Economic Empowerment as a core objective in our plans.
There is much more to do. We need to stop the astroturfing and fencing off of green open spaces and protect our parklands from parking. We need to plant more trees to enhance our tree canopy. We need to stop developers and corporate interests writing the rules. We need to deliver on our promise to create more arts and cultural opportunities and accessible community spaces to ensure that we have a strong ecology of arts and culture throughout the council.
I’m proud to be part of a strong Greens team delivering on these important goals.