International Roundup, 13-1-23

News

A selection of local government related stories of interest making news beyond Australia this week:

Firstly from the US, new figures show that traffic fatalities are on the rise in Los Angeles, despite a $50M City Council program to eliminate roadway deaths by 2025.

312 people died on Los Angeles roads in 2022, an increase of 5% on the previous year. Analysis of police department data found that homeless cyclists and pedestrians are 40 times more likely to die in traffic collisions than the population as a whole. More on this story from spectrumnews1.com.

The City Council in Odessa, Texas, has fired its city attorney and city manager for the second time in less than a month.

A lawsuit and temporary restraining order following the council’s December 13 meeting, at which it terminated the employment of the two executives, triggered a special meeting earlier this week to redo part of the previous meeting.

The lawsuit claimed the action taken was in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Code. Read more in this report from CBS7.com.

In Nashville, TN, Republican leaders are moving to cut the size of the city’s Metro Council in half.

With 40 members currently, lawmakers are proposing to reduce the council to 20 members in what some are suggesting is retaliation for the council blocking the 2024 Republican National Convention in Nashville.

It is unclear how the move might impact local elections which are due to take place later this year. Details from The Tennessean here.

A county council in Washington state is proposing a law that would ban certain retailers from cashless transactions, and prohibit the markup of prices for cash-paying customers.

The council would join a growing number of cities that have been cracking down on cashless stores and restaurants, which research shows affect lower-income communities, people of colour, and older adults disproportionately to people who are wealthier, white or younger. Read more on this story at governing.com here.

To the UK, where a council has been fined £280,000 over a 2020 incident that claimed the life of a six year old girl.

Newcastle City Council has admitted breaching safety laws, leading to a willow tree falling on the girl in a school playground. Ella Henderson later died in hospital, and a number of other children were injured in the incident.

The court heard that the tree had been inspected by council staff and identified for further investigation in early 2018, but that there was a lack of further detailed investigation conducted. The BBC has more details here.

Scottish communities have been warned that their councils face their hardest spending choices in years as they try to deal with inflation, the cost of living and the impact of COVID.

The country’s Accounts Commission says two thirds of councils will need to use cash reserves to bridge funding gaps, and many may have to reduce or cut services.

It has noted additional government funding will help, but says further change and reform will be required to ensure longer-term financial sustainability. Read more in this report from the BBC.

And the City of York Council is being accused of hiding a fleet of new electric powered bin wagons due to a lack of charging facilities.

The council has reportedly spent £8M on a plan to replace its diesel trucks with more eco-friendly vehicles, but there has been a delay with the charging infrastructure which means the new vehicles are sitting idle in a storage yard. Details in this report from Yahoo News UK.