Number 1 of the northern beaches top 20 most influential people
VIDEO ENTRY: The person ranked 1st on the northern beaches’ top 20 most influential list has been revealed. This person has the most influence over the things that most impact the day-to-day lives of peninsula residents. Do you agree?
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- #2: Top 20 most influential people on the northern beaches
- #3: Top 20 most influential people on the northern beaches
- #4: Top 20 most influential people on the northern beaches
- #5: Top 20 most influential people on the northern beaches
THEY are experts in their fields, whether that be sport, business, fashion, politics or the law. They are the people whose opinions and actions we value and watch with sometimes envy, sometimes disdain and disagreement.
The Manly Daily staff debated over who should be on the list and where they should rank.
We considered their positions as role models and/or decision makers, starting from position 20 through to position 1. Today we list the number 1 person.
All 20 are listed on our website, manlydaily.com.au, for you to have the opportunity to agree, disagree or suggest others who should have be on the list of the most influential people on the peninsula.
#1 Michael Regan: Northern Beaches Mayor
HE has a casting vote and he’s not afraid to use it.
The Northern Beaches Mayor has gained the number one position because he has the most influence over the things that most impact the day-to-day lives of peninsula residents.
As shown most recently when Cr Regan made the unpopular decision to use his casting vote to increase rates by 2.3 per cent, just above inflation, despite the council’s expected two-year surplus of $20m.
It meant a hit of an average of $40 per household, but included a $43m total increase in rates across the peninsula over the next decade.
He is answerable to almost 270,000 residents — giving him a constituency as large as three and a half state MPs or Federal MPs Tony Abbott and Jason Falinski.
And he has often gone to bat against the State Government over development issues, including the controversial planning laws that allow boarding houses and retirement villages to supersede local planning laws with reasonable results.
Pressure put on the State Government by Cr Regan has led to a halt on some of these laws while the council has time to reconfigure its planning laws.
His party, Your Northern Beaches, has seven out of the 15 seats on the council, and when he gets the aid of Independent Deputy Mayor Candy Bingham, he holds a majority.
It is power that can’t be underestimated. In business terms, Cr Regan is chair of a board which oversees an almost half billion dollar budget.
That budget makes up how your rubbish is collected, whether your suburb is rezoned, and even how quickly your footpath is rolled out — if at all.
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.