Croydon’s Eddie Kozlowski protests about rubbish bins behind shops at Maroondah Council meeting
Maroondah Council has ruled out further action on the management of a set of dumpsters in Croydon, which were the focus of a one-man protest at a council meeting.
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Maroondah Council will not take any further action on a set of rubbish dumpsters in Croydon despite a protest from a resident over their management last night.
Croydon’s Eddie Kozlowski filled the chamber with posters targeting chief executive Steve Kozlowski (no relation) over the dumpsters, located behind shops in Croydon’s Main St.
Eddie has been unhappy with the state of the bins for the past five years, constantly emailing the council on the issue, as he felt they made Croydon look unclean.
He had a firey conversation with council executives Andrew Fuaux and Tony Rocca before the start of last night’s meeting.
Mr Fuaux asked Mr Kozlowski to take down the signs as they were on council property, and attempted to discuss the issue with him outside the gallery.
But Eddie refused and repeatedly asked Mr Fuaux to “go away” and “get out of the public gallery” and back to his seat in the chamber.
Speaking after the meeting, Mayor Rob Steane said the dumpsters were “a topic that won’t go away for Eddie”.
Cr Steane said council officers had monitored the bins daily in recent weeks, which were on private land and the responsibility of the shop owners.
“Yes it is (the dumpsters) visible to the public, but at end of the day it’s not a council issue,” he said.
He said there was no “undue rubbish” around the bins and the shop owners had complied.
“We’ll continue to monitor it, and if there happens to be a breach we’ll address it, but at the moment, we’ve not identified a breach.”
Speaking after the meeting, Eddie Kozlowski said he would continue to protest at council meetings on the issue.
“It’s only a one-man show tonight, but it’s going to be ongoing for every council meeting until it is cleaned up,” he said.
“I’ll have a crowd because now it’s on Facebook … the momentum is gathering, I’ll be getting a crowd as big as the council want.”
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“I like to see a clean Maroondah Council, a clean city under the environmental guidelines for clean cities,”
“It is his (the chief executive) responsibility and his accountability for operational matters.”
“In operational matters, he does nothing. It’s not an issue to him, but its an issue to the ratepayers of Croydon.”
Cr Steane said Steve Kozlowski was “unaffected” by the posters in the chamber and the protest.
It is not the first time Eddie Kozlowski has launched a one-man protest at a council meeting.
In September 2017, he protested about the council’s efforts towards removing graffiti on the Croydon rail bridge, days after an agreement with Metro Trains was finalised.
He has also held two meetings this year to form a Maroondah Ratepayers Group, but has failed to attract enough interested members.
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