Port Melbourne attempts to influence council budget

Five submissions to the Port Phillip budget were received from Port Melbourne and heard at the Council meeting of 11 June. Some extracts from their submissions are quoted in italics below

• from Rouse St residents: frustrated that streetscape improvements promised many years ago are still only promised for 2012/13. 'The works have been promised for about 12 years. They are now way overdue.' 'Council said they sympathised with all the disruption and stress caused in our lives from the pressures of the unbelievably intense amount of development surrounding us. Our reward was that we would eventually have a beautiful streetscape by way of some compensation. We were kept going with the promise of an oasis amongst the concrete.'


• from the Travel Well committee of Port Melbourne Primary School: requesting safety improvements such as raised pedestrian crossings at Clark/Poolman. Concerns about safety at this crossing discourages families from riding or walking to school


• from concerned residents of Sandridge: raising concerns about the buffer with the Port of Melbourne Corporation 'We are aware that the Port Development Plan contemplates the significant intensification of Webb Dock from cars to containers. And an inevitable consequence will be significantly increased truck movements. This will present a huge challenge to liveability adn amenity for we residents who live in the immediate area, an area that is extremely close to Todd Road.'


• from the Beacon Cove Neighbourhood Association: a range of matters including Sandridge Beach East toilet, Waterfront Place toilet, shower facilities at Port Melbourne Beach, implementation of the Sandridge Beach master plan, landscape care and the broader topic of 'The complexity of Beacon Cove and Who is Responsible for What


• from Richard Webb: arguing that Port Melbourne does not receive a fair share of the Council's budget

To view the budget please go to http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/default/1_-_Attachment_3_-_2009-2010_Budget.pdf
Unfortunately, no changes to the budget were made as a consequence of these submissions. However, the issues are all in front of all councillors.

Its all happening in Garden City Reserve

Work on the Garden City Reserve playground began today.

Hybrid-electric bus trial for the 250

Australia’s first hybrid-electric bus trial was launched today. Ventura Buses will conduct a trial along its 250 route from Garden City to La Trobe University.

The $500,000 trial, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and State government, will assess the viability of hybrid buses in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the public transport sector.

Spotted in Bay St.

Building the new school!

Construction has begun on the new secondary college in Albert Park. It continues to be on schedule to open at the start of the 2011 school year.

Renewal at Sandridge

Asbestos roofs have been removed from the Sandridge Life Saving Club and the toilet block.

Fear of invasion

HMAS Childers at Station Pier commemorating the anniversary of the 1884 arrival of the original HMVS Childers.

HMVS Childers was a torpedo boat bought to defend the colony of Victoria from the threat of Russian invasion.

Update on Liardet St & LFK

• Lady Forster Kindergarten applied to Heritage Victoria for heritage listing for the kindergarten. Heritage Victoria is not recommending that it be placed on the Victorian Heritage Register as it is not considered of state significance. They referred the building to Council as the planning authority to determine whether the site is of local heritage significance


• A building audit and soil condition tests have been completed.


• Two community representatives, Anita Horvath and Glenn Staunton, have been appointed to join the Steering Committee.

Gone!

The wooden electric power poles that Citipower have taken so many months to remove are gone from the Trugo Club side of Garden City Reserve.

Now the paths can be finished.

Garden City Reserve community planting day

On this beautiful morning, Garden City Reserve people turned out to plant low growing native plants in the newly established garden beds.

Port Melbourne Primary put on a barbecue at the Trugo Club.

Citywide staff dug the holes and watered in the plants.

Another biking hazard addressed

A reflective arrow has been fixed to the wall between Tower 4 and 5 at Beacon Cove. The solid wall, where the bike path changes course, was a hazard to cyclists in the dark.

A planning application for 87 to 101 Bay St was approved by Council on Tuesday 10th.
Features of the application include:

• retention of the heritage building and doors - pictured
• 3 storeys to Nott St, with a further 3 set back (as per the emerging shape of Nott St)
• an Aldi supermarket (with only 2 deliveries per day)
• 296 apartments (19 studio, 133 one bedroom, 144 two bedroom)

please ask me if you would like a hard copy of the planning report

High sea at Sandridge

High sea at Port Melbourne

Tree vandals at Sandridge Beach.

Actions such as snapping of dominant branches and ring barking trees have been used.
Some trees have been marked with paint in an attempt to have contractors believe they are to be removed.
No healthy trees are to be removed as part of the upgrade to the Sandridge foreshore. Contractors will only remove vegetation at Council's arborist's direction. No healthy trees have been removed due to false markings.
An observer noted: 'this is what people are prepared to do to feed their addiction to a view'.

Seeing the view between the trees

Work has begun on lifting the vegetation at Sandridge Beach as part of the implementation of the Sandridge Beach Masterplan.

View lines, or view glimpses, are opening up as the dead vegetation is removed.

Feeding frenzy

Rainbow lorikeets have been feasting on this tree at Lagoon Reserve.
I found these amazingly appropriate words from Les Murray:

'or the daily

parrot gang with green pocketknife wings.
Bristling food for tough delicate
raucous life, each flower comes

as a spray in its own turned vase,
a taut starburst, honeyed model
of the tree's fragrance crisping in your head'

from Flowering Eucalypt in Autumn

Pedestrian safety improvement

Pedestrians going to Bay St are safer after clear pedestrian marking has been painted across the descent from the ramp at Coles.

Following our recyclables to their sorting place

Councillors visited SKM recycling in Coolaroo.

SKM recycling process all the recyclables we put in the yellow lid bin. SKM collect recyclables from 12 councils from Port Phillip to Mornington. The plant relies on volume to warrant the high level of capital investment in a range of extraordinary technologies to separate the recyclables.
They told us:

Never put your recyclables in a plastic bag

Plastic bags are automatically discarded because anything could be inside - syringes, nappies.
All materials are on sold.
All plastics (except polystyrene) are separated by optical sorters.
Plastic film is difficult to deal with - it gets mixed up with the paper and cardboard and doesn't have a ready market.
Paper and cardboard moves through the facility very quickly
Broken glass is a significant issue in recycling. The small fragments are had to deal with. Glass is used in the manufacture of cats eyes, paint
If you would like to have a look at where your recyclables end up and what processes they go through visit
http://skmrecycling.com/
It is amazing reflect on the journey of a plastic bottle has been created from raw materials, filled, transported, the contents consumed and then sent by truck to a recycling facility in Coolaroo.
Even then it has not finished its journey.
It is baled up, put on a container, trucked back to the Port of Melbourne (19 truck movements a day) and shipped off to China to be made into another product.