'It's my gateway to everything'

Siobhan Neyland won the 'Port Melbourne' category of the scarf printing competition at the Port Melbourne Neighbourhood House community carnival.

Here she is wearing the winning scarf, showing the 250 bus.

Asked why she had chosen the bus, she said:

'it represents Port Melbourne to me

I use it every day

it is my gateway to everything

I meet my friends on it ...'

You will find the timetable for this handy bus at http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/route/view/3448

Bringing the neighbourhood to life

It's the Port Melbourne Neighbourhood House community carnival tomorrow from 12 to 4 pm. (on Liardet St btwn Nott and Lalor St)

Liz Milsom, local artist and printmaker, will be assisting people in printing scarves. Last year's theme was umbrellas as seen here.

Dig In community garden will be selling jam and locally collected seeds and the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society will be selling their many publications.

The PMNH is a hive of activity, interaction and host to the wonderful City of Voices who staged the charming and tender 'waiting, meeting, chasing ... the station' along route 96 as part of the St Kilda Festival.

Seabourn Odyssey and Queen Victoria at Station Pier on Monday 22 February

photographs by Ron Cassano

The detailed cruise ship schedule is available at http://www.portofmelbourne.com/cruiseshipping/cruiseschedule.asp

'Don't throw the 606 under the bus'*

Caught the 9.03 service from Bay St to Luna Park, St Kilda this morning with one other passenger. The amiable bus driver sings the whole way.
Caught the connecting tram to the St Kilda Town Hall and arrived in time for briefings at 9.30.
Pity that is the last service until the afternoon.

Improvement of this connecting route is one of the Council's top three public transport priorities.
* this is the title given to a letter in this week's Emerald Hill Weekly

Permanent heritage overlay for Garden City Reserve

A permanent heritage overlay is now in place for Garden City Reserve (northern part) following approval of Amendment C70 to the Port Phillip Planning Scheme by the Minister for Planning. The permanent controls came into effect on 11 th February. The planning process has been underway for some considerable time (see post of February 6, 2009).

This concludes a concerted effort on the part of residents to secure planning protection for this significant parkland.

Tackling accessibility barriers one by one

Two median crossings on Bridge St between Nott and Station St have been modified to make them accessible.

A crossing with a kerb (such as this crossing had) can make something as basic as crossing from one side of the street to another in a wheelchair impossible and deny opportunities that may be as close as the other side of the road.

These are some of the other crossing points that have been corrected:

• Centre Avenue and Dunstan Parade


• Bay and Bridge Streets


• Bay and Liardet Streets

A further two crossings where there are no accessible crossovers have been identified for attention:

• Bridge St and McCormack St


• Rouse St and Post Office Place

Port Melbourne items on Council agenda

There are three reports relevant to Port Melbourne on the agenda for the Council meeting on 22nd February which will be held at the St Kilda Town Hall at 6pm. These summary statements are from the council reports.

Liardet St family and children's centre design plans

This report summarises the progress of the project and provides preliminary design plans for the centre

Proposed land transfer to Port Phillip Housing Association for community housing

It is is proposed to transfer land at 121 Liardet Street, Port Melbourne to the Port Phillip Housing Association to facilitate a community housing development comprising 22 studio apartments and 5 one bedroom apartments but retaining title to car parking on the ground level

Beacon Cove Planning Controls - amendment C73 to the Port Phillip Planning Scheme

Amendment C73 proposes to introduce a new planning framework for the residential area of Beacon Cove. New planning controls are required to appropriately manage the area which is now fully developed. The amendment also proposes to transfer the responsible authority status for the land from the Minister for Planning to Council. The report will request authorisation from the Minister for Planning for exhibition of the amendment.

Full agendas and reports are available from www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/february_2010_agendas.htm

Clean up Port Melbourne: Just 1 piece of litter makes a difference

Clean Up Australia Day is on Sunday 7 March. This year's focus is our bays and waterways.

There are two sites registered in Port Melbourne at the moment: Lagoon Pier and Sandridge Beach. The Sandridge site is a public site you are welcome to join. This pictures shows the result of the efforts at Sandridge in 2009.

There is still time to register another site in Port Melbourne. Registering is easy and Clean Up Australia give you all the assistance you need.

Today I heard the inspirational Ian Kiernan talk about the experiences that led him to set up Clean Up Australia and the astonishing initiatives that have arisen from it.

He encouraged the business community to embrace the innovation opportunities our environmental crisis is creating.

Verandahs

I love the few remaining verandahs with the Port Melbourne council crest. My favourite is on the corner of Bridge and Lyons Street. They are protected in the Port Phillip planning scheme. Each building and verandah has its own citation.

This information is drawn from the citation for the properties on the corner of Bridge and Lyons St:

These shops were built around 1910 on land reclaimed from the lagoon.

They are largely intact and notable for the extremely conservative design of the facades, including boarded timber parapets, and for their standard cast iron verandahs.

... The use of boarded timber parapets, is here particularly evocative of small rural shops and is very unusual in the metropolitan area.

Can anybody identify all four of the symbols on the crest?

from citation 261 of the City of Port Phillip Heritage Review

Beach cleaning begins on the street

The storm last night was huge and electric with some spectacular light effects and localised flooding.

It can help to clear out your stormwater entry pits and the kerb and channel in front of your house if you see a storm approaching.

Here are the contents of a stormwater entry pit in Rouse St after being cleared by a council contractor. It can be really depressing to find this on the beach.

Buses and boat tours

Just in case you didn't see this week's Leader, there were two items of interest - about buses and the Port of Melbourne.
Buses
'VicRoads is proposing changes on City Road to improve bus reliability and travel times. The changes proposed are to introduce part-time bus lanes and clearways that operate from 6.30 am - 10 am, Monday to Friday, inbound on two sections of City Road where buses commonly experience delays in the morning peak:

City Road (inbound) between Boundary Road and Montague St and between Clarendon Street and Queens Bridge Street'

Feedback is open to 8 April 2010 via busprojects@roads.vic.gov.au


Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is inviting residents in port-side communities an opportunity to learn about the port during two guided boat tours on Saturday 20 February and Sunday 27 February.

Numbers are strictly limited and you must register by email to community@portofmelbourne.com or by ringing 1300 857 662

I have done this tour many times and never tire of seeing Port Melbourne from the water.

Future growth of the Port of Melbourne at Webb Dock

In response to concern about the future of the Port of Melbourne at Webb Dock, the council passed the following motion at the meeting last night:



'that Council support the issues and outcomes reflected in the City of Port Phillip's preliminary submission (December 2009) to the Minister for Planning's Advisory Committee, established pursuant to section 151 of the Planning and Environment Act to consider the planning framework for Port of Melbourne land and buffer areas including:

• a review of the full range of likely impacts from the proposed port development and a clear statement of the environmental and amenity standards to be met
• inclusion of specific controls in the Port of Melbourne Planning Scheme which ensure the construction of an effective buffer consisting of well designed landscape and built acoustic buffer treatments
• a commitment from the state government that the construction of Dockside Road will occur at a nominated and agreed point in the Port's expansion and
• a commitment from the State Government that an investigation of the feasibility of the Webb Dock rail will be undertaken as soon as possible and reported to the public.

Advise of its intent to expand/elaborate on these matters following Council's consideration and community input on the Advisory Committee's discussion papers programmed for release by mid 2010.'

All happening at Station Pier

The council will soon be appointing a community reference committee to be part of developing an urban design framework for the Port Melbourne waterfront.

Some people have asked why anything needs to be done in the area - 'if it ain't broke, why fix it' - but yesterday with the Dawn Princess and the Pacific Dawn at Station Pier, the reasons were plain to see.

Traffic was backed up towards Bay St, and the coffee queue was backed up at the Beacon Cove foodstore. Taxis and Yarra Trams were there in numbers ready and waiting to get people on their way.

Those two cruise ships represent a possible 3,970 passengers through the area in one day.

Clearly the waterfront could function better for all and that is why an urban design framework is needed.

Leading Lights

I just happened to be passing as the Pacific Dawn lined up with the seaward beacon around 10 am on Saturday.
It is easy to forget that the purpose of the beacons or Leading Lights, (my favourite name), was to line up ships in the Port Melbourne channel.
I think this photo shows the alignment quite well.
It is as though that massive ship is hiding behind the beacon.

Snippet and reminder about Council meeting

The Council meets in Port Melbourne on Monday 8 February in the council chamber at the Town Hall at 6 pm.

I met a friend in Bay St who told me the last time he attended a council meeting was when Fennell was a councillor and the councillors had pigs trotters for dinner!

Melville Henry Fennell was mayor in 1947 to 1948, elected in 1937 retired in 1974.

Port Melbourne items that may be of interest include the appointment of members to the Port Melbourne Urban Design Framework Community Reference Committee, and I intend to move a Notice of Motion in relation to Webb Dock.

Port trivia

There are 5,436 street trees in Port Melbourne.

The dominant species is Angophora costata or smooth barked apple. Of course, it is not an apple at all. There are 258 of them.

In case you are not sure what an Angophora looks like, my favourite specimens follow the alignment of Esplanade West through Edwards Park to Dow St.

Port Projects 2010

I have updated the Port Projects post to reflect feedback I received.
I had thought that someone might say it was a long list - that was what I thought!