Waiting for the Spirit

I passed this man looking relaxed in the shade of his camper on yesterday's 38 degree day.
He was from up the country and waiting in the carpark next to the Port Melbourne Yacht Club for the Spirit to load.
A man from Brisbane joined the conversation to say that there was nowhere to stay in Port Melbourne. He had arrived in town the day before but had to find accommodation elsewhere.

Carparking in Liardet St

The works taking place in Liardet Street between Dow St and Esplanade East will create 11 extra carparking places as follows:

1. Liardet St N/W corner -1 x extra 60 degree angle car spaces, unrestricted.
2. Liardet St N/E corner - 1 x extra 60 degree angle car space, unrestricted.
3. Liardet St S/E corner - 3 x extra 60 degree angle car space, unrestricted.
4. Liardet St S/W corner - 1 x extra 60 degree angle car space, permit zone.
5. Esplanade West, Eastern corner - 1 x extra parallel car space time restricted.
6. Esplanade West, Western corner - 2 x extra parallel car spaces time restricted.
7. Dow Street S/E corner - 1 x extra parallel car space permit zone.
8. Dow Street S/W corner - 1 x extra parallel car space time restricted.

Beach landing

Did you see the hot air balloons landing on Port Melbourne Beach and in Park Square? Did you get a photo?

I only saw the balloon being taken off the beach in a ute.

State of the grass in Turner and Hesther Reserves

I tabled a petition about the dire condition of the grassed areas of the Railway Reserves at the Council meeting on 23 February :

'The petition of the following named citizens draws the attention of the Council to the degraded state of the light rail reserves between Evans and Station Streets, Port Melbourne. The grassed areas have never recovered from works undertaken by various authorities in the reserves.

The following petitioners hereby request that Council undertake to resew the degraded areas with drought resistant grass and that funds be provided for these works in the 2009/10 Council budget.'

The petition will be fed into the 2009/10 capital works budgeting process.

Community Conversation at Port Melbourne Town Hall

The meeting was well attended. Many thoughts and ideas were expressed and captured on butcher's paper. Someone observed 'we no longer have butchers but we have butchers' paper'

A very small sample of some of the phrases I noted: 

'council must be rigorous and responsive in its own inquiries and processes'

'I don't think development has destroyed the village feel of Port Melbourne, but trucks will'

'there's plenty to do'

'like cafes - there are nice places to sit'

council should support 'vitality in every generation'

Whereas the idea of community building/spirit was considered to be a relatively mature concept, there was a feeling that thinking about climate change was less well understood and articulated.

There was support for council to

• facilitate the take up of local environmental initiatives


• greatly improve its communication


• improve the delivery of core services

The issues for Port Melbourne as one person expressed them are

'traffic, trees and tall buildings'

The feedback from across the city will become part of the development of the council plan.

On the subject of drought tolerance

'turf is so 20th century'

observation of a resident

Lease confirmed for 147 Liardet St

Council decided to finalise the statutory procedures under Section 190 and 223 of the Local Government Act 1989 to grant Brewsters a lease for the site at 147 Liardet St (site of the former library) This follows an extensive process begun in August 2008.

The use is for gourmet supermarket - fresh and dry food retail.
Find the full report and the background at http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/attachments/o31991.pdf