Fred Jackson Reserve

The Reserve that bears the name of this long serving Town Clerk of the City of Port Melbourne has been transformed with the planting of many trees, and the re-location of a plaque that marks his contribution to a more prominent spot. A red flowering gum - a particular favourite of Mr Jackson - has been planted alongside the re-located plaque.

Sunny afternoon, foggy evening

Did anyone get a picture of Port Melbourne under fog?

Works coming to an end

John Holland/Melbourne Water has begun dismantling the worksite for the Melbourne Main Sewer at Swallow St. The road opening at Swallow/Ross/Byrne will be re-instated where it was before the works began. Following meetings with residents, changes have been made to the design to make it safer for pedestrians. Landscaping improvements will also be incorporated. This road opening provides important local access from Garden City to Bay St - so that residents can avoid Williamstown Road and Graham St.

Council adopts 2011/12 budget

This evening, Council approved the budget for 2011/12. It resolved to declare an amount of $88,133,180 to be raised for general rates and service charges. The proposed rate in the dollar will result in an increase of 6.5% in Council's rate. The rate in the dollar is 3.8445 cents in the dollar of the Net Annual Value of all rateable properties within the muncipality.
The adoption of the budget confirms that the following capital projects for Port Melbourne have been funded:

• NorthPort Pavilion Redevelopment: $1,150,000 - a way forward is becoming clearer


• Liardet Street Family & Children's Service Centre: $2,110,000


• Murphy Reserve - implementation of works identified in Masterplan: $400,000


• Upgrade Port Melbourne Town Hall: $200,000


• Beach St - design: $100,000


• Rouse St upgrade Stage 2: $600,000


• Graham St depot: $250,000

In addition, Port Melbourne will receive its share of funding for any programme that rols out through the City such as tree planting, pedestrian safety improvements and small parks.

Port vs Geelong

Port beat Geelong by 41 points yesterday at North Port Oval and remains unbeaten in the competition this season. I wasn't there so can you tell - was there anything memorable about the game?

Keeping warm

There has been some criticism of the City of Yarra recently for discouraging the use of gas heaters for outdoor dining. They were ridiculed for recommending the use of blankets - something I had heard was common in cycle friendly Copenhagen. I was interested when in Martin St, Brighton recently to see blankets in action.

Take another look

image with thanks to Fat Cat Spencer http://www.spencersguide.org

On Sunday, I walked with others from Beacon Cove to Gasworks looking at various urban art projects in Port Melbourne. We didn't have time to look at these figurines at Bianca but later in the day I went past MARS Gallery to find a fantastic exhibition on by the very same artist - Mike Nicholls - who had created these sculptures. The work exhibited at MARS at the northern end of Bay St is of large wooden sculpture/carvings of great sensitivity as well as paintings. This prompted me to go back and take a closer look at the figurines outside Bianca. Here is an edited extract of the artist's statement: 'The ... sculptures echo the fluid ribbon design of the wave like awnings that wrap the building. ... Each figurine is positioned to expose a new and individual profile of the diving figure to the viewer... The image of an abstracted diving figure is a direct response to the ribbon like feel of flowing water eddying around the building.' If you can't get to MARS, you might be interested to have a look at the artist's website here.

The City of Port Phillip has an urban art policy that requires developments over $5m in value to contribute 5% to urban art within their development. These works stimulate conversation, add interest to the street, and make each building different.