Posts related to 'association'

Delegates’ Report: strengthening transport advocacy, the Ringwood Spiders, showcasing youth creativity and supporting our community

Published by Alex Makin on Monday 15th of September, 2008

The first item is the Eastern Transport Coalition meeting, which held its meeting on the 21st of August. The Eastern Transport Coalition, is the council grouping which involves the seven eastern councils and represents approximately 1 million residents.

The August meeting continued to focus on the strategic objectives of the coalition and revised the group’s mission statement to reflect the importance of accessibility and the need for an integrated public transport system.

The mission statement now reads as follows:

The Eastern Transport Coalition will advocate for integrated and accessible sustainable transport in the Eastern region of Melbourne to improve liveability and reduce car dependency.

The revised mission statement reinforces the focus of the Eastern Transport Coalition, to ensure that it remains a strong advocate for public transport improvements in the region.

The meeting also included a presentation from the Bus Association of Victoria, which provided the group with some advice regarding the future bus service reviews. The State Government has been undertaking municipal level reviews of bus services and Maroondah will shortly be undergoing this process.

It is unsurprising that bus routes that have received service improvements have in turn seen patronage increases. This is clearly apparent with the Ringwood to Frankston SmartBus, which has seen a 50% patronage increase due to the fact that the service now runs seven days a week and on public holidays. There is a clear correlation between service improvements and patronage and the impending bus service reviews will allow this council and our community to stress the need for bus improvements.

On the 22nd of August I attended the Ringwood Spiders Presentation Night. The Ringwood Spiders, is a football team for people with disabilities, and it was great to see the club celebrate a successful season. The Spiders have had tremendous on-field success, making it to the semi-finals, as well as off-field achievements, through becoming an incorporated association and collaborating with the umpires association and other bodies. The club is now looking at off-season activities for its members and further opportunities to involve people with disabilities.

The Maroondah Snippets Short Film Festival returned for its second year and on the 3rd of September I attended the awards presentation night. It was great to see the depth of creative and film skills that exists within younger people in our community and that opportunities like the festival exist exist to showcase this talent. All entrants should be commended for partaking in the festival and I would like to extend a congratulatory note to Youth Services for organising such a wonderful event for its second year.

Maroondah Hospital held its Charity Golf Day Thank You on the 10th September. The hospital began as a community facility and still maintains strong links with the surrounding area. The afternoon provided a way of thanking the many sponsors involved in the golf day and I am pleased to present Council with a Certificate of Appreciation for Council’s contribution as a Silver Sponsor. The Hospital raised over $56,000 used to purchase much needed new hospital equipment.

The final planning is underway for the Maroondah Writers and Readers Festival and I have been involved in the steering group which met several times last month. The festival begins on Friday the 3rd of October, with workshops, forums and events held over the weekend. The theme of the festival is crime writing and I encourage people to attend the events over the weekend.

Maroondah Youth Voice, a publication by the youth of Maroondah through a number of Secondary Schools, launched its first edition on the 12th of September. The publication provides a voice for our youth and covers a range of topics including creative writing, culture sport, fashion and health. Once again it was great to see our Youth Services Team supporting the project and I look forward to the next edition which is due in late November.

Lastly was the Good Life After Stroke Expo and Information Day held earlier today at Karralyka. The event, which was organised between the Croydon Stroke Support Group and Maroondah Council, provided information on stroke, the support services available and living life to the fullest after experiencing stroke. The speakers were truly inspirational as were the artworks, including paintings, mosaics and silk scarves developed by members of the Croydon Stroke Support Group. The Croydon Stroke Support Group, Maroondah’s MetroAccess Worker and the staff of Karralyka must be commended for the tremendous work they provided for the event.

Maroondah HomeBiz: Sell your service, not your soul

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 2nd of September, 2008

Maroondah HomeBiz is a business network representing small and home based businesses. The association meets on a monthly basis to provide a range of speakers for its members.

Tonight’s topic was called ’sell your service, not your soul and was led by Peter Watts, a consultant for service based businesses and a teacher in Small Business Management at Swinburne University. Peter spoke about the unique challenges facing service based businesses and the importance of undertaking a marketing plan that reflects the current and desired attributes of the business.

Peter highlighted the importance of market research in understanding the marketplace, potential customers and competitors. Peter also discussed each aspect of the marketing mix and the need for complementary marketing objectives. The marketing mix comprises of elements such as the price, the processes involved in undertaking the service, the premises, the people involved and the promotional strategies. These elements comprise a marketing strategy and allow a business to differentiate itself from competitors.

Maroondah HomeBiz provides an opportunity to foster the development of small and home based businesses. Maroondah HomeBiz meets at the Coach and Horses Hotel in Ringwood on the first Tuesday of each month.

Ableart 2008

Published by Alex Makin on Saturday 30th of August, 2008

Able Australia, formerly the deafblind association, provides a range of support services for people with multiple disabilities. Ableart 2008 was the second exhibition promoting artwork by people with multiple disabilities. The program aims to provide art therapy through providing ways for people with multiple disabilities to explore their creativity and express themselves through their artwork.

This afternoon I attended the launch of the Ableart 2008 exhibition at Australia on Collins in Melbourne’s CBD. A number of artists were available at the launch to discuss their works and it was great to see a strong community interest in the artworks.

The Ableart exhibition will be shown throughout September and 100% of the purchase price goes directly to the artist. For further details please visit www.ableaustralia.org.au.

Ringwood Spiders 2008 Presentation Night

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 22nd of August, 2008

The Ringwood Spiders Football Club competes in the Football Integration Development Association (FIDA), which provides a football program for people with mild to medium intellectual disabilities.

This season has marked an impressive year for the Ringwood Spiders with the group becoming incorporated and a committee being established to oversee the development of the club. In addition the Ringwood Spiders has provided sponsorship opportunities for businesses and individuals to sponsor a player and assist in funding equipment for the club.

I was pleased to be one of the 2008 sponsors, through supporting Tom Raisebeck one of the new players in the 2008 season. Sponsorship is available for $150 and provides a great way of supporting the Ringwood Spiders and their aim of providing people with disabilities an opportunity to interact, participate and build social skills and leadership.

The off-field success for the Spiders was replicated on the field with the club winning four games in the season and making it into the semi-finals. In addition the Spiders implemented a pre-season training program and several players had the opportunity to participate FIDA’s City v Country game, as well as interstate games.

A strong team spirit has evolved throughout this year and tonight’s function provided a chance to celebrate the season and share in the enthusiasm for the club. The Ringwood Spiders have come a long way in this season and no doubt they will be an even greater force in 2009!

Eastern Transport Coalition - Strengthening our aims and objectives

Published by Alex Makin on Thursday 21st of August, 2008

With the success of the Eastern Transport Coalition’s recent public transport summit and State Government announcing that it will release a new transport plan in November of this year, it was timely to review the group’s mission statement and objectives to reflect the growing need for public transport improvements.

The ETC’s mission statement has been revised to reflect the importance of accessibility, as well as the need for an integrated public transport system that will improve the liveability of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. The mission now reads as follows:

The Eastern Transport Coalition will advocate for integrated and accessible sustainable transport in the Eastern region of Melbourne to improve liveability and reduce car dependency.

This mission statement will ensure that that the ETC will remain a strong advocate for public transport improvements within its member councils.

Tonight’s meeting also included a presentation from the Bus Association of Victoria to provide some input into the impending bus service reviews for Maroondah, Knox and the Yarra Ranges. It is unsurprising that bus routes that have received improvements, such as frequent services and longer operating spans, have seen patronage increases, especially the Ringwood to Frankston SmartBus which has seen almost a 60% increase in patronage.

The success of the Ringwood to Frankston SmartBus, as well as other SmartBus routes demonstrates that people will use bus services when they are fast, frequent, direct and readily available. The State Government must therefore respond by accelerating its implementation of the SmartBus program so that the orbital network is completed by the end of 2010, rather than the original completion date of 2015. This would assist in providing transport choice for residents that live beyond the reaches of the rail network.

Likewise local routes need further improvements with the the State Government’s minimum service standard of hourly frequencies being inadequate. These routes should be provided with a half-hourly frequency, which would enable better connections with the rail network and other bus services.

The bus network across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs requires substantial improvements and the State Government must use the bus service review process to deliver bus services that provide transport choice for Melbourne’s outer east.

I have stressed to my council colleagues the importance of engaging the community over the bus service reviews. Council will be hosting its own forum to discuss bus improvements once the State Government releases its timeframe for the service reviews. This will ensure that council is providing feedback that is consistent with the views of our community.

We must continue making a difference to secure public transport improvements within Maroondah and Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.