Month: March 2006

Maroondah Leader: Public views can influence city's policy review

Posted on by alex

The Maroondah Leader has reported on the Croydon Conservation Society’s AGM and Cr. Steve Beardon’s overview of the City of Casey’s anti-graffiti policy.

MAROONDAH councillors hope to use feedback from a public meeting for the city’s graffiti policy review.

Mullum Ward councillor Jo-anne Taylor and Cr Alex Makin, of Loughnan’s Hill Ward, represented the council at the meeting to learn about the City of Casey’s successful crackdown on graffiti.

Community groups must be encouraged to highlight their concerns to government, whether it be local council, state or federal governments. Community groups often have the interest and expertise within issues to provide worthwhile advice.

Cr Makin said he hoped to take up Cr Beardon’s invitation to see the educational program Casey used in schools to educate young people about the consequences and health effects of graffiti.

Graffiti is a growing problem within Maroondah and a proactive response is required:

Graffiti Action Removal team leader Jorg Winkles, who also attended the meeting, is contracted by Australia Post and VicRoads to clean up graffiti.

“We clean up in Maroondah every week Ringwood is on par with the St Kilda Junction. It’s one of the hotspots we’ve identified,” Mr Winkles said.

The Croydon Conservation Society must be congratulated on organising this anti-graffiti information evening and involving Councillors from Maroondah, Whitehorse and the Yarra Ranges.

DSE Workshop: Our Environment Our Future

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Today I attended a workshop conducted by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) which focused on discussing Victoria’s Environmental Sustainability Framework, Our Environment Our Future.This framework was completed in 2005 with the intent of reaffirming and establishing targets for the State Government’s sustainability initiatives. Among these initiatives is the goal to increase public transport modal share to 20% by the year 2020 and to increase the percentage of new development within activity centres.

There was general consensus that targets established by the State Government must be measurable and identify incremental progress, meaning that goals such as 20% modal share for public transport by 2020 must be provided with incremental targets (such as targeting 14% modal share by 2011) measured against actual results. The use of incremental targets would ensure that longer term targets are not purely seen as unachievable.

The lack of a whole of government approach and the dominance of the department of Treasury and Finance was also cited as a key concern. In particular the Department of Treasury and Finance has long been viewed as a barrier to funding public transport improvements despite the fact that improved public transport would provide a $6 billion economic boost for the state’s economy by 2030. For example the lack of full Treasury support for the Transit Cities program has meant that State Government investment has not been readily forthcoming to stimulate further development.

Likewise the lack of clear leadership from the State Government was also seen as a major barrier to improving Melbourne’s sustainability. For example the lack of State Government investment in fixed rail to activity centres sends a message to developers that the State Government is not genuinely serious about Melbourne 2030. Likewise the failure to provide a number of environmental initiatives within the Spencer Station redevelopment (particularly in regard to water management of runoff) provides the perception that the State Government is not too concerned about water management and conservation in new developments.

The Department of Sustainability of Environment (DSE) is to be commended for organising productive and proactive workshops in strengthening the sustainable framework guiding Victoria’s policies. The State Government must now ensure that this sustainable framework is incorporated into other portfolio areas, particularly to ensure an integration between land use and transport provision.

Maroondah Leader: Business let down at clean-up

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The Ringwood Transit City Community Coalition’s (RTCCC) efforts with Clean Up Australia Day were recognised by the Maroondah Leader:

THEY were few in numbers, but the Ringwood Transit City Community Coalition held up the fight in Maroondah for the Business Clean Up Australia Day.

Sandra Hardiman said she was disappointed more local traders did not attend.

Loughnan’s Hill councillor Alex Makin said it was satisfying to pitch in to help the community, and he hoped visitors would notice their efforts. “If you improve the local area and make it more attractive, then more business will be done there,” Cr Makin said.

The cleanliness of an area is vital to provide a safe and friendly atmosphere for shopping and commerce. I urge the business community to support efforts to improve the image of Ringwood by participating in events such as Clean Up Australia Day.

Croydon Conservation Society AGM

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The Croydon Conservation Society (CCS) held its annual general meeting this evening and featured Cr. Steve Beardon as their guest speaker.

Cr. Beardon is renowned for being the founder of Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere (RAGE) a community lobby group which seeks the rapid removal of graffiti, community education and stronger enforcement of vandals.

As a community advocate Cr. Beardon (prior to being a councillor for Casey) successfully lobbied the City of Casey to introduce a comprehensive anti-graffiti strategy focused on the eradication of graffiti, the enforcement when the offence is continually committed and education for schoolchildren to deter graffiti usage initially.

The City of Casey’s program has proved to be highly successful with instances of graffiti removed within 48 hours of it being reported via a toll-free hotline. The educational component of the program has had success with students now recognising that graffiti is both a crime and harmful through adverse health and community impacts.

Casey’s anti-graffiti program also avoids punishing the victim of graffiti since hired contractors remove graffiti free of charge to businesses and residents. Many other municipalities request that the victim either pay or paint over graffiti.

Amazingly the City of Casey now spends less on removing graffiti throughout all buildings within its municipality ($118,000) than when it just removed graffiti from council buildings ($140,000).

The City of Casey’s success with its anti-graffiti strategy means similar measures must be considered within other councils.

MAV Transporting Communities into 2030

Posted on by alex

Over the past two days I attended a conference conducted by the MAV focused on public transport and the goal of increasing public transport modal share from the current 9% to the goal of 20% by 2020.

The conference made it clear that the goal of 20% modal share by 2020 must happen to secure the future economic, social and environmental success of Melbourne. The State Government must commit to this goal by increasing the funding of public transport improvements. It is inexcusable that problems within the network that have been common for well over six years (such as the constraints single track sections and the need for upgraded bus services) are only now beginning to attract state government interest.

It was encouraging to see a strong level of support from local government, through the number of local government attendees. Local governments have a clear role to play in advocating and demanding significant and much needed public transport funding from the state government.

It was disappointing to see the ‘bus lobby’ lash out against the tram network. Melbourne has a comprehensive tram network that at most requires a 2 – 4km extension on some routes. It is much more efficient to complete these tram extensions (such as tram 48 to Doncaster) and allow buses to be redeployed over the rest of the public transport network. While bus services do require significant funding improvements the bus operators must realise they form part of a comprehensive public transport network.

While the concept of marketing and promoting the public transport was discussed. The speakers made it clear that these promotional strategies will only succeed when the product is of a satisfactory standard. This means that public transport must be fast, frequent, reliable and readily accessible before promotional strategies will have an effect.

The need for better integration between government departments was also discussed particularly in linking road, public transport and planning outcomes with treasury. The current lack of integration has caused much criticism over Melbourne 2030 and has severely undermined the public transport network.

Ultimately improving Melbourne’s public transport system would not only provide greater economic and social benefits but it would provide economic benefits of around $6 billion meaning it would create standards of living 2.5 to 3 times better than today’s standards.

It is clear that public transport must be improved and it is clear that local government is calling for this to occur – it is now time for the state government to deliver.