Docklands Community Association - Dec 2011 - Jan 2012
29 Nov 2011
Greetings everybody
Don’t forget our DCA Christmas party to be held again at the Harbour Kitchen venue on Wednesday, December 7. The night is rapidly approaching! We expect a great crowd and a great night like we had last year. It is a central location on Victoria Harbour. If you haven’t already, please enter it in your diaries now. It starts at 7.30pm. Flyer reminders will be dropped in mailboxes in the next week. Remember it is free for members and only $15 for non-members! Includes refreshments.
Further to my earlier plea, I am pleased to say that we have co-opted four new committee members. This has been necessary because of a couple of members relocating from the area, plus the increased workload of the DCA.
Members are kept informed of coming events in the area which will no doubt be of interest, particularly the New Year’s Eve celebrations, including the fireworks.
A letter has been sent to the Planning Minister Matthew Guy supporting the public protest against the proposal by MAB Corporation to destroy the Waterfront City Piazza in order to erect a hotel on the site. Other issues include overshadowing and lack of traffic planning. As previously reported, the council itself has written to the department highly critical of elements of the developer’s plans. Our concern is that he personally sees this important correspondence.
I am a member of a delegation on state planning matters meeting with the Minister on November 29 at which the issues will be pushed strongly. Of course the Docklands area will continue to be developed, but MAB’s plans need to be modified in recognition of the need to protect public and community amenity.
The Victorian Electoral Commission is conducting a review of the City of Melbourne’s electoral systems including whether to have wards and the number of councillors. The DCA has responded supporting the adoption of the ward system for a number of reasons. We believe it preferable to have a councillor resident in an area who has a close knowledge of the local issues and who has a requirement and an interest to represent those issues at council and to follow-up and keep the community informed.
Docklands, in particular, being a newly-developing area and having significant waterways, requires special individual attention.
The current system where councillors “run into one another” trying to deal with issues city-wide means individual attention is lost. In terms of the number of councillors, for want of better knowledge, we are going along with suggestions from other areas of the city that it be raised from a total of nine to 11.
If any reader would like to become a member of the DCA or has any suggestions they wish to put forward regarding activities or issues, they are welcome to contact us on (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) If you would like to talk to me about any aspect you are welcome to call me on 0412 097 706. You can also keep up with things on our website http://www.docklandscommunityassociation.com
Lastly on behalf of the DCA committee and myself I would like to wish all of you a merry and safe Christmas and a Happy New Year and I look forward to talking with you again in the New Year. Also thanks to editor Shane and his staff for their great work and cooperation.
Sincerely
Roger Gardner
President DCA
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