News from the DCA

Firstly, a reminder that the DCA Christmas party will be held on Wednesday December 10, at the same venue as before, namely, Harbour Kitchen on the Victoria Harbour Promenade.  

It is a great venue on the harbour. Invitations will be distributed in coming weeks. We look forward to residents from a range of Docklands areas attending including North Wharf, Harbour Town and new buildings in Victoria Harbour and Yarra’s Edge.
The DCA AGM will be held on Thursday, November 13 at The Hub on Harbour Esplanade (cnr Bourke St). All members welcome. Proposed updated rules will be reviewed following an update of rules for Associations under the State Government Act.

Response to article

I have to respond to an article by Shane Scanlan in the October issue [p9] again containing misleading information on DCA activities. We were not informed or given right of reply. Such negativity is not helpful and it would be far better for Shane to work co-operatively with us for the benefit of Docklands.  Far from a loss of members, we have a record membership.

In terms of not catering for social needs, we have informed people of our 2014 Christmas party being held for all on December 10. Times have changed from the early days. Docklands today has a diverse population and caters for a large variety of needs.
As everybody knows we, the DCA, are continuously publicising social programs ranging from concerts, sporting events, exercise classes to seniors activities and story telling at the new library.  In fact, we can barely keep up with the work these days and we do what we can with limited resources.

As in previous years we usually have at least two “get togethers” a year. If Shane, who is no longer a Docklands resident, and some friends want to have dinner together that’s fine.

Saying we’ve become more political is again misleading. We do not favour any political party. Like other community associations, we take up issues on behalf of residents to try and get better amenities and conditions. We stand up for residents. Everybody knows that. Compared with some other community associations we are quite mild.

Other items

I attended the population debate between Kelvin Thomson Federal Labor MP and Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, held in Federation Square on October 13. Kelvin promoted reduction in immigration and Robert was in favour of expansion. Both are intelligent speakers but the debate, whilst interesting, lacked passion.

Nevertheless it is a prominent topic and was well attended in the Deakin Edge theatre. The audience was vocal. Comments included the need for more infrastructure to meet increasing demand.

We collected our first prize of $300 for recently winning the most votes for a worthy cause in a promotion run by Grill’d group. Every extra income helps our finances and is welcome. Thank you to those who supported us.

Regarding the Harbour Esplanade re-development, further to our resident survey showing a strong preference for a linear park, we are obtaining outside expert opinion, which will be reported in due course.

A number of OC committee members have expressed interest in attending the Owners Corporation Network Victoria committee meeting in November as observers. Our committee is made up of members from a range of buildings in the CBD and adjoining areas.

We are ramping up our website and we’ve opened a Facebook page. The DCA Facebook page is now up and running! If you have a Facebook account please “Like” our page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Docklands-Community-Association/350305515148039 to keep up to date with the DCA and activities happening in Docklands!

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 [email protected]

If you would like to talk to me about any aspect or becoming a committee member you are welcome to call me on 0412 097 706.

Regards to all
Roger Gardner
President DCA