Docklands Community Forum market place

The March 20 Docklands Community Forum, held at Yarra’s Edge, featured a “market place” of local stakeholders with a story to tell.

Chairperson Jason Ting introduced spokespeople from six groups to say a few short introductory words to the forum.

The groups all had “market place” tables in a nearby area, allowing forum attendees to engage in a more personal manner on subjects of interest.

Here is a summary of what the spokespeople said.

Tom Seddon,
The Centre, North Melbourne

“One of the things we’re doing at the moment is scoping the idea for a pop-up neighbourhood house in Docklands for a couple of years – if we are successful with a grant application that we have put in. I just want to test the area and see what might work.”

“The City of Melbourne has identified a need for more neighbourhood houses and one of them might come in here.”

“So that’s our plan. So, let’s see what you need and see what we can do.”

Snr Sgt Anthony Gasparini,
Victoria Police

“Carparks are vulnerable, with people tailgating in behind people using their swipes.” “Hotspots are theft from vehicles, theft of bicycles and from storage cages.”

“Mail thefts at apartment complexes is still a huge issue with people, again, tailgating in, if they don’t have swipe access. And all they need is a couple of items to achieve 100 points of identity for the online scams that you see these days.”

“With more people coming into the city, one trend we’re seeing is obtaining property by deception. Another trend is graffiti.”

“Can I suggest that you are our eyes. If you do see something, pick up the phone and dial 000.”

Sean Car,
Docklands Rotary

“There’s a few of us who are meeting twice a month – on the first Wednesday morning of the month at Library at the Dock and at The Woolshed on the third Wednesday night of the month.”

“One thing we’re doing is placing a large shipping container on Harbour Esplanade from April 9 to 14. It’s associated with a project that I’m involved in Malawi where we’re building a new medical clinic.”

“We’re working with Rotary’s Donations in Kind facility in West Footscray where we are sourcing donated medical equipment. We have to pay for the shipping. We’re engaging an African artist to turn the container into a public mural.”

Johanna Maxwell, Docklands Chamber of Commerce

“One of the things we have coming into Docklands, which we need our residents and businesses to be ready for, is on April 7, we have the Run for the Kids for the Royal Children’s Hospital. We’re hosting a breakfast on April 5 at Berth restaurant with all funds going to the hospital.”

“The run will be starting and finishing in Docklands, so there’ll be plenty of people around. We need to community to welcome people. We need the business and we need our businesses to thrive.”

Jamie Gillingham,
Development Victoria

“There are some emerging plans for Harbour Esplanade and works happening at Central Pier, but there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes as well.”

Melanie del Monaco,
City of Melbourne

“We’re primarily here to chat to you about the space that we’re in now. This is the Yarra’s Edge Community Space. It’s had an initial fit-out but we really want to hear from the local community about what you would like to do with this space, what you would like to see and what you think the local needs are.”

“Today we’ve also opened consultation on Moonee Ponds Creek. We’ve developed a strategic opportunities plan for the creek. It’s a very bold vision for the creek. There’s over 30 different ideas and we’re looking to gauge community responses.”