No “ghost footprint”

The harbour looks so much better now that Central Pier has been demolished. It has really opened the vista. Marking the footprint of the demolished pier with buoys and lights is totally unnecessary.

The open water we now enjoy would be ruined with clutter. The money would be better spent making Harbour Esplanade a beautiful boulevard.

The east side of the Harbour Esplanade will hopefully one day be activated by shops, bars and restaurants but work on the west side, the public side, could commence right away.

There could, for example, be an undulating board walk along the water line with random cutouts for water features. Maybe even steps down into the water. There could be gardens with grass, trees and flowers between the boardwalk and the roadway.

It needs a grand vision, but Melbourne is renowned for its parks and gardens. It could be done.

A row of lights cluttering the harbour would be invisible during the day and could only be appreciated by someone in an aircraft at night. They might even mistake it for a landing strip.

Harbour Esplanade, even in its present dilapidated form, is used quite a lot by pedestrians now. Imagine how much nicer it would be to walk along meandering paths lined with trees and flowers.

Cliff Steele •