Wesley Site development discussed at Drinks Night

Posted on 06/03/2015 by

Our regular drinks night at the Kelvin Club last night was well attended. Maureen Capp from EastEnders gave us a rousing talk about the proposed 33-storey commercial tower to be built right next to the Wesley Church along side Jones Lane that runs north south from Lonsdale Street. The problem with the development is that the historic site of the 1920’s Princess Mary Club is to be demolished and valuable open space will be lost.

11050698_966053946745788_4725742287243954638_n

Maureen Capp (L) and Fiona Patten MLC both supporting preservation of the Princess Mary Club.

Maureen who runs the Wesley Historic Precinct Action Group explained that unfortunately the Wesley Church has let the old building deteriorate possibly with a view to attracting developers or simply through lack of funds and interest.The drinks night was attended by Fiona Patten MLC who is supporting the idea of preserving the historic women’s refuge centre. Councillor Ken Ong was also present and gave the gathering further insight into the City of Melbourne’s planning and height restriction policies. The audience commented that more planning restrictions are needed to preserve the amenity and delightfulness of our city.

Both Maureen and Fiona pointed out that they are not against development per se. They just want development to be smart. To preserve our heritage and allow more high rise with adequate allowance for set backs, free space and areas of greenery. The suggestion was that the old Princess Mary Club could be renovated and re-used as an older persons residential facility or even a small city based primary school. At least some creative thought is needed to develop the site more appropriately. Maureen suggested that the west side of the property was better suited to development than the east. There are examples where the city has managed to intertwine the old and the new. That which is old is not all bad! We need to hang on to our heritage for generations to come. Once it is pulled down, it is lost forever. A bit like an valuable animal going extinct!

Please, if you agree with these ideas, read about it in the CBD News – Issue 7- and sign the petition being run by Fiona here.

AGM – Residents 3000 need help

Posted on 10/11/2014 by

Hello Residents of Melbourne CBD

As you may know, it is at the AGM that committee members are elected. Everyone ducks and hide under their chair as soon as election time comes along.

Your current committee need help though. We cannot do it all. We have the aims of the organisation at heart and enjoy bringing our community group together and building a good lifestyle for city residents. BUT …. we could do it a whole lot better if we had some help.

You can either volunteer to be a committee member or you can offer your skills to join a working group.

What do we need?

We are looking for people who have the following skills and expertise.

Graphics design. Provide the WebMaster with graphics to enhance our postings.
Copy writers. Do you have journalistic skills. Maybe you could be a correspondent or reporter for our blog. We need to blog more often.
From time to time we need a brochure designed and printed. We need copy and graphics to send to our designer so that we minimise the cost. We have an established brand now.
Someone who is familiar with the printing industry and can arrange printing for us.
Someone who knows good speakers that may love to talk to our community group at a monthly function?
Someone who would like to be the person to send out the EventBrite invitations each time and collect the responses to give to our secretary.
Is there anyone interested in maintaining our membership database? The database is already in place and only needs updating from time to time. It is hosted in the cloud so that nominated members have access as an when needed.
Does anyone have knowledge of MYOB and therefore could be our treasurer?

If you are interested in taking an active role like this in our community group, please respond using the form below and a committee member will discuss and develop your proposed role in the group.

Error: Contact form not found.

The idea behind asking for help is that “many hands make light work”. If you are willing to take on one little job and be responsible for that job, then the whole voluntary task of running our community group becomes much more viable. The facts of life are that all committee members have full time jobs and keeping up with the needs of Residents 3000 is hard without being able to find more “hands” to help.

CoM residents want broad electoral review – Lord Mayor says “bah”!

Posted on 06/04/2013 by

The residents of the City of Melbourne want broad electoral review. This article says it all . The Lord Mayor has gone back on his word to make this recommendation to the Minister.We suggest the Minister Jeanette Powell take the initiative and listen to the people instead…

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/central/lord-mayor-casts-vote-to-decide-against-review-of-voter-of-voting-procedures/story-fngnvlpt-1226608603382

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION – is it at a low point?

Posted on 10/08/2012 by

Forgetting the politics and the politicians names..some important issues were touched on in this lecture and the way departments conduct their business..use of focus groups, and the contracting out of important elements of core business to “consultants”. Consultants construct the questionnaires, and we are randomly ‘phoned (generally right on dinner time) to engage in questions that may not even be related to where we live…yes.. the broader the base the better, they say… there are elements of the “managerial revolution” in government business ..local govt. even refers to the community as “customers”! Has the consultative approach with community gone? Are we represented? Or where are things heading? Over to you….Stupidity is on the rise in our age of enlightenment

How does Democracy work Mr. Birmingham?

Posted on 25/05/2012 by

Mr Simon Birmingham needs a refresher course in the workings of democracy – he seems to have forgotten that Adam Bandt (Federal Member for Melbourne) was democratically elected by the majority of voters ( real people, Mr. Birmingham!)) at the last election .. and guess what, Mr. Birmingham – Adam Bandt was listening to that group called “community”. It is the community pressing for change that you seem to have missed… not simply an MP “asking” for money and getting it..(below reported in today’s HeraldSun)