A huge month ahead

What a month Southbank Residents Association (SRA) has for our community this month! We have a number of events this month which I encourage our whole community to get behind.

Firstly our “Meet the Candidates” event to offer our community the opportunity to ask the hard-hitting-questions to the candidates for the upcoming state election on November 26. SRA has been holding these events for 20 years and they have always been a great night. 

This event will be moderated by Stephen Mayne, a Walkley Award-winning journalist and past City of Melbourne councillor. Stephen specialises in activist journalism so he will certainly hold them to account. 

We will be holding two events to give all candidates an opportunity to address the community – Tuesday, November 15 and Wednesday, November 16. The reason for these dates was to allow all candidates time to nominate as nominations close on November 10 at the Victorian Electoral Commission.

Tuesday, November 15 – Labor, Liberal and Greens

Wednesday, November 16 – minor parties/independents

Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Location: Boyd Community Hub – 207 City Rd, Southbank

The council’s Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) will be held in Southbank on Tuesday, November 22 at 5pm. This is the first time the council has held such a meeting in Southbank. As usual with FMC meetings there is 15 minutes at the beginning and end for the public to ask questions. This meeting will start with a presentation on Southbank. These meetings are most informative and give a first-hand glimpse into council decision making processes. I can’t encourage our community enough to attend on this night and certainly ask any questions you may have.

Tuesday, November 22.

Time: 5pm (refreshments), 6pm (meeting starts)

Location: Cliftons Freshwater Place, Level 18, 2 Southbank Blvd

Have you ever considered becoming a member of your building’s owners’ corporation (OC) committee? If you don’t know what they do, or have ever wondered what it takes to join, then this event is for you. SRA is holding Southbank’s first information session to inform interested owners. Julie McLean and Nicholas Abbey from the Strata Community Association (SCA) will outline what OCs do, the role of a committee member, and the different ways a person can contribute to their OC. This event is an initiative of Southbank Residents’ Assocation and we are hoping to make them regular.

Wednesday, November 23

Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Location: Boyd Community Hub – 207 City Rd, Southbank

Finally, don’t forget the state election will be held on Saturday, November 26.

I was delighted to recently learn that the council has decided to install “zebra” pedestrian crossings on Kavanagh and Balston streets. This will go a long way towards making the journey to Boyd Park so much safer. 

While SRA is delighted with this news, we are frustrated with how long this took. We first started the conversation with the council on the safety of those roads/intersection pre-COVID. We were hopeful they may have implemented a solution during COVID, however that was not to be the case. 

I guess it’s just another example of the slow-moving cogs of bureaucracy. In any case, this is a massive win for our community – thank you, council!

November is also the month where the state government will be commencing the upgrade works on the corner of Power St and City Rd. This is also long overdue. SRA has lobbied for years to have this intersection addressed, having personally taken the Deputy Lord Mayor Nicolas Reece to this intersection to observe the dangers, only two weeks before that tragic accident. We welcome these works, but also appreciate there will be some disruption to commuters.

SRA is now well into planning for our Community Day to be held early next year. We are in need of volunteers from across our community to assist with the planning of this massive event. If you have any interest to assist, I encourage you to reach out. It will be a great opportunity to meet some neighbours. Please email us at [email protected].

That’s it for this month for now. As you can see, it is a jam-packed month. I look forward to seeing you at one, or all, of our upcoming events. Don’t be afraid to say hello. •