This comment has come in from a reader. Given the current shambles of traffic management in Glen Eira, we publish this in the public interest.

“My mind boggles at council’s approach to parking and traffic management.  Major road works are underway in Kokarib Road Carnegie, the street behind Koornang Road where Safeway is located.  The street is being totally rebuilt and council in their wisdom appear to have removed the angle parking outside Safeway and are replacing it with parallel parking.  This will mean the loss of about around 8 or 9 car parking spaces outside the supermarket. These car spaces were nearly always fully occupied.  My amazement at this loss of parking in Carnegie follows from seeing the result of roadworks and parking  in Glen Huntly near Safeway.  They effectively removed up to four car parking spaces on  each side of the road near the post office.. I know traffic lights have  been installed, but why would you reduce car parking?  What benefit is there to shop keepers?  What benefit is there to shoppers? What are the benefits at all?”

And we mustn’t forget another important question – what is the cost?

Residents’ rat-run rage

COUNCIL CHALLENGED OVER TRAFFIC AND PARKING ISSUES

GLEN Eira residents fed up with rat runs and limited parking have gathered to vent their anger and discuss change. The Glen Eira Residents Association held a forum in Elsternwick last week titled ‘‘Rat runs and no parking — a feature of life soon. What’s the alternative?’’

President Don Dunstan said it was the association’s first forum on the issue and 50 people turned up. He said the association had surveyed residents and found traffic and parking were causing angst. ‘‘People are fed up,’’ Mr Dunstan said. ‘‘There are quite a few streets where, at night, you can’t get parking because there isn’t any.’’ Rat runs had formed in Elsternwick as a result of lower speed limits in Glenhuntly Rd. ‘ ‘ The only way to get change is to change the council in October,’’ Mr Dunstan said.

The association said speed cushions on McKinnon Rd were also causing problems. Traffic and parking management were common concerns raised as part of Glen Eira Council’s 2013- 2017 community plan consultation early this year. Mayor Jamie Hyams said the council was ‘ ‘ aware these are issues of great concern’’.

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City picks up super shortfall  

OPERATOR NEED PAYOUTS TO FINANCE PENSIONS

GLEN Eira Council is still waiting to hear how much it must pay out in extra super payments.

Local governments are reworking t heir 2012- 13 budgets as they anticipate the extra payments, likely to be in the millions of dollars. Super fund operator Vision Super last month confirmed it needed significant additional payments from councils to meet pension needs. There is speculation that the shortfall in its defined benefits scheme could be bet ween $ 5 0 0 million and $750 million.

Glen Eira community relations director Paul Burke said the council was ‘‘awaiting notification of the figure’’ but that it would be spread out over a number of years. ‘‘It will be factored into council’s existing planning and budgeting cycle and incorporated in the 2013 strategic resource plan that will go out for community consultation,’’ Mr Burke said.

Port Phillip estimates it will have to pay $4 million over five years, but mayor Rachel Powning said it was budgeted for. Mornington Peninsula Shire fears it is facing a $10 million superannuation shortfall. Vision Super chairman Rob Spence said the global financial crisis had hurt its performance and council payments must increase.

Approximately 50+ residents showed up to last night’s commununity forum to hear the latest on traffic management and parking. First cab off the rank was Dr. Bruce Corben who emphasised the importance of speed reduction in local residential streets and arterial roads and the health and environmental benefits this would achieve. Research revealed that pedestrians were at greatest risk even when cars were travelling at 30km per hour. He commented that the objective of all street calming projects was to lower car speeds and that roundabouts were the most effective in achieving this aim.

Cr Narelle Sharpe outlined the holistic 8 step program that Moonee Valley Council is employing. The beauty of this scheme was that it included in-depth research and analysis of entire areas resulting in 22 precincts that were ‘weighted’ according to various criteria such as traffic volume, speed, surrounding facilities, and most importantly, community consultation. The plan for each precinct cost in the vicinity of $45,000 and Moonee Valley had undertaken to complete 2 precincts per year. It was therefore a long term vision based on a thorough understanding of the needs of each local area rather than a single street.

Cr Serge Thomann highlighted Port Phillip’s approach and the pressures that this municipality faced in terms of incredible high density, tourists and visitors, as well as the ensuing parking problems. The strategy adopted by council was: (1) a hierarchical road strategy that placed pedestrians at the top followed by cyclists and then cars. (2) council’s refusal to issue residential parking permits for new developments; (2) extensive community bus services; (3) different street calming measures that varied across the municipality – ie raised pedestrian crossings in line with footpaths.

Whilst each municipality is unique, it is obvious that common problems exist. How these problems are approached by decision makers is what is important. We maintain that in Glen Eira the approach is haphazard, and lacks a truly integrated vision. If safety is the most important criterion then councils must be pro-active as both Moonee Valley and Port Phillip appear to be. It just is not good enough for residents to be told that your street is within the 85th percentile on speed and traffic volume so we won’t do anything! The old adage that prevention is better than cure certainly applies in this domain.

Today’s Melbourne Bayside Weekly –

Sporting chance for parkers  

A SHORTAGE of car park space at the new Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre is causing problems for users of a neighbouring sports ground.

Soccer club members who use Bailey Reserve, on East Boundary Road, are being forced to park in neighbouring streets because of a lack of spaces.

Glen Eira Moorabbin Softball Association president Ian Bahn believes the problem will worsen when the softball season starts in October. “Our season hasn’t started yet, but we have been down to Bailey Reserve to have meetings, and seen that it [parking] is going to be a problem,” Mr Bahn said. “Come summer, when it gets busier with people using the pool and the ground, it’s going to be very interesting.”

GESAC opened on May 7. Despite opening four months late because of building delays it reached a membership of 4000 on its first day. Glen Eira council spokesman Paul Burke said limited parking was proving to be an issue. “We now have about 5700 members. The problem is that these members are still getting used to how they use the facility and are still creating a routine,” Mr Burke said.

Adding to the shortage, some Bailey Reserve car park spaces were lost during construction of the new facility. East Bentleigh Soccer Club is the primary winter tenant of the ground. Club secretary Chris Loose said parking was an issue. “We have had members of our club making other arrangements, parking in surrounding streets, on East Boundary Road, or walking – but that is obviously not so desirable in winter,” he said. Mr Loose said the club had notified the council of the issue and believed GESAC and Bailey Reserve tenants could work together to find a solution.

Community safety is supposed to be the bedrock of many Council policies – especially road and pedestrian safety. That’s why the following Leader  article caught our eye. It says a lot about the gulf between rhetoric, spin, and public relations compared to the realities which confront residents on a daily basis. Council’s response is woeful. When safety is an issue it should not take 3 years for any responsible action. We remind readers that when it was deemed necessary (as an afterthought) to extend the GESAC carpark and relocate a playground, nearly $1 million dollars was found overnight! This tells us plenty about the priorities of this administration.

McKinnon residents’ fears over traffic black spot

3 Jul 12 @  05:05am by Jessica Bennett

We’ve repeatedly stated that where there’s a will, there’s a way. This is abundantly clear when it comes to traffic management, road safety, and parking innovation. Glen Eira’s approach has been, and remains, ad hoc and ineffective. We present below how other councils approach these issues and how they actually PLAN, fund, and develop strategies to deal with 21st century dilemmas. We ask readers to compare this approach to what our administrators and councillors come up with.

Such comparisons are even more important given that today’s Melbourne Bayside Weekly features a news clip stating that Council is ‘advocating’ to the State Government for action on Carnegie Station since “long delays and associated traffic congestion may hamper a retail development being built north of the line.”!!!! Good to see that Council has its priorities right! More to the point, this identical “advocacy” features on Council’s homepage which hasn’t been updated since October 2008!

In stark contrast we present two documents: a Media Release and a Municipal Parking Strategy (uploaded here) from Moonee Valley Council.

Media Release

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 

Plan in place to review traffic and parking around the city

Last night, Moonee Valley Councillors adopted a long term plan to review and improve parking across the municipality.

The plan involves dividing the municipality up into 22 Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) precincts and rolling out a timeline of scheduled reviews for each one.

Moonee Valley Mayor Cr Jim Cusack said the LATM precincts were identified a few years ago.“Last year we incorporated them into our new Municipal Parking Strategy,” Cr Cusack said. “The Municipal Parking Strategy (MPS) adopted late last year provides a set of tools to effectively manage traffic and parking around the city now and in the future.

“The inclusion of the LATM precincts in the MPS will allow Council to develop a more strategic and proactive approach to managing traffic and parking in Moonee Valley.“Council is taking a local area approach when it comes to traffic and parking in order to help coordinate and integrate parking initiatives around the city.

“The use of LATM precincts allows Council to address specific neighbourhood needs, whilst keeping an eye on the wider parking and traffic trends and issues across the municipality such as through traffic. It also enables Council to have a systematic approach to particular traffic and parking challenges such as school zones, encourage parking demand to be spread throughout an area and plan for capital works associated with traffic and parking improvements more strategically.”

“Moonee Valley is a city in transition. As Melbourne grows, our population continues to increase and the level of usage of our road network changes. We want to meet local needs and also take into consideration the wider community and help our residents, workers and visitors move towards more sustainable travel practices.”

Portfolio holder for Traffic and Transportation Planning Cr Narelle Sharpe said Council decided to review two LATM precincts per financial year.“The review of each LATM precinct is a lengthy process as it entails traffic and parking analysis as well as consultation with the local community,” said Cr Sharpe. “With 22 LATM precincts, we needed a set of criteria to help us prioritise the review and implementation program of each area.

“The ranking system we adopted reflects our focus on safety. It is based on numerous criteria ranging from resident and community concerns, traffic volumes, traffic speed and accidents, to more proactive criteria such as the number of activity centres and number of facilities that generate a lot of pedestrian and car traffic like railway stations, schools and community centres.

“To ensure the ranking is fair, we adopted a weighting system so that LATM precincts with a larger number of streets are not artificially advantaged.

“The Fletcher and Newmarket LATM precincts were identified as the highest priority precincts and therefore will be the ones Council will review first.

“Traffic management projects have already been developed for the 2012/13 financial year and we will work towards completing these as soon as the budget is finalised and approved.”

A map of the LATM precincts as well as details of the criteria used, the weighting system and scores of each Precinct are available on request.”

Lash out on Bentleigh bike lanes

6 Mar 12 @  05:00am by Donna Carton

Cyclist Carolyn Priest comes across a car parked in the bicycle lane on Brewer Rd. Picture: JASON SAMMON

GLEN Eira Council has spent $65,000 painting bike lanes on roads with legal kerbside parking. The 4.5km of new lanes in Bentleigh have been branded a joke by some cyclists who can’t ride in them because parked cars block their way.

The council said it had no plans to make the lanes on McKinnon and Brewer roads clearways for riders.

Carolyn Atkinson, whose husband and son-in-law are regular cyclists, said Glen Eira council had wasted ratepayers’ money on the project. “I saw them painting the line and at first thought it was a parking bay. “Then they painted in the little bike symbol and I just laughed,” Ms Atkinson said. “There is no room to cycle around the parked cars. Why did they bother?”

Council spokesman Paul Burke said the lanes were recommended as high priorities in the Glen Eira Bicycle Strategy 2010. “The recommendations noted that where there is limited road width, bicycle lanes which can be parked over may be necessary and are probably the most feasible option,” Mr Burke said.

Glen Eira Bicycle Users Group member Carolyn Priest believes the lanes are “better than nothing”. “On stretches where no-one is parked (cyclists) can move back into the lane,” she said.

Jason den Hollander, of Bicycle Network Victoria, said while Glen Eira council’s money could have been better used in this instance. “They should have put a cycle lane on both sides of the road, and allowed parking on one side,” he said.”

COMMENT: Identical problems occur on McKinnon Rd where, apart from bicycle lanes, three sets of rubberised speed humps have been installed over a distance of 400 metres. Residents were first informed of the creation of the bicycle lanes via letter. This obviously constituted ‘consultation’. One elderly resident took the time and trouble to write back claiming that McKinnon Rd was entirely unsuitable because of width and gradient. The response was that Council had determined that McKinnon Rd was ‘perfect’ since it was ‘flat’. So that’s why this section is called McKINNON HILL!

As a consequence of such ‘improvements’, we wonder if Council has bothered to investigate the new RAT RUNS that have now been created by motorists attempting to bypass McKinnon and Brewer Rds via the quiet residential streets running off these major roads? With the imminent prospect of Centre Rd adopting the 40k speed limit, Bentleigh and McKinnon residents have much to look forward to!