Evening Meeting 20 June

Dear Pedestrians,

It's time to come together to meet each other, inspire each other with our ideas for a more walkable world, and to develop a vision for Walk On Moreland during the next year.

The evening will be part-workshop, part-meet&greet, part-infoshare, and its in a pub to also make it part-fun. Dinner is available from the bar.

We'll run the agenda more or less as follows.

1. Introduction
   Introduction to Walk On Moreland, including what got things started, where 'Walking In Freedom....' comes from, and the group's positioning in relation to Council to date.

2. The Members
   We'll invite everyone to introduce themselves, including any relevant experience, what drew you to the group, and what you're hoping to get from your involvement.

3. Street Decorations
   See examples of street art which can draw attention to safety issues and bring some play to otherwise dreary streets.

4. Council's Strategies
   Get a quick overview of Council's pedestrian strategy, budget, capital works program, and status of current planning work.

5. Vision Setting
   Let's throw around some ideas about what we want to achieve.  How do we want to bring about cultural change?  What's the best way to organise ourselves?

6. Actions
   Put your hand up to get involved in street decoration activities, community engagement, state
   government lobbying, website development, or research.

When and Where
   Wednesday 20th June, 7.00pm for 7.15 start, we should be finished by 9.00pm
   The Moreland Hotel, cnr Sydney Road and Moreland Road

Invitations
   Attendance is open to anyone.  If you can, RSVP so we have an idea on numbers.

If you have any suggestions please be in contact.  Hope to see you there!

Council Meetings and Budget

Dear Munro Street People, This update is mainly about Council Business and upcoming activities.  Have a great short week. Cheers, Nataniel. Letter to Mayor and Councillors Last week we wrote to Council to formally introduce the 'Walk On Moreland' group and to support encourage Council to fund improvements at the Munro Street crossing.  See the full letter here.  The key points were: Walk On Moreland has been established to support pedestrian-oriented decisions throughout Moreland, The Munro Street crossing has received support from 350 community members (signatures attached), Council's current strategy of completely relying on VicRoads for funding for Munro Street is risky, and Council should consider allocating funds towards the project, In the interim Council should reduce the speed limit on Munro Street to 40km/h, The letter included a 'Walk On Moreland' lapel badge for each Councillor - look out to see whether your favourite Councillor is sporting theirs! Council Meeting - 2012-13 Budget - Tuesday 12 June 6.00pm Council will decide on the 2012-13 Budget.  The budget includes about $4.4m for pedestrian infrastructure, which is a fairly good result.  See a quick comparison with Darebin and Yarra budgets here. The budget does not include any allocation for Munro Street, which is unfortunate but not unexpected, due to the early stage of the project design and most of the budget decisions having been made much earlier in the year.  Thanks to everyone who put in a budget submission on Munro Street, out of a total of 8 budget submissions, 5 were in support of Munro Street. Council Meeting - Principal Pedestrian Network - Wednesday 13 June 7.00pm Council will be asked to adopt a report on the 'Principal Pedestrian Network'.  This report includes the pedestrian priorty street network, and a list of 'potential pedestrian facilities' which require funding.  The Munro Street crossing is #1 on this list.  See the full reporthere (large download). Munro Street Activity Day - Wednesday 13 June 9.30-11.30am Despite this being a very busy week we'll go ahead with this.  We'll have a simple meet & greet.  If you're in the neighbourhood drop past to say hello.

Letter from Minister Mulder We received a letter from Terry Mulder, Minister for Roads, and from VicRoads last week, in reply to a letter we sent in March.  The general gist of the letter was that VicRoads does not see Munro Street as a priority. But luckily they're funding lots of pedestrian works in Footscray, Werribee, Narre Warren, and on the Peninsula Link Freeway.  See the letter here. Kelvin Thomson also received a similar letter.

Walk On Moreland Evening Meeting - 20 June We will hold our first evening meeting next Wednesday 20 June.  Come along to meet other pedestrians and help shape our vision and plan for the rest of the year.  For more info join our Members mailing list here.  Edinburgh Castle 7.00pm.

Munro St #5 - Budget Comments

Hi Everyone,

Another fairly busy few weeks, we can now report on Council's strategy for Munro Street and a few other happenings.  Thanks to everyone's support, every bit of encouragement and advice we receive is appreciated.

Council Budget - 11th hour chance to comment
Council's 2012/13 budget is open for comment until Monday 5th at 5.00pm.   The draft budget includes:
Roads & carparks $4.19m 
Footpaths & bikepaths $1.71m
Pedestrian safety & traffic islands $0.55m
Shopping centre footpaths and streetscapes (Coburg, Glenroy, Brunswick & others) $1.64m
Total Pedestrian & Cycling $3.9m
Total Capital Works Program $33.09m

I'd encourage you to make a brief online submission in support of the Munro Street Crossing.  What to include?  Simply state that the Munro Street crossing is dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists and urgently needs improvement, and that Council's budget should make allowance for this to be addressed as soon as possible.  If you've made a submission let me know.

Make a submission on Council's website http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/about-council/have-your-say/community-consultation/proposed-council-budget-12-13.html. 


Munro Street Update
Over the last few weeks we've had various contacts with Council.  We've been informed that Council supports the crossing in principle, and that:
1. Council has prepared a concept layout for the proposal, which provides pedestrian operated signals allowing access across Munro Street between Railway Place and the Upfield Bike Path next to Dan Murphys. 
2. Council's funding strategy is to rely on VicRoads for all funding and detailed design work.  Council is in discussion with VicRoads to progress this.  Our correspondence with VicRoads (see below) indicates this may be a long process.
3. Council is concurrently pursuing a 40km/h speed limit in adjoining streets (although not on Munro Street).


Correspondence
We received a letter of response to the Minister for Transport and VicRoads, which states that funding for the Munro Street crossing is not likely to receive VicRoads funding.  While this may not be a definitive position, it is a strong indication that full funding is not going to be straightforward.

Council asked us to provide some quick input into their Principal Pedestrian Network plan.  I'll keep you posted on whether there's further chance to input to this.


Walk Safely To School Day at Moreland Primary School
Following from our Walk To School Day event we were invited to address the Moreland Primary School assembly.  We told a children's story about walking improvements, and asked the kids to think about what improvements they would most like to see in their neighbourhood.  Thanks Moreland PS!


Other 
You may be aware that Bicycle Network Victoria and Moreland Bicycle Users Group is running a campaign for increased bicycle infrastructure funding, including support for continuation of the Upfield Bike Path to the Western Ring Road, with the support of Christine Campbell MP.  If you'd like to support this campaign please see BNV or MBUG website.

Thanks everyone, keep in touch!

Nataniel & Team.