OPINION – Stefano de Pieri
I WANT to clear the air on something.
Had I been in the council chambers when the vote was taken on the mobility plan, I certainly would have voted in favour.
As a business owner in the city where I have lived and worked for over 30 years, I am regarded as having a conflict of interest and had to be removed from the decision-making process.
The law is generally right, but sometimes it is an ass. Four other councillors had to absent themselves for similar reasons.
My view is that the speed limit is already practically at 30km/h around the CBD. On its periphery people tend to speed and I witness that daily.
On Twelfth Street, right outside two schools, people exceed the speed limit continually. Not only at night, the hoons attempt to speed even in Langtree Avenue, not to mention the car racing all night on Deakin Avenue and Seventh Street.
The suggestion that fines are a form of council revenue is just silly. That is a matter for the police, not MRCC.
Like many assertions in Facebook messages printed by Sunraysia Daily, the facts seems to be wilfully ignored or conveniently set aside.
I wish to put aside the matter of speed – which, let’s not forget, is a trial – and talk about the bigger picture. There is a noticeable tendency by some to lump all things together by bundling traffic measures with concerns about Langtree Mall and other matters.
There’s a tendency to compare Fifteenth Street with the city centre. Such a comparison – and the attendant suggestion that the centre of town is moving to Fifteenth Street – is seriously flawed.
They are two distinct and separate entities, each with attributes: the strong commercial reality of Fifteenth Street is not the same as the city centre which, with restaurants, cafes, gyms, shops, galleries, nightclubs, media services, retail, real estate businesses and a massive riverfront, functions as the social and cultural focus for the region.
Mildura’s CBD and riverfront generally function from 6am until late at night and what happens is segmented through the day. That’s the beauty of this part of town and constantly denigrating it is not helpful.
What we have should be treasured and protected. People should be supportive of those that are doing great things in the city centre. Have a look at the redevelopment of the old ADFA, or the new gym on the corner of Ninth Street and the mall, the old Commonwealth Bank site and so on. The tourist offering can be greatly improved. One of the great difficulties is keeping longer hours of operation for most businesses.
If you run a cafe and you want to be open until later in the day or at the weekend, you need a third more staff: but getting staff now is like getting blood out of a stone – not to mention the costs of numerous public holidays, when wages go through the roof.
I am happy to say that most councillors are devoted to reform of the dining precinct and properly joining the city to the riverfront.
The first cab off the rank will be the completion of Deakin Avenue from Seventh to Eighth streets, to start soon. Work has begun on the Powerhouse and more plans are to be developed along the river.
With the proposed new hospital site – should that happen – “old Mildura” will get another fillip. Let’s be positive and progressive. Sort-of coming out of COVID-19 with a lot of projects on the way should be reason for optimism.
