So sez the Age.
CARS would be blocked from Fitzroy's Brunswick Street, one of inner Melbourne's most popular cafe strips, under a plan to go before Yarra Council tomorrow night.
''We don't want to turn Brunswick Street into a Bourke Street mall-style ghost town,'' said councillor Paul D'Agostino, who has put forward the proposal. ''But this plan will increase outdoor dining and stop it being an outdoor ghetto for binge drinking.''
In a bid to win back the inner north's voters from the Greens in council elections later this year, Cr D'Agostino, a Labor Party stalwart, has also moved to discourage car use by raising the cost of a second parking permit for residents from $55 to $800.
The plan to close the street to motor vehicles would allow entry to trams, bicycles, pedestrians and delivery vehicles only.
VicRoads controls most of Melbourne's arterial roads, but not the section of Brunswick Street the council will consider closing to cars, between Alexandra Parade and Johnston Street. More than 15,000 cars use that section of the street every day.
The council's feasibility study will look at the consequences of blocking car access, extending footpaths to create bigger outdoor dining areas, building sprawling tram stops and putting in ''an avenue of street trees''.
Cr D'Agostino said most cafes and businesses on the street would hate the proposal initially, but ultimately it would earn them more money. ''When people drive past in a car, they don't spend money in a shop.''
Removing parking from the strip would also be unpopular with Yarra Council's accountants: it would cost the council more than $1 million in lost parking metre and parking fine revenue.
Resident Henry Maas, who started the Black Cat cafe in Brunswick Street in 1982, said closing bar and restaurant strips to motor traffic did not work. ''It kills the whole flow of a street, especially with a main arterial like it. I like the idea of having space for people, but not here.''
Another Yarra councillor, the Socialist Party's Stephen Jolly, said Cr D'Agostino was trying to divert attention from the more pressing issue in the area: a proposal to link the Eastern Freeway in Fitzroy to the Tullamarine Freeway by a tolled road tunnel.
''He's obviously just got on the brandy and Coke and put this dumb idea forward,'' Cr Jolly said. ''But if he really wanted to protect Fitzroy from cars, he would be resigning from the Labor Party tomorrow and arguing against building a tunnel.''
$55 to $800 is a touch steep, I would have thought.
I think its a great idea. This is going to need to happen in most urban area's within 20 years I would say.
i don't really see how stopping cars will stop binge drinking
You would need to stop selling vb before I would stop binge drinking, I cant help myslef the taste is way too good
Sounds great. Cobble the streets up and turn it into Oxford/Cambridge-esque space. More street theatre!
I can kinda see in my mind how this would turn out and i'm not sure if I like it.
were going to have a vb fine arts stand there too!
They should move to can bars, then.
Also, two words: Fortitude Valley. If they mean anything to you, you will know this is a bad idea.
wouldn't it just garner (even) more of the kind of people who hang out in st kilda?
Fortitude Valley is surely no Brunswick Street?
hmmm, the parking permit for residents is a bit fucking steep! more than car rego! are they also trying to get rid of the young people who live in the area and make it more yuppified? because i can't imagine that there is too many young people living in fitz that can afford that.
oh, and GO STEVE!!
i don't really see how stopping cars will stop binge drinking
Seconded
I think it will just increase traffic in Smith Street and surrounding streets and make Brunswick exactly like a mall-style ghost town/St. Kilda strip and will, if anything, make binge drinking worse. Surely making the street one big entertainment strip is more likely to increase binge drinking???
I think it's a dumb idea.
It's a lot of money for sure. Can you pay for it over a 12 month period or is it usually a charge straight up?
parking permit is probably the beginning of a series of similar increases...
straight up, straps
anyway, that's just going to affect share houses, really ... the yuppies will have off street parking in their renovated properties
i think its a dumb idea too. it would ruin the area, and fill it up with yobbo's leaning over bins and having a spew after their binges. the only good bit would be making it better for cyclists, but in this case i think the bad stuff far outweighs the good stuff.
i don't have a problem with the $55 parking fee. but $800 for a second car is crazy. and I'm pretty sure the first permit is currently $20 and the second is $40... as is the 3rd permit for ''guests''.
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sorry hatts, that wasn't to you
I always go to the city modi. have done for 20 years plus.
btw I always drive my late model 1.8 4 cylinder 5 speed gearbox car into the city. I have always had a great time with my friends that cycle or whatever. I only ever took my truck in a couple of times when picking up people and gear. Usually though it's my little car. I'm a good boy.
i think the government would put a stop to this pretty quickly, just like they do any move to decrease car use. where is the traffic to be diverted?
we need better PT before any brainless headline-grabber like this can even be seriously considered
this arguments shit me. I have a 6 cyl car, need it for work. No fucking way anyones going to make me pay to park at my house.
and so does this argument
and this shit
haha well it's going to piss off people. It will only change as Car manufacturers make smaller motor mid sized cars (that are shit btw) and companys change over their fleets to smaller engined cars...
no mid size car can do the job i need it to.
so do i still have to pay for the privilege of having a vehicle that lets me undertake my work?
well then the tariff system would have to take into account the use of each motor car so people in your position aren't unfairly over taxed.
still as I say it won't happen yet. government can't rule like this from the top down. It's undemocratic. It would only possibly happen if like I said there was a massive shift coming from big companies and car manufacturers and would be more of a natural progression. Not imposed rules and regs.
well then the tariff system would have to take into account the use of each motor car so people in your position aren't unfairly over taxed.
still as I say it won't happen yet. government can't rule like this from the top down. It's undemocratic. It would only possibly happen if like I said there was a massive shift coming from big companies and car manufacturers and would be more of a natural progression. Not imposed rules and regs.
So the government needs to impose tarriffs on vehicles over a certain size, unless they are necessary to their owners, but it shouldn't come form government because that would be undemocratic. And they should regulate without imposing regulations
Yes. Great plan.
i agree something has to be done
but your arguments were very immediate
that's not the first thing any local inner city government should do in relation to this issue
fair enough choden. I think I'm trying to say, that local governemnt needs to formulate a strategy to rmove the 'excess' of the roads. Like the cops giving out canary's to shit box's to clean em off the roads..but something a bit more deeper and substantial.
yes modi. I'm saying something like this needs to happen but not driven by local government. Usually consumers drive this shift but often it's slow. In this case with consumer interest at an all time high, it's a very good opportunity to do something, though it would have to be driven by market forces.
two things need to happen,
public transport needs to take a front seat in government issue, along with health (esp in NSW) and money needs to be directed into development of ''greener'' vehicles to aid private industry in coming up with solutions that would suit a user like me faster.
and i do agree that if a cop comes across a car polluting over levels allowed then by all means stop them.
I live a 35 minute drive away from the city. Public transport takes at least an hour and a half to get just to Flinders Station, let alone the extra to say the Tote, East Brunswick, NSC, etc. And it shuts down at 12.10am which means I couldn't even consider seeing a headline band.
If I don't drive, I don't get to see all me mates who all live inner on the weekend. (And I usually drive home me drunk mates on my way home).
It's that simple.
So don't fuck with me by saying I don't need a car. Of course I don't need it but it makes things a hellava lot easier for me.
Modi said 19 hours ago:
''I just love watching people wring their hands about global warming, and cry that ''they'' should do something about it, but insist they can't possibly get rid of their car, because they really need it.''
This is exactly the point I was making.
i'm 45 minutes by car, 130 minutes PT, plus as you say the extra to the venues. FOUR HOURS A DAY ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS FUCKED!
Fine, go ahead TOWN PLANNERS, plan your fucking towns for a future in which we have awesome public transport WHICH DOESN'T EXIST AT THE MOMENT. Your planning is ruining our lives. Good job.
shouting on the internet makes me feel better.
You think you've got problems, zadie- this morning my tram ride was so short and so quick, I barely had time to finish the crossword!