Sky's Vic Park Newsletter #1
Hi everyone,
Welcome to 2024! I'm trying out a newsletter to stay in touch, share resources, and help you to get involved in shaping the Town of Vic Park.
Feel free to let me know if there are issues you'd like to covered in more detail, or if there are particular topics you want me to write more about.
Behind the scenes
We don't have public council meetings until February, but there's still a bit going on. This month elected members (which just means "the mayor and councillors") will be working on strategic planning with the Town staff, as well as catching up on some of the mandatory and optional training for council work. I'm also taking this opportunity to do more research and fun stuff like setting up this newsletter.
Get involved
Millen House
There are a number of development applications currently open for public comment, including the Millen House site (a significant development which will have a huge impact on the area). Public comment on the Millen house site closes on 14th January, so get in quick!
Cycle infrastructure
One of the issues coming up that I've been thinking about a lot is the Rutland Ave bike path. Even though it's only a small section of road/bike path under consideration, our choices exemplify two different approaches to transport infrastructure.
The first option is to turn Rutland Ave into a one-way lane for cars, which would allow the addition of a bike path more quickly and cheaply. There was a trial of this using traffic cones to simulate the protected bike lane: you can see the results of the one-way trial here if you're interested. Council has received a petition calling for us not to do this, given concerns that more car traffic could then go through other parts of Lathlain (including roads that children use to cycle to school). I have also received several emails from people in favour of this option.
The second option would be to wait for Department of Transport funding to add a bike lane to the existing two-way road. This is likely to be significantly more expensive and take longer, but would have the benefit of not creating a change to car traffic flows.
If you use this section of Rutland Ave to cycle (or want to), or if you might be affected by increased traffic through Lathlain, you can have input even though the public comment period has passed by contacting me or other elected members (click on our profile links to see email addresses).
In the longer term, I'm hoping that we'll see more people setting up Bicycle User Groups, like the Curtin BUG, to help advocate for good cycle infrastructure. You can also highlight safe and unsafe cycle routes on the Australia-wide BikeSpot mapping project.
Inspiration from elsewhere
This article talks about the benefits of regular car-free days in cities around the world:
"Car-free days have a powerful reframing effect for participants, helping to show how the vast amount of space dedicated to cars in cities might be used differently and how walking and cycling can feel on city streets when not surrounded by large vehicles. They are a wonderful way to promote alternative modes of transportation and, when implemented regularly and at scale..."
As I think through our options for Rutland Ave, it's been interesting reading about the approach that Wellington has taken to improving cycle infrastructure: focusing on connecting up routes quickly and cheaply, often through tactical urbanism. Some parts of Wellington have already seen a doubling in cycle traffic!
Many people in our community recognise that there are good reasons to prioritise our urban tree canopy. However, we continue to see significant loss of trees on private land, and an increase in paved space. A policy from Los Angeles charges property owners 2.5 cents for every square foot of impermeable surface. Although this policy was put in place to help manage stormwater, it overlaps with tree canopy policies in helping to build a healthier city with a decreased urban heat island. It also gives a clear metric for measuring private land, which can be a struggle when it comes to tree canopy on private property.
We are all connected
Although most of this newsletter will focus on local issues, the local is intricately connected to the global. Over the last months I have been watching the genocide unfolding in Gaza in horror. It is easy to feel helpless but there's always something we can do, including contacting our political representatives to call for action, supporting Perth families who are affected, and donating to some of the organisations that are managing to get aid through.
Thanks for reading! As always, I encourage you to get in touch if there's anything you want to ask about or discuss.
best wishes,
sky.
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Email: scroeser@vicpark.wa.gov.au
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