Jan and I ran out of things to do and so we decided to initiate a regular meeting with the City of Port Phillip – just kidding, we have been pretty busy!!

It has become increasingly clear to us that we need to ensure that the City of PP better understand our needs.  In that way they can help in discussions with MMRA but it is also important that they  understand the needs of our building and this precinct.

Items we discussed included

1. MMRA / CYP
   • The chiller plant
   • Central bike lanes
   • Rubbish removal during the tunnel project
   • Lack of adequately lit foothpaths
2. Parking permits
   • Visitor and resident parking issues
3. Cladding
4. Status of 412 St Kilda Rd
5. Getting reversing beepers updated on City of PP rubbish trucks

They tabled 2304 Domain Precinct Vision – Presentation

Happy to answer questions, we will continue to meet with them about every 6 weeks

Sorry for the confusion…are the bays back or not??

Earlier in the week it looked like we had lost them all for a couple of years.  After some discussions they were re-instated BUT from time to time they will need to take a couple off us.  Last night / today they needed a couple of bays to make it safer for the re-surfacing.

I suspect we will lose a few when they remove our trees.

So – bottom line, we have them MOST of the time.

The tram screech and flanging has caused us all a lot of grief over the last week.  I know that several people have relocated themselves.  I have tried to get some sort of formal reply from CYP and that has been very skinny.  They have said things like…Yarra Trams are working hard on it.

I did some walking around and looking and talking to Yarra Trams bods.

I spotted Charlie checking the tracks are the right distance apart

This morning I was woken around 12:45am and saw this grinding happening

Marginally better today, here is a video.  Lets see what tomorrow brings

After an escalation yesterday, the parking out of the front of The Botanica has now been re-instated.  The bays should remain until at least June

Ironic that they removed the parking near Anzac Station for Anzac Day

When the temporary tram track was designed in St Kilda Rd, we were told the curve had been designed to ensure no tram screech.

When it went live last week and the screeching was terrible we were told – it will settle down in 2-3 days

When it didn’t settle down in 2-3 days, we were told – it needs another 2-3 days

When that didn’t happen we were told – We are currently investigating the cause of the noise and solutions to mitigate noise impacts to surrounding residences and businesses.

One of the big frustrations is that sometimes it is northbound trams, sometimes southbound, some mornings are good and afternoons bad, sometimes model x trams are bad sometimes they are fine.  It is clearly more than one issue.  Surely this is not the first time?  Something is different to the work that Fulton Hogan did on Toorak Rd – that is a tighter curve and had zero screech.  Surely John Holland did a ‘standard install’???

So how bad is it?

This was earlier in the week

This was 9pm last night

This was this just now

If you live at The Botanica and it is causing you grief, call 1800 105 105 and politely complain