Herschel Landes

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

@StreetsYarra Very useful mapping-thanks for posting

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

It seems that at least 512 people read the budget and made submissions..Totally fake for @yarraresidents to claim residents were ambushed.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Oops … now @yarraresidents is complaining there was to much to read in the relevant documents- yet others did and were aware including ( I hope) the Councillors.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

The First Sign of Trouble and the Mayor Folded

The first sign of political leadership is not how a leader behaves when decisions are popular. It is how they behave when those same decisions attract criticism. The introduction of paid parking in the Victoria Park precinct was not an officer initiative or a bureaucratic surprise. It emerged from a budget approved by the Council the Mayor leads. Yet at the first sign of organised opposition, the conversation shifted from ownership and implementation to consultation and process.

What made matters worse was the Mayor’s statement:
“This Council that I lead does not force change down the throats of locals.”

The statement was disingenuous because it implied that residents were somehow being protected from a decision imposed by others. In reality, the proposal formed part of a budget adopted by Council and officers were carrying out the implementation process that Council itself had approved.

More importantly, the remark was unfair to Council officers. Officers do not decide budget policy. They do not determine revenue strategy. They do not vote on parking schemes. Their role is to implement the decisions of elected councillors. Suggesting that residents were having change forced upon them risks creating the impression that officers were responsible for a decision that originated through the political process.

Leadership means owning decisions when they become unpopular. If the budget decision was wrong, then the Mayor should say so and bring it back to Council. If it was right, then he should defend it. What he should not do is leave officers carrying the political burden for a decision made by the very Council he leads.

When the letters went out, it was Council policy. When the complaints came in, it suddenly became someone else’s problem.

@theheraldsun

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

@yarraresidents claiming residents were "ambushed"
The proposition to meter Victoria Park was clearly published in the April Budget documents - there is your consultation process folks. @theheraldsun

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
Dear oh dear. It appears the @yarraresidents has only just discovered what was actually contained in the budget. The Herald Sun reports that additional paid parking controls are proposed for parts of Abbotsford, yet readers of my page have known for some time that further parking management measures were being considered as part of Council’s budget and revenue discussions. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Funding a $3.4 million waste charge discount, preserving free parking initiatives and maintaining a capital works program of around $40 million always meant that revenue would need to be found somewhere else.
The more interesting issue may not be the parking meters themselves, but the apparent confusion over process. According to comments published online, some residents were left with the understanding that the proposal remained at a consultation stage, while others point to Council correspondence stating that “Yarra is introducing paid parking” and identifying a commencement date in July. Residents are entitled to ask a simple question: what exactly is being consulted on?
The irony is difficult to ignore. The same political voices that championed concessions and discounts are now expressing outrage when Council seeks alternative sources of revenue. The fundamental question never changed: if Council reduces revenue in one area while maintaining spending commitments elsewhere, where does the replacement revenue come from? At some point the budget arithmetic catches up with the politics.
Grabbing the pop corn on this one. @theheraldsun

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Elizabeth St: When Risks Identified at the Design Stage Become Visible on the Street
The debate over Elizabeth Street was never simply about bike lanes versus parking. Council officers warned at the time that the proposed design carried increased risk because it sought to fit additional parking into a constrained corridor with narrower traffic lanes and reduced safety margins.
Their report identified a number of concerns. Larger vehicles, including waste collection trucks, would face tighter operating conditions. Parked vehicles would have an increased likelihood of damage from passing traffic. Officers also warned that cyclist safety would be compromised because vehicles could park within the buffer zone, reducing the separation between cyclists and moving traffic and leaving less room to react if someone stepped into the bike lane from a parked vehicle or the footpath.
Importantly, officers noted that the reintroduction of parking and narrowing of traffic lanes could increase the risk of crashes involving vehicles entering and leaving parking spaces. They also warned that, in the event of an incident, Council could potentially face legal scrutiny if it could not justify the installation of infrastructure that departed from accepted standards.
The photographs taken today raise a legitimate question. They appear to show vehicles encroaching into the designated buffer areas and bollards that have been repeatedly struck or displaced. The issue is not simply whether individual drivers should be fined. The more important question is whether the risks identified by officers during the decision-making process are now becoming evident on the ground.
The Safe System approach adopted across Australia begins with a simple premise: humans are fallible and will inevitably make mistakes. Good road design therefore does not rely on perfect behaviour. It builds in sufficient tolerance and resilience so that inevitable mistakes do not result in serious consequences.
The question for Council is whether Elizabeth Street is currently operating in the way officers intended, or whether the photographs are demonstrating precisely the risks that officers warned about when the design was first proposed.

@bicycle_network @theage

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

all this is true..but my point goes to the populist reactive decision making by this Council which appears to be quite random. What is now happening is a mixture of confusion and mixed messages to consumers and traders. The Atacus report- an independent external review - recommended three years when it came to decisions around parking, notwithstanding it saw parking fees as appropriate- in other words allowing customers and traders to get used to a new set of conditions.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Meanwhile traders petition to retain 1 hr free parking along Richmond's activity centres hits over 3,500 signatures..Massive ..and can't be ignored.

These are physical signatures - not electronic and therefore carry more weight.

Having granted Richmond's activity streets one hour parking you can't just rip it out after 3/4 year because of an another thought bubble.

The Mayor thought is would be a good idea to extend the program to other centres, then got push back from Councillors when the cost (up to $5M) came in..so decided to change down to 30 minutes..for all centres..that is still causing financial concern.

Cr Davies is holding out, after panning the budget ( $3.4M waste charge not being recovered and $38M software rollout ( incl contingency) as not sustainable he wants the 1 hr free parking retained.

Big question is whether Cr Ho will support the Richmond Traders or cave into the Yarra for Whom elite who have said they don't support it.

All I know is the 3500 signatures is a lot of votes.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Stop 20- Reimagining Victoria St , with the help of AI and the end of clearways and quality urban planning with seating, shelter and way finding of platforms instead.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Back in Elizabeth St and once agiain, observations question the alleged parking demand that was claimed to necessitate the degradation of a cycling lane along a designated cycling corridor. All that has eventuated is higher risk for cyclists and parked vehicles. Meanwhile at Shelley St, the issues around converging cycling lanes and traffic lanes can be observed begging why improved sightline were not insisted as per the December 2024 scheme.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Council's traffic experts advised - narrowing the bike lanes to 1.5M ..."The risk of cyclists being doored or destabilising may increase. "

Day one of the degraded bike lanes...dooring is clearly now an obvious hazard to cyclists.

The DTP did not support the degrading of the bike lanes along a strategic cycling corridor. @theage @bicycle_network

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Amazing post from @yarrabike and others highlighting the awful decision from the backwards Yarra Council to dig up the bike lanes along a strategic cycling corridor in Elizabeth S.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

What appears to come out of the Mayor's comments is that drug consumption and dealing is cool in affluent and elite Fitzroy, but in Nth Richmond, the vulnerable and homeless are to be denied a safe and caring place for their drug consumption. It smacks of double standards and elite hypocrisy.

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

@NorthProte27303 Andrew Mountbatten Windsor moment?

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

Herald Sun on this backward Council’s decision to dig up bike lanes along a strategic cycling corridor for some occasional car parking.

Simply nuts for an inner city municipality.

https://t.co/etllW95ZfU

[Herschel Landes @HerschelLandes1]

As traffic roars past in the background...the images today of the Jolly Council ripping up the protected bike lanes along a strategic bike corridor were simply terrible and will be imprinted in memories.

Those who came down this morning to protest should be very proud and there is certainly strong support going by the outrage that has been expressed all day. @bicycle_network