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25 MAY, 2022
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Small steps to school St Margaret’s Primary School pupils walked the walk to promote ongoing healthy behaviour on Friday, May 20, with pupils taking part in the annual Walk Safely to School Day. Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman and chief executive Harold Scruby said an Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017-18 health survey showed that childhood obesity continues to affect one in four children across Australia and walking is the most effective way to reduce the risk of obesity. “Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day,” he said. St Margaret’s Primary School principal Gavin Brennan said the program allowed for pupils to walk or ride bikes along the safe paths outlined in the Maribyrnong council’s Active Paths Program and increase their and their parents awareness of how to walk to school safely. “It’s getting the parents aware of it as well, whether they walk all the way or walk part of the way,” he said. Details: www.walk.com.au/WSTSD/ St Margaret’s Primary School pupils Liam and Eden joined Maribyrnong council deputy mayor Sarah Carter as part of Walk Safely to School Day. (Damjan Janevski) 279247_04
Beach parking proposal By Molly Magennis Visitors to Altona Beach will soon be required to pay for parking as part of Hobsons Bay council’s proposal to introduce parking meters to help offset infrastructure costs. The proposal was announced during a council meeting on April 20, as part of council’s 2022-23 budget. Council has since developed a Parking Management Strategy which is out for public feedback to help guide the future parking strategy for the Altona Beach area. The parking meters are proposed to be installed on the Esplanade between
Sarros (Romawi) Street and Millers Road, comprising195 spaces. Three-hour time restrictions, between 8am to 8pm, will be introduced for the angled paid parking spaces along the Esplanade closest to Pier Street. All Hobsons Bay residents are eligible for ticket machine parking permits which will exempt them from the fees in these areas. Mayor Peter Hemphill said the fees received from visitors paying for parking would be put back into the community. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve invested in significant infrastructure along Altona Foreshore including access ramps, upgrading the shared trail, picnic shelters and revamping
Weaver Reserve, to make Altona Beach more accessible, attractive and enjoyable,” he said. “By charging visitors for paid parking, we’re diversifying our revenue streams and sharing the infrastructure costs with visitors who come to Hobsons Bay for the beach and sport activities.” Community response to the proposal has been mixed. Roula George has lived in Altona North all her life, and is worried the metres will make Altona a ‘ghost town’. “It will do to Hobsons Bay what it did to Yarraville when they introduced them,” she said. “Leave it free and let everyone enjoy it. This
will add stress to our local restaurants and businesses who rely on not only us but outside clientele.” Other residents said the initiative is long overdue. “The suburb is overrun on hot summer days [and] nights with cars that park all day along the Esplanade and surrounding streets at absolutely no cost,” Altona resident Michael Patchell said. To help support businesses, two 15-minute spaces between 8am and 8pm, are proposed to be introduced at the southern end of Bent Street. The proposed strategy is open for community feedback until Wednesday, June 8.