Politics & Government What changes would you make to your city?

[Power Raid]

Someone to cut off the top of the BHP Billiton building. It annoys me. Looks like scaffolding.

Seriously though a new stadium with an entertainment precinct. This is finally underway but is something we have needed for a while.
Updated airport with a train line.
I like Freo but it is lacking something these days. Not sure what it is or maybe its just me being used to it.
We need a unique tourist attraction.

but we have the bell tower? and from the bell tower you can see the BHP building.

what more do we need?


and yes, freo is looking very tired. I feel the uni has ripped the guts out of freo's back streets and one street doesn't make a town

 

[treefingers]

- round the clock public transport on weekends. every line should run at least once an hour from midnight to 6am saturday and sunday mornings. .

This is just a necessity. Would keep a lot of dickheads off the street waiting around for the 5am train, as well as being really convenient for people like me who want to leave at 2/3am and don't want to get the night rider (which is just brutal sometimes).

 

[Silent Alarm]

This is just a necessity. Would keep a lot of dickheads off the street waiting around for the 5am train, as well as being really convenient for people like me who want to leave at 2/3am and don't want to get the night rider (which is just brutal sometimes).

Good for the local, smaller economies in the inner suburbs too. Plenty of people back in drinking at midnight so they can catch the last train home. Plus, yeah, it does possibly limit the chance of punch-ups in the city.

I don't think a train line to the city is really needed in Melbs, though. Those SkyBuses come and go every 15 minutes and aren't too expensive.

 

[Gough]

I'd extend the tram line down King William road into North Adelaide at it's and then build a public transport hub at it's terminus servicing the Northern suburbs. This would bring North Adelaide more into the city and also service the redeveloped Adelaide Oval. Unfortunately it looks as though this once in a generation chance to reimagine Adelaide, is in true South Aussie fashion, being f***** up.

 

[The_Reaper]

A lot more decentralisation.

The major problem Perth has is that everything revolves around the CBD and the surrounding suburbs.

 

[The Speaker]

Go back in time and force them to build the Bell Tower at full height.

And what The Reaper said.

 

[FootyJunkie]

perfect

PERTHect

 

[bradrowe#32]

Perth needs way more accommodation and cheaper, better quality food.

 

[Power Raid]

Perth needs way more accommodation and cheaper, better quality food.

Nah, perthect


Says it all!

Who need good food, good wine or good value when the weather is great, the beaches are better and the women are......

 

[Leatherpoizoned]

For Perth, three linked things
- high frequency light rail for the inner suburbs (eg within the maylands/Morley/subiaco/Bentley/Victoria Park circumference,
- high rise, quality apartment infill in those areas, with Singapore style amenities, and a consequent major rethink in the Perthian 'oh noes!!! I need a quarter acre block and I will live in Yanchep if that is what it takes!!' sentiment.
- bulldoze and redevelop the 2km of used car lots along shepparton road near the causeway- that is prime real estate, and by far the best place to expand the CBD...

I was going to say things but I read this and realized you had already said it. Work!

A lot more decentralisation.

The major problem Perth has is that everything revolves around the CBD and the surrounding suburbs.

I would argue that decentralization has largely contributed to many of Perths problems what with our famed 'corridor' plan being such a failure.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Gaint wall around Mirrabooka/Nollamara/Westminster/Balga.

 

[Big Cox 88]

Agree x 1000 000 re the bhp building... Looks like they had a spare bit of scaffolding left over from the build, and thought they might as well just bolt it on top rather than cart it off site. Classic 'bold' 'innovative' statement which says 'just because I am an architect on a 500 million project doesn't mean I can't be a complete knob jockey'.

For Perth, three linked things
- high frequency light rail for the inner suburbs (eg within the maylands/Morley/subiaco/Bentley/Victoria Park circumference,
- high rise, quality apartment infill in those areas, with Singapore style amenities, and a consequent major rethink in the Perthian 'oh noes!!! I need a quarter acre block and I will live in Yanchep if that is what it takes!!' sentiment.
- bulldoze and redevelop the 2km of used car lots along shepparton road near the causeway- that is prime real estate, and by far the best place to expand the CBD...

Regarding the BHP building. It looks like that because all the businesses sharing the building including Rio Tinto and a few other mining companies were meant to have plaques put up on the scaffolding looking stuff. The reason that only the BHP plaque is up there is because BHP was asking for too many $$$ from the other companies to advertise up there.

I agree wholeheartedly about the other points you make, especially the shepparton road and albany highway strips. Vic Park and Lathlain are the next big things as they start getting cleaned up. What we need in Perth is a new stadium and a rail link to the airport.

Any beach along the coast is great from coogee all the way to yanchep, develop these areas with low level apartments, cafe strips and create a precinct lifestyle. Freo is a dying city and it is sad in a way, but unless the council opens up to changing it will continue to decline. South terrace/market st should be closed to traffic from the corner of Norfolk/parry down to cantonment street. Imagine this road being like las ramblas in Barcelona, now that is how to create a buzz in freo. Let small bars and restaurants open, it will open up the city.

 

[moses]

• Subway system around the CBD then out to the eastern suburbs;
• tram out to north adelaide;
• tram down to Port Adelaide;
• Train line extended from Tonsley down the southern suburbs, including a stop at Flinders Uni;
• Freeway bypass around the city
• Abolish the Adelaide City Council;
• Freeway to Victor Harbour
• High Speed Rail to Melbourne;
• High speed rail to the regional centres
• Major redevelopment of the riverbank

 

[Smoooothy]

• Subway system around the CBD then out to the eastern suburbs;
• tram out to north adelaide;
• tram down to Port Adelaide;
• Train line extended from Tonsley down the southern suburbs, including a stop at Flinders Uni;
• Freeway bypass around the city
• Abolish the Adelaide City Council;
• Freeway to Victor Harbour
• High Speed Rail to Melbourne;
• High speed rail to the regional centres
• Major redevelopment of the riverbank

while i agree with the rest of this, we don't have the population to justify the 2 bolded ones

high speed rail works in vic because the large towns/citys outside of melbourne are all inexcess of 100,000 people (or close to it). our biggest regional centres are murray bridge and mt gambier, all of which are around 20,000. the reason the railways were taken away from these towns was due to the lack of patronage

 

[The Passenger]

its interesting that a huge portion of these suggestions have been public transport related.

 

[nicky]

Quicker, smaller trains that are faster and come every 5 minutes instead of 15

Agree

What seperates melbourne from being a brilliant city is it's shitty transport. I would love to see investment in PT infrastructure including track networks that take you across and around town, instead of the current set up where all trains go to the centre of town, the "spike system". We need an outer loop.

 

[pie chucker]

public transport in Melbourne is great if you live within 10k of the city. I live in Kensington and have a choice of three train lines and a tram line. All 5-10 minute walk from my place.

But I grew up in the outer suburbs and it took an 1.5 hours to get to work in the city. Bus then train.

Hence why they are building more higher density apartment living closer to Melbourne at transport hubs.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Any beach along the coast is great from coogee all the way to yanchep, develop these areas with low level apartments, cafe strips and create a precinct lifestyle. Freo is a dying city and it is sad in a way, but unless the council opens up to changing it will continue to decline. South terrace/market st should be closed to traffic from the corner of Norfolk/parry down to cantonment street. Imagine this road being like las ramblas in Barcelona, now that is how to create a buzz in freo. Let small bars and restaurants open, it will open up the city.

Freo has the potential to be the coolest place in Perth. It's just the regressive, boring, anti-everything council. Although I don't care about the Dockers going to Cockburn, the city will absolutely rue it one day... seeing the boys having a coffee on the cappuccino strip is something good about the place. It still has a vibe, but it could be so much more.

 

[j0rdy1]

But I grew up in the outer suburbs and it took an 1.5 hours to get to work in the city. Bus then train.

How far out did you live? I take a bus a train and a tram to get to Uni going from my house to Blackburn then into the CBD then out to Bundoora, and that takes about 1.5 hours in the morning.

Personally I wouldn't change much about Melbourne, obviously Public transport can be improved substantially and a fair bit cheaper for commuters. I also wouldn't mind seeing one or two more nightclubs in the CBD as the quality is good but its pretty limited to where you go and then the lines are absurd.

 

[Gus Poyet]

Carpet Bomb Corio.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

its interesting that a huge portion of these suggestions have been public transport related.

Just on this, I think there a few things your average joe doesn't necessarily get about public transport, which explain why governments aren't building mass transit systems all over the place.

The first thing is most people will never ever be comfortable making a bus trip to a train station. It just becomes to complicated, and the risk of missing connections makes people feel uncomfortable. Trains, and public transport in general, are wonderful when you can get on a service within 500m of your house, which in one uninterrupted transport, will get you to within 500m of where you want to go. Anything more than that, and people will find an excuse not to use it, or at the very least want to drive to the station.

The second, related thing is that it is not the capital costs of building public transport systems which governments balk at, it is the reality that whenever a train makes a journey which isn't standing room only, it is most likely running at an extreme loss. Dispersed, outer suburbs transit networks might look great on the map, but unless you can consistently get near maximum use all day, all lines, the service will blow a continuously terrifying hole in people's budget. That is no joke- in WA the PTA gets subsided upwards of 600m pa of Government money- bearing in mind it is always running along the most profitable routes, if you doubled the extent of public transport coverage in WA, it would most likely cost taxpayers the equivalent of a new sports stadium each year, every year, into perpetuity.

This is why the cities which have the most effective public transport systems are those which focus on bringing people to live near the train lines, and building services which don't necessarily have enormous geographic coverage, but cover a more limited zone really really well. This helps drive up property prices, encourages population density, and therefore make the transit services more profitable (or at least less expensive).

 

[neroblack]

Agree

What seperates melbourne from being a brilliant city is it's shitty transport. I would love to see investment in PT infrastructure including track networks that take you across and around town, instead of the current set up where all trains go to the centre of town, the "spike system". We need an outer loop.

Melbourne is a brilliant city anyway.

But about public transport, the priority should be to get the existing system up to scratch, which requires the signalling to be fixed. Doing that isn't particularly advantageous politically, so it may not happen any time soon.

Other projects are being done where they can make big political statements about solving a problem (including current and former state govts) - not about providing a decent service. Williams Landing and South Morang stations are prime examples of this. The reality for both of these projects is that the road networks in the Point Cook area, and in South Morang, Epping North and Doreen are still stuffed.

As for the outer loop, the journey to work data from the ABS shows that there's no demand for this system, so it wont happen. The old inner circle and outer circle would probably get some use these days I think, but the costs to reinstate it would probably be prohibitive. Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Melbrail_former_present_proposed.svg

 

[Roobs321]

Canberra is pretty good. Things that would improve it;

1. Serious lack of Fish n Chip shops in this city, should be a go-to in most shopping centre areas
2. A train line between Canberra-Sydney could be nice. The Bus service apparently works fairly well though, so I imagine only something like a bullet train would ever be approved.
3. Capital city, but arguably a regional centre, so doesnt quite have all the services you would generally expect of a capital city. Some of the health services are a little lacking, but the ACT govt is generally okay.
4. With the death of Borders, lacks a reliable go-to bookshop. But I guess everyone is using amazon/book depository now anyway. My local one in Manuka is amazing, but the city centre probably needs one you can just lose yourself in.
5. Cost of living is probably up there with the worst in Australia. Hard place to live in unless you have a full-time job/flatmates.

By the way, the new mcdonalds/petrol station out near gungahlin before leaving canberra is a good addition. Canberra needed something like that.
Some also complain about parking, but the same could be said for any city really. The only other grievance is the winter cold, but nothing you can do about that.

 

[Simple Jack]

5. Cost of living is probably up there with the worst in Australia. Hard place to live in unless you have a full-time job/flatmates.

But how many people live in Canberra that aren't FT govt employees anyway? (serious question, I don't know)

The only reason I could ever even imagine moving to Canberra (and the only reason anyone I've ever known that lived there did) is if I got such a position.

 

[Mofra]

The divide in Melbourne is an issue - it's mostly due to transport - having to go via (or nearby) the CBD to move from one side of the Yarra to the other.

In the event it's too expensive to build proper infrastructure (it seems to be) - we should just build a giant wall and have West Melbourne & East Melbourne, then after a few years the Hoff can visit again and sing on top of the wall and we'll tear it down to tearful reunions. I've heard Berlin is awesome, we need to try this.