When news first broke about Maribyrnong council’s intention of instigating paid parking in the villages of Yarraville and Seddon, Consider The Sauce initially assumed a somewhat uncharacteristic half-empty outlook.
OK, I figured, there’ll be some grumbling … but what council wants, council will surely get.
These days, I’m not sure about that … at all.
Truth is, the campaign against paid parking – and the community anger that fuels it – is gaining impressive momentum.
It’s well organised, too, with social media activity, a petition and an online survey.
Today’s protest and march from Yarraville to Seddon was also an impressive display – a lot of people and many, many dogs (far more than covered in the pooch gallery below).
What I reckon were a couple of good points were made during the speechifying.
Namely …
That traders have a legitimate fear that many of their customers will shun paid parking and go where parking does not cost – particularly, though not entirely restricted to, Highpoint and Yarraville Square.
And secondly, if Yarraville and Seddon, then why not West Footscray?
On the rare occasions we have difficulty finding a car space, it’s just as likely to be in West Footscray as anywhere closer to home.
By contrast, the council’s case for paid parking – and I’ve read a lot – seems utterly wishy washy.
Of course, you’ll be unsurprised that have yet to encounter a resident or trader actually in favour of paid parking.
Yet the council, it seems to me, has as yet fallen way sort of being in any way persuasive in demonstrating the desirability or the need for its plans.
We shall see …
In the meantime, and once more donning my half-empty hat, I see a possible outcome being the shelving of the paid parking plans – only for them to be rolled out again a few years down the track.
 
The bloke on the right appears to have been partaking in the Koolaid …
consider the sauce 
Hi Kenny, I’ve seen quite a few people on social media who are either supportive of paid parking or not against it.
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Ok interesting … different from my experiences!
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it can be kind of scary to say you think paid parking is a good move. People tend to get angry.
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There are a lot of people out there who think that this would be a great way of discouraging people taking their cars to the villages and reduce the congestion on these busy roads. Most residents would still come, just on foot or bike.
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Can’t really see it as being a bad thing. How many would seriously go to Highpoint or Yarraville Square instead? Can’t say paid parking ever stopped me going to Fitzroy or Collingwood.
The reason for the push is probably best illustrated by the person holding the placard complaining of his $3,900 rates. I’d guess the council looks at the budgets of other inner suburban councils like Yarra, which last time I looked made tens of millions annually from parking fees, and sees a good way of diversifying its revenue base away from an over reliance on rates. A good portion of which would come from out of the municipality.
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Justin, have a look here to see how Maribyrnong council rates compare. I think you will be quite surprised to see that the rates are the highest in Melb. Ask yourself why is the council budget so high….why is a working class western suburb’s council rates even higher than more affluent bayside suburbs? Did someone say poor management and debt from the past from a bad development by the river, and some more big ticket grandiose plans in the future?
Vic 2013 rates: http://s3.datawrapper.de/ML9de/ (click to show 100 entries)
Vic 2014 rates: Note that this year the Maribyrnong council chose not to respond: http://www.mav.asn.au/about-local-government/local-government-finance/More%20rates%20packages/2014%20rates%20package.doc
And yet here is the council on a money sucking venture, with even a 2nd residents street parking permit now costing money on top of the highest council rates in Vic.
I would argue that with the highest rates in Melb you could assume that your right to park on the street would have been already funded.
Re the $3900 rates sign…..that’s one example of a typical rate bill in Yarraville…….but ask the people near the Angler’s Tavern about their $6,000 to $10,000 rates bill to the council.
Nope, I don’t live near that tavern, but I expect we both have the same expectations of roads, garbage and infrastructure without being overly reamed and then being charged to park on the street near home or local village shops.
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Love the dog photos, any chance you can send a copy of the raw image of the ‘guy with Koolaid eyes’ to my personal email?? His name is Doug 🙂
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Done!
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Ah, pay parking. It’s complex. Have a read of this: http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/links/13924/europe-takes-u-turn-parking. That said, if you’re going to introduce pay parking in one locality it should be across other similar ones – such as West Footscray. It’s actually very unfair that Footscray has pay parking and Seddon and Yarraville don’t. I argued as such when I was on Council when we introduced pay parking to Footscray.
The big prob is that private parking at Yarraville Square and Highpoint is not regulated by Council. It should be, and if its pay parking elsewhere, it should be pay parking there too. And the other issue is how you pay for it. it’s really annoying having to have coins. Why we can’t have payment systems via mobile phones like they do in Europe I don’t know
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Hi Janet, I’ve heard that at least one local council accepts payments via a mobile app – not sure which one though. I’d argue it’s fair to charge pay parking at Highpoint too, to be honest, although it’s one of the few places we do drive to – it wouldn’t be much of a deterrent when it’s the closest Bunnings etc in range. When we do drive to Seddon we usually end up having to park a few blocks away from Victoria St because it’s so busy, and we’d probably do the same to avoid paying for parking – but those who want to park on the main street can choose to pay for it – seems fair.
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Seddonite, they get away with it because of an apathetic community. I was on a rates system review 3-4 years ago and it died from a lack of interest. Every year a draft budget is released and submissions taken and they get very few responses. I’ve been to council meetings when I have been the only one in the public gallery. And when Yarraville had an outstanding independent councillor in Janis Rossiter, she lost to an ALP hack. My experience is most councillors are happy to engage the community and would love to see more community input. There is even a senator (and former councillor) posting above – engage her.
What you have as a result of this is gentrification providing a thin veneer of urban cool over an area where the cost of living is high, air quality is poor, traffic and congestion is getting much worse and council planners have been totally captured by developers is resulting in an increasingly awful urban environment. And it is only going to get a lot worse, unless people start getting off their backsides and using the avenues available to engage the council. Taking the dog for a walk and waving a few placards about won’t do anything.
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Paid parking will deter some people from shopping in Yarraville and Seddon. It will also push those that continue to shop there, and need to drive, to park in the surrounding areas. Areas where most residents don’t have off street parking and will then have to compete with shopping parkers. The council would have us believe that paid parking is to relieve parking pressure but there is no parking pressure. It is simply to raise revenue. The crazy thing is that if they actually enforced the current parking restrictions and basic road laws of parking they could collect a HUGE amount of revenue. I see people parking illegally and dangerously everyday and rarely a parking officer or ticket in sight. Even when the council are called to alert them of issues they do not attend. It makes no sense – as does paid parking!
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