The City of Port Phillip Gets Ready to Vote!

Filed under Community Events, Local Community, News by on October 12, 2012 at 8:53 am {no comments}

The theatrics of Obama v Romney mean little compared to the high times and intrigue of the upcoming campaign and resultant election day in the City of Port Phillip. Make sure you head to your local polling booth on Saturday 27th October to have your voice heard via the ballot box. Voting is compulsory for all residents, unless you are aged 70 and over or you are a non-resident. Let the campaign begin! In today’s blog Chisholm & Gamon share some nuggets of information about the interesting nominees up for your consideration.

  • Three-time former City of Port Phillip Mayor Dick Gross once again has his eyes on the prize and has nominated to run as a Port Phillip councillor. Flamboyant and recognizable, Dick is also a keen tap dancer, author and journalist.  A member of the Order of Australia and recent actor in the Sesame Street Muppet Show, Dick hopes that upon his re-election he will be able to ‘right the ship’ which has ‘ossified’ under current leadership.

 

  • Women make up a third of all nominees in this year’s council elections (across the state), with 659 females nominated. 80% of wards have at least one female looking for election, which is up an impressive 75% since 2008. Local council elections have become increasingly publicized, likely helped by the immediacy of social media marketing and perhaps a shift in communities towards higher political engagement.

 

  • The City of Port Phillip will have four under-30 nominees competing for a spot on council at the upcoming election. In a brief report in the latest Port Phillip Leader, the four youthful would-be councillors spoke about their primary focus should they be elected. These range from finding creative solutions to social housing to improving public facilities such as bathrooms and train stations. For more details on these nominees and their ideas, click here.

C&G: Healthy Habits Get The Kids To School

Filed under Local Community, News, Tips & Advice by on June 5, 2012 at 5:11 pm {no comments}

How do your kids make their way to and from school each day? Do you live close enough for them to enjoy cycling or safely walking in groups to their local primary school – or is it a matter of needing to do a morning drop-off and pick-up with the car? Did you know that the majority of trips families take by car are less than 400 metres – to the school or the local shops? If you’re currently driving your kids to and from school, today’s blog may inspire you to consider other methods of transport on a daily basis. Today’s C&G blog celebrates healthy ways for local kids to make their way to and from school – inspired by St Kilda Primary Schools’ recent addition of a shiny new bike rack – encouraging their pupils to make their way morning and night on two wheels or two legs!

This week the Port Phillip Leader reported that St Kilda Primary celebrated the arrival of a new bike rack to their grounds. The shiny rack will fit 20 bikes, and was installed by a parent to save on costs for the school. Valued at $6000 and purchased with the help of the City of Port Phillip and Bicycle Network Victoria, the school hope that the new racks will encourage pupils and their parents to consider bike-riding as their first mode of transport! With childhood obesity an issue of some concern nation-wide, secondary physical activity such as bike-riding or walking to school can counteract our increasingly sedentary lives. St Kilda Primary School actively encourage cycling to school, and support a healthy lifestyle culture.

The City of Port Phillip have a Walking School Group program in place for those who don’t feel so comfy on two wheels (or four wheels, if you’re training) yet. All parents want to make sure their children arrive safely at school in the morning – and this is one of the key reasons many parents prefer to drop their kids off at the gates personally using a car. The Walking School Groups are a terrific way to work extra exercise into your kids’ days, without compromising on safety in the process. Supervised by volunteer parents, the safe walks of 15-20 minutes provide around a quarter of the daily exercise we need. Also known as the ‘Walking School Bus’ program, Port Phillip was one of the first council to instigate the program. Many of our local schools take part in the ‘Walking Schools Bus’ including St Kilda Park, St Kilda, Middle Park, Albert Park, St Columba’s (Elwood) Primary and Port Melbourne Primary School.

To find out more about participating in this program with your child, click here.

Diversity Day in the City of Port Phillip

Filed under Community Events, Local Community by on March 21, 2012 at 9:27 am {no comments}

Stop press! If you’ve got some time in your lunchbreak today, make sure to pop down to the beautiful St Kilda Town Hall from 12:00pm-2:00pm to celebrate Diversity Day. Today’s brief C&G blog whets your appetite for this great community celebration.

Being a nation of migrants, diversity is one of the hallmarks of our multi-cultural community. The City of Port Phillip is a great example of this convergence of traditions from all around the world, and today the council is putting on quite a ‘bash’ to honour the tapestry of people that make up our community. The front lawn of the St Kilda Town Hall is going to be abuzz with music, live entertainment (including Bollywood dancing, hip hop, indigenous dancing and ZUMBA!) and an array of foods from around the world. A little birdie tells us there will be henna painting and a community choir too.

This is what our Mayor Cr Rachel Powning has to say about today’s event:
“Diversity Day is one of the ways we are encouraging our smaller communities to connect, learn a little bit about each other and celebrate their differences and similarities. It’s also an opportunity for Council to highlight our respect and support for our diverse communities.”

Don’t worry – even though the weather forecast is a bit glum, if it’s raining they will move the cultural caravan into the Town Hall. Enjoy and take advantage of this fun mid-week event.

Market Rise: Port Phillip Leads the Way

Filed under News, Real Estate News, Research by on February 6, 2012 at 2:38 pm {no comments}

The City of Port Phillip has many beautiful features – the glittering bay, wonderful outdoor areas for kids big and little to frolic, an architectural cross-section of homes from the 1920′s through to contemporary developments, festivals and trend-defining restaurants. In short, there’s lots to love! We’re pleased to hear the latest comments from the REIV  - that the property market in Port Phillip leads a rise in consumer housing confidence. Today’s brief Chisholm & Gamon blog reports on the good news!

If you drive around the City of Port Phillip, you’ll notice that despite media nay-saying about low market confidence and lack of investment – there’s numerous residential developments under construction. Across our three agency network, we continue to experience strong interest from parties wishing to invest in the bayside region. In fact, according to the REIV - Port Phillip is one of the only suburbs of Melbourne continuing to experience a growing population. In the last quarter the Port Phillip market has grown by 6.3% – a trend we can expect to continue in light of late 2011′s two interest rate drops. Will the RBA drop the national rate by another .25% in February? Industry pundits suggest yes. Should the big banks elect to pass this cut along in full to mortgagees, it will further hasten a return to market by first home owners – traditionally key parties who look to buy apartments and units south of the city. This will be positive for current home owners looking to sell their properties to up or downsize, with more willing buyers in the marketplace creating robust competition.

For Chisholm and Gamon, 2011 ended on a strong note with excellent results, keen demand and buyer competition exhibited at auctions. As new developments are constructed in our catchment area and migration to our neighbourhoods continue, we are confident that bayside suburbs will remain firm favourites among the investor and owner-occupier communities. Looking to add to your City of Port Phillip property portfolio? Our bet is to buy now, as the market is set to rise.

An exciting sustainable community garden is growing in Elwood!

Filed under Local Community by on January 16, 2012 at 3:02 pm {no comments}

 

 

Today’s Chisholm & Gamon blog reports on an exciting sustainable community garden growing in Tennyson Street, Elwood.

 

Poets’ Garden is a community garden being established at the rear of the Elwood St Kilda Neighbourhood Learning Centre in Tennyson Street Elwood. The name of the garden reflects the neighboring streets in the area, named after famous poets. Many local residents and businesses would be unaware that such a large parcel of under used land was available at the rear of the centre which is currently used as a family playground and will continue to do so, in conjunction with the new community garden.

 

The aim of the garden is to bring together a diverse mix of people who share a common interest to create sustainable gardens where they can grow and share food whilst forming new friendships. The current membership has local people from all age groups and backgrounds, many whom never would of met, if it wasn’t for this community project. Many members with young children have expressed the desire to be able to educate their kids where food actually comes from. This ‘ground up’ project touches all aspects of community and the Poets Garden community invite you to become involved.

 

Poets Garden need your support to help them grow.

Poets Garden is a professionally run not for profit organisation and therefore every cent has to be accounted for and used responsibly. To complete their project they require additional funds and services. All their members live and shop locally, wherever possible supporting businesses in the City Of Port Phillip. By supporting Poets Garden you support the whole community. Their agenda for 2012 is to have Poets‘ Garden fully operational. Projects planned include:

 

• The construction and material supply of a further 8 hardwood raised garden beds.

 

• An innovative vertical garden to maximise the available growing spaces.

 

• Solar panels and their installation to provide sustainable energy and lighting.

 

• The funding of a wood fired oven to be enjoyed by the whole community.

 

• Obtaining manual garden tools.

 

• Outdoor table and chairs suitable for a public space.

 

• A gas (portable) BBQ.

 

• A lockable chook enclosure.

 

If your business or an individual would like to help via donation of goods and services or financially, Poets Garden can offer recognition to the community via their website as well as possible signage opportunities which will be viewed by the hundreds of local visitors to the garden site each week.

 

Poets Garden have already recieved a generous donation from South East Water of a large capacity water tank to help them remain as sustainable as possible and encourage you to visit Poets’ Garden at any time.

For further information please contact

 

Andrew Plymin, President, Poets’ Garden on 0407 772 020 or email aplymin@bigpond.com

 

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