We've closed our community poll regarding whether to relocate one of the Blue Cityglider stops on Montague Rd, so that the service stops near Raven St and the Montague Markets precinct, rather than further south near Cordeaux St and Forbes St. The original wording of the poll question is at the bottom of this post.

As of the beginning of March 2023, the results were:

68 votes (20%) - "Make no changes – keep the Blue Cityglider stops at Cordeaux Street"

273 votes (80%) - "Relocate the Blue Cityglider stops from Cordeaux St to Raven St near Montague Markets"

I've just sent the following letter to Councillor Ryan Murphy, Chair of the Transport Committee, advising that given a binary choice, the community supports relocating the stop, but that we would ideally prefer the glider to stop at both locations. The letter explains a bit more about how the poll was promoted etc. I understand that the council will now initiate the process to establish the new glider stop, which could take several months, as it also needs sign-off from the State Government. We are also still continuing to advocate for improvements to the 192 service so that it runs more frequently, and its operating hours are extended so it runs on weeknights and weekends.

Letter to Councillor Murphy:

Dear Councillor Murphy,

I write to confirm my request that the Blue Cityglider service should be changed to stop at Montague Rd near Raven St (Stop 12).

I have already passed this information to your transport network planners directly, but for your information, the community poll we conducted showed 80% support for relocation. http://jonathansri.com/citygliderpoll

In total, 342 residents cast a vote in the poll, with 68 residents choosing ‘Make no change – keep the Blue Cityglider stops at Cordeaux St’ and 274 residents choosing ‘Relocate the Blue Cityglider stops from Cordeaux St to Raven St near the Montague Markets.’ Notably, there was a lot of feedback from residents – both via comments on the poll and direct contact with our office – emphasising that they didn’t think they should be forced to choose between one option or the other, and that they supported the glider stopping at both locations even if this did add slightly to the overall journey times.

The poll was promoted via a printed newsletter to every household in the Gabba Ward, by email newsletter to approximately 9000 recipients, by multiple social media posts on Twitter and Facebook (including directly to local community groups) and via posters at each bus stop along Montague Rd south of the Aldi shopping centre (including those bus stops where the glider doesn’t currently stop). The poll was open for well over 3 months.

I have passed on the data regarding the suburbs of poll participants to your transport network planners (with no other identifying information) which shows that the vast majority of participants were West End residents, with ‘South Brisbane’ the next most common suburbs among respondents.

I remain of the view that the Blue CityGlider should ideally be stopping at both the Cordeaux St and Raven St stops, and this is the ultimate outcome that the Greens will continue to advocate for. For now, we understand that your administration is insisting on choosing between one stop or the other, and if forced to choose, my community’s clear preference is for the Glider to stop at Raven St near the Montague Markets.

However, we feel that when you consider

• the high population densities around Forbes St
• the fact that the Cordeaux St stop is the closest and most convenient stop for community facilities such as the South Brisbane Sailing Club and the larger Orleigh Park playground/picnic area
• the proposal for a new footbridge connecting to Toowong to land in the vicinity of Forbes St

there is a very strong case for maintaining high-frequency Blue CityGlider stops at both locations, particularly if the State Government still isn’t committing to extending the 192 service to operate on weekends and weeknights.

We believe that any marginal increase to cityglider travel times arising from adding an extra stop to the route is more than justified by the advantages of providing high frequency bus services in close proximity to as many residents and businesses as possible.

I ask that you initiate the process of establishing a Blue Cityglider stop at Montague Markets/near Raven St, but that you remain open to the suggestion of also keeping a glider stop operational at Cordeaux St into the future.

Warm regards,

Jonno

Jonathan Sriranganathan

Councillor for the Gabba Ward

Brisbane City Council

(Pronouns: He/They)

P: 3403 2165 | A: 2/63 Annerley Road, Woolloongabba

W: jonathansri.com | E: [email protected]

Please note that some of the info in these newsletters (especially event listings) can go out of date quite quickly.

Dear residents,

I hope you’ve been coping ok with recent heatwaves. Such events remind us that we live in a divided city. Some of us have well-designed homes with good ventilation and solar-powered air-conditioning. Others (mostly lower-income renters) live in musty ovens that are expensive to keep cool and downright unsafe to inhabit during power cuts. It’s increasingly clear that strengthening renters’ rights and adapting our city for a warming climate are closely linked priorities.

Given that we now have active state and federal representatives who are sending out their own regular email newsletters, I’m aiming to only send out updates every three weeks and will see how that goes. Feedback on the kinds of issues and questions you’d like addressed in these newsletters is always welcome.

New free bus route comes to Kurilpa!

One piece of good news from the start of this year is the introduction of a new free bus loop running every 12 minutes between West End and South Brisbane. The route 86 began operations in late January and is the first free public bus service in West End/South Brisbane that I can remember. It runs in an anti-clockwise loop along Vulture Street, Grey Street and Montague Road.

While most Brisbane bus routes are funded by the State Government (who also collects all the ticket revenue), this service is funded directly by Brisbane City Council on a one-year trial basis (it will be cancelled if ridership is not high enough). It’s very rare for new bus services to be introduced anywhere in the city, and we almost never get new free services, so this is a big win for our community.

Interestingly, this service is not at all about connecting 9-to-5 commuters who are travelling to and from the city (it doesn’t run into the CBD). Its focus is on connecting different precincts within the 4101 postcode and improving accessibility for people with impaired mobility (such as parents with small kids, or elderly residents) who might find it difficult to get from central West End down to South Bank (or vice versa).

I really like that the service runs late into the evenings and on weekends/public holidays, but currently it only starts at 10am, which is a missed opportunity to cater to morning demand. If you’d like to see the service start earlier each day, please email the mayor at [email protected] to congratulate the council on introducing this new service, and ask that it start operating at 7am or 8am instead of 10am.

You can find more info about the new bus loop - including an explanation of why the route doesn’t also run in a clockwise direction - at this link. One of the main barriers to getting more high-frequency services connecting different parts of the Gabba Ward is that buses get held up in general traffic congestion. If we want to improve public transport, we also need to take lanes away from cars to create dedicated bus lanes - a difficult but important conversation to be starting in our community.

To help celebrate the new bus route (and bump up the patronage numbers) I’m organising a “Words on Wheels” spoken word concert up the back of the bus for the evening of Monday, 13 February. 

Passengers can get on the 7:20pm service of the route 86 bus at the GOMA bus stop (Stanley Place, South Brisbane) and ride the loop while listening to 20 minutes of acoustic performance poetry (if there’s lots of demand and too many people to fit on the bus, we’ll do a second loop of performances on the 7:40pm service). Free entry of course. More details via the Facebook event.

Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding - Renovate or Relocate?

By the end of this century, rising sea levels mean that many of Brisbane’s coastal and riverside suburbs are likely to experience flooding, not just periodic creek and river flooding after heavy rain, but every high tide due to seawater inundation.

This raises some difficult but important questions:

• Which streets and neighbourhoods should be relocated to higher ground due to flood risk?
• Should the council continue offering services like road resurfacing and garbage collection along streets that go underwater twice a day?
• If people knowingly move into waterfront homes that will be at risk from sea level rise, is it the wider public’s responsibility to bear the cost of either relocating those homes or building flood walls to protect them?

To start discussing and thinking through these questions, I’m organising a Regenerate Brisbane forum in Sandgate this Saturday from 2:15pm to 4:45pm. Although some suburbs (like Sandgate and Brighton) are much more at risk of coastal flooding than others, the long-term costs will likely be carried by the city as a whole, so it’s important that residents from across Brisbane start thinking through these issues together.

Where: Sandbag Community Centre, 153 Rainbow St, Sandgate

When: Saturday, 13 February, 2:15pm to 4:45pm (afternoon tea from 2:15, presentation from 2:30)

The venue is fully accessible. Please register for the event via this link to assist us with catering estimations.

South Bank Master Plan

As mentioned in previous emails, South Bank Corporation has been seeking feedback on its draft master plan to guide future development and land use within the precinct. At this link, you can download a joint submission on the master plan that I made with Amy MacMahon (State MP for South Brisbane) and Max Chandler-Mather (Federal MP for Griffith).

Among other things, in our submission we recommend redesigning the intersection of Vulture St and Grey St to prioritise pedestrians ahead of cars, and highlight concerns about South Bank’s proposal to add more food and drink businesses on low-lying parts of the riverfront that are highly vulnerable to flooding.

Shafston House, Kangaroo Point

The Labor State Government recently signed off on a development application for the State Heritage-listed Shafston House site. We're now waiting to hear whether the LNP-led Brisbane City Council will also approve the DA.

The application doesn’t seek to demolish the main Shafston House residence but it does propose to demolish some of the ancillary structures that still have significant heritage value. It also proposes to locate a large highrise tower (of luxury apartments, not affordable public housing) looming right over the historic buildings, and perhaps most concerningly, will build out luxury townhouse residences on part of the open lawn, which is one of the last riverside green spaces on the eastern side of Kangaroo Point.

Shafston House is one of the oldest and most historically significant buildings in the city. I would like to see it brought back into public ownership for use as a community centre, arts venue and meeting space, with the riverside lawns opened up as a public park. The council has the money to do this, but would prefer to spend public funds widening roads rather than protecting green spaces and historic buildings.

Shafston is a key site for Kangaroo Point’s future public river walk. Residents who live in other nearby buildings that don’t have direct access to the river will need to be able to walk and ride through the site to access the riverside pathway that BCC and the State Government want to complete between Dockside and Mowbray Park.

If this development goes ahead as proposed, it would lock the public out of Shafston altogether, meaning that all the residents who live on the southern/western sides of Thorn St, Castlebar St and Lambert Street won’t actually be able to get through to the riverwalk (which means more of them will continue to drive as their main mode of transport).

This is another classic example of how undemocratic and short-sighted our city's current approach to urban planning and development assessment has become. We should be building more high-quality public housing in the inner-city that preserves and enhances public green space and encourages public and active transport. Instead, we're seeing more approvals of the same cookie-cutter private luxury developments that function primarily to drive up land values and make developers rich while ordinary people have to take out bigger and bigger mortgages just to get a roof over their head.

It's not too late to email the mayor at lord[email protected] to give feedback on this development.

New South Brisbane dog off-leash area

Recently, the mayor sent out a printed newsletter that included a surprise announcement of a new dog off-leash area at 53 Grey St, South Brisbane in Jolly Place Park. I’ve been advocating consistently for new dog off-leash areas in the Kurilpa Peninsula for some time now, but I was not consulted prior to the announcement of this particular location.

I still think we need another, larger dog off-leash area for the 4101 postcode that’s closer to the centre of West End and I encourage residents to email the mayor at [email protected] to advise that a bigger, more centrally accessible dog off-leash area will still be needed. We haven’t had much info about this project yet, but I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

Extending Dutton Park bike lanes into Annerley

Local residents group Active Travel for Annerley are inviting residents to sign a petition for protected bike lanes, safer speed limits and safer crossings along Annerley Rd from Biscuit to Ipswich Rd (Biscuit is the nickname for the new high school at Dutton Park. Residents are advocating for upgrades that would extend the Woollongabba Bikeway south along Annerley Road and make it easier and safer for locals to access schools, workplaces, parks, train stations and local businesses by bike or walking. More people cycling would also take more cars off Annerley Road in peak hours.  

Local school P&Cs, elected representatives and other community leaders have signed an open letter supporting these changes.  

The petition and further background information can be found at this link.

You can also follow Active Travel for Annerley on Facebook, and residents who are interested in getting actively involved with volunteering on the campaign for separated bike lanes are welcome to apply to join the Active Travel for Annerley internal Facebook group at this link. 

I'm also still lobbying the council to install safer physical separators along the existing stretches of Annerley Rd bike lane in Woolloongabba and Dutton Park, and to redesign the Annerley Rd intersection approaches of Stephens Rd and Park Rd to reduce the risk of cyclists being cut off by merging cars.

Lower speed limit on Gladstone Rd, Highgate Hill

Finally, I’m pleased to report that the council has agreed to lower the speed limit of Gladstone Rd from 60km/h to 50km/h between Audenshaw St and Vulture St. This is the section around the Blakeney St shops, and given the high volumes of pedestrian and cyclist activity in the area, plus all the dangerous right-turn movements, it makes sense to slow down cars.

I would ultimately like to see most of Gladstone Rd lowered to 40km/h, with most of the smaller side-streets coming off Gladstone Rd in Highgate Hill lowered to 30km/h, but the LNP are still resistant to that.

The 50km/h speed limit will take effect from 15 March, 2023.

Alright, that’s enough local news for one email. Remember, if there's a local issue that needs addressing, the best approach is to call the council on 3403 8888, and get in touch with my office if you're unhappy with the response. Don’t forget to check out the other upcoming community events listed below.

Warm regards,

Jonno

South Bank Corporation has produced a draft master plan to guide the future evolution of the South Bank precinct, and sought feedback from the general public and other stakeholders. At the time of posting, the Master Plan document can be found via this page.

Your federal, state and local government elected representatives for the South Brisbane area have made a joint submission into this draft master plan which you can download via this link.

If you have further feedback on the Master Plan after the 'official' public consultation period closes, we recommend you email the Planning Minister Steven Miles at [email protected] and South Bank Corporation at [email protected] (you can also CC in Amy MacMahon MP at [email protected] and [email protected] to keep us in the loop).

Dear residents,

We missed our last fortnightly email, as I had to take a couple days of leave. A few weeks ago on a Friday evening, I tried to calm down a man who was heavily intoxicated, stumbling around on the road and acting aggressively towards members of the public. He punched me in the face, breaking my nose and chipping several teeth, and I was taken to hospital overnight. My nose has been reset (it will always look slightly wonky from now on) and is healing slowly. I’m totally fine now, but I must say that I’m looking forward to a proper break over Christmas. 

Depending on how busy we are over the coming fortnight and how many urgent issues I need to notify you about, this might be my last email newsletter before the Christmas break, in which case, merry Christmas and happy new year!

Housing policy forum

Even as house prices start to drop a little, we still have a problem of widespread and rising homelessness and housing insecurity in this city. As I’ve discussed previously, many of the necessary policy responses are under the control of state and federal governments.

However there’s also plenty that local governments like Brisbane City Council could do to help address the ongoing crisis, including a more nuanced approach to land zoning, and targeted rates categories to discourage empty properties and rent-gouging.

To unpack some of this, I’m running a policy forum on Monday evening in the CBD. This is a free, public event. We’ll also be providing a vego BBQ.

Where: Cathedral Square, 410 Ann St, Brisbane CBD (250 metres north of Central Station)

When: Monday, 12 December, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Please invite anyone you know who might be interested in discussions about the citywide policy responses that could help address this chronic need. It would help us greatly if you can register via this page.

Ferry Services

Residents who rely on river-based public transport will be pleased that the Holman St, Sydney St and QUT Gardens Point ferry terminals have finally reopened for operations.

Generally speaking, the city’s newer ferry terminals copped the most damage in the February 2022 floods, and have taken the longest to get back online. This is mainly because these terminal locations are the most vulnerable to being hit by debris (which is also why they are newer - the previous terminals in these locations were destroyed in 2011 and had to be replaced). The remaining older terminals got back into operation faster because they were in less damage-prone locations to begin with.

BCC has outsourced so much maintenance and design expertise that it no longer has sufficient staff in-house to repair and maintain its assets, and had to first get experts to assess the damage, estimate repair costs, then go out to tender to get more contractors to actually undertake the work. There are also very few private contractors in Brisbane with the relevant skills and staffing capacity, which compounds the problem.

Work was also delayed slightly because the council didn’t want to proceed with repair works until its insurers confirmed the insurance would cover the kind of work that was proposed.

BCC has said the Maritime Museum, UQ St Lucia and Milton ferry terminals will reopen in the next couple of weeks, but hasn’t yet confirmed a date. We still have no idea when work will start on upgrading and replacing the Dockside terminal so that ferry services can return to the eastern side of Kangaroo Point. I remain very disappointed in the way the council administration has handled this project, and I’ve been regularly raising concerns through internal channels.

Bus network review - help us improve the 192!

As explained on this web page, BCC is proposing significant changes to the bus network which will take effect in late 2024 once the Metro vehicles are in operation along the South East Busway.

However there’s currently no proposal to improve the 192 operating hours, even though this is a key service connecting UQ Lakes, Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, Montague Rd and the CBD (and the only service running along Dornoch Tce in Highgate Hill). We are calling for the 192 to run on weekends and nights, not just weekdays.

It would help us if you fill out the council’s online survey to explain that you want the 192 operating hours extended, and also email the mayor (at [email protected]) and the transport minister (at [email protected]) to underscore this message.

Should we relocate a Blue Cityglider bus stop?

Separately to the Bus Network Review, the council is also considering whether to relocate a Blue Cityglider bus stop from Montague Rd near Cordeaux St (Stop 14) to Montague Rd near Raven St (Stop 12 - closer to the Montague Markets shopping centre). BCC has formally resolved to delegate this consultation to my office, and will take my advice on whether to move the stop or keep it where it is.

If the Blue Cityglider stop changes from Cordeaux St to Raven St, only the 192 service will continue to stop near Cordeaux St.

I believe decisions like this should be made by local residents, not politicians. So we’ve launched a direct online poll about it. If you haven’t already done so, you can cast your vote via this link. Residents who don’t have internet access can call my office on 3403 2165 to make sure their vote is counted.

At the time of writing, about 80 residents have voted in the poll, and it seems the vast majority support relocating the stop closer to Montague Markets. Please have your say.

South Bank Masterplan

As mentioned in my previous email, South Bank Corporation is seeking public feedback on its draft master plan. I’m pleased that they’ve extended the public feedback period until 31 January. I encourage you to view the plan at this link or find summary information via this link, then give feedback via their survey at this link.

Some of my main concerns with the draft master plan include:

• It still proposes to maintain through-traffic access all the way along Grey Street (this is a poor outcome - Grey St should not be open as a route for cars and trucks traveling between Woolloongabba and the William Jolly Bridge at South Brisbane)
• It seeks to retain some short-term street parking on Grey St and surrounding streets, which is definitely not necessary considering how much off-street underground parking there is at South Bank - street parking space is better utilised for pedestrian footpaths, bike lanes and street trees
• The proposal for more low-set riverfront restaurants underneath the cultural forecourt in front of QPAC raises technical questions about how resilient these commercial uses will be to flooding, and how service and delivery vehicles will access these businesses
• Depending on how it’s implemented, the plan could lead to a proliferation of higher-end businesses with more fine dining and boutique hospitality venues, but comparatively few affordable options for food and drink
• The plan offers no detail about how shared spaces will actually be managed and controlled to ensure they remain accessible to the general public - I’m concerned that the escalating over-regulation of public spaces is tending to persecute and marginalise homeless and vulnerable people
• It doesn’t offer any new ideas to activate the dead and desolate frontages of the Brisbane Convention Centre (the sides fronting onto Merivale St and Melbourne St in particular would benefit from greater ground-level activation)

As well as filling out the online survey, you can also email submissions to [email protected] (ask them to reply to confirm receipt).

There’s a lot of good stuff in the draft masterplan, but I definitely think it can be improved further with more public input.

Enhancing green space in Highgate Hill

The western end of Beaconsfield Street in Highgate Hill is closed to cars, and functions as public green space (although it’s not an official public park). Recently we got a few more trees planted around the edge of this space, and this Saturday morning, local residents are running a working bee to mulch more of the space, clear some invasive weeds, and help the block eventually evolve into a more complex multi-layered forest ecosystem.

If you’d like to help out with the working bee, or just meet your neighbours and reflect on how much more green space could be created in the inner-city if we closed more sections of road to cars, come along to the corner of Beaconsfield St and Derby St from 8am this Saturday. (Make sure you bring a hat and a water bottle!)

You can invite friends and keep updated via the Facebook event at this link.

If you live in or regularly visit West End, please remember to cast your vote regarding the proposed Cityglider relocation. Other community events are listed below.

If I don’t speak to you again beforehand, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Warm regards,

Jonno

Brisbane City Council is currently seeking feedback on proposed changes to its bus network. Most of these changes relate to the inner-city and southside, and are connected to the fact that the Brisbane Metro project will replace many of the bus routes that currently run along the South East Busway. Not much is changing in other parts of the city, but for the southern suburbs and inner-city, this represents the biggest suite of bus route changes in at least a decade.

You can find heaps of information about the new bus network via this page and this interactive map. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to give your feedback via the online survey at this link, which closes on Wednesday, 14 December.

In Brisbane, public transport is mostly funded by the State Government, and the State Government collects all the ticket revenue (more detail at this link). This means that generally speaking, if BCC wants to improve bus services in one area, they have to take drivers and vehicles off another route, unless the State Government agrees to increase its overall funding contribution.

Most of the changes in this proposed ‘New Bus Network’ are focused on removing partially duplicated services that run all the way into the city, and instead creating better bus connections from various suburban pockets into the main Metro lines that run along the busway.

It will be impossible for the council to please everyone when the state government is failing to increase its overall funding commitment. Personally I think there are many logical, positive changes proposed as part of this bus network review, but I’m disappointed that there are also a lot of missed opportunities.

Among other things, I think we’re overdue for a conversation about how the 198 service can be rerouted to provide more direct connections between the southern end of Highgate Hill and the various other destinations it services. The current route is far more circuitous than it needs to be.

Improving the 192 bus operating hours

My biggest concern though, is that the council still isn’t proposing to improve the operating hours of the 192 bus service. The 192 is the major connection between UQ Lakes, Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, West End, South Brisbane, and the city centre, and services many more stops along Montague Rd than the Blue Cityglider does. But it doesn’t run at night or on weekends, which means residents who live along corridors like Dornoch Terrace can’t even catch a bus to the shops on a Saturday morning.

The council has proposed extending the coverage of the 192 further south into Fairfield, Yeronga and Yeerongpilly, which means many more people will be using this service in future, so the case for it to run at night and on weekends is even stronger.

If you’ve already filled in the council's abovementioned online survey and highlighted the need to improve the 192, I would appreciate it if you can also email both Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, and the State Government Transport Minister, Mark Bailey, to emphasise that we really need the 192 to run on weeknights and weekends if we are to reduce inner-south side traffic congestion and encourage a shift away from car dependence.

Email the Mayor via [email protected]

Email the Transport Minister via [email protected]

This image shows the proposed new 192 bus route extending into Yeronga and Yeerongpilly

It's pretty rare for new bus services to be introduced in Brisbane, let alone a free service. So I'm very excited that BCC has agreed to launch a new free bus loop for the Kurilpa Peninsula, running counter-clockwise along a triangular route following Grey Street, Montague Road and Vulture Street, between South Brisbane and West End.

BCC has told us the service will begin operating from Monday, 23 January, 2023 (although they originally told me it would begin in July 2022).

The Kurilpa Triangle service - officially designated as Route 86 - will run from 10am to 11pm, seven days a week, on a frequency of 10 to 15 minutes. This new free loop is being introduced on a trial basis to partially compensate for connectivity impacts from the Brisbane Metro construction project. Whether it continues long-term, and whether its operating hours or frequency can be improved, will depend on its popularity. If it gets a lot of use, it'll be easier to advocate for it to continue operating beyond the Metro construction period. You can find more of my previous commentary regarding advocacy for this route at this link.

Kurilpa Triangle stop locations

Official details haven't yet been published on the State Government's Translink website, but we understand route 86 will service the following stops:

• Montague Rd new Queensland Theatre (New Stop)
• Montague Road near Brereton Street - Stop 5
• Montague Road near Mollison Street - Stop 6
• Montague Road near Donkin Street - Stop 7
• Montague Rd at Davies Park - Stop 8
• Vulture St near West End State School - Stop 9
• Vulture St near Cambridge Street
• Vulture St between Thomas St and Boundary St
• Vulture St opposite West End Uniting Church
• Vulture St at Brisbane Backpackers Resort (New Stop)
• Vulture St at Brisbane State High School
• Tribune St near Colchester St and South Bank train station (New Stop)
• Grey St at South Bank Cinemas (New Stop)
• Grey St at South Brisbane train station (New Stop)
• Stanley Place, Gallery of Modern Art

If you have suggestions on other locations where you feel an additional stop would be well-utilised, you can email the mayor directly at [email protected] and CC my office at [email protected] 

Why doesn't the service run in both directions?

It's a little inconvenient that the new trial service only runs counter-clockwise, and that you can't catch it in the opposite direction. The main reason for this is that there's no suitable intersection for buses (which need more turning space) to turn right from Grey Street onto Vulture Street. In the future, the intersections of Vulture St-Grey St and Vulture St-Merivale St will likely be redesigned to better accommodate public and active transport modes, which could open up more opportunities for a clockwise route to be added to this bus loop service.

Why doesn't the service start earlier on weekday mornings?

I would much prefer it if this service started from 7am in the mornings rather than 10am. As this is a trial service, available funding for the new route was somewhat limited, which meant some trade-offs had to be made in terms of operating hours.

From what I could glean from council officers, two factors in particular are contributing to making it more costly and difficult for it to run as a reliable service during the morning peak period:

1. There's currently a citywide shortage of trained, qualified bus drivers who are available to operate council services during the busy morning peak periods. As a result of the city council and state government relying too heavily on an increasingly casualised bus driver work force, and the council administration's failure to attract and retain experienced drivers, it has become harder to find enough drivers to cover all morning peak period bus services across the city, and a new trial route like this is a lower priority.

2. This loop route uses some very congested road corridors. Vulture Street in particular is extremely slow and congested on weekday mornings, as are parts of Grey St and Montague Rd. A local service running during the morning peak would be so slow and unreliable due to general traffic congestion that it would often be quicker to walk between West End and South Bank than to catch a bus. This highlights why we need to consider converting sections of general traffic lanes along Vulture St and Montague Rd into dedicated bus lanes. If we could find space for dedicated bus lanes (at least on the approaches to key busy intersections) it would be much easier for this service to operate reliably during the morning peak. But achieving that would require taking away street parking space and general traffic lane space from cars (which is something I support, but which the LNP council administration is still resistant to).

I'm very pleased that I've been able to help secure this new free bus service for the 4101 postcode.

However, considering how much population growth our area has experienced in recent years, this doesn't even come close to meeting our needs for improved public transport services. My other public transport advocacy priorities for the Gabba Ward include:

• getting citycats (and not just ferries) to stop at either Dockside or Holman St in Kangaroo Point
• securing a new citycat terminal for the western side of West End (near Victoria St or Beesley St)
• improving the operating hours and frequency of the 192 service so that it runs at night and on weekends
• securing new north-south and east-west cityglider services to fill missing gaps in the inner-south side's public transport network, and 
• redesigning the 198 service so it provides more convenient and useful connections between the southern side of Highgate Hill and the South Brisbane hospital precinct.

Please note that we are also currently consulting on whether to relocate one of the Blue Cityglider stops on Montague Road.

Dear neighbours,

Lately I’ve been thinking a bit about the radical potential of local government, and how the fact that we’ve had the LNP running Brisbane City Council for such a long time means we often overlook the many ways that we could transform our society for the better if we had a more progressive local council. I’ve written a few thoughts about the topic that you can read at this link if you’re interested.

In yesterday’s council meeting, I had a go at moving a motion to slightly restrict construction noise in residential areas. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn’t get much support from the LNP.

Important: South Bank Master Plan

After many delays, South Bank Corporation has released its draft master plan, which is intended to guide how the precinct will evolve over coming decades. They’re calling for public feedback on the draft masterplan until 14 December (I think this is too short a timeframe for such a major document). If you believe we should have a longer public consultation period for this draft masterplan, you could consider writing to the Deputy Premier, Steven Miles at [email protected].

You can view the plan at this link or find summary information via this link.

You can give feedback via their survey at this link.

Similar to most city council and state government planning exercises, South Bank’s consultation process is unclear about how much weight they will give to submissions and feedback from the general public, compared with feedback from major stakeholders such as the business sector, the Department of Transport, QPAC, the Maritime Museum etc.

There are lots of positive elements in the draft masterplan, including:

• improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists along Grey St
• connecting the publicly accessible riverfront esplanade along the Maritime Museum site frontage
• creating more spaces along the riverfront where the public can get right up to the water’s edge
• slight increases to greenery and tree canopy cover throughout the precinct
• closing off parts of Little Stanley Street to cars

I’m still working my way through the document to understand it all. But so far, some of my main concerns with the draft master plan include:

• it still proposes to maintain through-traffic access all the way along Grey Street (this is a poor outcome - Grey St should not be open as a route for cars and trucks travelling between Woolloongabba and the William Jolly Bridge, it should only be open to cars and delivery vehicles accessing local destinations)
• It seeks to retain some short-term street parking on Grey St and surrounding streets, which is definitely not necessary considering how much off-street underground parking there is at South Bank - street parking bay space is better utilised for pedestrian footpaths, bike lanes and street trees
• The proposal for more low-set riverfront restaurants underneath the cultural forecourt in front of QPAC raises technical questions about how resilient these commercial uses will be to flooding, and how service and delivery vehicles will access these businesses
• Depending on how it’s implemented, the plan could lead to a proliferation of higher-end businesses with more fine dining and boutique hospitality venues, but comparatively few affordable options for food and drink
• The plan offers no detail about how shared spaces will actually be managed and controlled to ensure they remain accessible to the general public - I’m concerned that the escalating over-regulation of public spaces is tending to persecute and marginalise homeless and vulnerable people
• It doesn’t offer any new ideas to activate the dead and desolate frontages of the Brisbane Convention Centre (the sides fronting onto Merivale St and Melbourne St in particular would benefit from greater ground-level activation)

As well as filling out the online survey, South Bank is also inviting residents to attend one of their ‘community drop-in sessions’ so you can ask more questions and give feedback in person. Details of the session times, dates and locations are available at this link.

Active travel studies

As mentioned in my last email newsletter, BCC is running an online consultation about how it can improve active transport safety and convenience along Vulture St, Boundary St and Melbourne St in West End, and around the northern end of Kangaroo Point.

These consultations are due to close on 21 November, and will shape the allocation of State Government funding which has been publicly committed to South Brisbane bikeways and the Kangaroo Point riverwalk.

I encourage residents to participate in this consultation process and remind BCC of the importance of safely separating bikes and scooters from other modes of transport along busy roads, and completing the Kangaroo Point riverwalk as soon as possible.

South Brisbane study - https://yoursay.brisbane.qld.gov.au/south-brisbane-active-travel-study

Kangaroo Point study - https://yoursay.brisbane.qld.gov.au/kangaroo-point-active-travel-study 

Amy MacMahon and I have organised a few info sessions to share our thoughts about what we think the priorities are, and to take questions from residents. Thanks to the residents who came along to our first session at AHEPA Hall on 30 October.

We will be hosting two more info sessions at the following times/locations:

Session 2: Kangaroo Point Riverwalk
Where: Mowbray Park, East Brisbane (near the playground and toilet block)
When: Sunday, 13 November, 10am to 11am

Session 3: West End/South Brisbane Bike Lanes
Where: Musgrave Park, South Brisbane as part of the Meanjin Reggae Festival (look for the ‘Radical Futures Lounge’)
When: Saturday 19 November, 2pm to 3pm

Composting green waste to reduce landfill

As some of you would be aware, Brisbane households can order a ‘green waste’ wheelie bin to collect organic garden waste (e.g. leaf litter, branches etc) to be composted by the council. Putting green waste in a dedicated bin is much better than putting it into the red-lidded standard wheelie bin, where it will end up in landfill rather than being composted.

A green waste bin collection service currently costs $23.42 on the quarterly rates bill (roughly $1.80 per week). If you’re a renter and you’ve asked your landlord for a green bin but they’ve refused, feel free to get in touch with my office, as we are happy to advocate to your landlord or agent on your behalf.

Of course, if you do have space in your own yard, it’s usually much more sustainable to just compost garden waste at home and keep all those nutrients on your own property.

BCC is gradually rolling out a new pilot program of also collecting food waste from kitchens in the green waste wheelie bin. In a few specific areas of the city, you can now also put vegetarian food waste in your green bin to be composted (but not meat or dairy). One of these areas is around Dutton Park and the southern side of Woolloongabba (the choice of area is based on garbage truck collection routes) - view the map at this link. The council is still expanding its capacity to safely and hygienically compost more food waste from more households.

Of course, as with yard waste, it is much more sustainable and cost-effective if you can minimise food waste in the first place, and compost it at home to add nutrient-rich soil to your own garden beds and pot plants, rather than getting it collected by garbage trucks. Composting your own food waste doesn’t have to take up a lot of space or time. I even do it on my houseboat using two small compost bins and a couple of sealed tubs that I rotate between.

Getting more renters and apartment residents onto solar power

Next Thursday evening, 17 November, I’ll be cohosting an online forum about the Haystacks Solar Garden, a cooperative project where people can buy a share in a collectively-owned solar panel array and use the renewable energy it generates to offset your power bill.

This is a decentralised, non-profit option for renters and apartment residents to access renewable energy that you own and control, even if you can’t get solar panels installed on the roof of your own home.

The info session starts at 6pm and should wrap up by 7pm. You can register for the session via this link.

Seeking feedback on how I seek feedback on Blue CityGlider bus stops

Before I initiate a new consultation process about a local issue, I like to think about how it will be structured so we can maximise informed participation using our very stretched and limited resources.

Following a large petition from residents, I’ll soon be launching a community poll on whether to ask council to relocate one of the Blue Cityglider bus stops. Currently, the Cityglider stops near Cordeaux St, West End towards the southern end of Montague Rd, but doesn’t stop at the Montague Markets/Woolworths.

The residents’ petition wanted an extra Cityglider stop near Montague Markets, but BCC doesn’t want to add more stops - the council is only willing to relocate an existing stop. This means that if we made the change, only the 192 would stop near Cordeaux St.

A local consultation process about this decision is never going to reach absolutely everyone who is potentially affected by it, and I want to be confident that the outreach methods we use don’t skew the responses too much.

Given our past experiences and feedback that online channels are more accessible for more people than in-person meetings, I’m proposing to run an online poll as the main feedback channel, with an option for residents who don’t have the internet to call or write to my office to have their vote counted.

The poll will be promoted:

• in our next printed newsletter, delivered to letterboxes across the entire Gabba Ward electorate
• via signs at all bus stops along Montague Rd south of Victoria St
• via my email newsletters and my main social media channels (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)

I’ll also hang out at the existing Cordeaux St Cityglider bus stops and the existing Montague Markets 192 bus stops on a few occasions to catch people for face-to-face conversations and make sure they know to vote in the poll.

I intend that the poll will remain open for about two months, so that we can lock in a decision early next year.

I’m hoping this approach will cast a wide enough net. I’m mindful that if I directly approach specific groups and stakeholders (such as body corporate committees etc) to encourage their feedback, that could distort the representativeness of the responses.

Relocating a bus stop is a relatively small decision in the grand scheme of things, but I want to be sure residents don’t have any concerns about the proposed decision-making process before I kick it off. It’s likely that the council will accept whatever outcome I recommend (either keeping the Cityglider stop at Cordeaux St or relocating it to Ferry Rd/Raven St).

If you do have any concerns about this approach to consultation, please let me know ASAP. I’d prefer to avoid a situation where people who are unhappy with the outcome instead try to contest the legitimacy of the process (as is often the case with community consultation).

Tree removals

A medium-sized tree will be removed soon outside 66 Ernest Street, beside the South Bank Tafe site. The tree is completely dead and will be replaced by a new tree (Melaleuca viridiflora species) in the same location, so I don’t have any concerns about this one.

I do remain concerned however that Energex is still a little overzealous about removing trees that are growing anywhere near overhead power lines. Recently their contractors were about to remove two jacaranda trees growing along Annerley Rd just south of Gloucester St, but we heard about it in time and were able to stop them. If ever you hear about Energex planning to remove a tree that you think should be retained, please get in touch with my office as soon as possible.

Alright, that’s probably enough of an information dump for this week. Don’t forget to check out the other community events listed below.

Warm regards,

Jonno

Dear neighbours,

I had a couple weeks of annual leave recently, so this is our first email newsletter in over a month, and there’s lots to cover. Here’s a list of topics covered in this email - scroll down to the headings that interest you.

• Great turnout to defend East Brisbane State School
• Bike lanes for West End and Kangaroo Point Riverwalk
• Bus network review and the 192
• St Vincent’s redevelopment at Kangaroo Point lacks green space
• West Village development causes traffic safety concerns
• Kangaroo Point ferry terminals
• Land Forces protest and arrest
• Community-owned solar projects to offset rising power bills
• Barrambin/Victoria Park Master Plan

But first on a lighter note, artist Martina Clarke painted a portrait of me recently that won the People’s Choice award for the Brisbane Portrait Prize. I’m honoured to be the subject of such a beautiful painting, and have been enjoying the ensuing discomfort of the Courier Mail editors (the Courier Mail sponsors the prize, but it’s obvious they would have preferred some other portrait to win the popular vote). I feel privileged to be able to represent an electorate full of so many amazing artists. Congratulations Martina!

The fight to save East Brisbane State School

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the State Government has no plan for the future of East Brisbane State School. Education Minister Grace Grace has now confirmed that this school would be displaced if the Gabba Stadium is demolished and replaced with an athletics stadium, but has no answer to the question of where the school is supposed to go.

So I’m very grateful to all the residents who turned up last Thursday morning to support the school community’s protest against the Gabba being used as an Olympics venue. I thought our state and federal representatives did a good job of highlighting the key issues and attracting significant media coverage of the campaign (full press conference at this link and livestream from the event at this link).

I feel like more people are waking up to the reality of how ridiculous this Olympics Stadium proposal is, and I’m optimistic that if we can keep up the pressure, we can secure more funding for improvements to East Brisbane State School so it can handle growing enrolments, while sending the Olympics somewhere else.

West End and Kangaroo Point Active Travel Studies

At short notice, Brisbane City Council has launched online consultations about how it can improve active transport safety and convenience along Vulture St, Boundary St and Melbourne St in West End, and at the northern end of Kangaroo Point.

These consultations are due to close on 21 November, and will shape the allocation of State Government funding which has been publicly committed to South Brisbane bikeways and the Kangaroo Point riverwalk.

While we're concerned about the limited scope and timeframe of these consultations, we're hopeful that they represent an opportunity to secure new separated bike lanes along Vulture St linking West End and Woolloongabba, to reimagine Boundary and Melbourne Streets as pedestrian-friendly environments, and to complete the missing links of the riverwalk between Kangaroo Point’s Dockside precinct and Mowbray Park.

We encourage residents to participate in this consultation process and remind BCC of the importance of safely separating bikes and scooters from other modes of transport along busy roads, and completing the Kangaroo Pont riverwalk as soon as possible.

South Brisbane study 

Kangaroo Point study

We thought residents might have some questions about this very rushed process, so Amy MacMahon and I have quickly organised a few info sessions to share everything we’ve been told by the council.

We will be hosting three info sessions at the following times/locations:

Bus Network Review and the 192 Service

As part of introducing new Metro vehicles onto the busway, BCC is restructuring a bunch of bus routes, mostly around the city’s south side (there are very few changes around the northern and eastern suburbs).

This ‘New Bus Network’ is not the holistic overhaul that the city’s bus network ultimately needs, but generally speaking, I think it’s a step in the right direction. The new services and network arrangements won’t take effect until the Brisbane Metro construction project is finished (currently scheduled for late 2024).

As part of this network review, the council is proposing to extend the 192 bus service south through Yeronga and Yeerongpilly (see image at this link).

The 192 service is a crucial link, particularly for Dutton Park and Highgate Hill.

But the council isn't proposing any improvements to operating hours (this is largely because Mark Bailey MP and the State Government are refusing to increase funding for public transport), so the 192 would still only operate on weekdays from around 6am to 7pm.

It's pretty ridiculous that an inner-city bus route servicing high-density neighbourhoods doesn't run on weeknights or weekends.

Even if this service is extended south, there still won't be any way for residents of Highgate Hill, Yeronga etc to catch a bus to the university or into West End on weekends or weeknights.

So I’m hoping you can support me by giving feedback through the council's online survey to highlight that you will be much more likely to use the 192 bus service if it runs on weekends and weeknights. You might also like to directly email the Transport Minister, Mark Bailey, at [email protected] to ask him what he can do to get the 192 running on weekends and weeknights.

St Vincent’s Private Hospital redevelopment lacks green space

The public submission period is closing soon regarding the development application by St Vincent’s Hospital at Kangaroo Point to build private luxury highrises on the hospital site.

This DA proposes highrise residential towers of up to 19 storeys on a site which is zoned for ‘Community Purposes’ (which means under the City Plan that it wasn’t intended to be used for residential development at all).

Rather than a car-free development with lots of public transport, the applicants are also proposing to significantly increase the amount of off-street carparking on the site. I’m concerned that the hospital’s location on the Main Street approach to the Storey Bridge means that introducing hundreds of additional car movements associated with this large development will worsen traffic congestion around the northern end of Kangaroo Point.

I’m also troubled that there’s no proposal to include any public parkland or significant space for more trees as part of this development. You’d think that considering St Vincent’s were originally gifted this site (for free) to use as a hospital, now that they are developing residential towers on the land they would be good enough to set aside a large part of the block to create some more badly needed green space. But they are in fact only setting aside about 700m2 as ‘connected open space’ (which will mostly be concrete) out of a total site area of 20 000m2.

I strongly encourage residents to put in a submission objecting to this development application. You can just submit dot points of your concerns, calling for a plan with more public green space, more trees, fewer cars, and for any housing that’s built on the hospital site to be public housing.

You can find the plans and application documents via this link and you can make a submission via this link. 

Another West Village tower but no pedestrian safety improvements

As predicted, the West Village development has been a major generator of additional car traffic around West End, particularly on Mollison Street, where hundreds of cars are using the driveways to get in and out of the basement carparking for the shops and apartments. I’ve repeatedly told Brisbane City Council that the driveway design is unsafe, and that pedestrians walking along Mollison Street to reach key destinations like the Blue Cityglider bus stop are being endangered and inconvenienced by the large number of cars coming in and out of the West Village site.

West Village has just lodged the development application for their final 15-storey tower. You can read the plans at this link and submit comments via this link.

The DA includes a childcare centre, but doesn’t clearly indicate how many children will be accommodated or where exactly they are all supposed to play. In addition to the usual concerns such as inadequate green space and unsustainable building design, I’m disappointed that West Village isn’t proposing any pedestrian safety improvements to the Mollison Street driveway crossover. It would help my advocacy if a few residents can submit comments adding your voice to these concerns, but I’m worried that the cosy relationship between the LNP and the developers means they might not actually do anything.

Ferry terminals

On Tuesday, Brisbane City Council updated its projections for when ferry terminals that were damaged by the February floods will be back in operation.

• Sydney Street – late November
• Holman Street – late November
• QUT Gardens Point – late November
• Milton – December
• Maritime Museum – December
• UQ St Lucia – December
• North Quay – early 2023
• Regatta – early 2023

The council said that Fitzgerald, a ‘specialist marine contractor’ is undertaking repairs to the damaged gangways off-site at the Port of Brisbane (this perhaps explains why we haven’t seen much work underway at the terminals themselves).

We still don’t have any dates or clarity regarding the timelines for the new Dockside ferry terminal. It seems like the council is primarily focussed on getting the other damaged terminals repaired and operational before turning to the Dockside and Mowbray Park projects, so it could be a while yet.

Land Forces Protest and Arrest

As you might have seen in the media, a few weeks ago, I was arrested outside the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre while taking part in an authorised peaceful assembly against the Land Forces arms dealer expo.

I certainly didn’t plan on getting arrested, and I think the Queensland Police were completely unreasonable and excessively rough in terms of how they handled the situation. I believe that they didn’t have lawful grounds to arrest me, and that they will end up having to drop the case. But more broadly, I’m disgusted that our political leaders are continuing to support and advocate military weapons manufacturing as a growth industry for South-East Queensland, and that the Queensland Police are being used to suppress peaceful protests against this outrageous misuse of public funds. My next court date is 14 December. I guess we’ll see how it all goes.

Community solar as the answer to higher power bills?

With all this talk of rising power bills, I think it’s timely to be sharing information about community solar gardens and other communally-owned renewable energy projects.

Lots of people in our community - including renters and most highrise apartment residents - are prevented from installing rooftop solar.

This is a major social justice issue, in that poorer members of our society will be stuck with rising power bills while wealthier homeowners benefit from rooftop solar. But it’s also a key problem to address if we are to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and minimise the negative impacts of global warming.

So on Thursday, 17 November at 6pm, I’m co-hosting an online forum with the Haystacks Solar Garden project where we can hear about how this cooperative structure works and how people can get involved if they want.

If you’re interested, I encourage you to register for the free online forum via this link.

Give your feedback on Barrambin/Victoria Park draft master plan

Consultation is closing this Sunday on the draft plan for the future of Barrambin/Victoria Park.

I’m very proud that I’ve been able to play my part in getting this huge site converted from a golf course into genuine public parkland, but I’m concerned that the council’s draft masterplan is full of greenwashing and nowhere near as sustainable as it pretends to be.

While there are lots of good elements to the plan, I’m concerned that:

• There’s far too much carparking (close to 900 carparks altogether), which means a loss of green space and more people being attracted to drive to the park rather than using public or active transport - public green space shouldn’t be used for carparking
• Not enough of the site has been set aside for urban farming - this is a great location for food forests and community gardens but only a small chunk of the site is identified for these purposes
• While there are lots of trees and manicured garden beds, there are not enough densely vegetated natural habitat areas
• Too much concrete, bitumen and hard infrastructure in general

Please take a look at the council plan yourself, and give feedback via the survey.

Alright, well that was a massive email! As usual, we’ve listed a few more community events below. Please take special note of the forum this Monday night that we’re co-organising with Amy and Max about preparing high-density communities for future floods.

See you around!

Warm regards,

Jonno

Please note that some of the info in these newsletters (especially event listings) can go out of date quite quickly.

Current as of 10 June, 2022 - please note that some of the info in these newsletters (especially event listings) can go out of date quite quickly

Dear residents,

I hope you’re coping better than I am in this cool weather. My little houseboat feels very cosy at this time of year, which makes it extra hard to get up and ride off to work each morning. But there’s a lot happening in our area at the moment that you might be interested in…

Pushing back against gentrification

Unfortunately, the LNP-dominated Brisbane City Council is continuing to approve developments which aren’t supported by sufficient investment in public infrastructure, or which put upward pressure on property prices.

Recently, the council approved a development application for 5 Dudley Street, Highgate Hill, which is proposing to demolish an existing 3-storey building of fourteen smaller apartments, and replace them with a 5-storey building that has just seven luxury apartments. Low-income tenants will be pushed out to make room for a taller, bulkier building that actually houses fewer people (and doesn’t comply with the neighbourhood plan).

I’m worried that this approval could set a precedent for other sites around the inner-city, as there are many other blocks which are zoned for 2 and 3 storeys where the council might start approving 4 or 5-storey luxury apartment developments, displacing even more low-income residents.

Meanwhile, beside Davies Park, the council is currently considering an amended application for the proposal of two towers at 281-297 Montague Rd, looming over the soccer field. The developer has reduced their proposal to a height of 20 storeys, but Amy MacMahon and I feel that this is still too tall for the site and will cause significant traffic issues along Montague Road. The current height limit is 6 to 12 storeys, but we would ideally like to see these blocks acquired by Brisbane City Council and amalgamated into Davies Park.

Amy and I previously wrote to the local cement company Hanson, expressing our concerns about the negative impacts of these two projects, and asking Hanson to refuse to supply concrete to them. Hanson still hasn’t replied to our letter, so we are organising another protest against these development proposals, specifically targeting the cement factory.

Please join us on the morning of Saturday, 18 June when we will gather in Davies Park from 9am and march down Montague Road to Hockings Street, to temporarily block access to the Hanson Cement factory. You can RSVP for the protest at this link and invite friends to the Facebook event via this link.

Protest against eviction of disability pensioner

Unfortunately the State Government has recently reached a new low, as they are trying to evict a disability pensioner named David from public housing in Taringa, apparently on the basis that he didn’t keep the place clean enough.

I’m partnering with Greens MP Michael Berkman and the Brisbane Renters Alliance to protest this eviction and put some pressure on the State Government not to make this man homeless. If you can make it over to Taringa from 9am on Friday, 17 June, we could really use your support.

Please invite friends to the Facebook event and spread the word through whatever channels you can!

Metro Construction changes in South Bank and Dutton Park

Construction work on the Brisbane Metro is stepping up in intensity, with some significant impacts for roads and parks within the Gabba Ward.

The council has advised me that from 24 June, the following permanent traffic changes will be made around South Brisbane to facilitate construction work around the Cultural Centre Bus Station…

• Grey Street will be reduced to two traffic lanes (one lane in each direction) between Russell Street and Peel Street
• Melbourne Street will be closed to general traffic between Hope Street and Grey Street - general traffic will not be able to access Melbourne Street inbound between Hope St and Grey St or outbound between Grey St and Merivale St
• The left turn from Hope Street onto Melbourne St will be closed
• The left turn from Grey Street onto Melbourne St will be closed

The following temporary changes are also taking effect during the construction period:

• Melbourne Street will be reduced to two traffic lanes (one lane in each direction, not inclusive of turning lanes), between Manning Street and Merivale Street. All traffic travelling inbound on Melbourne Street will be forced to either turn right onto Merivale Street or left onto Hope Street
• Some of the loading zones, street parking and motorbike parking along Grey Street around Fish Lane will be removed
• The separated bike lanes that run alongside the Cultural Centre (connecting from the Grey Street intersection to the Victoria Bridge) will be closed and cyclists will have to travel on the shared footpath. 

More details on these construction impacts can be found via the council website at this link.

Over at Dutton Park, most of the lower field beside the UQ Green Bridge is being fenced off, and work will soon begin on installation of Metro vehicle charging infrastructure for the UQ Lakes bus station on the other side of the river. I’m not very happy about this aspect of the project, as it involves removing several established trees, but the council has at least agreed to make some significant green space improvements elsewhere in Dutton Park - including converting some bitumen beside the river back into green space - in order to offset the negative impacts.

Xylophones on Boundary Street?

We’re still in negotiations with the council and other stakeholders about the future of the small public space at the corner of Russell Street and Boundary Street, behind the lizard statue. My long-term goal is to close off the western end of Russell Street to cars in order to create a much larger public space, but the LNP are still quite resistant to that.

For the time being, I’m proposing to ask council workers to install an outdoor musical instrument around the edge of the existing public space, as well as some more seating. These outdoor instruments won’t take up much room, and can be relocated later if necessary. They are supposed to be weatherproof and vandalism-resistant.

We are also proposing to install a small glockenspiel at the corner of Vulture St and Thomas St near the entrance to Bunyapa Park.

If you have any questions or concerns about these proposed installations, please send us an email. Personally I think they’ll be a positive addition to these public spaces, and I’ll be interested to see how they go.

‘Official’ opening of Inner South State Secondary College

On Tuesday I attended the official opening of the new public high school at Dutton Park. The students who performed in the band and sang in the choir did a great job.

It’s a bit odd that a school which began accepting students from the start of 2021 was still under construction until November 2021, and wasn’t officially opened until June 2022 (by which point students had been studying there for almost 18 months), but I guess that’s a sign of the times.

My two biggest frustrations with the new school are:

1. It doesn’t have enough green space for the kids, which means students regularly have to cross Gladstone Road and walk across the UQ Green bridge to access sports fields at UQ, and
2. The catchment boundaries of the school have been drawn in such a way that they don’t actually take much pressure off Brisbane State High.

The new facilities really are very impressive though, and it was nice to see the new school formally celebrated after so many residents spent years campaigning for a new high school.

When I joined the push for a new high school for the inner-south side in 2014 (well before I was elected as a city councillor), a lot of people said it would never happen. By that point, some residents had been highlighting the need for a new school for years, and had given up hope that the political system would ever respond to community pressure. So while I still believe the State Government made a poor decision in terms of the specific location and catchment boundaries of this school, I think it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the many years of activism from local residents and community groups that contributed to this facility being delivered.

Based on the future projected population growth for West End and South Brisbane, it’s possible we may still need another new high school for the Kurilpa Peninsula at some point in the future, even if BSHS does drastically reduce its ‘out-of-catchment’ intake. This will be an important issue to keep an eye on.

Highgate Hill Concert

As noted in the events list below, there’s another free community concert coming up in Highgate Hill Park this Saturday afternoon (11 June). My office has ordered additional portaloos to accommodate the event, and the organisers have committed to being proactive about cleaning up any litter left behind by residents afterwards. It looks like the concert will be quite well attended, and parking around the park is extremely limited, so I encourage residents to travel to the park by public or active transport rather than driving if possible. 

Tree removals

Council arborists have advised that they are removing a couple of trees around the ward that are either dead or are seriously injured/sick and at risk of falling over.

Locations include:

• 125 Gray Rd, West End
• 7 Vulture St, West End
• 21 Appel St, Highgate Hill
• Mater Hospital Emergency Entrance on Vulture St, South Brisbane

If you have more questions about any of these tree removals, please flick us an email. The arborists will be planting replacement trees in the same locations or nearby.

That’ll probably do it for this week. Please do come along to the protests next Friday and Saturday morning if you can!

Warm regards,
Jonno

Upcoming Events

BCC has initiated a reasonably broad-scope investigation into the 2022 floods, to be led by Mr Paul de Jersey. The following text is copied from the Terms of Reference circulated to councillors by Mr de Jersey on Friday, 18 March.

You can read my submission here.

Review into the February 2022 Brisbane Floods ‐ Terms of reference

18 March 2022

Context

1. The City of Brisbane has throughout its history been the subject of intense seasonal weather events. It is not uncommon for Brisbane to receive several weather warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) throughout summer months. Of relevance, was the flooding event of 2011 which resulted in the findings of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry being released in March 2012 (QFCI Report).

2. As a result of the 2011 flooding event Brisbane City Council (Council) established a board in late January 2011 and requested a report be produced by the middle of May 2011 (Brisbane Flood Report).

3. In response to the recent weather event described below, Council seeks to have an independent review undertaken to ensure that Council continues to improve its ability to protect lives and property from similar natural disasters in Brisbane in the future.

The Weather Event

4. Between 24 and 28 February 2022, South‐East Queensland and northern New South Wales experienced an unprecedented weather event (Weather Event).

5. The Weather Event was the largest rainfall event (for that period) to have occurred over the Brisbane catchment with 792.8mm falling 24 February 2022 to 9.00am 28 February 2022. To put this in perspective, this exceeded the 1974 rainfall record of 655.8 and represents about 80 per cent of Brisbane’s yearly average rainfall falling in this five‐day period.

6. The Brisbane River peaked Monday, 28 February at 3.85m (AHD city gauge) at 9.00am. whilst this is less than the 4.46m AHD recorded in 2011, the widespread intense rainfall also caused significant creek and overland flow flooding.

Appointment and Scope

7. On 1 March 2022 the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Adrian Schrinner announced that former Governor and former Chief Justice of Queensland the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC CVO QC would undertake an independent and comprehensive review with respect of the following matters:
(a) the extent to which Council has implemented the relevant recommendations from the
QFCI Report and the Brisbane Flood Report, as they related to the City of Brisbane, prior
to the Weather Event;

(b) the effectiveness of measures recommended by the QFCI Report, and the Brisbane Flood
Report taken by Council to improve the protection for flood prone properties from
inundation with a particular focus on backflow devices and the Flood Resilient Homes
Program;

(c) the effectiveness of Council’s disaster management framework in responding to the
Weather Event having regard to the combined means of other relevant entities, with a
focus on:
i. Council’s disaster management organisational structures and policies;
ii. the establishment of Council’s evacuation centres;
iii. the adequacy of public information provided by Council on flood risk for individual
properties;
iv. the coordination with other government agencies, communications and utility providers; and
v. community response, including the organisation and management of community volunteers.

(d) the adequacy of the Council’s public warnings and advice, having regard to:
i. the requirements and responsibilities of the other relevant entities, such as the State Government, Commonwealth Government and BOM;
ii. the reliability and timeliness of the information provided to Council by other relevant entities;
iii. the capability of external systems relied upon by Council;

(e) the effectiveness of changes made to the Planning Regulations 2017 in mitigating loss and damage in respect of flood prone areas post 2011;

(f) the resilience of riverine and waterways infrastructure which has been upgraded or constructed following the 2011 flood event (a list of relevant infrastructure is provided in Attachment ‘A’).

Submissions

8. Mr de Jersey will be calling for submissions from all Councillors, Council, and all others at Mr de Jersey's discretion, in respect of the matters subject of the review, with submissions to be provided to Mr de Jersey by close of business 8 April 2022

Report

9. Mr de Jersey is required to produce a report addressing the above matters including any recommendations arising from the terms of reference which he considers as reasonable to improve the City's preparation and planning for any such future weather event.

10. The report is to be provided to the Lord Mayor on or before 1 July 2022. However, should Mr de Jersey require any further information on a particular matter that cannot be addressed in the above timeframe, this request should be made through the report and be addressed after the provision of the material. This timing will enable any recommendations to be addressed prior to the next summer’s wet season.

11. The report will be made public following its delivery to the Lord Mayor.