Coburg is a place of varied characteristic: diversely populated, hills and vales, lots of kebabs and walnuts.
'Initiative' is probably not one of Coburg's better known characteristics. 'Adapting to circumstances' might be rather more accurate, if the conversion of Pentridge Prison into a luxury apartment village is anything to go by.
Hence M.Shriek was slack-jawed with amazement to learn of The Coburg Initiative. Sufficiently slack-jawed to ask: 'what is the Coburg Initiative?'
The Coburg Initiative is a plan. Not just any plan - it's an action plan. An action plan to implement a Structure Plan - the Coburg 2020 Structure Plan. It is, if Moreland City Council propaganda is anything to go by, a plan 'about new jobs, housing, services and retail' which 'will lead to improvements to the public realm', provide a focus on 'new connectivity between people and their places of work, culture, sport and leisure' and will celebrate and preserve 'the things that make today's Coburg great'.
M.Shriek hopes readers will agree that that all Sounds Great.
There are a few caveats on the execution of the Coburg Initiative. The first is that the plan will be actioned by Equiset, a Grollo Group subsidiary. The second is that the Coburg 2020 Structure Plan is based on the Melbourne 2030 Strategic Plan for sustainable growth - the same Melbourne 2030 which Premier John Brumby appears to have gone extremely cold on.
M.Shriek hopes readers will agree that that all Sounds Rather Worrying.
On the whole, M.Shriek can only conclude that one way or the other there will be a great deal of relief once the Hon.Prem.J.Brumby has actually faced the voters in the polls. Being the kind of Premier who jettisons without notice previous strategic plans and policies for sustainable living should prove much easier to pull off with some sort - any sort - of popular mandate.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Feds: Feeney and the Kelvinator
Moreland is lucky enough to host two federal politicians. Senator David Feeney has recently settled just across from the Post Office Hotel, while Kelvin Thomson, Member for Wills, has long been located just around the corner near the Coburg RSL.
Moreland Shriek powerfully endorses both the Post Office and the Coburg RSL, and some of their gloss may yet rub off on the feds.
Feeney, as he is known to those who hope that calling him 'Feeney' will somehow impart characteristics similar to Chuck Feeney (but not Tom Feeney), has only been in parliament since mid-2008. The jury is still out on Feeney, but he does have the inestimable good fortune of being married to a top-notch legal eagle who goes by the fabulous name of Liberty Sanger, so it is safe to assume he will make a very good case indeed.
The Kelvinator, as he is known to the friends he has not yet met, is a bit of a dude and an all-round champion. He's tall and bald and lean and mean, and he gives a big damn about Edgars Creek. He also mixes it up with the local hoods: Tony Mokbel, Phil Cleary, Bob Hawke. All came before the Kelvinator, yet only the Kelvinator remains.
He has also lately been having a stern word with high school students about population control. But more of that later. First, there are more important matters to attend: do you prefer the Post Office Hotel or the Coburg RSL? M.Shriek readers will immediately realise the importance of this question. M.Shriek suggests the answer is crucial to political fortunes in Moreland.
Being concerned about political fortunes in Moreland, M.Shriek thought it wise to put this question to both Feeney and the Kelvinator. But in the spirit of good faith, we do not resile from stating M.Shriek's position:
Hocking draught with respect for tradition is important, and both the Post Office and the Coburg RSL honour tradition in their own unique way: one through homage to the seediness of Moreland's penal past, the other through respect for a retired serviceman's need to sit somewhere with guns on the wall and quietly drink cold beer.
But M.Shriek prefers the Coburg RSL - it has lawn out the front.
It is Coburg, after all.
Moreland Shriek powerfully endorses both the Post Office and the Coburg RSL, and some of their gloss may yet rub off on the feds.
Feeney, as he is known to those who hope that calling him 'Feeney' will somehow impart characteristics similar to Chuck Feeney (but not Tom Feeney), has only been in parliament since mid-2008. The jury is still out on Feeney, but he does have the inestimable good fortune of being married to a top-notch legal eagle who goes by the fabulous name of Liberty Sanger, so it is safe to assume he will make a very good case indeed.
The Kelvinator, as he is known to the friends he has not yet met, is a bit of a dude and an all-round champion. He's tall and bald and lean and mean, and he gives a big damn about Edgars Creek. He also mixes it up with the local hoods: Tony Mokbel, Phil Cleary, Bob Hawke. All came before the Kelvinator, yet only the Kelvinator remains.
He has also lately been having a stern word with high school students about population control. But more of that later. First, there are more important matters to attend: do you prefer the Post Office Hotel or the Coburg RSL? M.Shriek readers will immediately realise the importance of this question. M.Shriek suggests the answer is crucial to political fortunes in Moreland.
Being concerned about political fortunes in Moreland, M.Shriek thought it wise to put this question to both Feeney and the Kelvinator. But in the spirit of good faith, we do not resile from stating M.Shriek's position:
Hocking draught with respect for tradition is important, and both the Post Office and the Coburg RSL honour tradition in their own unique way: one through homage to the seediness of Moreland's penal past, the other through respect for a retired serviceman's need to sit somewhere with guns on the wall and quietly drink cold beer.
But M.Shriek prefers the Coburg RSL - it has lawn out the front.
It is Coburg, after all.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Media in Moreland
As Noel Counihan well knew, the People's Republic of Moreland has a proud history of hosting good old-fashioned shitfights and blues in the name of liberty, socialism, and having good old-fashioned shitfights and blues.
But these days Moreland-specific media is relatively minimal.
The Moreland Leader is the primary media agent. It is owned by News Limited and maintains a devoted online presence in addition to its print run of 67,000.
Reportage usually covers local issues of popular concern, local political developments, or PR for schools and community groups. Like many local newspapers, the Leader has been something of a launching pad for career journalists, as few contributors stick around longer than a year or two.
Happily for The Leader, Moreland Shriek is prepared to countenance its ongoing existence.
Why? Because the 'Leader loves the City of Moreland'.
The same surely cannot be said of The Leader's rival organ, the Fairfax-owned Moreland Community News. With a circulation of just 34,500 and no online presence, the Community News' heart clearly lies somewhere other than Moreland. The good folk at Fairfax labour under the delusion that the Community News is 'respected for its comprehensive and accurate coverage of the local news and community events'. Moreland Shriek humbly submits that nothing could be further from the truth: the Moreland Community News is widely considered to be a second-rate rag primarily concerned with peddling classified advertisements.
Digital media activity in the hyperlocality of Moreland is sporadic. The Republic of Moreland was a pioneering blog, but has recently fallen silent. Now muppinstuff maintains a similar focus on sustainable lifestyles and local events, while the Newlands Community Alliance is more specifically campaign-driven.
Moreland's virtual public sphere, like its corporeal public sphere, has a certain political bent. In the coming weeks will take a closer look at these blogs and the curious beasts who run them.
Update: M.Shriek has been blessed if entirely surprised to learn that the Moreland Community News no longer exists. They should have learned to spell Gowrie right. You don't mess with the Good Folk of Gowrie Station, lest they became the Rampaging Mob of Gowrie Station.
But these days Moreland-specific media is relatively minimal.
The Moreland Leader is the primary media agent. It is owned by News Limited and maintains a devoted online presence in addition to its print run of 67,000.
Reportage usually covers local issues of popular concern, local political developments, or PR for schools and community groups. Like many local newspapers, the Leader has been something of a launching pad for career journalists, as few contributors stick around longer than a year or two.
Happily for The Leader, Moreland Shriek is prepared to countenance its ongoing existence.
Why? Because the 'Leader loves the City of Moreland'.
The same surely cannot be said of The Leader's rival organ, the Fairfax-owned Moreland Community News. With a circulation of just 34,500 and no online presence, the Community News' heart clearly lies somewhere other than Moreland. The good folk at Fairfax labour under the delusion that the Community News is 'respected for its comprehensive and accurate coverage of the local news and community events'. Moreland Shriek humbly submits that nothing could be further from the truth: the Moreland Community News is widely considered to be a second-rate rag primarily concerned with peddling classified advertisements.
Digital media activity in the hyperlocality of Moreland is sporadic. The Republic of Moreland was a pioneering blog, but has recently fallen silent. Now muppinstuff maintains a similar focus on sustainable lifestyles and local events, while the Newlands Community Alliance is more specifically campaign-driven.
Moreland's virtual public sphere, like its corporeal public sphere, has a certain political bent. In the coming weeks will take a closer look at these blogs and the curious beasts who run them.
Update: M.Shriek has been blessed if entirely surprised to learn that the Moreland Community News no longer exists. They should have learned to spell Gowrie right. You don't mess with the Good Folk of Gowrie Station, lest they became the Rampaging Mob of Gowrie Station.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The City of Moreland
This is the City of Moreland: People's Republic and bastard child of Jeff Kennett.
Moreland was born in 1994, a secular trinity of Brunswick, Coburg, and Broadmeadows. Today the City of Moreland is ruled by 11 moderately evil High Councillors.
M.Shriek may have more to say about them later - if they're lucky. Be it enough for now to say they are led by the great rumbling benificence of Mayor Lambros Tapinos. M.Tapinos and his comrades found power in November 2008, so they'll be around for a while.
In the meantime, 142,000 Morelanders will labour for the perpetual prosperity of the republic, and the righteous advancement of garish propaganda all around the world.
Moreland was born in 1994, a secular trinity of Brunswick, Coburg, and Broadmeadows. Today the City of Moreland is ruled by 11 moderately evil High Councillors.
M.Shriek may have more to say about them later - if they're lucky. Be it enough for now to say they are led by the great rumbling benificence of Mayor Lambros Tapinos. M.Tapinos and his comrades found power in November 2008, so they'll be around for a while.
In the meantime, 142,000 Morelanders will labour for the perpetual prosperity of the republic, and the righteous advancement of garish propaganda all around the world.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Brunswick 2010: Jane Garrett
Jane Garrett will be Labor's candidate in the Brunswick 2010 elections.
Jane is currently National Coordinator of Union Services for Slater & Gordon Lawyers, as well as a Councillor for Nicholls Ward on Yarra City Council. Jane was elected to Council in November 2008, but she will have to resign her position to contest Brunswick. Alas this means Jane will not be around to 'do her bit to build community well-being' in Yarra. Nor will she be able to fulfill her desire to 'ensure that Yarra residents are able to access quality child care across the municipality'.
It would appear Yarra's loss is Brunswick's gain. Certainly the response from her rivals within the ALP has been surprising in its lack of venom. Former Premier Steve Bracks has dipped in with his support.
Congratulations to Jane on her preselection.
M.Shriek will watch her campaign for Brunswick 2010 with great interest.
Jane is currently National Coordinator of Union Services for Slater & Gordon Lawyers, as well as a Councillor for Nicholls Ward on Yarra City Council. Jane was elected to Council in November 2008, but she will have to resign her position to contest Brunswick. Alas this means Jane will not be around to 'do her bit to build community well-being' in Yarra. Nor will she be able to fulfill her desire to 'ensure that Yarra residents are able to access quality child care across the municipality'.
It would appear Yarra's loss is Brunswick's gain. Certainly the response from her rivals within the ALP has been surprising in its lack of venom. Former Premier Steve Bracks has dipped in with his support.
Congratulations to Jane on her preselection.
M.Shriek will watch her campaign for Brunswick 2010 with great interest.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Being a HyperLocal in the Global Village
The allure of the 'Global Village' is not difficult to discern: an easily-traversed space where residents all know one another and keep an eye out for each others interests. Popular conceptions of the Global Village might be likened to a small country town where the inbred yokels are replaced with Web-conversant cosmopolitans. All the conversational joys of the small country town, but with topics of conversation which extend beyond football.
Yet in many ways, the term 'Global Village' is counter-intuitive: designed for web-interaction, it seeks to provide a sense of security against the unknown dangers of darkest Internet. There might be a plethora of creeps in the vastness of the Internet, but there will be no strangers in the Global Village.
It is the tension between the vast Internet and the intimate Global Village that we now often see played out on Blogs. When starting a blog, one is very soon confronted by a simple question: If one can blog about anything, does that mean one will blog about everything?
Happily, the answer is just as simple: 'no'.
The newly-born blogger who finds themselves alone in the Internet soon learns that a blog must first of all have boundaries to provide focus. For boffins, this is an easy task. One of the first Great Things of the Internent was its ability to permit disparate tech-heads to come together to develop better, more efficient, more useful, and more enjoyable ways of using the Internet.
But what of those whose primary interest lies beyond the abstract? Who are fascinated foremost by what is happening outside their door, in their corporeal neighbourhood? Who want to subject CorpoReality to their creative mechanism, and inject the product of their labours back into Virtual Reality?
The HyperLocals are coming: those who want to put online their offline locale.
Some want to use their locale as the conceptual region in which they will explore a specific interest. Some simply want to reinterpret and recreate their locale.
This blog will seek to pursue the former, albiet with occasional forays into the latter. This blog primarily addresses community developments within the HyperLocality of the City of Moreland. It hopes to be half watchdog, half investigative journalism, half advocate, and half flaneurism.
But mostly it hopes to be about Moreland, the people who live here, and the barrows they push.
Let's see what we can find in Moreland.
Yet in many ways, the term 'Global Village' is counter-intuitive: designed for web-interaction, it seeks to provide a sense of security against the unknown dangers of darkest Internet. There might be a plethora of creeps in the vastness of the Internet, but there will be no strangers in the Global Village.
It is the tension between the vast Internet and the intimate Global Village that we now often see played out on Blogs. When starting a blog, one is very soon confronted by a simple question: If one can blog about anything, does that mean one will blog about everything?
Happily, the answer is just as simple: 'no'.
The newly-born blogger who finds themselves alone in the Internet soon learns that a blog must first of all have boundaries to provide focus. For boffins, this is an easy task. One of the first Great Things of the Internent was its ability to permit disparate tech-heads to come together to develop better, more efficient, more useful, and more enjoyable ways of using the Internet.
But what of those whose primary interest lies beyond the abstract? Who are fascinated foremost by what is happening outside their door, in their corporeal neighbourhood? Who want to subject CorpoReality to their creative mechanism, and inject the product of their labours back into Virtual Reality?
The HyperLocals are coming: those who want to put online their offline locale.
Some want to use their locale as the conceptual region in which they will explore a specific interest. Some simply want to reinterpret and recreate their locale.
This blog will seek to pursue the former, albiet with occasional forays into the latter. This blog primarily addresses community developments within the HyperLocality of the City of Moreland. It hopes to be half watchdog, half investigative journalism, half advocate, and half flaneurism.
But mostly it hopes to be about Moreland, the people who live here, and the barrows they push.
Let's see what we can find in Moreland.
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