At a recent Council meeting, Cr Bryan Mears made an important amendment to the community safety motion to acknowledge the real victims of antisocial and abusive behaviour arising from encampments and to direct Council officers to seek feedback on safety from both residents and local businesses. That amendment passed unanimously. Thank you, Bryan, for listening to the voices of our community. But let’s be honest: the bigger picture hasn’t changed. Critics say Cr Hardy’s motion to remove exemptions in the camping local laws “lacks compassion.” Is this really true? Read on to learn why this motion is in fact the most compassionate approach.

A few weeks back, crime statistics were released showing that reported criminal incidents in the CoPP were up a staggering 23.19%.  Dive behind the numbers and what is evident is the link between drug fuelled crime and the current wave hitting our patch. Street, laneway and footpath crimes were the highest reported incidents, and not surprisingly, St Kilda wore the brunt of criminal incidents within the City of Port Phillip. What can be deduced from the growing crime wave statistics, is that St Kilda is the magnet for anti-social and drug fuelled behaviour including within encampments around our retail and commercial hubs. We as concerned residents need to push back on this crime wave. Read on to learn how.

On a recent trip to Cairns and Port Douglas, I couldn’t help but notice the vast difference in how councils manage the basics — and it left me asking: why can’t the City of Port Phillip (CoPP) do so much better? In this article we examine what the Cairns Council is doing to maintain cleanliness and safety and how CoPP could learn from this example. Read on for more insights.

The O’Donnell Fountain restoration has been an ongoing issue for many years. The fountain is arguably one of the most important art deco fountains in Australia and has suffered from council neglect for too long.  Very rarely cleaned, stagnant water and rubbish in the water enclosure, the fountain which should be a pride of place icon of our suburb is just another symbol of a council neglect – a failure in not dealing with the basics and recognising the importance of civic pride in our historic suburb. CoPP should play its part in valorising the history of our area; read on to learn more.

Like all crime prevention methods, no approach works in isolation, nor is 100% effective. Any policy suite can only begin to be workable when there are rigorous laws, a Judiciary that gets the balance right between crime and punishment, a well-resourced police force and council with effective by-laws as well as a proactive and responsive staff under strong leadership. Effective crime prevention requires all to work in tandem. Currently not only at the state level but also at the local level we sadly lack all the jigsaw pieces for better policing, dealing with offenders and substantively lifting the amenity of Port Phillip. In this article, we look at the Broken Windows Theory that was successfully implemented in New York City in the 1980s and consider how it can help us locally today. Read on to learn more.