20/06/2018
Were you under the impression that the R F Miles Reserve would actually get a $10 Million upgrade after it was used to serve the authorities needs ? I was, now I am not so sure - let’s examine the most recent statement from the LXRA shall we , which seems to me to have morphed somewhat from ‘Reserve Upgrade’ to whole of Seaford revitalisation / issued today from LXRA we read -
“In addition to removing the level crossing at Seaford Road, Seaford will benefit from a $10 million package of revitalisation works.
The revitalisation works will include 6km of new walking and cycling paths from Eel Race Road through Seaford and on to Frankston, upgrades to the R F Miles Reserve as well as streetscaping and landscaping."
HUH ! 6 kilometres of 3 meter wide shared pathway (with mooted safety lighting the full length of same) , as well as street scaping and landscaping -and a playground at the oval - as part of the $10 Million ? !!!! There’s your 10 mill gone right there ! Surely this is not in the spirit of the original compensation offering - Crickey - surely the cost of replacing the paths, trees and other vegetation which where perfectly adequate before being destroyed by the authority in the project development process is included in the project budget, / were they just planning to moonscape the area and move on were they ? And just who exactly asked for an approximately $5 million dollar cost, shared pathway ( half the budget if not more ) running from Carrum to Frankston - I certainly don’t know anybody who did. 17 kilometres of just that sort of pathway was included in the standard LXRA project delivery on the Dandenong line - why is it being proposed as a special gift in Seaford ?
The Frankston Council has already nominated clearly the number 1. Priority for the reserve as being - ‘Redevelop the pavilion to meet the future use of the reserve’ , and yet There seems to be no mention of this in any of the statements or surveys regarding the authorities commitment to delivering on its offer of a $10 million contribution to the reserve . R F Miles reserve is a Football and Cricket Ground - not a velodrome, we don’t need any more cycle pathways surely. With the creek track. The swamp track and the foreshore track all perfectly good ! Make sure you get down to those information hubs and tell the folk there we want the 10 million dollars spent on what WE want it spent on -NOT -what they want to spend it on, that wasn’t the deal - and in Seaford - a deal is a deal. Can I also recommend using the comments box in the surveys , rather than the options boxes - all of which are THEIR options , not necessarily ours. Be heard or be sorry you didn’t speak up might be the message here folks $10 million dollars only goes so far in a modern world - and frankly it seems almost already gone here - and almost all of it being spent replacing what they should be replacing at their own cost in the first place anyway. It evokes the old story of your mum asking if you would like some dinner and when you ask her “what are the choices ? ” - she says Yes or No !
