On this Tuesday night's council meeting agenda there is an interesting item
regarding Caulfield Park and the envisaged use of the conservatory in the western section of the park as a commercially run cafe with seating for upto eighty people. See item 9.3 in Oct 11th agenda in links bottom right.
Like a range of other issues in our parks this has been an ongoing saga for a number of years now.
This has all come about primarily because of the need to repair and protect the facility as generally agreed by everyone - park users and Council alike.
What is not agreed is how to pay for these repairs- previous estimates by Council have been in the $150k range. That's what in my mind this is all about - seeing if Council can get someone else to pay for these repairs.
I feel this sets a poor precendent on how we manage our public parks- Council should just bite the bullet and repair the facility- The money spent on the whole cafe EOI process would be better spent directly on the conservatory.
Hi Neil
ReplyDeleteUsage of the Conservatory for a commercial cafe would be a really bad move. The infrastructure needed to support such a development would be detrimental to this heritage end of the park and in any case, the Conservatory as it is, is a valuable asset for the community. Council should spend the money and restore the building.
Bridget Cramphorn
Hello Neil
ReplyDeleteusage of the conservatory as a commercial cafe would be detrimental to this heritage end of Caulfield park. The infrastructure needed to support such a plan would be extensive and in any case the conservatory is a valuable community asset. Council should spend the money to restore the building as a conservatory , not as a commercial cafe. There are plenty of cafes in the vicinity
I have seen this type of commercial coffee palace work really well in parks or gardens. They become appreciated and well used by the public.
ReplyDeleteI think the question is, can Glen Eira do this well, past example of almost everything they do is shows they cannot.
My fear is, it will turn into a mess with lawyer and rate-payer money being thrown down a black-hole.
Will it lead to more of that hideous yellow concrete being poured into Caulfield park area surrounding the the hot-house.
As we saw with the GEASC, initially only some of the truth was told, and before it was finished more parkland was usurped without any real process, and a car park is being built in the surrounding parkland as we speak.
I think this type of development can add a quality social meeting space for people.
The question is ... can the bureaucrats at Glen Eira do it well, without hoodwinking the public, past experience shows they cannot be trusted to run a chook-raffle, let alone manage a sensitive development like this one.
I would say no.
Of course they don't want to spend the money the conservatory isn't a sports club.
ReplyDelete