Bell the mayor

THE Geelong City Council has released options for the redevelopment of High St, Belmont.

It’s an exciting time for those of us who have connections in the area.

There is $4.7 million on the table from the TAC for the creation of new cycling connections to the city.

The concept runs that you will be able to ride a bike into the city centre from the south (Waurn Ponds) and west (Herne Hill).

The options were launched on social media on Tuesday, published on the Advertiser website and accompanied by the image of an unhappy trader, brandishing a homemade protest sign. Belmont can be so Geelong. The suburb is pretty big as suburbs go. It reaches wide across the landscape and it welcomes a variety of inhabitants.

From the river to the university — Belmont demonstrates the best and the worst of the attitudes of Geelong.

The choices of the High St development concepts are pretty interesting if you’re interested.

They all focus on cycling as a means of commuting.

There has been some serious thought put into these ideas.

The TAC has departments that look at this stuff and they are full of smart people. They know what they’re talking about.

Option One is “Bikes and cars share the road”. Pretty much status-quo. It includes basic linemarking and pedestrian crossings but it retains all existing on-street carparking “except for about eight spaces”.

Then there are a few more interesting options; Option 2 A, 2 B and Option 3. They prioritise green space and fluid traffic flow.

They include dual bike lanes or single bike lanes, you can check them out online.

But these three options feature the removal of the existing roadside parallel carparks and this is the sticking point for the people who like the carparks.

So much so that they’re prepared to put signs in their shops that say “hands off”. It’s not the most nuanced argument, it’s based on emotion. But the story goes that they believe removing the carparks will damage the economy of High St, Belmont.

Parallel carparks are where their customers come from.

People park out the front of the shop. And if the carparks are removed … well the shoppers may never return.

It’s a classic cargo-cult argument. It ignores the needs of the growing community and focuses on the single self-serving belief that shoppers will not be prepared to walk more than 20 metres to access the shops.

It is ignoring the fact that there is an abundance of free carparking in two major supermarkets, next to the library and beyond around the area.

This doesn’t seem to register and so naturally they are blaming Daniel Andrews. This is where I get a bit lost. The money is coming from the TAC.

The City of Greater Geelong is releasing the scoping concepts and the pictures they’re using to promote the bike paths feature the one and only, Mayor Bruce Harwood.

Harwood is a self-identified political conservative, he was hand-picked as deputy mayor by the Maggie Thatcher admirer, Darryn Lyons. Harwood is no Labor man.

But he is also the local councillor in the region that is responsible for the area. This is his ward.

Harwood is right behind the development. He’s spoken to the press about it regularly. Most recently he has been quoted as saying: “This is more than a cycling project, it’s a big message about sharing the roads … It’s also an opportunity to improve the amenity of High St and boost its appeal as a destination for shopping, dining and services.”

He is the protagonist in the conflict. He is the local councillor who is pushing the discussion forward so why don’t the signs say “Hands off High Street, Harwood”. It’s got a better ring to it. You can’t beat alliteration.

When I grew up in Belmont, it was a suburban shopping strip. It still is. The difference is that the suburb surrounding the shops has been developing at a pace.

There are million-dollar houses in the streets behind the shopping strip. There are restaurants and coffee shops in Mount Pleasant Rd now.

Change challenges personal notions of community.

No matter the option chosen, there is still time for public consultation.

It’s online and in person and it’s a new vision for a tired part of town.