Receding Flood

I decided to have alook and see what the rains had brought on Tuesday after work. I should have gone on Monday or the weekend and the water would have been much higher at both spots.

Yarra River: Fitzsimons Lane

Directly underneath Fitzsimons Lane. The things dangling over
the water are gates used by kyakists (I have no idea what the right
word is) in competition. There was a fair bit of wet, very slippery
mud overa meter above the water line, so it had been higher.

This is the view looking upstream from an observation lookout just near the carpark.

Plenty River: Lower Plenty

Taken at Lower Plenty. It was obvious that the river had been much higher due to all the flattened grass and mud everywhere. Today when driving over the bridge I noticed the river was much lower again, well inside it's defined banks.

The view downstream towards the Yarra.

Upstream.

Once again there is a lot of wet sticky mud.

Looking upstream under the Lower Plenty Road/Main Road bridge.

Looks like there has been a lot of water through here recently.

This is the old bridge, no longer open to road traffic but used by
pedestrians and cyclists. I took the first two photos from here.

To get to school I had to cross this river, but further upstream in Greensborough. It flooded on a number of occasions, often above the bridge that was most convenient meaning a long detour. In year 12 a flood actually wiped out the bridge. The bridge was about 1.5 metres wide with steel I beams and a concrete surface and steel cable hand rails. There must have been a few trees floating down to take that out.

In the end it took the council about 6 months to build a new one, meaning I had to go the long way to school for far too long. The failing of the bridge is that it is too low. In that section the Plenty River has very steep banks. When it floods it fills very quickly, and for this reason, all the other bridges over the plenty river in this area are much higher, most actually arch over. For some reason the new bridge (now 11 years old) was built in the same spot and is almost identical to the old one. I wonder if it has been destroyed again. Something to check out on the weekend...

Council Elections

Like Daniel, I live in one of the few councils (Banyule) that still insists on attendance voting, and again like Daniel I like the whole ritual of voting (I swear I thought of this before I read Daniels post). I like running the gauntlet of the how to vote cards, collecting one from each offering. Then playing the waiting game in line before, having a go at electoral role lotto. Once in the booth I study the how to vote cards to see where allegiances lie, then I generally vote by the order of my own preference. After the voting papers are numbered and checked I slam dunk them into the appropriate boxes and dump the how to vote cards in the bin (I hope they recycle!). I then stride victorously into the cold hard light of day to enjoy the spoils of voting. A sausage in bread, democracy done. It's all part of the ritual.

As for the candidates in my ward. There are 8 candidates in total for Bakewell. Of those 8, only 3 have bothered to send out election material.

Peter Mckenna (Liberal)

The sitting councilor for Bakewell, as such his views are well known. He is pro development but with appropriate checks and ballances. As such he is for the Greensborough town centre project. Generally he seems pretty even handed and not a bad representative to have.


Michael Paul (Labor)

The next most high profile candidate, his views are also well known. He contended the last election and frequently sends out flyers or writes to the local paper complaining about something that the council is doing. He lists one of his aims as completing a local bicycle/walking path, which I would probably use. Again he is for "sensible" development, but seems somewhat against the Greensborough Project*. (specifically the premature closure of the old Greensborough pool)


Leonard Saw (Ind)

I think he has contended most recent elections at all levels of government as an indepenent. The causes he is passionate about are mainly issues affecting veterans and pensioners, which are very relevant to the area, as there are many ex-servicemen/women who live in the area, but as such he never attracts the mainstream vote.

The remaining candidates are unknowns apart from a small blurb in last weeks Leader. Party affiliations include one Green and one Labor.

I know who I am voting for, but I'm not saying here.

* The Greensborough Project which was given the final go ahead not so long ago is a total redevelopment of much of the land in the Greensborough Business District. It involves mostly council owned land, such as the Swimming Pool, car parks and council buildings, and will recreate the public space in Greensborogh, including a town square, new aquatic sports centre, government services offices, plus retail, commecial office space, new cinemas, as well as multi story car parking. Sadly public transport seems to have been forgotten, Greensborough is crying out for a decent bus/rail interchange, because as it is the buses are spread out across 3 termini, only one of which is near the station.