CBDees

I cannot believe that you are suggesting we site the venue on the basis that people will “spur of the moment” hop off the train with kids in tow when they see our HQ! I have never met any parent that has hopped off a train with their kids on the basis of noticing a Club building and I would be disappointed if the MFC board in their revenue projections had this as a serious element in their choice of the site. Although it serves less train lines (Jolimont), it also services two busy tram lines and the area is jam-packed at the conclusion of any match. It is also only 100 metres from the ground.

I have just written to Ellen Sandell (my local Greens member) telling her that local residents (apart from Copuchas and his mates) look forward to her support for a MFC training facility in Yarra Park!

Just for the record, l have been integrated in the East Melbourne community for 38 years and have served on the Committee of the East Melbourne Group (however it is not a competition)!

How on earth do you know what the residents want or don’t want considering this was only announced in the Hun yesterday and hasn’t been advertised? You are making unfounded claims, albeit you obviously object as a resident (NIMBY.)! I have actually spoken to a number of East Melbourne residents in the past 24 hours and none seemed particularly troubled (although I suspect Rupert Myer who possibly covets his view along the rail alignment may be an ally of yours)! After all, the shops and commercial offices directly opposite where the low-level car park could potentially be sited don’t really have an issue with detriment to their amenity.

As I suggested before, the 2-3 stories required for car-parking could be accommodated in a separate building immediately to the East of the MFC proposal. As you admit (above) there is no necessity for a ‘multi-storey’ car park (which you claim in post #237) or for 2-3 floors of the MFC proposal to be allocated for parking as you now claim ((post #246). l am sure that a well-designed car parking provision could meet Council and community expectations!

We are all biased! I admit that. The only valid disadvantage that you raise in my view is the car parking potential on the alternative Swan Street site (for players and administration/support staff)! This could be covered by constructing a car park also over the rail cutting, immediately to the East of the Yarra Park option which the Club is exploring.y Let’s continue to workshop the options to arrive at the best outcome for the Club, players and members! p.s. thanks for the spellcheck (I always have trouble with bureaucratic)! p.s. Although I have limited engineering expertise, l am familiar with planning law as an ex building surveyor /statutory planner and director of a construction company (with a Master of Business in Property)! I am just suggesting that we should not discount any option at this stage and I am sure that the Melbourne board has done their due diligence on all short-listed scenarios.

It’s a nice map link but I’m not sure how many times you have been to training? The MFC trains at the Southern half of Gosch’s Paddock (not abutting Swan Street). There is a series of soccer fields in between which are heavily used and an effective barrier between the AFL oval and any mooted administration/training HQ mooted over Swan Street. Also, make no mistake, the buerocratic and logistic hurdles involved trying to gain approvals and then build over Swan Street and the tram lines vs taking a 99 year lease over rail lines (already sunk within a culvert) makes it a much inferior option. And for what? With the Yarra Park proposal we have a potential HQ with street frontage, immediately abutting rail and tram, overlooking our training oval and 100 metres from the MCG. In your option, we would have a costly elevated HQ overlooking soccer fields, further from the MCG and essentially equidistant from our current training oval than current facilities are.

In both options you probably wouldn’t be buying the land for the training oval (which would remain public open space)! We would merely have an agreement to use the new ‘oval’ similar to current arrangements. The ‘air space’ over the line is much more feasible in EM as the tracks are in a culvert (contained within a rail reservation) versus elevated tracks in Richmond. Options of building Clubrooms and training facilities on public land South of Gosch’s Paddock would be hard to sell to Government as it could only involve alienation of existing public land irrespective of how unattractive and little-used it currently is. Leasing of of railway land would be similarly priced in either East Melbourne or Richmond however development costs would most likely be substantially more when we are talking about construction over elevated rail.

You aren’t related to “Bitter but Optimistic” are you?

Simple answer is ‘Vote Labor’ if they back us! (I will be happy to get rid of Ellen Sandell and Adam Brandt in Melbourne electorate: Liberal has never been a contender!)

It was never planned as a ‘home ground’ (as that is always going to be the “G”) but as our training ground, with our administration, gym, training facilities, ‘Demon Shop’ (presumably) and, most important, our “Social Club” right next to the “G” where we can congregate post match and even use during the week (like a “Gold Class” Bentleigh Club)! A place where we can feature our memorabilia and walk past our trophy cabinets stacked with Premiership Cups!

Just to clarify where we are talking about!

We can forget Richmond station and focus on travelling direct to Flinders Street Station. From there the #75 tram and the Epping and Hurstbridge Lines take you directly to our HQ!

Agreed and certainly a lot closer to the “G” for supporters after we win a Final (or home-and-away) than the Southside of Gosch’s Paddock that the others want. It also has the advantage that it doesn’t involve supporters have to travel the extra distance post-game past Richmond station.

Not decrying Gosch’s Paddock but it is a fair step out from Swan Street and there is a soccer training oval in between. Any building would have to be at the Southern end which is a fair hike from Richmond Station and (as l suggested in post #140) equidistant or further than the Yarra Park option! It is not a suggestion of grassroots supporters vs well-heeled nor Labor/Green vs Liberal! It is simply the location with the least downside for all supporters (albeit the fact that it entails a very slight grade when approaching from a Southern direction)!

Your argument in favour of locating adjacent a Richmond station is a very good one as it is without argument a location which is the most easily accessed by the majority of Melbourne’s rail network. It brings with it however other problems such as trying to design around the constraints of an elevated rail line and (equally importantly) where do we locate the oval? Perhaps the answer is building South of Gosh’s Paddock (adjacent the freeway off-ramp) however that is probably equidistant from Richmond Station to where we are talking about, swinging the argument back in favour of the Wellington Parade location which is immediately abutting train and tram.

DC that is exactly as it is depicted in the artist’s impression on the front page of the Hun. Completely independent of the station and any associated problems. ?

Speaking as an architect and land economist, the site mooted does not necessarily necessitate incorporating the Jolimont Station which (although not officially heritage listed) has many charming characteristics. I am sure that the Club has factored in the fact that it could easily be added to the heritage list (by opponents to the scheme) so has purposely precluded that option.

Great city views from our Member’s Bar/Restaurant (that can never be built out)! ?

The site mooted is the most feasible as it overlooks the only large area of (under-utilised) open space in Yarra Park plus offers street frontage and is not compromised by the mega tram stop in the next block (which would create logistic problems during construction)! It is offers direct access to train and trams and is only a block from the Punt Road/Hoddle Street bus. ?

????? This is the area talked about. Cut off from the majority of East Melbourne residents by rail tracks and popular primarily with dog-walkers! ?????

The current President of the “East Melbourne Group” is possibly the inner suburb’s biggest NIMBY!

Like Copuchas, l also live in East Melbourne, one block away (and have done so for 38 years)! Yarra Park is administered by the MCC who have spent a lot of money improving its amenity (such as a large underground water storage area)! I, frankly, can’t see that a training oval would compromise local residents use of the park (for exercising their dogs) as the area wouldn’t be permanently alienated (any more than Gosch’s Paddock currently is)! I am not sure about DS’s claim that “East Melbourne residents are certain types” other than the fact that we have a higher proportion of Demon supporters than any other suburb. The land over the rail is owned/controlled by VicTrack however I am sure that the MFC could secure a 99 year lease should the proposal gain State Government support and a six storey structure should not genuinely impact when one considers that most similar height building opposite in Wellington Parade (built in the seventies) are progressively being converted from office to residential use! In my view the project has massive merit, with rail and tram right on the doorstop and the “G” 100 metres away.

Had we of won yesterday and gone to second on the AFL ladder, we would’ve closed in on 45,000 this week! Now even that has suddenly become a pipe dream, let alone 50K by end of July!

There is no such thing as a “non member but a supporter” as you have to join the Club to support it. Maybe you are confusing them with barrackers who don’t support the Club! Starting with your ‘family members’, perhaps if all Demonlanders enlisted 2-3 new members tomorrow (after our decisive win against Collingwood) then we will coast past 50,000 members for the first me! ?