Calling Transition-minded West Hobartians

Many supporters of WHEN and followers of this blog have heard of the international Transition Towns movement.  We have links to it on our webpage (like this one) if you'd like to learn more about it. The "why" page is worth checking out!

WHEN sees itself as part of this movement, albeit with our current involvement fairly fluid and nascent. We also link up and collaborate with several like-minded groups in the foothills of Mount Wellington and greater Hobart.

We recently received the email below from a new group in Victoria, inviting us to a fascinating conference aimed at building understanding and a national support hub for the movement, to be held in September. 

If you are vitally interested in this movement and in taking West Hobart forward in this area, we'd love to hear from you!  Do contact us in the first instance via email:  whenvnet@gmail.com and we'll send you the conference program outline.

Hi to all Transition and like-minded Sustainability groups in Australia,

We invite you to a Transition Communities National Summit on Wed 6 & Thurs 7 Sept 2017 at William Angliss Centre near Flagstaff train station in Melbourne, organised jointly by a fledgling Transition Hub Australia organising team and MAV (Municipal Association of Vic).

Every Council and Transition group in Australia is being invited to this conference. As well as a learning opportunity with a plethora of marvellous information, it is a crucial opportunity, through conference fees, for Transition to raise the money to create, develop and fund staff to start up an Australia-wide virtual Hub.

We understand that you and some other Transition volunteers may find difficulty in paying the conference fee from your own pocket. However, we urge you to see this payment as an investment in a vibrant and dynamic Transition movement future. You will note that Transition volunteers are being asked to cover only the cost of attendance and hence will pay less than half the fee charged for Councils. We hope that your group could approach your Council to request funds to support sending a Transition member. Or, perhaps your group might consider raising funds to allow attendance at the Conference.

Melbourne transitioners are very happy to billet people from interstate or regional Victoria.

This is the first summit of this kind. Please encourage your Council to send staff members and Councillors and we hope someone from your Transition group can attend.

Please look at the attached program and please circulate to all in your network who may be interested.

Also please join Transition Towns AustraliaFacebook page and start posting on it.
 

Thanks and best regards

Barbara and Mary for the Transition Hub Australia organising team.

Gardening notes for July

Here are the July notes from Greg Summers:

JULY	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Broad Beans (2nd planting) Takes a month to show	x	x	x	x
English Spinach (no punnets - direct seeding only)	x	x	x	x
Shallots/Spring Onions	x	x	x	x
Small Cabbages - punnet into ground	x
Small Cabbages - direct seeding	x
Mini Cauliflower "Garant" - punnet into ground	x	x	x	x
Lettuce - direct seeding	x	x	x	x
Radish				x
Punnets
Lettuce - punnet into ground when ready	x	x	x	x

Keep warm and happy gardening.

Margaret

What's happening in the garden - June

Dear Garden friends The garlic is in and some bulbs are sprouting, the fruit tree pruning is almost done - such a big job. I'm raking up leaves from the street to add to the compost and to spread on the garden beds. Lots of lovely garden work!  I hope you are having fun too. Here are June's notes. JUNE Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Broad Beans (2nd planting) x Sugar Snap peas (2nd planting) pregerminate then sow x Snowpea (2nd planting) x direct sow and protect from birds until 100mm high Garlic bulbs  x x English Spinach (no Punnets - direct seeding only) x x

Margaret.

Survey on improvements to Hill Street

The Lansdowne Crescent Primary School School Community Association has released a survey to collect your views on a range of potential projects for improving the safety of walking in West Hobart, particularly for pedestrian crossing Hill Street. The SCA is trying to get a feel for the feeling of the general community on these issues.

Background information can be found in our recent post on the Council's current proposals for Hill Street.

It would be fantastic if you could spare a couple of minutes to complete the survey and then pass the message on to everyone you know that lives in, has kids that go to school in, or regularly visits West Hobart.  It is only 5 questions and takes just a couple of minutes to complete.  We will also be promoting the survey on our Facebook page.  Feel free to share it.

The survey can be found here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DDGK2SV  

 

And don't forget to also tell the Council  directly what you think about the proposals.

Seed saving - workshop and seed swap

The good folks at Green Harvest Organic Gardening, based in Queensland, are making a trip down to Hobart, braving the cold, to present at the Seed Storm 2-day workshop on 27-28 May (Saturday-Sunday) in Hobart. 

The workshop aims to help home gardeners and growers increase their seed saving skills with a range of experts and hands-on experience saving seed. Green Harvest CEO, Frances Michaels, will be talking about seed purity, correct cultivar ID, cross pollination control, seed storage and drying techniques, seed viability and germination testing.

Green Harvest believes that seed saving has never been more important, as open-pollinated heirloom seeds offer the genetic resilience and diversity to sustain food production despite changing climatic conditions. Seed production has become somewhat of a ‘lost art’ commercially in Australia with the bulk of vegetable production using imported hybrid seed. The team is looking forward to meeting gardeners and growers who are interested in seed production being reintegrated into Australian agriculture and home gardening.

There will be a free community seed swap in Hobart Sunday 28 May: more details at www.facebook.com/seedfreak events. Join in and nab seeds!

More details at:

http://seedfreaks.com.au/events/seed-storm-2017/

https://www.facebook.com/seedfreak/videos/1676307365999877/

Improvements on Hill St - Have Your Say

The City of Hobart has advertised, for public comment, the next phase of safety improvements on Hill Street, West Hobart.

All residents with an interest in the safety of all road users and and in the general liveability of Hill Street: please read our comments below, go to the Council's Your Say page, read the information provided (the FAQ are worth reading), and either fill in the online survey there or make a written submission to Council.  Below is our summary of the proposal and our comments.

What's in the plans?

The plans show four new "kerb outstand and median refuge island" combos which will be installed as safer pedestrian crossing points on Hill Street:

• at Hamilton Street
• at Petty Street 
• at Allison Street
• at Faraday Street.

These improved crossing points will enable pedestrians to cross the street more safely at these four locations.  They are now located at intersections, which is good, as most pedestrians choose to cross at intersections rather than in the middle of the block.  Some of the kerb outstands have driveway access points, as they sit across current driveways.  Footpaths will stay at 2 to 2.5m wide.  The kerb extensions are proposed to extend into the roadway at the same distance as the notional parking lane (2.2m).  

The central median refuge will be 2m wide, ample to cover a person with a pram or with a bike.

A central painted median of 2m width is proposed to be extended throughout Hill Street.

It looks like the areas for parking will be marked with either painted boxes or a solid line at 2.2m from the kerb. It seems that a parking space has been removed outside the chemist - that will improve sightlines for all road users at this busy crossing point.

The traffic lanes are proposed to be left at 4 to 4.25m wide.

And Future actions

Council will investigate the safety aspects of installing zebra crossings on Hill Street at each end of Lansdowne Crescent.  "If these can be provided safely, taking into consideration sight distance, bus turning and property constraints, then they will be designed and implemented as soon as possible".

Council will also support the residents to:

• work with the Department of State Growth to provide safe crossing locations in Hill Street for school children, including the use of adult crossing guards; and
• organise a local event in Hill Street, with the aim to encourage walking and community activity in the street.

Comments and Concerns

• The two sections of Hill Street within this plan on the outsides of Lansdowne Crescent (i.e.  Lansdowne to Arthur, and Lansdowne to Cavell) are part of the recommended rideable bicycle route through West Hobart (refer to the Hobart Bicycle Map and the 1995 Hobart Bike Plan).  Bike lanes should be considered on these flat sections, with bike network signage directing riders to go around Lansdowne Crescent, to provide safer cycling space for residents to ride to work and to school.

• In support of this, the proposed design needs to be adjusted to be ready for the future installation of official bikelanes.   The painted median along these "non-crossing point" sections should be 1m wide (instead of the proposed 2m) - this would provide sufficient road space for the installation of 1.5m wide notional bikelanes on each side.  At the proposed "crossing points", the median refuge island will be OK at 2m wide for protection of people crossing the road, if the kerb outstands can be reduced in depth to 1.2m (from their current proposed 2.2m).  This would enable the notional bikelanes to continue uninterrupted through the potential pinchpoint and would still improve safety at these crossing points for pedestrians. The slight deviation in the travel lane created by the refuge would provide a variety in the lane which would encourage drivers to slow down a little at these points. The 1.5m wide notional bikelane at the crossing points should be marked in green paint to alert all road users to the potential conflict point.

• This picture illustrates these changes to the proposal:

How we say
the median and kerbs should be revised to support safer bike riding on Hill Street

• On these same two sections of Hill Street, the vehicle travel lanes should be marked on the road at 3m wide.  This lane marking will visually reduce the effective width of the driving lane. This technique is known to improve the tracking of vehicles on the road and encourages a reduction in the average travel speeds of drivers.  It also provides a more defined space for bike riders, offering some spatial separation from faster moving vehicles.
• The kerb ramps must be flush (i.e. no lip) to ensure no tripping of bike or pram wheels 
• There has been ample evidence provided that Zebra crossings at each end of Lansdowne Crescent would improve safety for children and older residents crossing Hill Street.  Zebra crossings provide legal priority for pedestrian road users.  We believe they should be installed as soon as possible, preferably in conjunction with a table ramp which makes them into Wombat crossings.
• We support the Council's assistance with arranging staffed children's crossings at these two points
• We support the Council's assistance to create community events along Hill Street.