A SPECIAL meeting of councillors on Wednesday (25 October) may decide the fate of an $12 million upgrade to the Frankston Basketball Stadium. The project has been mired in bitter disagreement between Frankston Council and the Frankston & District Basketball Association for the past few months. Some councillors, including the mayor Cr Brian Cunial and Cr Colin Hampton who have been most vocal about the disagreement, have accused the association of holding up the stadium redevelopment by refusing to sign a new lease for the stadium. Association president Gary Emery says a June deal brokered by former federal Dunkley Liberal…
Author: Neil Walker
HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars will be poured into the newly built Frankston Yacht Club in a bid to try to partially plug the financial hole that has seen at least $11 million of ratepayers’ cash so far sunk into the mostly-empty building on the foreshore. Councillors met behind closed doors after last Monday’s public council meeting on 16 October to discuss “additional works” in private for commercial-in-confidence reasons. It is understood more than $300,000 is likely to be spent on fitting out the lower floor of the yacht club for a potential cafe operator. Frankston mayor Cr Brian Cunial…
RETAIL staff at Southland Shopping Centre have taken to the street in front of the shopping complex to protest against being charged up to $1300 annually to park a car while working in shops. More than 100 people turned up on Monday morning (16 October) on the Nepean Highway outside the Cheltenham shopping centre to demand Westfield provide free parking for retail workers. Shopping centres operator Westfield introduced paid parking for shoppers staying more than three hours at Southland on 16 October. The parking fees have been brought in to discourage commuters travelling from the new Southland train station to…
NURSES and carers in Kingston are taking industrial action over pay and conditions at BUPA aged care homes. A stop work meeting and community barbecue to highlight workers’ wage demands and concerns about staffing rosters was held at BUPA’s aged care centre in Edithvale last week as part of “stage two” industrial action. The stage two protected industrial action means staff will not work on paperwork or work to rosters unless overtime is approved in writing beforehand. Staff at Bupa’s Bonbeach aged care home are taking part in “stage one” action at this stage with carers wearing red age care…
KINGSTON Council wants to get out of the brothel busting business amid an apparent rise in massage parlours illegally offering extra services. Council paid investigators in the past few months have caught staff at five massage parlours across Mentone and Chelsea offering services, colloquially known as “happy endings”, in addition to massages. Unlicensed services offered at the establishments contravene the Sex Work Act and Kingston Planning Scheme. Kingston mayor Cr David Eden wrote to Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville in August to flag “an increasing number of illegal brothels establishing in our municipality”. “Over recent months council has investigated a…