A BRUSH with death made artist David Oakley reassess his life and pursue a passion for art that is on display in Frankston this month. The Chelsea Heights resident’s Exhibition ’15’ marks 15 years since Oakley was almost killed when he was attacked by a knife and hammer wielding robber in a shop in Hoddle St, Abbotsford in 2002. The then 33-year-old was “not expected to live” after suffering several hammer blows to the head during the armed robbery. It took more than five years of speech therapy to relearn to speak and to this day Oakley feels no sensation…
Author: Neil Walker
A BID to subdivide part of Cruden Farm in Langwarrin for residential development looks doomed after the state government signalled there is no intention to move Melbourne’s urban growth boundary. Trustees for the former homestead of the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, mother of News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch, submitted a planning application to Frankston Council to ask for approval to carve off about 15 hectares of land to build more than 100 homes. The application was withdrawn by the trustees before it was due to be debated and voted on by councillors at August’s public council meeting. State Planning Minister…
DRIVERLESS cars may face an old school hurdle to stay on the road — the clarity of roadside painted lines. Semi-autonomous vehicles have been road tested along Eastlink since late last year and the trial results have found “good quality markings” on both sides of road lanes are needed to keep self-driving cars on the straight and narrow. The trials involving “hands-off-the-wheel” cars were conducted by Eastlink Corp and VicRoads with the Australian Road Research Board, La Trobe University and the RACV. Variable speed signs, increasingly used on freeways around Melbourne, also caused problems for some self-driving prototypes in the…
PEOPLE who have tried to change Frankston for the better have been publicly kicked by critics according to a councillor who worked on the Wells St revamp. At this month’s public council meeting, Cr Glenn Aitken bemoaned criticism of the Wells St and Young St redevelopments. He said the upgrade of two main streets “for the first time in generations” is “something to celebrate”. Major works to both streets have been plagued by delays this year. Cr Aitken, who was part of a council working party tasked with overseeing the Wells St upgrade, said an investment was being made in…
A SELF-IMPOSED exile from membership of the organisation that represents councils across the state is set to end for Frankston Council. Councillors at August’s public council meeting unanimously voted to rejoin the Municipal Association of Victoria after a two-year absence during which Frankston stood alone as the sole council from 79 across the state as a non-MAV member. Frankston councillors during the previous council term decided to leave the MAV, which charges about $55,000 in membership fees per council annually, amid concerns about the association’s governance and transparency highlighted in a 2015 audit by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office. “I think…