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29 MARCH, 2023
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Rock ‘n’ roll to Tom Petty
Singer and musician Rebecca Barnard and organiser Michael Clarke are warming up for a rocking good time at this year’s Stony Creek Music Festival. (Damjan Janevski) 324773_05
Yarraville music enthusiasts are encouraged to come on down to Yarraville’s McNish Reserve to rock the afternoon and evening away as part of the ninth Stony Creek Music Festival. Organised by the Seddon Kingsville Yarraville Community Group, the free festival will run from 3pm to 9pm on Saturday, April 1, featuring a range of bands and artists taking to the stage, including The Black Curtains, Nick Barker, Shane O’Mara and Rebecca Barnard. Festival founder and organiser Michael Clarke said this year’s main event will be a retrospective musical performance looking back at the work of American rock legend Tom Petty. The event will also include performances from rap group Ghetto Stars Super Stars and teen punk band The Receivers, as well as drumming workshops with Ray Pereira, three-string guitar workshops with Greg McKinnon and gardening workshops at the Yarraville Community Garden, as well as a visit from Belle the Princess on Skates and face painting. Details: https://www.maribyrnong. vic.gov.au/Events/Stony-Creek-MusicFestival
Toilets, roads need work By Matthew Sims Maribyrnong residents have named public toilets, maintenance and repairing of sealed local roads and footpath maintenance and repairs as areas in need of improvement, as part of the 2022 Annual Community Survey. The results of the survey were revealed at council’s March 21 meeting. Services that received scores lower than the average included public toilets (6.57), maintenance and repair of sealed local roads (6.63), and footpath maintenance and repairs (6.72). The survey measured the importance to the community of 39 individual services and
facilities, with the council receiving an average satisfaction rating of 7.30, or ‘very good’. Services and facilities which scored measurably higher than the average included library services (8.59), fortnightly recycling collection (8.53), weekly garbage collection (8.43), fortnightly green waste collection (8.33), annual hard rubbish collection (8.22) and the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre (7.94). Maribyrnong mayor Sarah Carter said the shift in sentiment was welcomed, with the survey recording the lowest number of dissatisfied residents on record at 7.6 per cent. “It is pleasing to see a greater understanding and appreciation from our community generally around the work we are
doing,” she said. “That’s not to say we don’t recognise there is still room for improvement, or other areas where the community would like to see us up our game. “It is heartening to see a level of understanding and acceptance of the need for council to be funded appropriately to deliver the services the community is asking of us, at a level that meets their needs – recognising also the challenges we face balancing revenue against expenses.” Traffic management, road maintenance and repairs, and car parking remain the three top issues, with more than half the respondents indicating they would support more spending
on these issues. Maribyrnong councillor Michael Clarke said the survey showed a “wonderful outcome” across a number of key service provision areas. “This council has worked diligently,” he said. Overall satisfaction recorded in the 2022 survey dipped slightly for the second year in a row to 6.76, which was below the previous peak three years ago of 6.93, but was above the previous low of 6.11 recorded in 2014, and a 10.6 per cent increase in overall performance since surveying began in 2004. Details: www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/ About-us/Our-plans-and-performance/ Annual-Community-Survey
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