The Greens moved to improve the conditions at Collingwood Town Hall this week, and preserve a valued and loved community asset for future generations.
The Collingwood Town Hall has barely changed since it was built over 120 years ago. Much of it is dark and cramped, with poor air circulation, and no fire sprinklers. It has the original electrical wiring and no disability access beyond the ground floor.
For the community, the spaces are difficult to use, the toilets and kitchen are sub-standard and the lack of accessibility makes it off limits for many in the community.
An upgrade will make this grand public building accessible, safer and comfortable for the community and more convenient to use for all those public events and functions held weekly. It will create more useable public space and better working conditions for the hundreds of Yarra staff – many of whom live in Yarra – who are based there.
The ALP and Socialist Party councillors voted against this upgrade, despite having approved it every year in the budget and in the council long term plan. They had no alternative to the urgent need for these works. They forget that the benefits will spin off to all of us, in better services for the community and a better public venue for functions, entertainment, celebrations, concerts, festivals, opera, and all those events which bring community members to the town hall each week.
The Greens want all the Town Halls to be used fully and to remain relevant iconic buildings in the community. If we allow these buildings to deteriorate they will become mausoleums and vulnerable to a selloff in the future.
Collingwood Town Hall and the land it is on are owned by the City of Yarra and therefore by the whole community. We have an obligation to preserve this valuable place and ensure it is comfortable safe and accessible to all members of the community, now and for the future.
