Do we need high rises in the suburbs?

So have you heard about the planned 38 level mixed use residential and office tower in Box Hill? I don't know about you but I think this will stick out like a sore thumb. Developers should be seeking incrememental height change rather than an immediate eye catching showcase. The scary thing though, this building has been pulled out of normal planning considerations and fast tracked through the planning minister's department for approval.

Brumby, Madden and the Labor party are ripping apart normal planning considerations in the name of jobs. As Melburnians we have to ask if this acceptable or not? Do we want mega high rises inconsistent with the existing landscape and without infrastructure to support them? To me this is certainly on the nose. We don't need planning on the run, otherwise we'd turn into sydney. A trip down sydney's anzac parade can show you how ugly a city can turn without proper planning. Something has to be done about this cozy relationship between developers and Labor. Especially in Sydney and Melbourne. Otherwise, the stink of corruption, masquerading as job stimulus is likely to rear its ugly head.

So what can be done? The most effective action is to let the political parties know their limits. Could a protest vote in the eastern suburbs send a message to Labor?

Secondly, there has been precedents overseas of residents taking action against mega rises. For example in Beijing, residents threatened legal action against Siemens for their proposed mega tower outside of the Beijing CBD. Sophisticated light and shadow simulations were used to determine a detrimental shadowing effect on neighbouring buildings. Neighbouring buildings could claim increased lighting bills, a detrimental effect on solar hot water and solar photovoltaic systems.

Let's not take our surburbs and way of life for granted. This is not about stopping development, rather stopping inappropriate non-holistic development. Buildings need to be integrated with their surroundings. Just as the global financial crisis highlighted the need to rein in those in the finance industry, similarly developers need to be reined in.

The myki consortium is incompetent

I finally recieved my free Myki today, but the letter accompanying it has been completely botched. According to the letter I have a concession myki, when I have actually ordered a full fare myki. The myki is actually a full fare myki, despite what the letter says. Confused? You're not the only one.

First we have incorrectly printed names, now letters suggesting we have concession mykis when we actually have full fare mykis. If they do not have a proper running verification system for sending out letters from a database, how can we be confident they will have a correctly running verification system for touching on and off?

So far myki has been a complete disaster. Somebody has to take responsibility for this mess. It's gross incompetence.

How many free mykis can you order?

I've just ordered myself 10 free mykis, courtesy of the introductory offer. It was quite easy to defeat the dumb computer database, but can a human detect this scam? If it is so easy to defeat a computer, is the myki system easy to defeat aswell? Should we bring back ticket inspectors?

From Saving Water to Wasting Energy

Anybody service their car from Robert Lane? Robert Lane use to have a nice deal where they wash and polish your car and clean the interior out at "no extra cost". It's part of their service committment, but undoubtly you do pay for it. They still clean the interiors, but due to water restrictions, they give out free vouchers to use at those auto car washes at Shell. So they go from saving water, to wasting energy. If only companies could think more holistically...

Melbourne needs unique trams

Melbourne needs unique looking trams, yes, but the W class trams aren't the solution. As a world class city, trams are one of our cities unique selling points. However, with more and more cities world wide adopting them, can they continue to be a differentiator in the future? A unique design language for our trams need to be adopted.

I propose unique front and rear ends, specified specifically for our city. It has to be something designed by us, and not corporate. Sorry Yarra trams, screw you!! Let's get Melbourne's best industrial designers together and come up with something good. Could it be based on the much loved W-class? Maybe...

Myki - why it's needed

Forget the incompetence of Kosky, DOT and KAMCO. Myki when it's finally working as proposed should be a good system. Like every other Melburnian I have my 2 cents on this issue. I think the system is needed, the old metcard although functional, won't be able to deliver a system that's repsonsive to Melbourne's needs into the future.

The main thing going for myki, and the whole point of it is tracking. The reason why they want us to sign in and sign off, is so they can find out where we're going, how many of us are using it, and where to put resources.

The system also paves the way for new innovate fare structures and a possiblity of direct refunds if there is consistant underperformance on the network (no more filling out useless forms!).

So let's get on with it. Test it live, and fix the problems as we go. That's the only way.

Metro's first priority should be customer services

I would rate Metro's first month in Melbourne a fail. Sure they have a nice website, but it's what patrons see and hear everyday that counts. So far, it appears metro's priority is branding rather than customer service, and that's a huge blunder.

One wonders why they bother with brand promotion at such an early stage, when service levels are still poor. It just reinforces a negative brand perception. Do we really need to be reminded at each stop that "Metro" is arriving at? Who authorized such a stupid branding procedure, and why are our tax dollars being used to pay for it? Surely a common sense "Does this add value?" approach should be used. Does changing the arrival annoucement add any value? NO!

So what does add value? Thinking about how customers use trains. Can we add powerpoints for people to charge their mobiles and laptops? Can we offer a free wifi service at stations? Can we offer customers are chance to design their own timetables and vote for them?

There many, many more important things than branding at this moment. Hopefully metro gets a clue and starts thinking about them.