Family, Youth & Children

  • Email
  • Print

We enjoy our public places

The mixture of old and new buildings and spaces in our city are very special to us.

  • ‘We go to cafes and have baby chinos’ (age 5)
  • ‘Heaps of good places to eat’ (age 9)
  • ‘Bands good… colourful bands”, but “not too loud’ (age 10)
  • ’Lots of shops and they are dog friendly’ (age 9)
  • ‘I like to go to the chemist, café, park and supermarket and sometimes the bookshop’ (age 4)
  • ‘Lots of shops and they are dog friendly’ (age 9)
  • ‘Acland Street – always something to do’ (age 10)
  • ‘Good infrastructure – shops are easily accessible’(age 11)
  • ‘We get movies from the library. (age 5)
  • ‘I like to go to the library ‘cause they have good books there and you can take them home and then take them back when you don’t want them’ (age 4)

Fitzroy Street (age 10 & 11)

  • “Old fashioned architecture great” (eg. photographs of period buildings in Fitzroy Street)
  • ‘I like all the shops, especially Carlisle Street’
  • ‘Chocolate shops are good!’
  • “Like bins so people don’t rubbish the street but if people are drunk they might set them on fire’
  • “Like leaves because nature” (eg. photograph of autumn leaves in Fitzroy Street)
  • ‘Interesting back alleys and stairwells (eg. photographs of cobble stone alleyways; re photograph of stairwell in alleyway - cool and colourful’)
  • ‘Interesting advertising (eg. photographs of advertisements on bus shelters)’
  • ‘Diversity of community’
  • ‘Live music’
  • The Gatwick houses and protects people who need accommodation: “Scary but a good place which accommodates people of all ages”; “met heaps of Gatwick people, they’re really nice… they might ask you for two bucks walking to school in the morning, but so what?”; “Homeless people have rights too”; this outweighs negative feature of perceived lack of lighting at the Gatwick: “the good is better than the bad”
  • ‘Fitzroy Street can be good for families, but “depends what time… Saturday and Sunday daytime are good”
  • ‘Tourist maps on the street: “anyone can use them’
  • “7/11 shops are good; express shopping”
  • ‘Pubs are always good fun but there should be restrictions. Some people want to drink too much Should be maximum of two pubs down Fitzroy Street’

 

Kids’ Suggestions

Grownups’ Actions

Fewer new buildings
‘Too many new buildings being built – less building’ (age 8)

 We have involved kids in the design of the new St Kilda family & Children’s Centre, Middle Park Beach Development and they will be giving their opinions on the Emerald Hill Library site.
Council’s Capital Works projects will involve community consultation with kids and grownups.
Keep the variety of local shops close to were we live and  to include those for kids
‘More shops for children (age 9)
‘No fatty food shops - dodgy’ (age 10)
‘Need really nice places to eat, like the bakery’ (age 11)
 Council is committed to supporting and enhancing the growth of local businesses that provide a vibrant street life for everyone and accessibility for local residents and visitors.
Keep a mixture of old and modern buildings.
‘Older style buildings,: old fashioned architecture great” (eg. photographs of period buildings in Fitzroy Street) (age 11)
‘Invitation to St Kilda Town Hall by Janet Bolitho’ (age 8)
 While redeveloping areas such as St Vincent Gardens, the Emerald Hill Precinct, Emerald Hill Library and other places of historical significance we must preserve the heritage character and be sympathetic and respectful to all heritage places.
Involve kids in the redevelopment process, consultative groups
More live music
‘Bands good… colourful bands”, but “not too loud. Kids hear the music late at night’ (age 11)
  We provide opportunities for busking such as playing a musical instrument and/or singing, conjuring, juggling, mime, mimicry, dance, puppetry, performance art and recitation to occur in public places within the city.

We are also continuing to promote live music events such as the St Kilda and Elwood Festivals.
We are looking at local shopping centres hosting small events.
Provide more greenery and trees in the centres.
‘More trees in shopping centres’ (age 8)
 We will ensure that all public spaces include trees to provide shade from the sun.
More variety of library facilities for all kids.
‘We need to have a big screen at the library so we can watch the movies so we know if we like it before we take it home.’ (age 5)
‘The St Kilda branch library should have more DVDs and some more books for the readers. Some books in the series of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven and Harry Potter are not there. There should be more copies of some books or DVDs like I can never find Harry Potter DVDs left for me when I go to the library’ (age 10)
 Our libraries are an important part of our city. We will be asking kids and grownups how they think libraries could be improved. We will introduce new technology in our libraries to be more interactive, provide creative programmes for kids and youth and develop exhibition and display spaces.
Council has 2 library upgrades planned in the next few years at the Emerald Hill Library and St Kilda Libraries.
Keep public toilet and public spaces cleaner
‘Public spaces need to be cleaner’ (age 8)
‘The public toilets are disgusting but you can also get stuck in them’ (electronic ones) (age 8))
‘One toilet that is disgusting is Coles in Carlisle Street’ (age 9)
'We should have the public toilets cleaned every week. '(age 9)
'I hate the public toilets. They’re very dirty and grotty and disgusting. You’re busting to go to there toilet but when you see them you change your mind. I think if only they were clean. They should clean public toilets regularly and make people not think your toilets are yucky!!! (age 9)
'The public toilets are disgusting. Once I was in Carlisle Street and I really needed to go. There was a toilet right next to us but it was too yucky so we had to go home. It was really upsetting because after that it was too late to go back and we didn’t get to borrow a video that night and watch it as planned’ (age 11)
‘They need to be cleaned and taken care of’ (age 10)
‘Another is on Acland Street (the electronic ones). They are disgusting, but you can also get stuck in them. Please take care of this’. (age 10)
‘Clean up the public toilets’ (age 9)
Public toilets are not well kept and could be modernised’.(age 11)
 Council owns 38 public toilets. There is a 5 year plan to upgrade them. Council toilets along the foreshore are cleaned three times daily from November to March and twice daily from April to October. Council toilets not located on the foreshore are cleaned twice daily January to December.
Report all dirty toilets to council and we will send out a cleaner.
Next year we are building a new public toilet on Middle Park Beach and designing a toilet for Sandridge Beach.
Provide more drinking fountains
Plus the drink tap is broken. I would like to see more drink taps in the streets and parks – clean water. (age 8)
‘More drinking taps and water tanks for plants.’ (age 9))
(More) Public water tanks for plants and flushing toilets. (age 10)
 We are providing more drinking fountains in shopping centres, on the foreshore and all playgrounds.
Tell us where you would like the fountains and we will make sure that they are at the correct height for kids and grownups.