Voting for this year's Monash Council election closes on Friday. Concluding a series of weekly reports on the election, KIRSTEN LEIMINGER takes a look at candidates' views on public transport and planning development in the Mulgrave and Oakleigh wards.
MULGRAVE WARD
A COUNCILLOR running for re-election has spoken out against the push for a rail link to Rowville, saying it would damage streetscapes in Monash.
Cr Craig Shiell supports a feasibility study for a link from Huntingdale to Rowville but not a railway line down the middle of Wellington Road - a concept that has the backing of Monash University, Eastern Transport Coalition, the Public Transport Users Association and Knox Council.
"It may assist some people in the ward, but really the push is coming from people that live out at Rowville," Cr Shiell said.
"The people in the City of Knox are willing to compromise the aesthetics, neighbourhood characteristics and streetscape of Monash to benefit their own cause. Why does it have to come out from Clayton right through the guts of our city?
"If we had SmartBuses, it would serve the community just as well and effectively without compromising our city."
He called for an extension of the Belgrave rail line from Ferntree Gully railway station to Rowville instead.
Sitting councillor Charlotte Baines said she was "not so naive" as to believe the State Government was going to construct the Rowville rail soon.
She would rather lobby for buses which were more cost-effective and realistic.
Mayor Paul Klisaris said the Rowville rail link "should have been built 20 years ago".
"We know that rail may never happen - it's infrastructure that costs billions of dollars.
"Public transport with bus services is a cheaper alternative which can be improved overnight."
Candidate Micaela Drieberg said she supported the rail project, but there needed to be more incentives to use public transport, such as additional services
, increased security and safety, parking discounts at railway stations and shuttle buses from Waverley Park to Glen Waverley station.
Michael Doyle said it was obvious that a rail link from Rowville to Huntingdale was "desperately needed" to reduce pollution, road deaths and vehicle traffic.
John Baker urged the State Government to make good on its 1999 promise of a Rowville rail feasibility study.
Shashi Kochhar, who backed the rail link, said he didn't know why so much money was being spent adding another lane to the Monash Freeway because it would "only shift the bottleneck from one place to another".
Ilaria Antoniazzi backed a wider bus network with shorter, more frequent routes.
Neil Henry Smith said he would give priority to solving public transport problems.
Sharon O'Connor and Li Chuan Tung did not respond to the Journal's requests before publication.
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