A long-running bid to replace an unlovely asphalt car park on the fringes of Melbourne's CBD with a vast civic square is set to hit another hurdle this week, with an 11th-hour proposal to allow paid parking on the site.
The battle over the Queen Victoria Market redevelopment – the site of one of the most colourful and contested parcels of land in Melbourne – has been running for years. But the loss of car parking from the market itself has been a sticking point. While the latest proposal would still deliver up to 1000 car spaces for market customers and members of the public, they would be contained within a 38-storey apartment tower on the corner of Queen and Therry streets and a future development site on Franklin Street.
If the “Civic Square” is going to look like the concrete pit that was created by City of Stonnington in Cato St then leave it as parking. Plus, cityofmelbourne needs to maintain the vegetation unlike the dead trees around Kensington that are promoted as planted then abandoned.
Maybe don't do massive population growth.