Nick Reece: A safer, brighter Melbourne and a historic Greek delegation
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Nick Reece, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, has big plans for safety, culture and for reviving the city’s culture and nightlife, if he is re-elected in October. His plans include 30 Community Safety Officers, the lighting up of Melbourne buildings, like Athens, and expanded cultural and arts festivals, all in the effort to revitalise Melbourne.
Leading a landmark delegation to Greece
Reece plans to lead the “biggest delegation” of business and cultural leaders to Greece.
“If I’m elected, I will be a leading a delegation of Melburnians to Greece and it will be the biggest delegation of business and cultural leaders ever to travel to Greece,” the Lord Mayor tells Neos Kosmos.
Reece says he is “little biased”, and to draws on his own family connections, but he adds he also draws on people “in the business and cultural sectors in Melbourne with connections to Greece”.
Reece told Neos Kosmos that he is “Greek at heart” as his wife, Felicity (nee Pantelidis), is Greek, and his children “are growing up as Greek Australians.”
“I will use an opportunity to renew and enhance the incredible connections between Melbourne and Greece.”
Reece says he has no apatite to be “a political pundit”.
“I’ve got to put forward a positive plan and get out there and work my butt off and hopefully people will support me and support the plans.”
New City Safety Officers to patrol Melbourne
One of the issues that seem to arise often is safety in the city. According to the Crimes Statistic Agency there was a 7.7 per cent increase in ‘criminal incidences’ in Victoria in 12 months.
Melbourne’s CBD has seen a worrying 11.3 per cent increase – a total of 27,835 recorded crimes. The two largest alleged crime types were ‘crimes against the person’ which includes violence, sexual violence, and theft, and the lowest were drug offences.
There are fewer crimes than in 2017, and less than in 2021, yet the brazenness of the crimes seems more evident.
“Melbourne is a safe city” says Reece.
“The number of people who experience an incident upon visiting the city is very, very low, but there are some trouble spots, and we need to do better.”
“Safety and city cleanliness were going to be my top priorities” the Lord Mayor says.
Reece intends to introduce “a team of City Safety Officers who will be a very highly visible safety presence and safety and security presence on the street.”
“They will wear Kevlar vests, have body cameras on them, and they will be trained in how to deal with hostile situations.
“They can make citizen arrests, and they’ll also could issue fines,” Reece announces.
Asked by Neos Kosmos if the incumbent Lord Mayor has had discussed the creation of CSOs with Victoria Police, he says “yes, absolutely.
The proposed CSOs will have the power to make arrest citizen’s arrest, “but they don’t have the powers of police.”
“They’re not meant to replace police, they’re there to complement their work.
“They will be a highly visible presence on the streets and provide additional safety from as needed, it will make a big difference,” Reece said.
initial commitment the Lord Mayor said will be to deploy 30 CSOs and he said: “It will be the biggest change to sort of security and policing in Victoria since the introduction of the PSO’s.”
He told Neos Kosmos that he has seen this model of community safety officers used in other cities around the world.
“I’ve looked very closely at London where they use a community policing model, and they have community safety officers.”
CSOs will have the ability to follow people, “keep track of them and have the power to make citizen’s arrest”.
“These people would be very well trained and would know the appropriate response in the for the appropriate situation.”
Lighting up Melbourne: Revitalising the city’s iconic laneways
Making the city centre vibrant again says Reece is one of his key commitments. He intends to push forward with a new policy, Light Up Melbourne.
“I’ve committed $10 million to better lighting up the beautiful buildings of Melbourne – particularly the old heritage buildings and lighting up Melbourne laneways and I’ve committed to lighting up 20 laneways.
“Just like you see in Athens where beautiful old buildings are lit up and it’s become a real tourist draw card,” the Lord Mayor said.
By lighting up the laneways he hopes to “improve safety and open commercial opportunities in those parts of the cities”.
“I’m thinking about catenary lighting that you kind of run across a wall, wash lighting, designer lighting.”
A new festival for Melbourne’s winter
Reece also plans to boost festivals. He is committed to the Greek Antipodes, Chinese New Year festival however he wants to expand the winter-based Firelight Festival – now centred around Docklands.
“I want to see the Firelight Festival across the city to attract people into the city during the during winter solstice, the quietest time of the year around the city,” Reece said.
The Lord Mayor, if re-elected wants to “explore new sister city relationships and new international friendships between the cities.”
“We are one of the world’s top international student cities as well and I think that’s a great asset we should enhance.”
Bureaucrats, often become the bane of elected politicians, not least arts bureaucrats who act as gatekeepers so, Neos Kosmos asked if Reece could take on the bureaucracy.
“Yeah, absolutely, I am a hands-on Lord Mayor and I like solving problems, fixing things, making decisions, getting things done.
“That’s why I made the decision to cancel the e-scooter contracts”, he said. E-scooters have since August 13, been banned from the Melbourne CBD.
There has been a sharp spike in the number of people presenting to hospitals, such as the Royal Melbourne, because of being injured using e-scooters.
The alarming rise in the number of people through emergency departments has been for plastic and reconstructive surgery due to e-scooters Reece adds.
A rise of facial fractures and head injuries over the last two years have been due to e-scooters and “these injuries have been really life-changing,” said Reece.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
