Day: May 26, 2015

WINTER is almost here and Hastings SES volunteers are getting ready to respond to calls for help from storms and floods. The preparations to enable a quick response coincide with the national FloodSafe week (25-31 May) and an SES warning that “however many people are unaware of just how dirty, disgusting and dangerous floodwater can be”. The SES says that floodwaters can pick up “all kinds of awful materials, including toxic chemicals, animal faeces, decaying animals, garbage, broken glass and rusted metal”. Kate Nangle from Hastings SES said this year’s focus was on “shining a light into the murky contents…

IN the first weekend of their crackdown on vandalism Hastings police handed out dozens of warnings and made three arrests. The “zero tolerance” Operation Dragon was started a week ago to counter a rising tide of vandalism, especially around Somerville Secondary College in Graf Rd, where vandals recently caused $4500 damage to building equipment and a rammed earth wall, as well as smashing windows and defacing a mural by Seaford artist Tony Sowersby, just one week before its completion. Other attacks have occurred at Somerville Rise Primary School and to community buildings. Police said groups of teenagers roam Somerville streets…

STAFF numbers have been cut to 14 at the Port of Hastings Development Authority. The latest cuts are in line with the Labor government’s aim of hearing from Infrastructure Victoria before deciding on a site for the state’s second container port. While falling short of formally abandoning Hastings, this latest move is likely to leave a significant vacuum in the forward planning policies of the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston. The Port of Hastings Development Authority has all but been left out of the latest state budget and must rely on ever decreasing revenues from port operator, Patricks Stevedores. In the…