What's your big idea?

Make Mosman more pram and wheelchair accessible

More recycling bins in common areas

My grandchildren were surprised to see a picture of an apple core on the Landfill bins at the beach. Why not have compost bins for food waste, and recycling bins for the ubiquitous takeaway coffee cups. Council could promote this at the monthly markets and even offer reusable coffee cups and get the numerous coffee shops in Mosman to participate.

Transform Military Rd from Spit Junction to The Buena into a tree lined, green pedestrian-friendly village/commercial district it should be

Mosman village should be an area where we gather locally, we shop locally, we spend time as a community and we run into friends and neighbors doing the same. Foot traffic should be prioritised and encouraged, but currently Military Rd from Spit Junction to The Buena is largely given to parking and driving of cars. There is so much potential for the area to be so much more than what it is, to be a real resource for locals and a commercial draw for local, unique and boutique stores and shops as a beautiful area to relax, dine and shop in. Currently there isn't enough space on the foot path as it is, there is minimal green space, there isn't enough outdoor cafe/dining space and it isn't nearly as charming and pleasant as it should be and has potential to be. Some initial suggestions: 1. From Spit Junction to The Buena remove all on-street parking and turn those lanes into wider foot paths/public benches/local art installments/cafe seating/green space (internationally there are plenty of examples in cities around the world, many in Europe, but even locally Double Bay approaches this) leaving a single lane in each direction for cars 2. Standardise/create community rules/guidelines as to shop signage/frontage/advertising to decrease distracting visual clutter and give a more unified aesthetic to the village and the shopping district (plenty of examples including Double Bay locally, but also Sao Paulo, Park City -- see https://www.parkcity.org/home/showdocument?id=62 as an example of their guidelines for their historic distric). 3. Increase pedestrian crossings (is there currently only one zebra crossing in that stretch?) to encourage easier pedestrian flow within commercial area, increase pedestrian foot traffic 4. Tree line Military Road from Spit Junction to The Buena, beautifying and giving charm to the area, but also passively cooling the area during the hot summer months 5. Addition of public toilets to the area to increase the amount of time people can reasonably spend shopping, dining, relaxing in green spaces created, etc can be increased Benefits: 1. Currently we are seeing shops quickly and increasingly closing down on Military Rd, this will help to revitalise the area with increased foot traffic and increased time spent by locals in the commercial area 2. This will encourage greater utility of the area for dining, shopping, etc (as an example we occasionally eat at Charlie's Chicken, but sitting on the sidewalk is not really pleasant and it doesn't take much for me to get really nervous about my children getting close to traffic when they start messing around on the foot path) 3. This will improve traffic flow because currently with people parallel parking on Military Road it has a significant knock-on effect and creates backed up traffic that otherwise would flow smoothly 4. Increased opportunities for community festivals, public music, etc Potential hurdles 1. Some thought to increase parking availability behind shops likely needed to compensate for the loss of street parking 2. Cost and disruption of removing car lanes and creating new foot paths/green space/etc 3. Possible resitance by local business to signage rules if they feel it may decrease their visibility/ability to advertise. A multi-year (5 may be sufficient) transition may be helpful both in terms of businesses absorbing the cost of changing signage and to adjusting to new requirements

STREET ART FOR MOSMAN

Over the past 2 years Mosman has had a chalk artist draw on the promendade at Balmoral. Why not make that into an art competition with an environmental theme....people pay to enter, they have allocated promenade square, winner gets a small prize, plus exposure, Mosman has free art. They do something similar in Italy, once a year they have art in flowers (literally) throughout the village....great tourist dest. and lots of flowers.

Light Rail to Sydney Metro and Accessible Public Parking

I believe connecting Taronga Zoo to the Sydney metro station with a light rail will bring multiple benefits to Mosman Village. 1. Reduction of traffic noise in the village: As already mentioned, this could work in conjunction with the pedestrian landscaped shopping village over Military Road from Spit Junction to The Buena. Proposed Light Rail Route: New Sydney Metro station - Ernest Street - Ben Boyd Road - Belgrave St - Gerard St - Macpherson St - Ourimbah Road - Spit Road - Military Road - Bradleys Head Rd 2. Environmental friendly: The light rail could be the core connection from the council to the rest of the city. Then the buses could be used locally to connect currently isolated areas to the light rail or to the public transport arteries (Spit Road - Military Road) 3. Materialise Mosman Business potential Under the Allan Border Oval a multi-storeys public carpark could be built with an easy access from/to Spit road, to attract Northern Beaches commuters to park there and to do shopping in the village. In addition to that, the Carpark would be ideal to reduce the traffic jams in the area on weekends mostly caused by buses and visitors passing through to Taronga zoo with their cars.