Our city is home to a number of top-class sporting facilities so participation in a wide range of sports is possible for people of all ages.
Recently in Dandenong Ward we celebrated the opening of the WJ Crowe Pavilion. Home to St Mary’s Cricket Club and St John’s Old Collegians Football Club, the new pavilion includes four change rooms plus two umpire rooms, creating equal space for male and female players and officials. As the ward Councillor I have been a strong advocate for this $6 million upgrade, and I am pleased to see it completed with a $500,000 grant from the Victorian Government and $100,000 from AFL Victoria.
The facility also includes two timekeeper rooms, public toilets, social space, a kitchen, meeting rooms and plenty of storage space. Based in the Thomas Carroll Reserve in Dandenong, this pavilion is just one of the upgrades taking place at this location.
We have completed a new playground just outside the pavilion and will soon finish a new entry plaza to safely connect the car park, playground, pavilion and ovals. We look forward to clubs having full access to the pavilion when the final accessibility requirements are complete early in the year. I also attended the official switching on of the east oval lighting upgrade. The light towers will give players a chance to train for longer hours, meaning more teams can make use of this great space.
You may have noticed some interesting new infrastructure pop up at the corner of Clow and Lonsdale Streets in Dandenong recently. The urban pods are covered picnic tables that can shade you from the sun and protect you from some light rain.
I encourage all residents to check out the pods and stop for a rest, or grab some lunch from the Lonsdale Street traders, and enjoy a break in the artistically decorated pods.
If you want to contact me about Council-related issues you can email me at jim.memeti@cgd.vic.gov.au or phone me on 0434 560 239.