By Maria Jarmain
RMIT Journalism student
Footscray is a cultural hub for food and art, and is rich with history, yet is riddled with a negative reputation.
Recently the Peoples Plan for Footscray was launched – a two year project, urging locals to get involved in revitalising the suburb.
Leaflets have been slipped into the letter boxes of residents, asking them to share some of their biggest concerns for Footscray, and what they’d like to see for the future.
The Peoples Plan partners with Angliss institute, Borderlands Cooperative and South Sudan First Education.
From Borderlands Cooperative, Peter Gartside says that proper community involvement is key to helping solve some of the suburb’s current issues and that development without community involvement will be to the detriment of the suburb.
“We want to come up with something out of this where we can say, this is what the people at Footscray want,” Gartside says.
Mr Gartside says that out of the responses they’ve received so far, a standout issue for residents is gentrification. He says a common concern is that the many of the people who make Footscray special will no longer be able to live there.
“What makes Footscray special will get pushed out because the people and the businesses won’t be able to, you know, economically they won’t be able to survive,” he says.
The city of Maribynong’s population is estimated to increase 60% by 2040. Gentrification is already making Footscray increasingly unaffordable, with concerns it is moving away from its working-class roots.
Mr Gartside says that the suburb is also facing issues with vacant shop fronts, a lack of green spaces and areas for the public to gather without spending money.
“We can’t just let these places just deteriorate and fall apart and board them up,” he says.
But it isn’t just doom and gloom. Some survey responses indicate that young people are helping combat Footscray’s increasingly negative reputation.
“There’s a lot of energy from young people in Footscray. [They] don’t buy into the, oh, it’s dangerous, it’s done. And are creative and are imaginative and actually are doing things, in between the cracks,” he says.
The project wants to amplify the voices of the entire community, aiming to include anyone who comes to enjoy what the suburb has to offer, not just residents. For example, people who travel to the suburb for the food bank services.
“They’re still connected to Footscray so we want to capture their voices as well because it’s .. as much their Footscray,” he says.
City of Maribyrnong Mayor Cr Mohamed Semra says that feedback from residents, traders and activists is key to the planning and delivery process for Footscray.
“Footscray is undergoing a period of significant change, and Council’s focus is on supporting a city centre that is safer, socially cohesive, inclusive and economically strong,” Cr Semra said in a statement.
Cr Semra says the council is welcoming the sharing of ideas, experiences and knowledge through community-led initiatives in Footscray.
Mr Gartside says that The Peoples Plan for Footscray can fill in the gaps Council may not be able to address.
“Council have tried to revitalise in various ways. Even scratch the surface of the issue, you know, it tends to be a sort of band-aid approach.”
“There’s that sort of community consultation side of things which we think we can do much deeper and richer than the council has the capacity to do,” Mr Gartside says.
“There will be a people’s plan for Footscray whether it’s an actual document or whether it’s a series of project plans. It may be a grand plan or it may be more kind of a collection of plans, whether it’s a physical document or whether it resides on a website and is dynamic,” Mr Gartside says.
The People’s plan for Footscray is set to hold events bringing together community members, activists, traders and anyone who wishes to discuss a plan for Footscray’s future.
You can have your say via the survey here
