13th November 2008 - some important things to remember

Hasn't the weather been nice this week and it's good to see Artarmon putting on its purple cloak with the jacarandas and the agapanthus. Such a nice time of the year! When the jacarandas bloom it's exam time and Christmas is just around the corner. (As of Thursday, when I write this, it's only 41 sleeps to go.)

So, what things are happening that you need to know about and share with your neighbours?

Artarmon Gazette
This coming weekend the volunteers who deliver the Gazette will start doing their 'rounds'. If you live in the 2064 postcode your Gazette should be delivered over the next week or so. Front page story in this edition will be the Go Get car. You may have noticed it parked outside Nick Logan's Chemist shop?

Please join us
The APA Christmas party and annual general meeting will be held on Sunday 30 November. Please put the date in your diary as we would love to have your household members join us at the Artarmon Bowling Club (at the end of Burra Road). The APA keeps running due to the enthusiasm and contribution of those who live in the suburb and your enthusiasm and contribution is a part of this.

A reminder and details will be sent around closer to the event, but in the meantime, Sunday 30 November,  6pm - 8pm is all you have to remember for now. (It would help, however, if you gave us some idea of how many of your household may be attending!  That way we can get the catering right. RSVP to Artarmon Immediate.)

Recovering after Halloween
Did your children enjoy the Halloween party? We were all surprised about the amazing response and the enthusiasm of the children involved so it would be good to get your feedback and suggestions to assist with planning future events. There will have to be some fundraising (and more parental support) for any future events, but as Halloween falls on a Saturday in 2009, the Arty (young Artarmon) group are wondering whether to run it again. It takes time and energy, so your feedback will be a good gauge on how to approach it. Email your comments to Artarmon Immediate (or me, Glenda... ).

Let's beautify Artarmon
You may have seen a recent article in the Northside Courier about the Guerrilla Gardeners organisation? This group picks ugly public spaces and sets about beautifying them. Scott Lipman, one of the founders, was quoted in the article as saying he believes "Artarmon is a good place to start" on the North Shore.

We've spoken with Scott, and the group is really keen to clean up and plant out some of the not-no-great spaces in and around both the residential and the industrial areas. What you need to do is to go the website – www.guerillagardeners.com.au – and nominate the space you'd like beautified.

The more nominations for areas in Artarmon, the more likely we'll be to see greenery popping up in formerly ugly spaces. We'll be keeping in contact with the group over the next couple of months and bring you more updates as things begin to happen!

Library
And finally, a reminder that the library is open until 8pm on Thursday nights. Why not take a walk down in the cool of the evening? The library is in Elizabeth Street with the best access (from the railway tunnel) through Wilkes Plaza and then right into Elizabeth Street.

26th October 2008 - Trick or Treat

Welcome to another quick community update compliments of the Artarmon Progress Association. So, what's happening?

Trick or Treat?
This Friday, 31 October, many children in Artarmon will be participating in Trick or Treat. Some suggestions for ensuring the safety of those participating include:

• making sure there is an adult with the group
• reminding children to be polite
• only accepting wrapped lollies (safer and preferable)
  
• staying in a group
• crossing roads safely (as some kids get very excited and forget!)

If you are welcoming trick or treaters you should have some sort of decoration or sign at your front gate or letterbox to show you are a participating household (balloons? a sign?). In the interests of safety, if you don't know the children, only hand out wrapped/sealed lollies.

For the "to old to trick or treat"  (and under 18)
Arty, the youth arm of the Artarmon Progress Association is holding a Halloween Party at the Artarmon Library between 6pm and 9.30pm on Friday 31 October (this Friday!). There will be adult supervision but children under 6 must be accompanied by an adult. For catering purposes it would be helpful if you would let Ross know your children will be coming. He can be found at Hair on Wilkes or phone 0430 400 782 (but spontaneous drop-ins are ok too.)

One for your diary
The next public information evening will be Sunday 30 November 2008, 6-8pm at the Artarmon Bowling Club, 1a Burra Road, Artarmon. It will have a Christmas theme, so it would be excellent if you joined us!

Youth Garden
One of Arty's (Young Artamon) projects is the Youth Garden on the corner of Elizabeth St and Tindale Rd (opposite Wilkes Ave Shops). Doing the garden is both a social and a practical exercise so if you would like your children to be involved in helping build and maintain the garden, the next gathering is Sunday 9 November at 3pm.

Coming soon
The Artarmon Gazette is in the final stages of production and should be appearing in your letterbox in the next couple of weeks. The forthcoming issue is full of information about things that have an impact on our suburb.

1st September 2008 - Trains, Chemical cleanup and Rotary

Welcome to another quick community update compliments of the Artarmon Progress Association.

Trains
Rail maintenance and upgrading works are scheduled for the North Shore Line between Wynyard and Berowra on the weekend of 13-14 September. In addition to the scheduled rail maintenance, construction activities will continue between Artarmon and Roseville as part of the Epping to Chatswood rail line project.

More details

Local Government Elections
Compulsory local government elections are coming up on Saturday 13 September. The paper will have details about candidates, and most of those standing for Council had articles in the recent edition of the Artarmon Gazette.

North Shore Rotary Health Forum
Topic: Managing Stress and Anxiety
Date: 16 September, 2008
Time: 7pm-9pm
Cost: FREE
Venue: Zenith Theatre, corner Railway and MacIntosh Streets, Chatswood
Guest speaker is Professor Gin Malhi, Head of Psychiatry, Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney

Willoughby Spring Fair
This Saturday 6 September at Chatswood the Willoughby Spring Fair will be held throughout Chatswood CBD. The official opening by the Mayor is at 10am and there will be activities till 4pm in Chatswood Mall, Victoria Avenue, Spring Street and Anderson Street. It is important to note that there will be street closures on the day. More details can be found on the Willoughby Council website.

Arty, the Artarmon Progress Association Youth Group will be represented at the Fair.

Clean out chemical clutter
www.cleanout.com.au is offering a chance to get rid of paint and paint-related products, pesticides and herbicides, poisons, solvents and household cleaners etc etc. Check out the website for more details on dates and locations for the northern areas of Sydney.

20th August 2008 - An invitation to meet candidates in the local election

The next Council election is Saturday 13 September and voting is compulsory if you are an Australian citizen, aged 18 years and over and a resident!

Do you know who you will be voting for?

Meet the candidates

Find out who is running and what they stand for at a Public Information Meeting
Tuesday 26 August
8pm
Artarmon Public School Assembly Hall

3rd August 2008 - News for the Artarmon area

Do you know your councillors?
With local elections coming up, don't miss the opportunity to attend the Public Information meeting in the Artarmon Primary School hall on Tuesday 26 August. The idea is you get to know who you're voting for! Details are on the APA website.

Rail Trackwork
Next weekend (8-9 August) there will be more trackwork and no trains running. Railcorp has more information on its website. (www.cityrail.info)


Stuff for local kids
Arty is the youth arm of the Artarmon Progress Association. Its activities are organised by a youth committee and its objective is to create things to do for the under 25s.

If you want to encourage your children to get involved you can direct them to  Facebook for starters and they can find the information for themselves.  There's also an Arty website where they (and you) can find out what's happening.

Arty's Party
Coming up the ARTY group has organised Arty's Party at the Artarmon Bowling Club. It's for 12-18 year olds (High School age) and will be a no-alcohol event that runs from 6pm-8pm. The cost will be $5 and kids will be asked to sign in. More details on this can be found at www.arty.org.au.

18+???
The ARTY group has also organised a young Artarmon Pub Night for the 18+ group on Friday 29 August. On the assumption that most of the people reading this email will be over 18 (?) you're invited as well! The social gathering is informal and will be held at the Great Northern. A nice way to meet people and catch up!
 
State government review of local bus services.
The NSW government is undertaking a major review of bus services and some of the recommended changes may well effect you!! Once changes are made it's too late to do anything so get involved in the consultation process by completing the bus network survey at www.nswbusnetwork.com.au.

By the way......
The August edition of the Gazette should be arriving in your letterbox in the next couple of weeks…..

8th July 2008

As an Artarmon Progress Association member benefit, local news and happenings will occasionally distributed to APA  members via email. The APA often finds out about local events and issues before they reach the newspaper and, while the Artarmon Gazette will still be an important way of sharing community information to the entire 2064 postcode area, the occasional email will ensure you are kept abreast of topical issues.

You are encouraged to forward the email to your neighbours however it is a member benefit, so by encouraging your friends to become a member, they can be put on the mailing list to receive this email direct (instead of you forwarding it).

If you would prefer not to receive the APA Immediate emails, please let us know by replying with unsubscribe in the subject line.

So what's happening...

• With local elections on the horizon, the APA will be organising a 'Meet the Candidates' function at the Artarmon School on Tuesday 26 August. Mark the date on your calendar. It's a good way to get a feel for how well the candidates will represent you!

• Did you know that Council will be making a decision in November regarding a bus to the Industrial area? We understand it will initially be a 12-month trial with the bus running in peak periods. There is also some talk that one of the State Transit bus routes might have a route extended to include the industrial area. There will be more information about this in the next issue of the Artarmon Gazette.
  

• It was announced last week that the Channel 9 site at Willoughby has been withdrawn from sale.

• If you shop at Northbridge Plaza you may be interested in monitoring the Northbridge Plaza and council car park master plan. There is a website you can check for updates www.npmasterplan.com.au

Volunteers are needed to become involved in some of the APA's many activities.

• In particular, a couple of people are needed to help coordinate the public information meetings each quarter (the next one being the Meet the Candidates evening).
• It would also be good to have someone with an interest in local politics who would like to attend Council meetings to keep an eye on proceedings on behalf of Artarmon.
• As maintaining the unique nature of Artarmon is also important, a local with an interest in planning and development is needed to keep an eye on DAs. Several have popped up recently that may not be in the interests of the broader community, (for example, a DA for a third brothel on Hampden Road) so they need to be monitored. This person would be responsible for alerting the APA to anything unusual to ensure an appropriate response is co-ordinated.

Every little bit helps and if you can do one job, it means more people in the community are contributing. If you would like to offer to be involved, let us know by emailing sec@artarmonprogress.org.au.