Happy New Year from Artarmon Village Inc. Best wishes for 2018 to you and your families and, on behalf of our members, thank you again for your support through 2017.

A big welcome to Gelatissimo Artarmon. It had its opening in Wilkes Avenue in December 2017. Their ice-cream is delicious, and they are open to 10pm seven days a week. I can highly recommend a post-dinner stroll for dessert.

Many people have been commenting on the bright flowers in the boxes along Hampden Road. Thank you to the mystery man who is supplying and planting them and to the businesses (and residents) who have taken responsibility for watering them. They look fantastic and it reminds us that people really like our shopping village.

It looks like the Greater Sydney Commission’s rulings will turn Artarmon into a developer’s paradise in the not too distant future. Hampden Road shops, in particular, need an overhaul and there is a big chance that older buildings will be demolished and replaced by combinations of retail, parking, office and residential infrastructure.

Now is the time for residents to join Artarmon Progress Association (membership@artarmonprogress.org.au) and for businesses to join Artarmon Village Inc. (artarmonvillage@gmail.com) to improve our control of the changes about to descend on our suburb.

In 2018 Artarmon Village Inc. remains committed to lobbying for: • Public toilets that are clean, accessible, inclusive and are always open. • Furniture/lighting upgrade for Wilkes Ave. There is a real buzz there in the evenings and we want it to reach its potential. • Review of parking conditions in Hampden Road – shoppers/ residents are being parked out on the weekends by people using our suburb as a free train station car park. Businesses in the block between Francis and Broughton Roads are also suffering because there is almost no parking along its length on either side of the road.

The AVI committee is keen to make our Facebook page really work for the suburb. Please “like” the page @artarmonvillage and do not hesitate to suggest desirable content.

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