The Melbourne Snap⚡- Friday 7 February, weekend edition
The healthiest (and unhealthiest) places to live in Victoria, NFL coming to Melbourne, Pokémon Wars, best place for coffee in the city and 5 things to do this weekend.
G’day and welcome to The Melbourne Snap. Thank you to the new paid supporter who signed up yesterday! If you’re new here, the Friday edition of The Snap is slightly longer than other editions (it’s free like all the others). It comes with five recommendations of things to do at the weekend in the city as well as the usual mix of news, events and community notices. Thank you to those who have publicly shouted out the Melbourne Snap this week, it’s much appreciated. Here’s Friday’s extended weekend edition.
❤️Suburbs and towns near or in the Dandenong Ranges have been ranked among Victoria's healthiest places to live. - Broede Carmody, The Age
➡️The towns of Olinda and Emerald as well as the eastern suburb of Belgrave scored a perfect 100 on a new environmental health index.
➡️The index - devised by researchers at Monash University - considers factors like air quality, green spaces and temperature variances.
➡️There were 36 top-rated areas across the 400 suburbs or towns analysed, including ones on the Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, and parts of Gippsland.
➡️In Greater Melbourne, the worst-rated suburbs were Melbourne Airport with 77.05 and Melton West at 77.2
🏈The National Football League (NFL) will host its first regular-season game in Australia at the MCG next year, with the Los Angeles Rams heading Down Under. - Vic Gov
➡️Further good news for American sports fans in our city came this morning, as Melbourne is set to make sporting history yet again, with a team of NBA superstars to play on Australian soil for the first time. - Herald Sun
⛅☁️☁️ Weekend weather
Crime Watch
This section is dedicated to crime news. Scroll on if you want to skip to lighter news.
🔪 A man in his 30s is in serious condition after being stabbed outside a tobacco shop on Chapel Street (next to the Taco Bell) in South Yarra on Wednesday morning. Police are searching for the attacker and believe the victim may have known the offender. - Victoria Police
🏛️Offences including displaying hate symbols and terror crimes will now carry mandatory minimum jail sentences under new laws passed in federal parliament. The toughened stance against hate speech follows a spate of anti-Semitic attacks including the firebombing of a Synagogue in Melbourne’s Ripponlea. - news.com.au
🚓 Police in Melbourne’s inner north have recovered 26 stolen cars and seized over 130 false number plates using advanced number plate recognition technology to scan nearly 120,000 vehicles since August 2024. - Victoria Police
🔫 Three teenage boys, aged 13, 14 and 16, were arrested yesterday in the Mornington Peninsula after allegedly stealing imitation handguns from a Somerville shopping centre and pointing them at members of the public. - Victoria Police
➡️Pictures from the incident show one of the offenders pointing a fake gun at a mother holding her toddler. - Casey Crime
🚨A 17-year-old has been charged after an alleged aggravated carjacking in Craigieburn on Tuesday. Two stolen cars collided, and a 49-year-old woman was injured. Police arrested the teenager and two others after they fled the scene on foot. - Victoria Police
🥷🏻We’ve all heard of the Tobacco Wars but what about the Pokémon Wars? The growing demand for Pokémon cards has fueled a spike in game store break-ins across Melbourne. Some game store owners say they have been repeatedly targeted, with thieves stealing collectible trading cards worth tens of thousands of dollars. - ABC Radio Melbourne
👮Police are seeking public help and dashcam footage after a man was assaulted during a road rage incident in Roxburgh Park last night. - Victoria Police
📢 Share your local news and events by filling in this form here. I’d love to share upcoming community events.
☕I never envy any publication that tries to find Melbourne’s best coffee. It’s a mammoth task, but lifestyle site Concrete Playground has taken the challenge on. In a list of the 20 best places in the city to get coffee, they picked Seven Seeds on Berkeley Street, Carlton as the number one. - See the full list here
⛔Laos authorities have rejected the Australian government's offer to assist in the investigation into the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning. Melbourne teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both aged 19, died after ingesting tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in November. - April Glover, Nine News
🔎BailSafe, a private firm that offers GPS tracking services for offenders on bail, has collapsed, leaving police, justice authorities and courts across Victoria scrambling to locate alleged offenders on bail. Victoria Police confirmed on Thursday that the closure had impacted eight accused criminals. - Chris Vedelago, The Age
🔒Boris Portnoy’s Russian and Georgian-inspired wine bar, Gray and Gray, in Northcote, will close after its final service on Saturday, February 22. - Audrey Payne, Broadsheet
🥐A new bakery opened in Collingwood Yards this week. Dua Bakehouse is offering “Scandinasian”-inspired baked goods and drinks in Collingwood’s art precint. - Instagram
🎶UK dance rock icons EMF are returning to Australian stages this winter for the first time since 1991. Famous for their 90s hit Unbelievable, the band will perform in Melbourne at the Corner Hotel on 7 August. - Beat
🎉5 things to do this weekend🎉
Social enterprise CERES is welcoming Melbourne’s flower lovers to the Festival of Flowers at Joe’s Market Garden in Coburg. Pick your own sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos for $30 every Saturday till April. - More details
Check out the Ocean Photographer of the Year Exhibition at Seaworks in Williamstown. It’s packed with 118 amazing photos from photographers around the world, showing off stunning underwater scenes, sea creatures, and the connection between us and the ocean.- More Details
Australia’s biggest and best-known basketball festival, Summer Jam, is set to bring the heat this summer as it returns to Peanut Farm Reserve in St Kilda, Melbourne, from 7–9 February 2025. - More details (via What’s On St Kilda)
The Nongkrong Festival will celebrate Indonesian culture through food, music, and workshops and is back for its second year. Running for two weeks, the festival features nine events, including food carts at Fed Square, a special four-course dinner by home cooks, and dishes from top chefs. It kicks off on Sunday with a free event at the Fairfield Amphitheatre. - More Details
➡️Sticking on the theme of South East Asian events, I want to sneak in a bonus event: Victoria Market will host Melbourne's first Kamayan Festival honouring Filipino food and culture this weekend. - More detailsIf you love your coffee (and who doesn’t in Melbourne?) then this last one could be for you. Coffee roasters Toby’s Estate is opening a new flagship café on Rose Street, Fitzroy, and is welcoming coffee connoisseurs to celebrate with them. To mark the occasion, they’re hosting a launch event on Saturday from 9am to 12pm. There will be free coffee, a DJ set, “Saturday vibes” and a menu showcasing diverse brews. Instagram/Toby’s Estate
📢Community Noticeboard📢
📌” if you’re looking for a run club around Reservoir we just started one last week. All levels welcome, no experience needed, just a short run to start the weekend off. We kick off at 8am on the court side of Barry Street ( near Oreganos) and finish at the same spot to enjoy some coffee and chats” - More Details
📌”Celebrate Library Lovers Day at Footscray Library Courtyard. Skip the Valentine’s Day dinner and join us for a free, fun-filled evening of bookish activities. Hosted by Laurence Hewson, the iconic “Voice of Melbourne” from Flinders Street Station, this event is perfect for connecting with fellow readers, sharing your literary loves, and having a laugh.” - More Details
📌”Looking for the right kinder for your child [in the north-east]? On Saturday 22 February, local kindergartens in Banyule are opening their doors for you to explore.” - More Details
Editor’s note: Get your news, event, gathering, new business or community update here. Fill in this form, don’t be shy.
And finally…As if we needed more proof Melbourne’s housing market is mad. An abandoned, graffiti-filled Frankston house deemed too dangerous for buyers to inspect has sold for almost $200,000 more than its reserve price of $705,000. - Nathan Mawby, realestate.com.au
Thank you for reading edition 58 of The Melbourne Snap. You’re one of over 450 people who are signed up. I write this newsletter in the early hours every weekday morning between 4am - 7am in my free time. If you can afford to support the newsletter you can do so for as little as $10 a month. Have a great weekend, see you on Monday.
I feel like there should be less focus on graffiti of birds and more on, idk, paying police enough so they can prevent knife violence?! a girl can only dream...