Lawrence Reddaway reports on the ‘Fixers’ Discussion Group: From five members on Zoom we had at least 10 opinions and 15 suggestions on this topic. Surely we agreed that there is no single silver bullet solution.
We recognised that the optimum post-pandemic scenario might well be different from the situation pre-pandemic
We remembered that - way back in, say, 1985 - very few people lived in the City. The streets were dead outside business hours. Then the Melbourne City Council embarked on a ‘Postcode 3000’ program of reforms which no doubt contributed to the City becoming a 24/7 hubbub. How then can we respond again – successfully?
Long term partial solutions included:
Improving town planning so that only buildings that added positively to streetscapes could be built; and that much more greenery developed.- A train line from Doncaster. (Who wants to drive into the city?)
- Get a new shopping destination that would draw tourists from far and wide – maybe like Myer and David Jones allegedly used to do. Maybe the currently rumoured Apple Studio in Bourke St will provide exactly that magnet?
- Continue the drive to bring events to Melbourne. (Like Rotary’s International Convention 2023.)
- Relentlessly ask “What would bring international visitors to our city?”
- Get the politics right to encourage international students to study here.
Shorter term ideas included:
- Making streets and lanes feel safer by night as well as by day
- More assiduous cleaning
- Relocate and revive the defunct Melbourne Star big wheel
- Support new start-up businesses
Having fixed this topic, we are now considering that our next topic could be along the lines of “How Could Peace Activism Help International Relations”
(Suppose we have no armies, who would turn up to fight the war? And then, of course pigs might fly?)