30 March 2005

Lets sex up Canberra!

| Blossy
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Apparently Canberra isn’t sexy enough, according to this article. Apparently all the young people are leaving in droves, because we lack the “cultural depth” for those who are “a bit edgy”, “a bit groovy”, or who “want to road test a few relationships.”

Do you all see it like that? I love it here!

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mattapalooza said :

Canberra is governed by and will continue to be governed by the old fuddy duddies
I’m not too sure what it was – but i read somewhere about the fact in 2030, 60 percent of the population will be 50, 60 and above years of age.

That means currently – there’s truck loads of youth!!! And there is nothing here!!
The city IS NOT vibrant, Garema place looks like a dogs breakfast.
Theres no incentive to do anything, its a big country town that seems intent on catering to the whims of the ‘art society’ and not anyone who actually wants to enjoy themselves.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Canberra, but really. They need to do something before the city becomes any more sterile. If thats possible.

So what would like done differently?

mattapalooza9:21 am 28 Jul 11

Canberra is governed by and will continue to be governed by the old fuddy duddies
I’m not too sure what it was – but i read somewhere about the fact in 2030, 60 percent of the population will be 50, 60 and above years of age.

That means currently – there’s truck loads of youth!!! And there is nothing here!!
The city IS NOT vibrant, Garema place looks like a dogs breakfast.
Theres no incentive to do anything, its a big country town that seems intent on catering to the whims of the ‘art society’ and not anyone who actually wants to enjoy themselves.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Canberra, but really. They need to do something before the city becomes any more sterile. If thats possible.

milkman said :

Canberra’s fine. Besides, the only reason people go to so called ‘edgy’ places is to appear cool. Once you have a decent group of friends, the surroundings don’t matter so much.

Couldn’t agree with you more. Home is about community and friends…where ever that may be for any of us. After experiencing Brisbane for the past 16 months…(Trains! Who needs ’em?)…I am near busting to get back to Canberra. Not long now…hoorah!!!

Canberra’s fine. Besides, the only reason people go to so called ‘edgy’ places is to appear cool. Once you have a decent group of friends, the surroundings don’t matter so much.

A thread from 2005? When John Howard was PM and we’d never heard about climate change, carbon tax, the GFC, budget deficits, national debt, sovereign risk, and when we had stable government and serious politicians from the two major parties calling the shots both federally and Territory and not the stupid Greens and Independents.

With the crisis in confidence and national paralysis we’re experiencing at the moment, no wonder someone wanted to return to the golden era by digging up this thread.

colourful sydney racing identity4:50 pm 26 Jul 11

Mysteryman said :

john87_no1 said :

I like Canberra, lived here for 15 years now, but there is really very little to do.

I have always said: Canberra is a great place to raise kids, be a kid or go to die.

I tend to think that’s the argument of a boring person. There’s a load of stuff to do here but you’ve got to go and find it/do it. If you’re a boring person it’s likely that you’ll be bored wherever you live.

Spot on. Heaps to do in Canberra and the region if you are willing to look for it.

Tom said :

If people move away Spectra, wouldn’t there be less Canberra? Less shops, less business, less incentive to stay…

You say that like it’s a bad thing

Marco said :

I dunno, might be a fair comment – where are the really cool, interesting, off-the-wall places in Canberra? I can think of plenty in Sydney, but none here.

(Don’t take this as bagging the place, I ask for information and interest).

You know where you can go, don’t you?

p1 said :

john87_no1 said :

3 of those venues don’t exist anymore?

….but they did when JB wrote that six years ago.

Haha sorry. Didn’t see that part!

Disappointed. Just another thread about insecure people worried about what shallow people think.

And here was me hoping a white-collar gent’s club had opened up.

john87_no1 said :

I like Canberra, lived here for 15 years now, but there is really very little to do.

I have always said: Canberra is a great place to raise kids, be a kid or go to die.

I tend to think that’s the argument of a boring person. There’s a load of stuff to do here but you’ve got to go and find it/do it. If you’re a boring person it’s likely that you’ll be bored wherever you live.

john87_no1 said :

3 of those venues don’t exist anymore?

….but they did when JB wrote that six years ago.

johnboy said :

Toast, Trinity, Phoenix, Hippo, Street Theatre, Green Room. Filthy’s.

What we need is a campaign to make the fun stuff accessible.

let the hidden ciy cast off its disguise.

3 of those venues don’t exist anymore? And the remaining ones you mentions give the vibe that they are trying too hard to be something they aren’t. I like Canberra, lived here for 15 years now, but there is really very little to do.

I have always said: Canberra is a great place to raise kids, be a kid or go to die.

Thoroughly Smashed1:21 pm 26 Jul 11

braddonboy said :

So, what’s new? The right of passage when leaving school here in the 60’s and 70’s was to leave Canberra to head for more exotic places. I, and most of my mates did, and most of us eventually came back to settle.

I guess that right’s been taken away.

So, what’s new? The right of passage when leaving school here in the 60’s and 70’s was to leave Canberra to head for more exotic places. I, and most of my mates did, and most of us eventually came back to settle.

Canberra shouldn’t be trying to be sexy and edgy – it’s a relaxing and affluent place to raise a family.

I had probably better not comment. Everyone knows I hate Canberra. And before you pipe up VG, for personal reasons, I CAN’T leave. (IE I don’t hate Canberra as much as I love my daughter, and I can’t take her with me).

So I guess I’ll just shut up….. Fuck it. (NB, it has nothing to do with the “unsexiness” of the place).

If you want edgy, come to Queanbeyan on a Friday night.

Only if we can then have a cultural revolution and rip down and the ugly deathtraps that were built.

Well given how ugly our town centres are I don’t think rigid planning has done us much good.

Better yet let them build without approval but make them tear it down if they turn out to have broken the rules.

reduce all planning approvals within suitable zones to a simple yes/no within 5 working days, step back and let a thousand flowers bloom.

Only if we can then have a cultural revolution and rip down and the ugly deathtraps that were built.

Wow… two of my pet peeves in one item. Ok, stand back.

I have travelled a fair bit and still come back here or to at least this area. I like it here.

And what gives with all this Generation X and Y, “Sex in the City” lifestyle “phenomenon” crap. I live here because I don’t WANT that quasi-American lifestyle. If I want that, I will not move to Sydney… I will move to New York (and it wont be so I can do nothing but drone on and on about new shoes to my friends).

I like it that my quasi “gansta” boys that live in the Bus Interchanges around here, seem to go back home to their 3 bedroom, double garage “ghettoes” in Kambah or Belconnen. I can just imagine a few of our local “hommies” meeting a bunch of Crypts or Bloods on a dark night in Civic. (oh ..ya know why they call ’em hommies here? Cause if they aint home by 11 PM…..! hehehe)

I like that we can wear Ugh boots, not because its trendy BUT because its bloody cold.

I grew up in a small town down the road from here with no gameboy/pc/x-box/playstation (we had one pinball parlour and a space invaders stand up machine at the pizza place), we had no internet (we had a library), we had no walkman (we had parties and played records… mind you back then we listened to bands that played the music… not the guys who get lauded for how well they can play records in clubs). I managed ok with the idea of any part of the world seeming to blow up at any given time (the Black September and IRA and PLO’s now forgotten pre-terrorism terrorism), through one of the longest droughts in living history (that directly effected the area I lived in) and finally the recession we had to have. In any case, my point is that for all that I (now seemingly) lacked, I seem to have grown up pretty well adjusted.

Half the town I grew up with had no desire to move to Oxford street just to learn how to order a “hazelnut or caramel macchiato“.

As a matter of fact most of those who left town, moved to Canberra.

I so enjoy the stories my Sydney and Melbourne friends regale me with of their 1.5 hr drives to work, or the hour trip jam-packed on a train.

Great places to visit but wouldnt wanna live there. I love this place. If you truly don’t like it then don’t let the fear hold you back, leave.

I did and am so much happier to be here. Having done some extensive world-wide travel, as well as living o/s through my job, I can tell you that there’s no place I’d rather be. Sure, it can be a little boring sometimes, but isn’t that better than being 100% on the go all the time?

This city’s great, I’ll probably travel a bit, but I’m sure I’ll always return here for the long term.

I’d like to see a bit more to do out in the satellite cities, namely Tuggeranong, but I guess the businesses have to go where they can make a quid. It’s only a 20 minute drive into the city anyway.

reduce all planning approvals within suitable zones to a simple yes/no within 5 working days, step back and let a thousand flowers bloom.

good idea johnboy….. any suggestions?

Toast, Trinity, Phoenix, Hippo, Street Theatre, Green Room. Filthy’s.

What we need is a campaign to make the fun stuff accessible.

let the hidden ciy cast off its disguise.

Yeah yeah, that last part was somewhat facetious. That said, I also liked Canberra just fine when it had only 200,000 people – much as I hate to agree with politicians, I’m a bit against the whole “growth for growth’s sake” thing. But I’m not advocating everyone packing up and leaving so that I can have the whole place to myself…as tempting as that sounds on the face of it…

If people move away Spectra, wouldn’t there be less Canberra? Less shops, less business, less incentive to stay…

I’m with you, Blossy – I love this place. Like the people the article talks about, I headed off for the big smoke of Melbourne once I finished my degree. I lasted 3 years before I got sick of the people, the noise and the crowds. Let ’em move away – all the more Canberra for me 🙂

I guess it depends what you mean by really cool and off the wall.

But I’m probably not the best person to ask, I even love traipsing around Parliament House 🙂

I dunno, might be a fair comment – where are the really cool, interesting, off-the-wall places in Canberra? I can think of plenty in Sydney, but none here.

(Don’t take this as bagging the place, I ask for information and interest).

I see it like that. Canberra is conservative, sterile and, generally speaking, rubbish.

Only 300,000 people might disagree with me. Another 1.7 million would agree.

Take a drive around Fyshwick after dark, Canberra is plenty SEXy enough!

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