Whither the local shops?

I grew up in the giralang region from 76 when it was just a temporary shop and the roads just went in no houses and actually saw current shops built in 1978,the servo in 1981 and its sad to think that some wanker with no concept of the burley griffin plan wants to build apartments whilst arrogantly thinking that the occupants wouldnt mind jumping in to the car and expending precious petrol every time for a bottle of milk . this is why the suburbs were planned this way in 1970s during the last oil crisis .

back then as a kid it was easy just to walk or ride a bike down to get groceries for mum. but the marshmallows of today in mc mansions/ driving super batmobiles and terrified of even a bad smell have arrogantly changed every thing to suit themselves without a thought of the bigger picture.

bloody sad day for the plan of a well thought out city .

bonfire, no flame intended but that kind of corporate management goes on all the time. What happened at Giralang and Campbell reads extremely similarly to the BHP or Multiplex company investment strategm.

We all grew up with the stories of big companies buying out the smaller ones, gutting them and moving on, the fact that it’s still ongoing merely testifies that it’s a successful and well used business strategy.

Now get in line with everybody else at the 10 items or less-but-have-to-wait-20-minutes-anyway lane.

i watched teh decline of teh giralang shops, it was sad.

zero investment by the owner led to slowly decaying 60’s artifacts. it was a deliberate ploy to make the business suffer, so they would not be economically viable and the land could be redeveloped.

i saw the campbell shops owners playing a similar trick several years ago.

hopefully the area can be redeveloped, with local shops.

i do my shopping at the kaleen supabarn, because i cant stand belco, and i cant stand jackbooting duopolies. belco is a temple of avarice.

Corbell has inferred that your local corner shops are just ‘so 1960s or 70s’. It would be sad to continue to lose such a community asset – we don’t all enjoy visiting Westfield…revitalise, add apartments, whatever it takes – but to drive the punter away from their community and into shopping malls is just not on!

True, Simon’s position was very curious. Simon was strangely adamant that the Giralang issue was a purely commercial matter, implying that there were no social/community aspects that would justify or require government involvement. This smells like a very convenient cop-out- the kind that would do even Philip Ruddock proud.
The ACT Government has invested significant funds recently to improve community shopping centres, in recognition of their role as focal points for the local community.
To preserve his credibility and avoid further unfavourable comparisons with Ruddock, Mr Corbell needs to explain (soon!) why Giralang doesn’t fit with this model. Otherwise he’ll leave an opening for the Opposition to take him to task and make him look very awkward. Unless, in line with johnboy’s suggestion, the developers are donating to both sides of the street.

I didn’t gather “powerless”, just “has no intention to stop rezoning”, so your comment about ALP donations is probably spot on.

Samuel

Simon powerless to stop a re-development?

Wonder how much the developers have donated to the ALP!

Ms. Foskey was on 2CC during the week complaining about this. Mike Welsh couldn’t help but ask about the shops in Yarralumla, it appears that they are OK.

Anyway, I gather that Simon isn’t going to try and stop the zoning change so I doubt that the community will change his mind.

The more I think about it though, the more I agree with Johnboy…lets have shops downstairs and apartments upstairs.

Samuel