Comments on: Letter from Newcastle

By: SIobhan

SIobhan — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:15:31 +0000

To your point Stilgherrian, maybe Newcastle should stop trying to make itself ‘better’. In my mind it’s great the way was, and that the newer developments set to ‘improve’ it have done the opposite. Perhaps the comfortable have no need for exertion, because they like it how it is and don’t care for change.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:27:20 +0000

@Amos Keeto: I get your point, I think. We expect someone else to fix up the problems, whether that's the government or some other unexplained "them". I'm old enough to remember when organisations like Rotary and Lions proudly built facilities like playgrounds. I see they both still exist, but I wonder how they're faring? Now, well, we work hard, pay taxes and just expect things to be done for us. And yet... "Poor people with no options" sounds just like the desperate people with drive who decided to emigrate and found the United States, or the non-convict colony of South Australia. The comfortable have no need for such exertion. Maybe it has always been thus.

By: Amos Keeto

Amos Keeto — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:56:11 +0000

Obviously both of you have moved there. Given the need, how could you not, in good faith?

Oh right, it’s a pity only poor people with no options should move to, in the hope of something BIG happening. Not empowered folk such as yourself.

By: Siobhan

Siobhan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:56:33 +0000

I have to agree with Dylan that your piece did depress me. I am from Sydney but my husband is Novocastrian and it’s my ideal plan to move to Newie sometime in the future. Yes there’s a lot wrong with Newcastle in terms of it maintaining relevance in an increasingly commercial, generic, shopping centre, big development kind of way but there’s so much potential to capitalise on all the great things about it, like the vintage CBD and beaches and old-school vibe without completely destroying it. But one wrong turn and it could be all over red rover. Just one big bad Chatswood 2 hours north of Sydney. Marcus demonstrates the exact kind of creativity that city needs to succeed.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:13:23 +0000

@Bill: The thing that strikes me as stupid about the remove-the-train plan is that you’d end up having the big mega shopping centre but then dump out-of-towners a full 4km or 5km short of it, at Hamilton or Broadmeadow. Why would tourists then transfer to buses or light rail to the Newcastle CBD instead of just catching the next train up the Hunter Valley to a comfortable winery?

That, more than anything else, makes me think it’s nothing but a land grab.

By: Newcastle Doors « Out to Space

Newcastle Doors « Out to Space — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:41:35 +0000

[...] have been a lot article talking about Renew Newcastle and Stilgherrian has one as well. For my part, I could not think of anything else but transitional phases Newcastle has been going [...]

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:39:42 +0000

I agree that TINA and Renew Newcastle have been saving graces for Newcastle and that the City Centre should not just be an extra big suburban shopping mall. In fact I’d prefer the industrial wasteland to the suburban shopping mall. Those places are really depressing. (Also look at any city without a train — what a hole! Even if not many people use it now, you’ll regret it in 10 years if you take the train out.)

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:32:05 +0000

@Dylan Lindgren: Nothing to be sorry about, Sir. I do indeed describe some negative aspects of "traditional" Newcastle. And there are plenty of them. Reflecting on how this essay was written, I can see that the burghers of Newcastle are falling for a logical fallacy.

"We want to be a successful city again. What do successful cities look like? Oh, they have big CBD developments and luxury waterside apartments. Therefore, if we have big CBD developments and luxury waterside apartments, we'll be successful."

They're looking at the results and symbols of success and imagining that they're the causes of success. I think this is exactly the same as Marcus' point about "the big mega thing" looked at another way.

By: Dylan Lindgren

Dylan Lindgren — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:57:32 +0000

Sorry, I was only talking about the parts where you said what was wrong with Newcastle and I’m sure that’s what Steve was talking about too. The empty shops, violent streets and general idiocy from the whole of the Newcastle City Council. That’s why I left. Its good what Renew Newcastle are doing and I hope they succeed… they’ll need all the help they can get if they want to overcome the stifling actions of the Newcastle Conservative Council.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:10:24 +0000

@kath: Yes, the Festival was excellent, and I may well write something about that too. Thanks for the food-hunting tips. @Dylan Lindgren: Hmmm... I'd hoped this to be a more positive piece, pointing to the innovation coming from the bottom up through projects like Renew Newcastle rather than the top down, and to at least one industry that's still thriving, namely coal. But Steve Remington also picked up on the negative vibe:

A great picture of today's Newcastle. It's sad to see a once great city have its lively heart reduced to a tacky dormitory.

Maybe I'll have to re-visit my notes and provide a different spin...

By: Dylan Lindgren

Dylan Lindgren — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:03:18 +0000

I used to live in Newcastle. I now live in Sydney. This article pretty much sums up the reasons I left. What a shit of a place.

By: kath

kath — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:18:47 +0000

there’s some more places to eat on darby st but it’s a few blocks from the centre of town. and I found some on beach-side of the hunter st mall too. but yeah, food choices are a bit dismal in town if the cafe’s closed. rain didn’t help. but at least the festival was good.