I have a twin brother who makes his annual visit home each Christmas to spend a week with family and catch up with friends.
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Greg spends a fair bit of time overseas with work and knows his way around a hotel room and restaurant menu, not to mention the major event cities of the world.
This year we planned a surprise day out for Mum.
It was lunch at Steamers Bar and Grill, then Night Parrot and Births, Deaths and Marriages before dropping him off at the Novotel to check into his brand new suite.
The following morning he grabbed his coffee at Diggies and headed off on a walk along the tramway with Mum.
Not long after I got a call:
“What have they done with Wollongong?
“The food, the bars, the hotel, the views, I could be anywhere in the world!”
He’s right. Wollongong has come a long way in the last ten years.
Wollongong City Council has done an incredible job along the Blue Mile and the opening of the Tramway late last year was the icing on the cake.
The rejuvenation and investment in the central business district, the opening of over eighty small bars and cafes, not to mention the number of cranes in the sky has seen a complete change in the way that Wollongong operates.
WIN News personality Amy Duggan spoke passionately at a recent lunch discussing the future of the WIN Entertainment Centre.
She made the point that Wollongong deserves infrastructure that is spectacular and world class.
In an election year (both state and federal) it’s certainly not the time to rest on our laurels.
So guided by Amy’s passionate call to action and it being the time for new year’s resolutions, lets run the rule over some of the key projects and what would constitute a pass mark for 2019:
WIN Entertainment Centre Master Planning
This is without doubt the most important project currently underway and the biggest opportunity for the city.
Business events are the highest yielding sector of the visitor economy and the existing infrastructure, on arguably three of the most valuable blocks of land in the city is failing. And it’s failing fast.
Pass mark: With a master planning process currently being overseen by one of the most respected business leaders in town, a very clear direction of the future of the site by the end of the year would be a great outcome and provide the basis for future development on the site.
Illawarra Escarpment Mountain Bike Park
This project has been the subject of recent community consultation and there is no doubt that there are a range of opinions about where and when this should occur and these opinions should be respected.
I think it’s worth making one clear and final point. This isn’t an argument about whether or not mountain biking will occur on the Illawarra Escarpment.
It will occur anyway. What this project can do is ensure it is done in areas of low ecological and cultural significance.
Pass mark: There is no reason why stage one of this project should not be delivered in 2019.
Wollongong Cruise Terminal
It’s been clearly documented that Sydney has no further capacity to facilitate incremental growth in the Australian cruise industry which is worth nearly $2 billion dollars to the NSW economy and supports over 9,500 jobs.
Wollongong can provide the capacity immediately while long term (very expensive) silver bullet solutions are looked for in Sydney.
Pass mark: Our first cruise ship turnaround is booked for February 23, 2020 out of Port Kembla.
Let’s hope we can give our guests the welcome they deserve with some basic infrastructure upgrades this year.
There is no end of other great projects: The Grand Pacific Walk is stunning and progressing well, there is an extremely exciting indigenous project based out of Killalea ready to go international this year and arguably the most exciting Destination Wollongong event announcement coming in the next couple of weeks.
But at election time, infrastructure is king, and its time this infrastructure progressed in the world class fashion that Wollongong deserves.
At election time, infrastructure is king, and its time this infrastructure progressed in the world class fashion that Wollongong deserves.
Going to be an interesting couple of months. Happy New Year!
Mark Sleigh, Destination Wollongong