DISQUS

Border Journal: I want Wodonga to have a cafe culture

  • jr · 6 months ago
    So what's the roblem, Kieran, not enough like minded souls in town, or what?

    As for Rastus Watermelon closing earlier and earlier, maybe they're convinced that profitability has to be part of the game. Maybe they will look at opportunities after the start of spring/summer.

    Just some thoughts.
  • KieranBennett · 6 months ago
    jr - an expectation feedback loop?

    Businesses seem to expect that if people want something after hours they will go to Albury. Customers seem to assume that nothing opens after hours. Both are right, and one causes the other.

    The built environment doesn't help, but I don't think it's just the presence of a railway or the absence of a cinema, or the lack of decent small alleyways (as someone suggested on twitter).

    Perhaps we just need to do more to sell Wodonga as something more than a conservative strip mall.

    During my campaign for council I encountered a lot of opinion on the redevelopment of high st. Large numbers objected to redevelopment on the grounds that High St was just a service road, nothing more than a few banks and a shopping centre.

    The attitude seemed to be "this is all there is, and anyone who tries to make it something else is suspect".

    We seem to have particularly conservative attitudes about what socializing and relaxation and community life can be. A coffee during the day has become acceptable, but dinners out are still at Maccas, alcohol after work is reserved for men at the pub, and young people can go lurk in the parks or at the shopping centre.

    Who needs anything more?
  • jr · 6 months ago
    I remember the great expectations that ran along with the re-development of Stanley St, like it was going to be the "Cafe Central" precinct.

    I guess there's some basis for the theory that we're all against change in Auld Struggletown.
  • Ray Dixon · 6 months ago
    To get cafes opening up late you need a primary reason for people to be in the CBD at night in the first place. What I notice about Wodonga is its lack of restaurants that would attract diners, who then might go for a coffee elsewhere. That's what happens in Albury and in Melbourne. It starts with a restaurant culture and spreads from there. You have to get the horse before the cart.