Not all commercial activity is intrinsically good. Nor is it all intrinsically bad.
"THE BATHS, if completed, would provide a fine asset to the city. This expression is not used in the sense that they would prove a money-making concern to the profit of the local treasury... No one would ever think of trying to make money from parks or gardens. The expenditure in such directions is made to make a city attractive and to provide pleasant places of popular resort" ('Newcastle Ocean Baths: Great Possibilities', Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 15/2/1915).
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Times sure have changed. It's more than a century since "Spectator" claimed, in the predecessor of this newspaper, that "no one would ever think of trying to make money from parks or gardens".
In New South Wales, the privatisation of public space hit the headlines at last month's Lightscape event held in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens as part of the Vivid festival. The previously free event became ticketed this year and cost adults as much as $44 each for a box-office ticket purchase during peak periods, angering many visitors who slammed the event for drifting away from a "free" family night out.
In Newcastle, we are now accustomed to events in public parks and gardens. There can be and always will be blowback from nearby residents and other citizens who view such commercial usage of parks as a slippery slope down death valley to a neo-liberal hellscape. Others, who might never go to the parks for the open space, are attracted there precisely because of commercial activity.
Not all commercial activity is intrinsically good. Nor is it all intrinsically bad. If the public retains the ability to use a public space while commercial activity is being simultaneously undertaken, surely room can be made for a compromise promoting a co-existence that can be mutually beneficial.
Opposition arguments to commercial activity being incorporated into the next stage of the redeveloped Newcastle ocean baths (Nob) have been outlined numerous times in the Newcastle Herald. A social media campaign is also arguing against "crass" commercial development at the Nob.
Who wants crass commercial development? Not me. But commercial activity at the Nob does not have to be crass, nor must it necessitate, or eventuate in, privatisation by stealth.
I'd be happy to see CoN receive a regular lease income from a function centre/community space on the first floor at the Nob at the northern end of the baths. Let people have birthday parties there, event and product launches, fundraisers, wedding receptions and conferences. Let the space be bookable by community groups at a subsidised rate. Let jobs be created.
Arguments that patrons in a first-floor function centre would change the vibe of the place through leering down at pool users are alarmist. Anyone can leer at pool users from the bleachers, just as they can do some leer work while walking around the pool.
As for resultant car-parking difficulties associated with an operational commercial space at Nob, CoN needs to pull its finger out and stop the free all-day parking along Shortland Esplanade from Nobbys to the Cowrie Hole. It's too often all gobbled by city office workers before 8am. Besides, unless they are disabled, shouldn't car-users be paying for car parking in the state's second largest city in 2023?
What about less kiosk more café? Wouldn't it be terrific to be lounging about after an afternoon swim overlooking the pools, while staring out to sea and enjoying a glass of wine or a beer and a pizza with others? Booze? Can't have that. But pool users have been taking in a few cans of beer on blistering summer arvos and drinking them around the Nob for as long as I can remember.
Remember the howling against the building of the Anzac Memorial Walk? Now it's the must-go place for visitors to the city.
Merewether Surf House, according to some, was going to see civilisation crumble. Sitting there after a swim, having a glass of wine while watching the surfers and dolphins, is one of Newcastle's great offerings. But to others, I guess it is crass commercialism in all its greedy glory. I still think the restaurant and accommodation facilities atop Whibayganba that Neil Slater was refused back in 2012 was a missed opportunity.
The city can and should simultaneously celebrate history and heritage while providing contemporary amenity and sustainable employment opportunity - these characteristics are not mutually exclusive.
Expenditure in such directions should be accommodating both, "to make a city attractive and to provide pleasant places of popular resort". Great possibilities indeed.
