More Newcastle Hating

Well, it's not really hating. More an observation.

When I was a kid growing up here, a local bank produced a series of Pro-Newie TV ads that featured a catchy gang back up type chorus that went "Hey! This is Our Town!" You remember it right? In a very subtle way it ingrained into you a piece of Newcastle cultural brainwashing that Newcastle was a hard done by town that had fought back and was now a hidden secret that we didn't want anyone else to know about. That attitude still exists and if you can escape the mentality of "ya think ya so fucken good don't ya", you will go on to be happy and successful without ever having to justify yourself to some bogan you went to school with.

The other sentiment of the ad is "Hey, this is Our Town!" I was in the bus the other day coming home after work, driving down a crumbling Hunter St and wondering whose town this was because it certainly wasn't mine. Empty buildings litter the streets like corpses and the graffiti is a reminder to all the grown ups that there is still a generation of angry and bored kids here who have been forgotten.

But hey, it's not my town because my generation left years ago. There seems to be void of people between the ages of 22 and 35 in this town and as a result, shit is falling apart. This is the generation of people that actually get things done. We finished school or uni and then took off, both physically and in our careers and we went elsewhere to make changes. What we left behind were the Baby Boomers and their parents who stopped giving a fuck after the 70's and now just want to chill and not to be too challenged by anything. Newcastle City Council is full of these dinosaurs who still hold the balance of power and despite some cool people like Crackers and Nua coming in to disturb the peace they are still in the majority. Marcus is doing some great stuff with Renew Newcastle, TINA has always been a a good event although with a residual flakiness that is the signature of hessians and we all know the beaches are beautiful. But instead of being a vibrant coastal town with major tourism potential, the city is dying and what remains are small pockets of activity in an otherwise empty space.

Newcastle faces the challenge of completely reinventing itself and it's image in order to stay alive and one day flourish.

And me, I need to get the fuck out!