By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Bunjil Place – or rather the $125 million price tag – had threatened to hang like a millstone around Casey Council’s neck.
Before its opening, the arts, library and council-office precinct was regarded as symbolic of council largesse.
However few could gripe about the building’s spectacular features, including its awesome 800-seat theatre, timber grid-shell, plaza and three-storey library.
At last the South-East had an arts hub large enough to host star acts such as the Australian Ballet and the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as well as show off local performers and artists.
Host MC Charlie Pickering quipped that it was fitting to describe it as the Nazza Wazza Opera House.
Many councillors slapped each other on the back for their shows of vision and courage, and 35,000 people flocked to the venue’s opening weekend.
Not that the launch didn’t have some teething problems.
Perhaps because of the positive hype, the parking spaces were initially filled to capacity.
Swimmers at the next-door Casey ARC were stranded without a parking space in the opening days.
The council says that the issue has been fixed by tweaking the parking times and zones, as well as installing signs with real-time parking information.
Reviews from the Casey Residents and Ratepayers Association were also harsh.
It was a nice building but that’s what you’d expect for $125 million of Federal Government and ratepayers’ money, they said.
The council had “almost continually pushed for rate rises” while claiming Bunjil Place didn’t impact on rates.
At the same time, the council had voiced concerns of a $168 million shortfall due to rate-capping.
Then-mayor Sam Aziz bit back, citing the jobs and economic benefits that flow from the project.
“I’m sick and tired of all their barking and it’s fundamentally dishonest”.
He said the CRRA should be re-named Casey LIE – or Losers in Exile – for being “negative” and “simplistic”.
Meanwhile, early indications show that Casey residents are flocking to the precinct. They seem – at least at this stage – to be voting with their feet.
