Nothing epitomizes a culture’s stagnation more or the slow atrophy of a place than indecision. In this way the Civic Hall has become totemic of decades of inaction and an almost intergenerational irresolution about what a key block in the centre of town should look like.  Even the State Government  is prompting more urgency on this matter; three options needs to be one. This is not to advocate a rushed decision or that the key elements of a successful future use should be forgotten.  The Courier has said before one of the primary considerations must be a vision for the considerable space on this block that has a key objective of helping to revitalise the CBD.  Whatever the design entails it must involve people. 

Given people are key - a part time use of a vast block so critical to the flow and vitality of a future CBD is not acceptable. Despite nostalgic visions of speech nights and Saturday night dances and fanciful imaginings of a “multi-use performance space”  the critical reality is these ideas must collide with the question; “What will Ballarat use the area for in the future and use it in sufficient numbers to make it sustainable?” Two nights use a week could mean another derelict building within a decade and future generations lumbered with the white elephant that has been this generation’s misery. Equally the idea of retail or café precinct may seem cosmopolitan enough but neither will succeed without the added people any future use must bring given thee pressures already on existing CBD businesses.

A Government department like VicRoads could be a key solution, automatically injecting people, professionalism and spending power as an anchor tenant of a multi-use block. It is not the whole answer but part of a whole. If there is one living successful model of the community element vital for the block to thrive it already exists in the Ballarat Library. It may sit more humbly on the north-west corner of the block than the orange brick dinosaur but in the past decade it has seen increased activity not less. Open seven days a week and dynamically transforming itself from book collection to community and information hub it sets the model of what draws people to a place but also gives back to Ballarat.