Harold Hall sums things up so well in what, sadly, was the penultimate issue of the Bendigo Weekly with this letter on Thurday.
"As I continue to look into the information available to me as a member of the general public regarding the proposed sale and demolition of our City of Greater Bendigo Lyttleton Terrace offices I have the feeling of being in a room of smoke and mirrors.
While the state government web site claims a state government/Bendigo council partnership, our council maintains it is a state government initiative and project.
It is very hard to work out who to believe.
The proposal appears to push the concept of selling a wonderful and culturally significant asset and then renting back some office space to house council employees in nicer offices.
A bit like selling the house you and your family own and then renting for the rest of your life so that you can buy a new Ferrari. In a nutshell not too smart.
I would think that a decision as radical as this would at least be floated along with a very sound business case, however, none is available to me.
I also note that only in recent weeks has our council come up with a CBD car parking plan. Surely this should have been done at the very beginning of council officer discussions regarding a GovHub.
There are so many unexplained issues with this proposal such as who decided on the proposed sale price, why did it not go to “expressions of interest”, what will the rent be, what or who is driving this proposal within our council and state government to name a few.
Let’s not forget that it was the City of Greater Bendigo that decided to rush into the Hargreaves Mall project which cost us millions and destroyed businesses in the CBD
The only sensible and right thing to do is put the brakes on this proposal until the smoke can be cleared so that the people of Bendigo can see what is actually being proposed and the consequences for our and our children’s hip pockets."
