By CASEY NEILL
“DON’T see Dandenong only as your employment location, your work address. Help us make it something more.”
That was the plea from guest speaker Gary Castricum at the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Premier Regional Business Awards breakfast on Wednesday 1 May.
City of Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie joined him at the lectern for a conversation about Dandenong’s past, present and future.
Mr Castricum is the Committee for Dandenong chairman – a business group lobbying government and promoting a positive image for the area.
“Our vision is for the Dandenong CBD to reclaim its place as a vibrant retail hub and commercial centre,” he said.
He said Dandenong had developed as a key location for business in the south east.
“But there’s still a lot that needs to happen,” he said.
“In particular, Places Victoria still controls six or seven hectares of land, pretty much everything between Thomas Street to the railway line.
“It’s a little uncertain as to what’s going to happen with that land.
“We need to keep the government to account to make sure that what happens there is to the betterment of Dandenong.”
Mr Castricum said for too long Dandenong had been defined by “unemployment, while it is actually an employer, a perception of crime, and complaints about poor parking”.
“It’s about time that we changed it,” he said.
He encouraged businesspeople to shop, eat, entertain and even live in the area, and buy goods made in Dandenong.
“Dandenong I think is the ultimate one-stop shop,” he said.
“We’re really asking you to take an interest and take a role.”
Mr Bennie said there were 12,500 businesses in the municipality.
“If one of every two businesses stood up and spoke more about the needs of Greater Dandenong, that’d be 6000 business voices that Spring Street would be hearing,” he said.
“We need to continue to advocate for the needs that have not yet been satisfied.”
He said Dandenong was once an exciting place to visit but had experienced a downturn due to planning decisions over time.
“The magnificent Dandenong Plaza Shopping Centre was built and what it did was suck the life out of the western side of the activity centre,” he said.
“So everywhere west of Lonsdale Street went into decline and stayed in decline for a long period of time.”
Then about seven years ago Places Victoria through the State Government invested $290 million to revitalise the activity centre.
The cash has so far seen a major Dandenong Market upgrade, the Drum Theatre redevelopment and start of a new municipal office on the corner of Lonsdale Street and Walker Street.
“What we now need to see is economic activity that is stimulated by all those things,” he said.
“We don’t necessarily see a revolutionary change in Dandenong. It’s more about evolutionary change.”
Mr Bennie said there was still more infrastructure investment needed – and an image change.
He encouraged business people to bring clients to central Dandenong for lunch, use local accommodation and shop in the area.
“We need to tell them that things are changing,” he said.
Mr Bennie also announced that Paul Kearsley would manage a new Greater Dandenong Business Group, bringing together the council’s economic development unit, South East Business Networks and Revitalising Central Dandenong.
“For a council that has such a strong emphasis in business we’ve been a little disjointed in the ways we’ve conducted our business over time,” he said.
Mr Bennie said he’d like to see public debate about what needs to be done and the best ways to do it.
See page 6 for more on the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce event.
