Roadworks along a shopping strip

are always going to be disruptive. Add in other issues and those owning businesses along it are going to suffer even more financially than they otherwise would.

There is a once popular shopping strip in a beachside suburb which is dying because of a lack of planning and a lot of arrogance. The local council decided that the area needed to be rejuvenated and uplifted. The state government decided to halt the trams which run through it to the beach. Nobody can get in and out easily because of the roadworks.

It has brought many local businesses to their knees. Now too many of them are not surviving. 

The area is a curious one. It has the air of an English seaside town in some ways. In others it is very definitely the sun and surfing and sailing of Downunder communities. There are everyday shops such as a greengrocer, a chemist, the bank, the supermarket set back from the street, a shoe shop and so on. There are shops which sell clothing and footwear, a cinema, places to eat and more to buy food you can take down to the beach. There was even a bookshop and, around the corner, one of the few places where knitting wool can be bought. The beach end has an entertainment area with one of those fountains which spring up as you walk past. There is a playground for the children and the library off to one side. Just a little further on there is the jetty and a sandy beach.  

It should be a good area in which to run a small business in summer. Yes, there are some problems with alcohol and drugs but the local community has endeavoured to keep those at a minimum. 

Right now it is apparently almost a ghost town. I have not been there since Brother Cat last brought his family over and we went to watch a Christmas parade several years ago. I hear things about it occasionally from friends who like to swim there. 

No, that should be "liked" not "like" because there is another problem. There is the algal bloom affecting the coastline which makes safe swimming impossible.

All these things mean the area is dying, as it is dying in popular areas to the north and south of it but not at the same rate. The road works, the new paving and the supposedly smart new entrance to it all which is still being built have had a disastrous effect on it all.

This has been going on for months and will likely go on for months more. Nobody working on these projects seems to be in any hurry to finish them. The landlords are still demanding rent. The council is still demanding rates. The shopkeepers still have all the other bills to pay...and the number of customers has decreased and decreased and then decreased again. 

I wonder at the time all this is taking. I suspect I could go down there each day and find road workers standing around. They are in no hurry. They will still get paid. 

When it is all over no doubt the Mayor and the Premier will congratulate each other and there will be a party to reopen the strip. I will then wonder what has happened to those who are not invited to the party, who have had to go and who are wondering how to pay their debts.