SO another year done and dusted and to paraphrase an old Tennessee Ernie Ford song ‘another year older and what did we get?’
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So it really is the season to see what we achieved, what we lost, and what just stood still again.
The most talked about local issue of the year was on everyone’s lips for all the wrong reasons; the Lithgow CBD ‘revitalisation’ that cost a fortune in local and government funding but as far as most were concerned was anything but ‘revitalising’.
In fact most see it as a backward step.
‘Bleak, ‘boring’ ‘charmless’ are the unkind terms for this concrete, treeless panorama that greets visitors emerging from the rail interchange.
Refugees from Sydney’s concrete canyons might feel right at home.
But it did get intended use once - for Halloween - so it can’t be all bad.
Still on the downside of life in the valley and the old TAFE college remained arguably our worst privately owned embarrassment although there are reports of some out of sight internal work under way.
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The Federal Government proudly announced that Greater Lithgow’s jobless figures had fallen to no worse that the national average but if you talk to employment agencies they tell a different story and at year’s end there were at least 200 families in Lithgow alone seeking Christmas support.
But it wasn’t all gloom in 2018; various local organisations benefited from hefty government handouts, most notably millions from the Berejiklian team for an adventure playground at Endeavour Park (nearing completion) and the Zig Zag Railway for its revival program.
And major commercial investment around Dunns Corner created a bright and impressive new welcome mat for the city.
Maybe it will be all good news in 2019.
24 hour service
CARAVANNERS and campers will be wall to will around Lake Wallace within a few days and despite the rules not all have self contained, err, ‘facilities’. So let’s hope common sense prevails and the amenities block at the park remains open around the clock. The alternative is not really worth thinking about at mealtime.
Flagless
WE hate to repeat ourselves but why does Lithgow have so many naked flagpoles. Three at the Visitor Centre and one in Masonic Park have been flagless for months and QE Park’s memorial rarely shows the flag. We’re confident a chat with Federal Member Andrew Gee could help restore national pride and streetscape colour.
Shop locally
IT paid to shop locally for petrol in the lead up to the holiday rush. Well travelled correspondents reported at the weekend tandard uel at $1.43 a litre in the Mountains and $1.16 in Lithgow. It’s a difference not to be sneezed at.
Dirty business
MOTHER Nature was really playing tricks at the weekend; a combination of another thick dust haze and welcome rainfall that saw little rivulets of mud on cars and exposed surfaces. You have to love Summer.