LITTLE by little Lithgow's CBD is becoming more user friendly, despite some notable efforts to spoil the party.
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But it's not all mysterious antique shops and roses in this emerging appeal.
There are still jarring features that would cause the visitor to wonder why they bothered and would never be tolerated in towns that value their civic image.
Shamefully in Lithgow's case no one in authority seems too concerned.
Since COVID restricted travel options Lithgow has benefited from a very obvious influx of day trippers whose CBD strolls are easily measured by camera monitors as they invariably stop, check out, and photograph Our Marjorie. The city's bronze tribute to our claim to Olympic fame - and to the creative skills of the late Antony Symons - is quite an attraction.
But venture further into Cook Plaza and the pleasantries of the visit strike a jarring note at the proliferation of pigeon droppings.
Perhaps ironically the droppings are most disgustingly evident around and on installations against the western boundary designed to provide directions to our attractions.
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Just metres away the plaza litter bin adjacent to the cabana has an unsavoury blanket of poo.
And all on the flight path to a café popular with visitors and locals.
It's an ever worsening health and environmental issue that demands an ongoing hose down by Council.
But, as they say in a slick sales pitch, that's not all folks!
Wander a little further along Main Street on your window shopping exploration and you'll encounter Whispering Lane (next door to what was once the Exchange Hotel) all too often the pigeon pollution is even worse.
Clearly these are not our fine feathered friends.
Throw into the CBD mix the general lack of greenery and the numerous absentee and local landlords who believe civic responsibility ends below the awning and you get the picture.
Some years ago Council offered free paint to CBD property owners to tidy up their premises but there were few takers.
And don't even mention the dreadful chocolate brown bollards at the Main Street railway exit, the old perennial of a lack of water for visitors to QE Park (you wouldn't think it too difficult to provide a couple of taps) or the library faade never ending construction site, sections of footpath pavers again in need of attention, or the depressingly gloomy sections of the CBD after dark and it's clear new attitudes are needed.
In recent days someone posted on a local social media site a photo of Orange in a blaze of Autumn beauty and compared it unfavorably with the big picture in Lithgow when it comes to greenery.
From the responses it was clear that many agreed.
With a Council election in September there will be an opportunity to ask candidates about their image policies.
History has shown it's never too late and that where there's a will there's a way. Just start with the pigeon poo.