Calling the Community – Planning Future for Strathpine Gympie Road Strip
David Balwin
CPA | Accountant | Business Advisor
As reported by Bernie Dowling in the article “Planning future for CBD” (Pine Rivers Press, Wednesday May 15 2013), at a special Strathpine Business Forum, business owners, residents and politicians met to discuss and put forward proposals and ideas to reinvigorate and promote the Strathpine Gympie Road strip and generate trade.
Ideas put forward included creating a hub for small businesses, clearer street numbering and lobbying for cheaper rent. Creating a village atmosphere, a large carpark and lobbying for lower rail fares were also suggested.
As business owners on the strip, we attended the Forum and found it a great initiative to rally support for change. The key issues we experience are the need for easy accessibility to both sides of Gympie Road, improved parking and the development of the vacant land behind the business strip.
The other way we are contributing is through the Moreton Spaces initiative of which I am now a Board Member. The initiative focuses on brokering access to empty shops and spaces for creative projects, artists and innovative community initiatives. The property owners allow their empty shop space to be used on a rolling 30 day licence arrangement rather than a commercial lease.
Another existing initiative for business owners is the Pine Rivers Business Community Facebook page. The page is there for the community to keep in touch with their local Pine Rivers Businesses to support local and grow the community. The page is there for businesses to post information about themselves, promotions, sales etc and for the broader community to “like” and receive this information on their feed.
Balanix fully supports any revitalization of the Strathpine Gympie Road strip. But as a business community and the general public we need to work together to achieve.
We are very interested in continuing discussion and ideas on this topic. Please give us your view by popping over to our Facebook page and post your thoughts http://www.facebook.com/balanix . Alternatively, please call me 3264 4783.
