* It isn’t impossible to tell how Renew Newcastle works, you could just ask. Renew Newcastle is not a landlord and i do not personally make a cent out of it. In fact i’ve sunk a small fortune of my own money into it which i could have potentially spent on a deposit for a house so it is probably a major reason why i *don’t* own property.

* “Could you publish the various internal documents and correspondances you have with your various partners, property owners etc.” Which documents do you want to see? As a courtesy i wouldn’t publish private correspondence without the permission of the other peoople concerneed. Our legal licensing agreements with the property holders are all shared with every project as they are a party to them – nothing secret there. I’m not sure whether we will “publish” them but i am keen to share them with other similar organisations so they can do similar projects to Renew Newcastle in other places.

* “Will you publish the process by which you decide projects ?” It”s no secret and i think it’s outlined to some extent on the Renew Newcastle web site. Maybe it’s not clear. We find property owners, we ask them what sort of things they might want or would be happy to have happening in their buildings. We do an open call for submissions. Where a submission matches what a property owner says they are interested in we pass it along. If they like it we go ahead and draw up the agreements where the property owner makes a property available and we cover the relevant insuraces etc. The “we” in this case is a subset of the Renew Newcastle board – mostly the arty and creative end.

* “Will you connect the people making submissions to others ?” yes, we have been doing this a lot since we started. We’ve done a lot of connecting people to others who seem to be on the same wavelength. it’s not a huge priority beyond where it’s obvious and easy as we are all volunteers and there’s a LOT to do on this project.

* “How many vacant properties are there now ?” In Newcastle? I counted a 138 on the two main streets but it’s probably more. In Renew Newcastle? We have so far given projects keys to 7 properties and are reasonably confident that we may get 10 to 20 more in the next few months depdending on how long we can maintain this pace.

* “What is your position on the Rudd governments support for the commercial property industry?” Largely ignorance so i am reluctant to talk out my arse. However, bailing out the commercial property industry wouldn’t be the end i would attack this problem from (see: Renew Newcastle, see: My post about board room bars)

* “do you support the bail-out to the commercial property sector ?
the bail-out for the banks ? Do you think its a good use of tax-payers money ?” Can i just pass on these because my answers would be long, qualified and complicated and have nothing at all to do with Renew Newcastle?

* “why shouldnt all subsidies and tax breaks to commercial property be removed and the market allowed to work ? wouldnt that actually force commercial property owners to rent or sell ? at a realistic price ? shouldnt the tax breaks for negative gearing be removed from commercial property ?” Broadly, i think yes. We could talk about specific mechanisms and their economic effects but the reason we set up Renew Newcastle in the first palce was to counter the fact that all of the incentives run in the opposite direction. It is more profitable for people to *not* rent buildings in the Newcastle CBD than the rent them – it is a distortion created by the tax system and to a lesser extent some of the OH+S and liability costs that people take on when they rent out property. Frankly, if the tax system had incentives towards activity rather than disincentives then Renew Newcaslte would probably not be necessary.

* “there are harder questions and more extreme critiques”. Bring them on. I am not afraid of answering all the tough questions in the world. But i do think it’s important that they’re based on reality and not misinformation.

marcus.

My burgeoning property portfolio must have passed me by!

What will be the product of the last bubble ? the neo-liberal era ? if the 20s boom, 30s depression are any guide; fascism and world war 3

speaking of models of inner-city renewal; I think we will see more of the Freetown Christiannia approach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania#Founding_of_Christiania
The spirit of Christiania quickly developed into one of the hippie movement, the squatter movement, collectivism and anarchism, in contrast to the site’s previous military use.

As to the future of Newcastle. As the grafitti that replaced “This Is Not Art” now reads “Newcastle exports climate chaos”… many scientists are talking of extreme and sudden climate change and global disruption, including sea level rise.

Even a few metres, well within the likely low range acknowledged by many will wipe out the town.

My suggestion is focus on community projects that seek to address the growing underclass, the lack of affordable accomodation, the lack of jobs.

Green collar jobs, activism to stop the coal exports, community cooperatives and collectives are needed.

Culture and creativity are not the monopoly of young people who decide to be “cultural creatives” and put on interesting arts shows.

One of the differences I noticed while at the European Social Forum was that there where plenty of people from Berlin there, I assume therefore the cultural creatives are also involved in politics and activism.

One of the repercussions of Chomsky’s lifelong work is that human language and most behaviour are dependent on a huge, impulsive capacity for creativity, an “instinct for freedom” to use a term by Bakunin. This concept places Chomsky at the “frontier of psychology, philosophy and linguistics and square in the 18th-Century tradition of the Enlightenment — Rousseau, the Cartesians and other ferocious libertarians.” Believing that the best way to maximise our genetically endowed freedom is through anarchism, Chomsky defines his worldview as “libertarian socialism.” Such a brand of anarchism has both a historical force and stands for a deeply positive ideology that aims towards the absolute welfare of the public, though in the hands of the media and its controllers, this school of thought takes a rather destructive and a negative complexion.

I wonder how many “anarchist” projects will emerge in Newcastle

in arts, and in other areas, many of the most interesting innovations come from the grassroots and the niche, when people feverishly work with little or no external funding, but also little need to compromise in order to meet the criteria of said funding. and i think that leads to more room for experimentation, and for making mistakes – which is incredibly important. from mistakes we can sometimes gain the most, and it is the mistakes that i don’t think that creative planning, or government policy, can ever make room for.

one of the great benefits of recession is that we as a culture turn more towards the communal, and focus less on the self. from an artistic point of view, this has the potential to lead to greater collaboration, and to people measuring success not just by the amount of money a project makes, but how it can impact upon the society in a positive way. all of these are positive things.

We are also all going to have to live our lives a bit leaner. But as u say Marcus, the one thing that we all probably get more of in these times is Time. I’m already down to 4 days per week, and i am loving it – 2 days on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off – I never have to work more than 2 days in a row, and that is brilliant.

One part of my life that will benefit is my involvement in the Berry Drama Group – a little theatre troupe in a little country town that puts on kick-arse shows for the local community.

I have believed for a long time that in the tougher times humanity’s better angels come to the fore. I hope this will be the case in the years ahead.