Vine and dine: Lord Mayor cracks jungle joke over botanic garden cafe
Councillors discussed options for the city's verdant icon last night
Picture this for a moment: Wollongong’s Lord Mayor Tania Brown swinging through the trees in our city’s botanic garden.
In one of the lighter moments during Monday night’s council meeting, that was the word picture the Lord Mayor painted during discussions about plans for Wollongong Botanic Garden.
Cr Brown bemoaned the fact that council’s recent call for expressions of interest in commercial opportunities at the garden didn't land a long-awaited cafe for visitors.
“My desire for a cafe remains,” the Lord Mayor said.
As reported last week in The Illawarra Flame, one proposal which came through the EOI process was for a tree-climbing attraction, which Cr Brown said could include a small cafe.
“I will keep my dream alive that I can have tea and scones at the BG, even if I have to swing through the trees to get it,” she added.
Clearly delighted by that suggestion, Cr David Brown jokingly addressed the Lord Mayor as “Tarzan”.
Greens Cr Jess Whittaker asked who owned the temporary pop-up container cafe operating on the Blue Mile near the North Wollongong Surf Club while Diggies and the North Beach Cafe were closed to allow work on the seawall extension.
She suggested that if council owned the pop-up, perhaps that could be an option to operate the container as a cafe in the botanic garden.
Council staff said they had looked out a similar option about 10 years ago, but it was considered too expensive because of the cost of providing power.
Cr Whittaker suggested staff revisit the container cafe option and consider using solar, batteries or a generator to power it. No councillor enquired if, when council builds a new toilet block near the garden entrance, that building's power and water could be extended to service a new cafe, even in a container.
Cr Ann Martin said she'd worked in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens in the 1970s and 80s and, after a fire destroyed the cafe, staff worked out of a container as a temporary measure. She said it was “a nightmare” for staff to work in such a small space.
Council unanimously supported the report, which recommended pursuing the tree-climbing proposal for Wollongong Botanic Garden. A development application will be required should the project move forward.
