Ipswich ratepayers should ask their Council some hard questions about Council’s involvement in a joint venture to re-develop the Ipswich CBD through the Council-owned Ipswich City Properties (Ipswich’s retail revolution):

Mayor Paul Pisasale said the shopping centre precinct, like the rest of the CBD redevelopment, would give Ipswich a world-class city heart.

“People used to say ‘Why aren’t we getting a Myers’, but there was nowhere to put them,” he said.

“If we build projects like this they will come, because of the growth and the loyalty of Ipswich residents.”

Cr Pisasale said the developments would work in with the city’s existing heritage buildings.

The shopping centre EOI campaign follows the lodgement of a development application for the redevelopment’s first commercial tower in June.

Work on the 10-storey tower, which is tipped to be the future home of 1200 state public service jobs, is expected to begin after sections of the Ipswich City Square building are bulldozed before December.

Mayor Pisasale’s faith in the loyalty of Ipswich residents is touching, but his belief that “if we build projects like this they will come” strikes me as involving a little wishful thinking. That said, Ipswich is growing strongly and it may turn out to be a good investment. Time will tell, but in the meantime I’d recommend the Queensland Times investigate the potential exposure of Ipswich ratepayers if things don’t work out.

In particular, will the 1,200 public service jobs come to Ipswich if there is a change in Government next year (which is almost a certainty)? While Campbell Newman has expressed support for relocating public servants to the regions, he has so far talked about Cairns, Gympie and Maryborough (Campbell Newman aims to move public servants to regions). And, given their past dealings, Mr Pisasale probably can’t expect any favours from Mr Newman (Standoff over ‘smear’).