Residents and businesses joining forces to bring Carlton back to life

With the Carlton precinct now in the recovery stage after COVID, the community is coming together to bring business back to the suburb.

Under the Precinct Development program, the Carlton Residents’ Association (CRA) and business group Carlton Inc. are joining forces to bridge the divide between residents and businesses and increase community engagement.

CRA president Antoinette Sagaria, who also sits on the committee of Carlton Inc., said now was the time to get the community out to support local business.

“Residents think that businesses have a particular agenda and vice versa, so we’re hoping to have better communication between the two,” Ms Sagaria said.

“That way we can have a more engaged, vibrant and inclusive community and a better Carlton.”

Carlton Inc president Luca Sbardella said that the focus would also be on bringing more community events to the suburb.

“We anticipate utilising the Piazza and other open spaces to put on events that will create intrigue and draw customers to the area,” Mr Sbardella said.

“We’ve had discussions of doing a rooftop film festival and a farmers and crafts market to showcase the local artists and producers of the area.”

Carlton Inc. was one of the nine precinct associations to receive a one-off payment of $100,000 from the council’s precinct program to help businesses recover from COVID and aid volunteers.

Mr Sbardella said they intended to use the money to host festivals and art exhibitions across Carlton to reinvigorate the streets.

“The struggling part of Lygon St is around the Piazza so we want to use the money to bring more business to that area,” Mr Sbardella said.

“As it’s such a big, open space we were thinking of hosting an inclusive street festival that celebrates the traders and all of their different cuisines.”

So far Carlton Inc. has engaged in early discussions with La Mama Theatre about having art exhibitions and live performances throughout Carlton.

They’re also hoping to host an event for the Grand Prix should restrictions allow for it.

Mr Sbardella said that part of bringing life back to the suburb would be working with the police to make the streets safter.

“We’re currently working with the North Melbourne police to decrease crime, vandalism and hooning and we’re also going to use the money to upgrade footpaths and lighting,” Mr Sbardella said.

Cr Kevin Louey said the precinct development program, which had been running for two decades, was more important than ever.

“This is a grassroots program that embraces the very small business, to the medium-sized business, to some of the large ones like David Jones and Myer,” Cr Louey said. “Now we’re in the recovery stage of COVID, it’s important we provide some extra funding in these grassroot geographic areas from the Yarra to Carlton.” •