From Sean Greenwell:

Please come to Black Cat tomorrow morning (Friday, 25/9 from 8am) where we will RALLY and ask the question, “Yarra Council, will you SAVE or DEMOLISH our historic cultural icon?”

This outdoor garden area has been a public treasure for more than 20 years, and is one of few icons left from the fitzroy we all love… before gentrification.

The CEO and other Councillors at Yarra City Council have expressed their utmost support for saving the cultural icon, but it is becoming quite clear there is a hidden agenda at the administrative level.

The Executive level of Council has assured me they will help to ensure the survival of this public treasure.

BUT, we believe there is a very small fraction within the council that is determined on removing the garden and eventually shutting down the Black Cat (By imposing new and harder permit conditions through sneaky strategic planning and local law maneuvers)

As you all know, we were issued with the first maneuver yesterday by Council’s Building Surveyor; an emergency order to remove the garden pergola as it was deemed unsafe. This seems reasonable on the face of it. But this is just the start.

The Councils Building Surveyor also indicated that we would need to apply to have the other items in the outdoor garden area approved. But we haven’t changed anything for 20+ years. THIS IS WHERE THE FIGHT BEGINS!

WE NEED AN ANSWER ON RECORD FROM THE TOP – “Yarra Council, will you SAVE or DEMOLISH our historic cultural icon?”

Please feel free to send this on.

Hope to see you all tomorrow.

Stay tuned, peace

The Black Cat garden is an institution in the summer. I spent countless hours there playing chess, drinking beer, smoking, laughing and enjoying the essence of Fitzroy street life and activities… now the Melbourne council in all their glory want to tear it down.

I’m getting sick and tired of the attitude of the white collars running our city. First they ban graffiti, then use it un-solicited as advertising in tourism hooks, now they’re tearing apart the cultural streets of Fitzroy and Collingwood to satisfy real estate mongers, while also using the ‘laneways and cultural icons’ in their tourism hooks. I call BULLSHIT on this, and we Melbournites need to stand up and fight.

I’ll be there in spirit, but for those in Melbourne, get down and get yourself heard. This isn’t just the saving of one outdoor garden, this is the beginning of a long fight to save FITZROY.