We Should Stop Demonising The Commission Flats

I don't really understand all the negativity that surrounds the Atherton Gardens commission flats, no I don't.

I walk through the grounds quite often, with Sam and Buddy and on my own and I think it is quite nice. There are nice wide open spaces and gardens and a bridge to walk across. There are children playing on the ovals, seemingly enjoying themselves. The people I meet, as I pass through, always seem quite nice, like you would meet anywhere else in Fitzroy. Friendly, personable, chatty.

Okay, true, I haven't ever lived there, however, I did head up to Nicholas' cousin, P's, flat on the 19th floor late one night. The lifts seemed quite functional and clean and serviceable.  The corridors and walkways seemed quite well kept and respectable. The lifts didn't smell of urine, the walkways weren't rat infested and there were no signs of crack addicts laying comatose anywhere. It all seemed very normal. P's apartment was large and spacious and, quite frankly, it was nice. It was plain, sure, but perfectly okay other than that. The views from inside were quite spectacular.

I don't really get it? Why are they condemned so harshly? Is it our collective middle class guilt that makes us judge them so harshly? Or fear? That none of us want to end up there, so we criticise them so, making us feel better about ourselves.

Is it because suburb clearing was one of the biggest mistakes a state government has ever made and we as a society have never quite got over it?

Is it political manoeuvring to sell the now expensive land the flats sit on? Because, quite frankly, I can't see a lot of difference between the apartment towers that are now being sold by property developers for the general public all around the city? In fact, if P's spacious flat was anything to go by, I know I'd rather live there than in one of the 400K motel rooms that property developers now offer the public.

If property developers got hold of the Atherton Gardens, they could probably double, triple, quadruple the number of tower blocks on that land and make a fortune in profits. They could conceivably sell the "penthouses" for millions of dollars.

I can't help but believe this is the reason for the constant condemnation of the commission towers, political parties making good for the political donations of their property developer mates. In 21st century political speak, it is far easier to change something like this if you create a problem that needs to be fixed in the first place. 

I also had a friend who was an immigrant to this country who lived in the South Melbourne Commission flats and she always said she lived with million dollar views. She said she always enjoyed her time in those flats?

She enjoyed living in the South Melbourne flats.

P enjoyed living in the Fitzroy apartments.

If they are so bad, why did the government just build more of them, ostensibly exactly the same in Brunswick Street just recently? They look the same to me.

I think we should embrace the flats and decide to like them.

Let's face it, they are no different to the apartment towers that are now being built on every spare block in Melbourne, sanctioned by the governments planning minister.