‘It breaks your heart’: Darryn Lyons blasts state of Geelong’s neglected CBD.
Former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons has launched a blistering attack on the city’s decline, demanding answers from leaders who “let it happen”.
“A city’s beauty is fragile – neglect it long enough, and even the brightest heart can go dim.”
Wake up, Geelong: the CBD is dying and our leaders let it happen.
After 18 months wandering the world – 22 countries, dozens of cities, some of the most breathtaking urban hearts anywhere – I stepped back on to Victorian soil hoping to feel pride. Instead, the welcome mat was Melbourne Airport, a chaotic, dysfunctional spectacle that is frankly an embarrassment to this state.
The drive home offered no redemption. Rubbish blowing across long grass. Graffiti smeared across every second surface. A motorway that looks unloved, unmanaged and unworthy of the gateway to the Great Ocean Road.
And then comes the moment that should lift the spirit: entering the Geelong CBD.
Instead, it breaks your heart.
I have criticised for years the city’s slow strangulation of Christmas, but the past few seasons have been the worst. No upgrades. No creativity. No civic pride. This is despite years where the Christmas program returned $15-$20 for every $1 invested, attracted postcodes from every state, and brought tens of thousands to our waterfront. It was an economic miracle wrapped in colour and light – and it’s been allowed to fade like an old photograph left in the sun.
But here’s the deeper tragedy: Geelong had momentum. Real momentum. The lighting of Ryrie St. The greening of Malop. The transformation of public spaces into safe, bright, positive areas. When a city is lit, crime recedes. That’s not opinion – it’s proven urban design. “Light and Decorate Geelong” wasn’t frivolous; it was strategic, it was cultural, and it was economically powerful.
And now? Graffiti everywhere.
Dirtier streets. Dark corners.
Beautification stripped away.
Plantings removed. Planter boxes vanished. Hanging baskets gone like they never existed.
All the things that made people feel good, safe, optimistic – simply removed.
For what? To save a few dollars? To make a political point? To erase the legacy of someone who dared try?
But the decay of the CBD is not just a council failure. No, we must speak plainly here – the state government bears enormous responsibility.
And this brings me to the member for Geelong Christine Couzens.
Where has she been? What has she done? What has she delivered for Geelong’s CBD?
You elected her over me. Fair enough – democracy speaks and we move on. But it is now years later. More than one term. More than enough time to show leadership.
Yet I ask a simple question, and I ask it without malice but with absolute clarity: What has the member for Geelong actually achieved for the CBD? Where is the investment? Where is the pressure on Spring Street? Where is the advocacy? Where is the pride?
This is the representative who should have fought, loudly and relentlessly, for state support to transform our CBD – especially when the returns on beautification, activation and tourism were proven and documented. Instead, the silence has been deafening.
Worse still, state politics actively interfered at times – taking over streets not for strategic planning reasons, but because it was politically convenient to punish a mayor who was doing too good a job. That’s not leadership. That’s vandalism by bureaucracy. And what has that achieved?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing for the heart of Geelong.
Meanwhile, we now live in a Victoria that feels more crime-ridden, more neglected, and more financially broken than ever – the direct result of a decade of state-level mismanagement. Geelong feels that decline more brutally than most.
And back to the CBD … what a state it’s in.
The Moorabool St bus arrangement remains one of the most disastrous planning decisions in recent memory. Moorabool should be a grand boulevard; instead it’s functionally dead. Meanwhile, Pakington St over in Geelong West thrives – because it has everything the CBD lacks: character, beauty, pride, diversity, activation.
I walk the CBD now and I almost can’t believe what I’m seeing.
The filth, the lack of lighting, the absence of charm, the total disregard for aesthetics, the graffiti – and the speed at which it spreads.
Somewhere along the line, the baton was dropped.
Darryn Lyons was Mayor of the City of Greater Geelong 2013 -2016
Originally published as ‘It breaks your heart’: Darryn Lyons blasts state of Geelong’s neglected CBD.
