LAST Friday, the Bass Coast Shire Council made a statement about the success of the first 100 days of the new Cowes cultural centre, Berninneit.
Chris Hemsworth, they said, reckons it’s a great space.
Sandra Peeters, President of the Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space Inc is delighted with the gallery and the encouragement of visual arts locally and regionally.
And more than 10,000 people, they say, have attended a range of sold out shows and exhibitions.
In that number are reportedly 5327 who’ve attended ‘over’ 105 cinema sessions (not sure how you arrive at a figure that’s ‘over’ 105, but anywho).
And how that lines up with another report from a Sentinel-Times reader, we’re not sure, who attended a session of ‘Napoleon’ over the summer, with his wife and another couple. Perhaps we could see some figures on numbers that attended each show, and how many actually paid for their tickets.
The point is that while the statement from the shire was all froth and bubble, a promotional piece if you like, and why not, 100 days is a great achievement, but somewhere along the line we’ve got to get real about the cost blowout of the project, whether the all-up, final cost is really $31.3 million as announced by the former mayor Cr Michael Whelan on opening day, and what the all-inclusive operating loss is projected to be after 12 months.
And surely, there must be some critical appraisal about how the facility is operating day-to-day.
Because over the summer holidays, while the main streets of Cowes were absolutely groaning with people, in and out of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants; if there was a place that was quieter than a church mouse, it was Berninneit.
The library was doing a great job with its activities and if library memberships are up, great! But what are the negatives from the first 100 days? What improvements can be made?
Film posters on the windows? Some outward sign that the building is actually open? How about leasing out the café and putting some tables and umbrellas outside? What about the landscaping? Is that it? How many local groups are using it or is it simply too expensive?
And do shire staff have to be occupying such expensive real estate upstairs? What happened to the idea of leasing it out to PINP (or someone else) to subsidise the cost.
And there’s no getting away from the fact that when the previous council made the decision to reject a ‘Redevelopment & Refurbishment’ option, allegedly costing $19,001,953 for a ‘Demolition & New Build’ option costing just $2306 less (really?) at $18,999,647 in October 2019, it was a full $12.3 million below the ultimate cost.
At an overrun of more than $12 million, if that is really the all-up cost, it’s got to be the worst managed capital project in the history of the Bass Coast Shire Council.
Surely, there’s got to be a more critical assessment of the first 100 days of Berninneit, and what adjustments are going to be made… and such a report not only needs to be prepared as a matter of urgency, it also needs to be released to the people who are paying the bill – the ratepayers.
