Behind the RSL Club

Earlier today, I spotted a couple of teenagers painting graffiti on the wall of Lismore’s levee, previously hidden behind the former RSL Club.

The club closed almost twenty years ago, after going into receivership. More recently, the building was home to First Steps Early Learning Centre. The building was damaged beyond repair in the floods earlier this year, and only a shell remains.

But on the positive side, the demolition of the building has opened a view of the levee previously hidden. Already there is a fair bit of public art along the levee bank, but I thought today how wonderful would it be to have parkland along the river, with the levee serving as a giant canvas for the artistic creativity of the region.

Graffiti is not everyone’s cup of tea, but hopefully, there might be room for all types of art as Lismore rebuilds.

I’m back in Lismore after a break of several weeks, and there’s room for optimism, with an increasing number of shops open in the CBD.

“Keen Street is the best”, one of the women at Tropicana (a fruit and vegetable shop) told me when I called in today. For several months Keen Street has been a construction zone. Money that was approved prior to the floods has been put to good use for post-flood reconstruction.