Meme corner facelift
The corner of Smith and Gertrude St's, or "Meme Corner" as it's known by some of the locals, got a facelift late Friday (22 July) night.
With all the advertising panels removed a tree can be seen growing near flat against the exterior walls of the corner facing buildings. Within a couple of hours the tree was once more covered by what appears to be more durable advertising panels.
Day time revealed the extent of the new advertisting structure with lights that could illuminate a sports field!
If we had a say in what takes place on Meme Corner, what would you prefer to see there?
Posted by 
agarton
Comments
From jc on 27 Jul 2005:
I wish the site was transformed into a small garden. A peaceful juxstaposition to the noisy tram corner and speeding cars.
I once thought to ask McDonalds, who had a regular sign there, whether they would fund a McGarden there.
Over recent years I noticed a local resident/shop-keeper adding small plants: herbs and flowers, to the existing garden beds. That was lovely.
We once met someone who lived above the shop next to Meme Corner. They admired how that tree (pictured above, now removed) survived little light and space behind the signs. They devoted their kitchen compost scraps to it.
Another local shop-keeper had a resident cat that would hang out behind the signs.
In 1998/9, overnight, there appeared a tiny chalkboard and piece of chalk on a string, in the space between the signage and wall on Smith st side. A delightful little place to leave notes. That's gone now.
Eh, the new signboards are massive, and judging by those huge lights, will generate alot of light pollution.
One can only hope that the next generation of adverts to appear there will be sometimes as stupid and provocative as those Chico Roll and Winsdor Smith adverts. Those inspired feminist graffiti artists. They earned Meme Corner a story in The Age newspaper :)
From NatNat on 19 Aug 2005:
I also wish it was a little garden and that the tree could be free...
Who gets the money from the billboards? Maybe they could be asked to put some money into improving the little garden that is there so that it's more pleasant.
From dfg on 5 Jul 2006:
It's for sale, the board went up a few days ago.