A walk through our CBD is like a slap in the face with a dead fish.

Tourists groan about it. Locals are depressed by it. I`d rather iron my shirts than spend time in it.

While successive councils have ignored the decline, their counterparts in Sydney and Townsville are flat out with visionary plans.

espite Sydney`s immense size, nightmarish traffic chaos, and entrenched infrastructure problems, the council is determined to turn the place around.

Australia`s biggest city has just unveiled a dramatic overhaul of its CBD, focusing on pedestrian-friendly open spaces inspired by European planning.

Sydney Council`s 2030 strategic plan will revamp the city`s boring, ugly bits and replace them with town squares, parks and tree-lined boulevards.

Concern over the tired and grotty nature of our CBD is nothing new.

But there`s been a flood of support for something to be done since this column resurrected the issue a month ago.

Tough times in the tourism industry and an economic downturn across the board seems to have sparked a new wave of enthusiasm for action to liven and brighten up the place in the hope it will help turn fortunes around.

Surely our problem is small and manageable compared with the massive job required to improve huge sections of a massive metropolis like Sydney.

You may scoff and say Sydney has a bottomless budget and an army of experts to carry out their CBD revitalisation, compared with little old Cairns.

That`s hogwash. You just need to look at Townsville to see why. Our arch rivals are leap years ahead in their efforts to turn their CBD into a vibrant, buzzing hotspot.

They even have a dedicated lobby group called CBD Promotions to lead the charge.

That other North Queensland town may not be as scenic and exciting as Cairns, but they know how to turn words into action. Flinders Mall was dull and dreary so retailers kicked up a stink and demanded a long overdue overhaul.

It`s a shame most of our own business community and politicians have been quiet and apathetic about the situation here.

To her credit, Cairns MP Desley Boyle has finally recognised the need for change. Her ideas include more live music, local art and crafts markets, weekly food festivals and a giant public chess board.

A new councillor emailed me to suggest a great big fountain at City Place.

We need more ideas like these to add spark to our CBD that already has the foundations for a winning formula.

The area between the Esplanade and Cairns Central just needs to be spruced up and linked using Rusty`s Markets as a centrepiece.

The popular fruit and veg market attracts plenty of foot traffic on weekends. But shoppers don`t have other reasons to linger.

The CBD needs a string of activity nodes like Rustys and City Place and cafes and whatever else the community wants to figuratively link the Esplanade with Cairns Central.

As I discovered during a holiday to Europe last year, a well-planned city centre can be a tourist attraction in its own right.

A highlight of our trip was doing simple things in the heart of Helsinki, Finland, like sitting at a sidewalk cafe, strolling through a park strewn with sculptures or visiting one of the flea markets and food halls.

The whole place was a welcoming, thriving hub of activity. Our CBD is about as exciting as raw cauliflower.

I`ve received a flurry of comments about this issue, as did 846AM`s John MacKenzie and ABC Radio`s Pat Morrish when they raised it on air over the past month.

Our new council should now band together with state and federal politicians, the Chamber of Commerce and the tourism industry to turn all of this talk into action.

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