I'm Dr Tim Haines, the Grote Business Precinct's new Treasurer. I am a long-term Grote Street resident and business owner – in fact, I have been a committee member previously, but most significantly, I (almost) share the GBP's birthday, having been here since 2001. 

My family and I moved to Grote St initially to be near Adelaide High for our three youngest children (we have six in all), but that was 20 years ago, so they are all grown up. 

But Grote Street gets into your blood, with the variety and the cosmopolitan nature of the precinct, and this has always been particularly appealing to me, as a professional anthropologist dealing with issues of migration and ethnic as well as Indigenous affairs.  So we stayed, set up business and expanded the premises and have more or less grown and developed with the street since then. 

And developments have been exciting. 

The recent changes to Grote St, particularly at the Western end where we are, have been incredible and have blended in with the history which is still very much part of the atmosphere here.  A single example of that history is the St Patrick's Day procession, from St Patrick's Church on or about 17 March every year, complete with Afghan hounds wearing little green hats – a festival we try not to miss. 

But there are contemporary developments too, such as the forthcoming sale of the APO Business Centre on Gouger St, backing onto Grote St, which leaves us with enormous potential for working with the new owners towards a Grote St-friendly space.

The Eastern end of the street and the precinct have not missed out, of course, with the new improvements of Her Majesty's Theatre and Moonta St and projected changes to the Market Arcade. 

All-in-all, Grote St is a vibrant and fantastic place to live and work.  I hope to remain with Grote St and the GBP for another twenty years and will certainly be celebrating GBP's 21st birthday in June.

Dr Timothy K Haines JP, FAAS, MMIA