Hang on - I completely disagree with your assumption about city workers. I work in the city and I recently purchased an apartment in the other complex. I currently reside in blackburn and commute to work everyday and as much as I hate metro, I have to admit that the Belgrave/lilydale is one of the best. It's takes around 20 mins to get into the city on the weekend.
There are also buses to Doncaster shoppingtown, box hill and eastland. It's close to box hill tafe and relatively close to Deakin university as well. Let's not forget that the primary school - Mitcham primary is a really good school. When I was deciding whether to buy in Mitcham, what sealed the deal for me were the council plans for Mitcham and it's surrounding areas. They are planning on making box hill and ringwood "centres of activity" which means that they have plans to increase the number of commercial properties around those areas. There will be more offices and better transport links. Costco is moving to ringwood and they r building a shopping complex around there. As for Mitcham - they have plans to make it a residential area of activity, improving facilities like childcare and transport. The plans around Whitehorse road are also quite exciting but it will be complete around 2050. For now though - I'm looking forward to moving in in 2014 and having easy access to anything I damn want - Coles/ mitcham shops is literally across the road from me.
I've lived in the east my whole life and The cbd doesn't appeal to me as much as what the east has to offer in terms of lifestyle and views.