Mall casts a pall over inner-Valley

Many day traders in inner Fortitude Valley are owed a huge, unconditional apology from Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.

He should go down on bended knee when he delivers his grovelling and hopefully heartfelt mea culpa for telling those traders that the revamped Valley mall was going to be an enormous fillip to their business fortunes. His media statements before and during last year’s expensive make-over promised the area’s day economy would benefit greatly from the project. And it was all being fast-tracked so those traders could all benefit from the countless numbers of G20 attendees that would be rushing to the mall to marvel at its makeover and fill the cash registers of day traders as they sipped their lattes, enjoyed a meal and bought something from the shops in McWhirters, Valley Metro and others in the vicinity.

Well, this newspaper repeatedly warned that those traders – many already hard-hit by the prolonged closure of the Walton’s walkway – were being sold a pup. And what a dog of a remake the mall has turned out to be. It’s a shocker. It’s more or less what this newspaper repeatedly warned it would be: a bandaid half measure that has caused more harm than good. We said to council: save the money until you can do it properly. We heard from traders who were totally opposed to the disruption the makeover would cause, no matter how fast it was done. We did hear from one trader who was looking forward to the job being done: more in hope that expectation, I fear. So if this newspaper and many traders got it right, why didn’t the Lord Mayor? The reason Quirk’s apology has to be unconditional is because I am absolutely convinced there would have been no modelling done to backup his claims of a day-time revival for the precinct.

The reality is more likely that the Lord Mayor’s team of spin doctors simply conjured up the notion of much better times out of their heads. It’s what they do best: words and sentences plucked out of nowhere because they sounded good and might make a few pars in a paper or a soundgrab on a quiet day on the TV news. And our civic leader willingly and shamelessly put his name to them. Even when the mall was first reopened in stages, the paving already looked dirty and tired. The two awning structures look like vast plates of sheet metal with the most interesting parts cut out. Sitting on four drunken pylons, they look cheap and tacky. They also let the rain through. Of course, before the makeover, council artwork showed a number of two-storey retail hubs in the mall proper. Stairwells led up to open areas where patrons could enjoy a drink and take in the view. What have we got instead? One fast-food outlet that looks very much like a shipping container tarted up a bit. We pointed out before the makeover that even the council listed as its first point the fact that the new mall would be easier to clean.

So there we have it: a mall with a smooth surface that’s easier to wash off the vomit, the piss and the blood after the big entertainment nights, and a pretty desolate-looking space where in daylight people scurry through on their way to somewhere else, just like before Quirk threw ratepayer millions at the place.

So when you’re ready Lord Mayor, please drop down to the Valley and tell the day traders there that you were full of hot air and you knew your grand claims would come to nought. You are, after all, just a politician. The traders would appreciate such honesty.