NEWS
Axed Valley Place Manager Greg Scroope enjoyed a partial win in his last days on the job recently — his stinging rebuke to one of the Valley’s leading property owners was apparently the catalyst for forcing some cleaning and repair work on one of the suburb’s worst grot spots –- the walkway from Valley Metro to Wickham Street.
In a email to local stakeholders before his departure, Mr Scroope lamented an impasse that “allows a landowner to completely disregard normal standards of safety, health and amenity”.
Mr Scroope’s email came two days before his job was terminated by City Council and other Valley Place staff relocated to other council duties, a decision attacked by local councillor David Hinchliffe.
In his email to Cr Hinchliffe, state MP Grace Grace, the Valley Chamber of Commerce, Brisbane Lifestyle Committee Council chair Geraldine Knapp, Valley Malls Advisory Committee chair Phil DiBella and other stakeholders, Mr Scroope said he had met 10 days earlier with property owner Jack Moc who “owns the building that holds Cafe One and who has the administrative and management rights for the area between the air bridge linking McWhirter’s through to the Valley Metro Shopping Centre”.
“I have been trying for months to encourage Jack into cleaning up this property. I had an agreement with Jack that he would clean up his premises subject to the ‘significant and substantial mounting pressure’ of a range of stakeholders on this property. In the time provided an agreed to by Jack Moc, he only complied with half of one of the nine requests made of him.
“Given that I’m only in council for another two days, there is limited opportunity for me to do anything more with regard to achieving the outcome we are all looking for. I can I suggest that the necessary and relevant state council officers will come together shortly to look at this property in a forensic way.”
In an email to Mr Moc on Monday 30 May, he wrote: “Jack I visited the arcade this afternoon and it is still as dirty as ever. Apart from the application of some paint to the escalator walls the place is the same. It should be noted that both escalators were not functioning when I was there.
“Jack, when I came to see you two weeks ago, I came to give you some early advise (sic) to clean the place because of the ‘substantial mounting pressure’ on the owners of this property. That has not gone away and I again suggest you complete the work in the next day or two.”
But in a followup email on his second last day Mr Scroope told stakeholders: “There looks to have been more work done overnight. The floor in the Mt Cathy property [Walton’s portion] has been mopped and swept but still shows signs of substantial inground dirt. Now it just looks as dirty as the rest of the Moc property which has to be said is an improvement. Floor tiles are still missing. Large graffiti is still evident in the Mt Cathy property walls.
“Dirty ceiling tiles have been painted over so expect them to start peeling within months. Single flouro lights have been installed where doubles are required.
“Neither of the escalators are working.”
An inspection by The Independent earlier this week revealed that most of the 14 floor tiles that had been replaced already need to be relaid. Four of the white tiles have already broken up and are now piled in a corner. Other tiles wobble freely, with their grouting having separated from the floor itself. Many light tubes are still missing. The Wickham Street end owned by Mr Moc has had a decent makeover, with the escalator walls painted, lights replaced and some redundant signs removed. Councillor Hinchliffe said closing of the Place Management Project for the Valley was a “very retrograde step in the campaign to clean up the area”.
The decision had been made without consultation or reference with him as local councillor or with the local Valley business community.
He told Cr Geraldine Knapp by email: “I am very disappointed that Greg Scroope’s role as Place Manager for the Valley has now been axed. Greg has been great and the axing of his job has come as a shock to the local community. “Is there any possibility of revising that decision?”
Since the picture at the far right was taken, the white tile at top left has joined the pile of discared and broken tiles in the corner of the walkway.
