NEWS
Traders close to the main Fortitude Valley mall have given the thumbs down to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s $5 million resurfacing plan for the mall. The LNP civic leader during the recent council poll committed the funds to resurface the mall with a smooth concrete surface but businesses think it’s the wrong plan – for a number of reasons.
Some traders still struggling to recover from the lengthy closure of the Waltons walkway connecting the McWhirters Building to Valley Metro say any mall makeover is not what they need right now. Others believe that the mall definitely needs major work done on it – but that it should be a complete overhaul that fixes unseen problems.
A number of traders believe there are major structural problems beneath the surface of the mall and that a “facelift” would be a waste of ratepayers’ money.
Pat Hutchison, co-owner of the pop art collectables store Ooo Look Shiny in McWhirters told The Independent: “When there is a breeze running through the mall, the chevron drains smell like a sewer system or an outback dunny.
“Unless you work near the mall or have a market stall there, you’d never know that it happens regularly.”
Mr Hutchison said he believed the mall needed a major upgrade of all utilities – water, sewerage, gas, electricity, etc– so that it was no longer a century-old system.
“A facelift is not what is needed, nor a patch up job.
“Local traders probably could not afford any disruption that would occur regardless of what’s done, but if it’s got to be done, let it be done properly so it does not have to be redone in 10 years’ time.”
Another McWhirters trader who asked not to be named also complained about the smells that sometimes permeated the centre when the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. He also questioned the quality of the mall’s drainage system to handle heavy rain, after noticing that stormwater drains on Brunswick Street West just across from the western end of the mall often bubbled up after downpours.
He suspected that a major overhaul of the mall’s drainage system could overcome a problem that has inconvenienced pedestrians and local business owners alike.
Mr Joseph Origlassio, who runs Pronto Expresso Cafe Bar in McWhirters, said even a facelift for the mall would create difficulties for local traders still trying to recover from the lengthy Waltons walkway closure.
“Local traders simply cannot afford any disruptions at the moment,” he said. “Besides, a new pavement on the mall will make no difference to the daytime economy in the Valley whatsoever.”
He supported Mr Hutchison’s view that what the mall needed was a major and complete overhaul to draw people to it, but “simply not any time soon”.
Any real makeover of the main mall should investigate the possibility of 24-hour staffed public toilets under the mall proper.
Another trader said he had heard that the Lord Mayor’s election promise to cement over the mall had an ulterior motive – it was rumoured that the fancy new pavement cleaning machines – the green goblins – did not work properly on the mall’s existing paved surface.
Those expensive machines were the subject of two expensive PR exercises just before the council poll that left struggling local traders fuming.
• In our next issue, we’ll develop this story further by asking the Lord Mayor for a time frame for his mall plans, and seek input from the Fortitude Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Valley Malls Advisory Committee.
