David Penberthy: There is a deeper problem hurting Hutt St, that people in leadership are avoiding

DISTURBING new videos have emerged of brawls on Hutt St. The footages illustrate the problems that businesses and residents of this once-thriving CBD precinct are struggling to cope with, says David Penberthy.

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THE Hutt St precinct should by any measure be one of the most coveted addresses in our town. I spent several terrific years during uni living in and around the area with mates in the late 1980s.

My first sharehouse was in McLaren St, that beautiful byway between Halifax and Carrington Sts with its picture-postcard cottages; my second was near the Astor Hotel, owned by an exceedingly patient woman who lived in a groovy maisonette in Tomsey St, and my third was in the eastern end of Angas St on the edge of the parklands.

Some of my fondest memories involve a couple of great restaurants that are now no more, a groundbreaking high-end vegetarian place called Cafe Violetta, and the much-missed Mona Lisa’s which did a sensational West Indian goat curry.

It was a buzzy part of town. It was also a safe one.

As a non-driver in those days, I would happily traverse the area on foot, or by bike, which I would leave unlocked outside the Arab Steed or the Hutt St IGA without ever having to worry about having it pinched.

Adelaide City councillor Alex Antic has frequently raised issues about Hutt St.

Hutt St was a great place to hang out and live in back then. It should be a great place to hang out and live in now. There is irrefutable evidence that for many people Hutt St is no longer that.

The number, and nature, of incidents that have affected innocent people going about their business is truly alarming.

Police and both local and state government admit that there are real problems in the area. Adelaide City councillor Alex Antic said the number of businesses that have closed has earned Hutt St the unwanted nickname of Shut Street.

Central to these problems are the twin scourges of homelessness and drug abuse, scourges that sometimes overlap. The homelessness problem has worsened in line with a lamentable national increase in the number of people sleeping on the streets, up 14 per cent in the past five years.

In terms of drugs, while the perennial problem of alcohol abuse remains a major factor for the itinerant Parklands people, there is a mountain of evidence that the use of methamphetamine has skyrocketed, bringing law-abiding people into direct contact with those whose behaviour has been bent out of shape by this monstrous drug.

There is a school of thought in this discussion that it is callous and unfair to advocate moving people on, or even arresting them, if they are misbehaving while living on the streets.

Hutt St CEO Ian Cox.

Much of the discussion around Hutt St’s problems has focused on the work of the Hutt St Centre, at the southern end of the street near the parklands, which for more than 60 years has been helping homeless people in our city.

I have met its boss, Ian Cox, and more importantly I have met and interviewed some of its clients, none of whom were aggressive or belligerent, but polite people who had simply fallen through the cracks on account of mental health issues, domestic violence, sudden imposed poverty.

At the risk of sounding heartless, whatever sympathy we feel for those people should be matched by an equal amount of sympathy for the people who are simply trying to live their lives and run a business in an orderly way.

I have read comments and opinion pieces invoking the Christian tradition and chastising anyone for daring to complain about the behaviour of some homeless people.

Spare us the lectures. It is absurd to set up some kind of good-versus-evil construct where the homeless people are held up as deserving of nothing but pity, while anyone who has been hassled or attacked is some kind of flint-hearted yuppie whinger who should just recognise that life comes with its challenges.

Only yesterday, I heard from one business owner whose customers have been hassled, abused and robbed by drug-addled itinerants.

This person has now received death threats for speaking out about this totally unacceptable state of affairs.

Property for lease on Hutt St ... from the business people David Penberthy has spoken to, Hutt St has officially had a gutful.

This person is so distressed by it all that they are about to end their lease and close their business, as others have done. Where is the sympathy for this person?

Someone doing nothing other than trying to make an honest quid for themselves, create job opportunities for their staff, add colour and vibrancy to our city?

It is baseless to blame the Hutt St Centre for all the problems of Hutt St. As I said, I’ve met a few of their clients and they were good people.

But I have no doubt that some of its clients are among the troublemakers.

The Hutt St Centre must do a more candid job of acknowledging that.

But beyond that, there is a much bigger problem in terms of the hard core of people with zero interest in accessing services aimed at re-entering civil society, and are happiest sitting in the parklands on booze and meth all day, with the concomitant mayhem that lifestyle brings.

Those who peddle the accusation of heartlessness are the same who cry cruelty whenever anyone suggests these people should simply be moved on.

In my mind it is just as cruel to leave them there — cruel to the people who have to run the gauntlet of frightening and offensive behaviour whenever they shop, work, or come home to their city pad.

As for the argument that it’s ineffective, and the problem will simply shift elsewhere, you could actually always just arrest them, couldn’t you, if they keep breaking the law?

From the business people I have spoken to, Hutt St has officially had a gutful.

Worse, these decent people appear stuck in a four-way stand-off, where neither state nor local government has taken full ownership of the issue, and SAPOL and social services providers seem confused as to how to respond.

The end result is a leadership vacuum, loads of dithering, during which businesses close their doors, customers stay away, residents take their chances.

■ DAVID PENBERTHY HOSTS BREAKFASTS ON FIVEAA WITH WILL GOODINGS