Save our street: North Richmond traders say injection room scaring customers away
Empty shops are now common along the once-popular Victoria St strip in North Richmond – and traders say they know what’s to blame.
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About one in three shops is now vacant on the once-popular Victoria St strip in North Richmond.
Traders say the trial of the supervised injection room, based at the North Richmond Community Health centre, has attracted more dealers and users, making the neighbourhood a virtual no-go zone for visitors, diners and shoppers.
Victoria St traders’ spokesman Meca Ho said business on the shopping strip had declined since the injection room opened because of fears of anti-social behaviour.
“I did support the trial to save lives, but it hasn’t worked and it’s not fair for residents and traders,’’ Mr Ho said.
Between Hoddle and Church streets, 11 per cent of shops were empty in mid-2017, rising to 32.7 per cent in December, research using Google mapping shows.
Some restaurants have succumbed to other factors such as the popularity of delivery services such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
But the street had lost foot traffic because of open drug dealing, public injecting and other anti-social behaviour, Mr Ho said.
“There are so many syringes in car parks, laneways and on the streets,’’ Mr Ho said.
He called for a government response to help reactivate the strip.
BanBan kitchenware, which had operated on Victoria St for more than three decades, recently closed down, with the owners believed to be unhappy at the state of the suburb.
And Quan 88 restaurant relocated over to St Kilda, partly out of concern for the drug trade but also to expand, a spokesman said.
The traders share many residents’ concerns over the impact on the neighbourhood of the injection centre which is now 19 months into the two-year trial.
About 2500 overdoses have been managed by injection room staff since it opened in July 2018. Since opening the centre has since been extended and the room is now open longer each day.
The government has said the room was set up to save lives and that it was doing so.
Letitia Wilkinson, spokeswoman for residents’ group MRAC, writing in today’s Herald Sun said the impact of the injection room was like a “disaster in our neighbourhood” which needed addressing.
“What is required is coherent and targeted social policy responses,’’ Ms Wilkinson said.
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The call comes after the Herald Sun revealed that the number of ambulance call-outs for drug overdoses in Yarra had risen by more than 15 per cent during the first year of the injection room.
Ambulances were now called on average about 19 times a week to suspected drug overdoses in the municipality.