Lord Mayor Sally Capp quitting is welcome news for Melb’s struggling CBD
For six long years Melbourne has been led by a mayor more interested in photo opportunities than protecting and nurturing her city. With Easter all about resurrection, let’s hope the news leads to a CBD revival.
Opinion
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Finally, some good news for the City of Melbourne – Lord Mayor Sally Capp has quit.
With Easter all about resurrection, let’s hope the Thursday morning- stunt like radio- announcement also marks the resurrection of Melbourne and its CBD.
For six long years the Melbourne City Council has been led by a mayor more interested in photo opportunities and attending global climate change conferences than protecting and nurturing her city through the tough Covid years. Sally Capp’s greatest asset has been her enthusiasm for the job but it’s a pity her energy ended up backing the wrong projects.
Even today if you visit the council homepage and read Capp’s self-described ambitions you realise that even after six long years, they are not what you want if your ambition is to re-claim Melbourne the CBD from the Covid years. Her main priorities listed are around climate change, rough sleepers and winning a popularity contest.
In her defence she had to rule during Daniel Andrews’ two years of lockdowns and scaremongering that saw the CBD become an empty ghost town populated only by construction workers and the odd protest. She was really Lord Mayor of nothing, with office towers emptied of all humans, no tourists, no restaurants open and no foreign students delivering tepid food to lazy apartment owners.
Sally Capp’s legacy though will be what she allowed to happen to OUR Melbourne during that time.
Bulldozing Green lobbyists convinced her that Melbourne should become like some European City with bike riders given priority over cars and trucks. While we were all locked away at Dan’s orders, council workers took to those famous city streets like Exhibition Street, Latrobe, St, Kilda Rd and Spencer and Rathdowne streets in something called Transport Strategy 2030.
Sally and her mates rolled out more than 19km of bike lanes creating, as she claimed, “a cleaner, greener” Melbourne.
Really! What they really created was a chaotic mess where delivery drivers couldn’t even park near their destinations in the middle of the night. Two lane streets became narrow traffic-clogged nightmares, parking spots were gobbled up and naturally people just gave up going into the CBD at all.
Sally then, through her leadership, allowed the footpaths of the city to be littered with electric scooters on every corner. The lack of traffic then attracted tribes of homeless people who set up camp on quiet corners like Elizabeth and Flinders St.
Then we had the saga of the city Heroin Injecting room. The Andrews Government bought a Flinders St building that lay vacant and proposed a heroin injecting room go in there after Queen Victoria Market traders rejected a site near them. A third location was investigated, the Salvation Army building in Bourke St, and at the time Lord Mayor Capp told 3AW “council was committed to ensuring the CBD safe injecting room is located in an area that takes into account the amenity and safety of traders, residents and workers.”
Weasel words when what she should have been telling Andrews was not in MY city, we don’t want it.
This has been the problem for Sally Capp - she is politically naive and has not been strong enough to stand up to the state government and the more radical of her fellow councillors.
When she walks away at the end of June, not even waiting for the City Council election date, and retires, what exactly will be her legacy be? Sadly, it’s not a pretty picture but it would be churlish to lay the blame at her feet alone. The state government gifted her a city blighted by block after block of over budget and over time Big Build projects that never seem to end.
Andrews overreacted to Covid and hollowed her CBD out of people and then ran a verbal war with any of the prominent city hospitality figures who didn’t agree with him. Capp was stuck in the middle and not strong enough to fight back.
Scooters, bike lanes, graffiti, full rubbish bins and homeless people don’t make for one of the world’s most liveable cities or look that great on the CV Sally.
Sydney is now a cleaner more easily accessible and successful version of what Melbourne used to be like and whoever takes over from Capp should spend some time there having a look.
Melbourne City Council should either get back to basics and listen to their ratepayers or pack it in. I’d normally recommend a state government takeover but given their track record they’d probably make it worse.
Maybe it’s time for a Melbourne City Commission appointed by the Government, but drawing from the brilliant talent we have in Victoria that we could tap into. Politics will inevitably play a role so the City Commissioner should have a strong Labor pedigree. Maybe someone like ex-Premier Steve Bracks who could then convince people like Gillon McLachlan, Eddie McGuire and even Neil Mitchell to add some passion to the rebuild.
Restaurateur Chris Lucas could represent hospitality and the vocal Rebecca Judd could add some class and sensible views.
Let’s be honest it will never happen but repeating the mistakes of the past six years won’t be good enough either.
Goodbye Sally, let’s hope what comes next works.
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