City workers react to council plans for CBD ‘wet zone’ trial
Frontline city workers battling juvi crims and drunken itinerants have been wary to embrace a bold new plan to tackle law and order. HAVE YOUR SAY
Cairns
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CITY workers on the frontline of streets plagued with juvi crims and drunken itinerants have been wary to wholeheartedly embrace a bold new council plan to tackle law and order in the CBD but support moves to make the area safer.
At a meeting of the Cairns Regional planning and environment committee on Wednesday a new pilot plan was endorsed to end a host of anti-social behaviour, including public toileting, drug use, violence, fighting and chroming in the city centre.
Zack White works at night in the hot zone at the corner of Shields St and Lake streets.
While the Evo Burger worker thought getting homeless drunks away from the shop through the use of “wet zones” was a good idea, he said there was no way to force people to use toilets.
“I’ve seen people like standing two metres away from the toilet and they just flip it out and p*ss on the trees,” he said.
Deputy mayor and chairman of the planning and environment committee, Terry James said the new pilot sets out 14 initiatives including the feasibility of a “wet zone”.
“This study will be undertaken in collaboration with community leaders and key stakeholders, to determine whether or not it is an intervention worth considering for the city,” he said.
It’s unclear where or exactly how wet zones will work in Cairns but trials in the UK have proved to be cost-prohibitive and positive impacts have been inconclusive.
The new plan targets a problem cohort of about 130 rough sleepers known to be responsible for about 46 per cent of city disturbances and youths under 17.
Evo Burger owner Olivia Yang believed the only way to improve the situation was to take a hard line approach.
“They just kept doing the same thing every day … the law is not nearly strong enough for them,” she said.
A new Shields St store owner operating a venture through the Renew Cairns initiative said she supported the broadening of council’s remit to address a law and order issue in the interests of making the streets safer.
Growing up on Murray and Enmore streets in Manoora, Mr White is no stranger to confrontation. But seeing kids as young as 12 being taken away in ambulances after inhalant overdoses, addicts shooting up ice, begging and urinating outside the shop he said was not a positive reflection on the city as international travellers return to Cairns.
“If I was from overseas and saw this I would tell people to avoid the main city of Cairns,” he said.
“(Ending anti-social behaviour) has been a big fail because it just repeating the same bullcr*p over and over again.”
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Originally published as City workers react to council plans for CBD ‘wet zone’ trial
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