There is anger in Richmond to a Yarra City Council-backed proposal to build a memorial to victims of drug overdoses.
It is part of a $400,000 upgrade to the intersection of Lennox and Victoria Streets.
Yarra City Councillors were deadlocked at 4-4 before Mayor Amanda Stone used her tie-breaking vote to push through the proposal, which has exposed deep divisions in a community rocked by a chronic drug use problems.
Local residents are bewildered by the decision, with most feeling frustrated at the direction of funding to tackle Richmond’s drug problem.
“I’m absolutely against it,” said Spencer, a local resident for 10 years. “I can’t believe they’d redirect funds from tackling the actual problem into building a plaque. It just seems bizarre.”
“I just don’t understand the priorities of the Council sometimes.”
Another local resident, Drew, said he was a drug user, and was also opposed to the move.
“As a recreational drug user, I don’t like it. I certainly wouldn’t want my friend’s names up there, or to be constantly reminded that I am somehow ‘different’ in this community.”
Drew explained that he believed the money should be spent elsewhere. “They (council) should build a heroin house or something similar instead. Something like a safe injecting room. They’ve got those in Europe.”
The proposal was attached to a major upgrade of the Lennox and Victoria Street intersections, a place infamous for its status as a crime hotspot.
The upgrade is being jointly funded by the Yarra City Council and the State Government’s Community Crime Prevention Program. The Justice Department, however, was quick to distance itself from the proposed memorial.
The issue even divided the Yarra City Council, with Stone being forced to issue a vote in favour of the proposal in order to break the deadlock.
Victims of Crime Commissioner Greg Davies strongly criticised the idea, calling it “monumentally stupid,” Cr Stephen Jolly, who opposed the proposal, slammed it as a “thought bubble for the Greens.”
The infamous Lennox and Victoria Street intersection, where the Council have proposed to build a memorial to victims of drug overdoses (Photo: Finn Devlin)
“The best pay to pay tribute to those who’ve died from drug overdoses is to actually fix the problem,” Cr Jolly said.
All local business owners who were contacted also expressed opposition to the move, although none were willing to go on record.
The proposal is now out for public consultation until August 11.
