Lyons wants a green mall overhaul

GEELONG independent candidate Darryn Lyons says the city’s public mall is a “disgrace” and the only solution is to redevelop it.

Mr Lyons, pictured, running as an independent at the November 24 state poll, said the Little Malop St mall should be converted into an urban green space.

“It’s a disgrace. Instead of a family-friendly space in the centre of town, it’s degenerated into a hot spot for antisocial activity, for assaults, bad language, drugs, drunkenness and threatening behaviour,” Mr Lyons said. “People do not feel safe there. They avoid the place if possible. Ask the shoppers, the commuters at the bus terminals and students.

“It should be a showcase for Geelong, not a sham.”

My Lyons said the strip between Moorabool and Yarra streets had been “a serious headache” since the Market Square development in the mid-1980s. He argues that numerous studies and countless makeovers have failed.

“It’s been closed to traffic, then opened to traffic; there have been trees and foliage, later ripped out; piped music; a water feature that didn’t feature; buskers and markets. The only thing that has survived is the ‘mall rats’,” Mr Lyons said.

“The Market Square shopping centre, which now occupies a large part of that first public reserve, has destroyed the early streetscape.

“But reverting the remaining land back to a green island in the urban centre would, I believe, be welcomed by the community.”