Litter woe call to action
‘Ashamed’ councillor wants city to clean up its act
THE scene of scattered litter, overflowing bins and furniture knocked over left a Hobart councillor feeling “ashamed” of the state of the CBD and now she wants the city to clean up its act.
Councillor Louise Elliot will seek support on a motion at Hobart City’s first council meeting of the year on Monday for the council to commit to improving the CBD’s cleanliness and make certain areas more family-friendly, including relocating parenting facilities in Argyle St.
Ms Elliot said she was particularly concerned about Wellington Court and the mall.
“We literally need to clean up our act. I recently walked through Wellington Court and the Elizabeth Street Mall early on a Saturday evening and it was trashed,” Ms Elliot said.
“There was litter scattered everywhere, overflowing bins, tipped over furniture.
“There was a cruise ship in. I was ashamed and sad that they (cruise visitors) saw our city in that state and that this was likely their first impression.”
Ms Elliot said making the streets cleaner would make Hobart more family-friendly.
“At the moment [Wellington Court’s] a transit corridor and hangout for all the wrong reasons,” Ms Elliot said.
“Given its central location and proximity to the hospital, this would be an ideal location for an inner-city play space – somewhere to grab a coffee and let the kids run and climb, and a great change of scene for kids who are visiting or patients at the hospital.
“Parenting facilities are another area that needs rethinking … the parenting room in the Argyle St car park is tucked away and hard to find on the first floor and it’s sadly often vandalised.” Ms Elliot said shoppers would be deterred from visiting the CBD if it wasn’t clean.
“If the city doesn’t deliver a positive experience, if it isn’t clean, if it’s too hard to face with kids, then people will simply go elsewhere and I don’t want that,” she said.
“Our CBD faces tough competition from both online and our neighbouring municipalities.”