TOTALLY WASTED
From historic to horrific – deodorant sniffers graffiti Courthouse
THE former Courthouse Hotel, earmarked as a key part of a new multi-million dollar arts and cultural precinct in Cairns, has become an inner-city den of squalor.
The vacant venue is now a haven for deodorant-sniffing teenagers and drunken itinerants – as predicted by the Cairns Post nine months ago.
Police say they are targeting inhalant abuse after a spike in the use of stimulants by youths.
THE Courthouse Hotel has lived up to the Cairns Post’s prediction nine months ago that “if left vacant the building would quickly become dead space and a magnet for unsavoury behaviour”.
Empty deodorant cans by the dozens have been collected from gardens by neighbouring business operators as juveniles and itinerants use the dormant CBD space as a hotbed of inhalant abuse.
Vanilla essence bottles have also been found, minus their highly alcoholic contents, with sleazy marker-pen graffiti creating a crude eyesore on the heritage-listed Cairns Art Gallery’s pillars next door.
Despite talk of finding interim uses like pop-up cafes, food trucks and short-term art exhibitions, the venue has been completely unused since Cairns Regional Council bought it for $5.75 million in December.
Mayor Bob Manning agreed its current state of antisocial atrophy was a concern.
A single CCTV camera is already in place on the site, but the council is now considering more surveillance to combat late-night, early-morning misuse of the grounds.
“I can assure you that we’ve discussed this and we know that we need to be on regular patrols,” Cr Manning said.
“We’ve got arrangements with the people at (hotel) Mantra, because they’re looking out there all the time.”
The idea of other businesses temporarily moving in appears to have been shelved as the council edges closer to winning State Government funds to turn the building into the nucleus of a new arts precinct.
“At the moment that’s not on the radar screen for us,” Cr Manning said.
“But, if there was some use that somebody talked about for the short-term, we would be happy to look at that.
“Our relationship with the government involving the arts has been very positive and we’re very hopeful they will see fit to support us.
“As soon as we get the money, that gives us an opportunity to do something very soon.”
There have been repeated warnings that vacancy would lead to trouble, beginning with the Cairns Post in December calling for former pub owners Pelathon to be allowed to keep trading while the building’s future was decided.
In July, the Cairns Post also revealed itinerants were regularly sleeping on the grounds.
Division 5 Councillor Richie Bates is still pushing for short-term uses to be investigated.
“I made the comment about six months ago that it was important that we activate it and we shouldn’t leave it dormant,” he said.
“The substance abuse going on there is obviously distressing, but also the place is being desecrated.
“Originally we were saying we needed to activate the space. Now that seems to have gone on the backburner.
“We need to be more active in finding uses of it in the interim period and we need to make sure our safety security in the CBD is up to scratch, and clearly it’s not.”