Car park protest falls on deaf ears
THE controversial sale of the Bruce Bishop Car Park will go ahead despite more than 150 people protesting the move by Gold Coast City Council.
The council yesterday voted to continue with the sale with the block expected to go on sale by October.
Surfers Paradise councillor Gary Baildon pushed to have the sale halted until legal action foreshadowed by Save Surfers Paradise was finalised.
“No parks mean no tourists, no jobs,” Cr Baildon said.
“What is left of the Gold Coast?”
Five councillors voted to halt the sale, but ten said the sale should go forward.
Council CEO Dale Dickson confirmed at the meeting any developer would have to provide car parking to satisfy the needs of their development plus 640 public car parks and 100 parks set aside for community volunteers.
Mayor Tom Tate said he had no doubt council was in their “lawful right to dispose of a dormant asset”.
He denied claims it would mean a lack of parking in Surfers Paradise.
“It’s a scare tactic by the Save Our Surfers Paradise and that is clearly incorrect,” Cr Tate said. Save Surfers Paradise spokeswoman Deborah Kelly led the protest against the sale, firing up the crowd with statements Cr Tate made in 2004 during an earlier push to sell the site.
Cr Tate, then head of the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce, said at the time that selling the carpark was akin to “selling the goose that lays the golden egg”.
Among the crowd was a collection of failed council candidates including mayoral contenders Brett Lambert and convicted stalker John Abbott.
Mr Lambert, who has already confirmed he will again run for the top job in 2020, heckled the absent Cr Tate during the rally.
Former councillors Susie Douglas, Eddy Sarroff, Grant Pforr and Max Christmas, as well as key business people including media owner Hans Torv and Gold Coast Residents and Ratepayers Association president Tom Bleier, also attended.
Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall noted it was a pro-development group but opposed the development.
“We think the decision to sell this carpark simply doesn’t make sense,” he said. “This will eventually cut trader’s livelihoods.”
Expressions of interest for real estate agents to sell the car park closed last week.