Victoria Street is caught in a terrible Catch 22. To feel safe it needs more people moving about, but open drug trades and fights are keeping them away.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.When the Ho family first opened their restaurant on Victoria Street over 40 years ago, the shopping strip was a very different place.
The latest census figures show people with Vietnamese and Chinese ancestry are the only groups whose population declined in North Richmond from 2016 to 2021.Vacancy rates for the street are at 25 per cent, according to the City of Yarra council, with 56 of the 195 shopfronts empty.“A lot of the children didn’t take on the businesses of their parents,” Lu says. “I think also because with migrants, they want something better for the kids, they want them to go to uni and do something else.
An independent review chaired by John Ryan found that since the injecting room opened staff have managed almost 6000 overdoses and saved at least 63 lives. However, critics say it hasSharon Neven has lived near Victoria Street for 23 years and says while she supports the work of the injecting room, it should be moved to a different location.
But offences against the person, which includes assault, sexual offences and harassment, were up to 65 last year from 45 the year before. There was less crime recorded in Victoria street last year with 436 offences recorded, down from a peak of 545 offences in 2017.After his landlord would not pay for repairs to a leaking roof on the building Low closed the wine bar at the start of the year and relocated his business to the CBD.Another trader, who wants to remain anonymous because of safety concerns, says the low-level street drug dealers who stand by the tram stops on Victoria Street are victims just as much as the drug users.
A spokeswoman for Yarra says Victoria Street is patrolled for litter and rubbish every day and the council provides “syringe cleansing” and nightly street sweeping to get rid of dog and human waste.Yarra’s own 2022 survey, however, found more than one in four residents feel unsafe in or around Victoria Street.
Ryan says there will always be people using drugs in Victoria Street because its location is convenient to many modes of public transport. “There’s got to be some understanding between what the shop owners want and what the residents want... they’re letting them go to wrack and ruin, and it’s causing angst with the community that loves living there.”
“Its biggest problem is the issue with safety and perceptions of safety there,” she says. “The best thing you can do is have more people there and more reasons for people to go there.” A spokeswoman for the government says it has spent more than $200 million across the North Richmond precinct since 2018 on improved experiences, safety and security, public amenity, and improved access to health and social support services.
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