Around Australia, there are millions of dollars worth of property sitting empty.
Once-bustling shopping strips resemble ghost towns.
Now one passionate restaurateur has had enough and wants action.
“This is what’s happening to our country, all the way along here, empty, empty. This country is a joke. We can do better,” said Ipswich local Mario Grimaldi.
Mario Grimaldi loves his city so much, he’s leading the charge for change.
“I was just driving past those shops that are vacant and that are always vacant and the buildings,” he told A Current Affair.
“Something just came over me and I thought I am just going to pull over and say something about this because I’m just sick and tired of seeing it.”
Normally Mario’s frothing lattes at his Italian restaurant in Ipswich, west of Brisbane.
But now he’s reached boiling point, taking to social media to show what he says is happening in some parts of his community.
“You have a look around here, look at these beautiful old buildings here. No one’s leasing them out,” he said.
Mario took us on a walking tour of the CBD where we saw a number of vacant shop fronts on one corner.
“This has always been vacant as long as I can remember,” he said.
“I think people even sleep under here and it’s sad to see.
“Why isn’t there somewhere for them to sleep, even for the night, especially we’ve got all this vacant space.”
Heritage buildings, empty shops, are all wasting away, while councils and the state government continue to build and invest in newer infrastructure.
“They are building all these shops and then you’ve still got half of the city still vacant,” he said.
Some of these abandoned buildings are state government-owned and Mario wants to see them and others put to good use, ultimately wanting to see them transformed into homes.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella said it’s a national issue.
There are very similar scenes in Cleveland near Brisbane and locals are blaming vacancies there on high rents, a lack of foot traffic and ageing infrastructure.
The same goes for Melbourne’s Bridge Road in Richmond, which has a new retail vacancy high of 26 per cent.
“I think it’s really important that we turn our minds to any spaces that may be under-utilised and we think in an innovative and creative way about how we can use that space for the purposes of housing,” Antonia said.
“But it does require local government and town planners to be more flexible in their thinking.”
Mario is now planning a community meeting in Ipswich to show support for struggling businesses and he wants all of us to do the same
“It’s really to support the local community, local shops, local retail shops,” he said.
Article source: 9now.nine.com.au
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