Council takes aim at party buses

The latest tactic to remove signs of life from Kings Cross is to crack down on party buses.

Residents at last week’s Police Community meeting complained about the buses, which  arrive at Kings Cross full of people from the suburbs dressed in togas and fluorescent wigs and often including a prospective bride or groom manacled and dressed in humiliating clothes.

Passengers offend some locals by leaning out windows and yahooing.

Clover Moore MP had approached the Premier and Ministers for Transport and Environment requesting tougher regulation for the buses.

“Some operators advertise sound systems ‘equivalent to any nightclub’, and emphasise that they provide a party atmosphere with dancing on the bus,” wrote Ms Moore in a letter to Premier Nathan Rees.

“The Minister for Transport said that the Ministry regulates and audits bus operators, however this regulation appears to focus only on matters like vehicle safety and driver competence. I am concerned that a comprehensive approach is required that includes regulation of alcohol consumption, noise, safety and protection of community amenity,” the letter continued.

Superintendent Tony Crandell said there was not a lot police could do about the buses as they were not breaking the law. However he pointed out that they were not liquor-licensed and while some operators advertised as BYO, others offered ‘complimentary’ drinks included in the price.

He said he would talk to the operators before any crackdown to give them a chance to change.

Police had obtained a new dedicated Random Breath Test site in Macleay Street from which they would be targeting vehicles with noisy exhausts, loud music or unnecessary horn-tooting. Prime time would be 1–3am, he said, and appropriate signage had already been erected along Cowper Wharf Road and Macleay Street.

Residents could complain directly to the Department of Environment on 131 555 with the registration number, the time and the location. Owners were issued with a warning and if three complaints were received about the same vehicle, the warnings were “upgraded”.

One resident noted that it was impossible to get the registration number because she lived on the 19th floor and by the time a complaint was registered with the police, the culprit had moved on.

Residents also complained, as usual, about general noise in Kings Cross. One described Springfield Plaza as “a 24-hour disaster zone” since The Sugarmill and The Elk opened.  The Sugarmill’s trial period has expired and a group of residents in Springfield Avenue have begun a Facebook group to co-ordinate opposition to the venue’s conditions of approval. The group proposes various measures including extra acoustic screening to damp noise from the outdoor seating area.

Other residents of the Avenue say they prefer the newly activated plaza, saying it had driven much of the drug dealing away. They said the new uses were reminiscent of the Village Centre in the 1960s, now the site of the new Era building being constructed.

The Land and Environment Court was to convene on the site on 16 June to begin hearing the case for and against a previously rejected rooftop bar but the Sugarmill has withdrawn its appeal.

Crime including assaults were trending down. When Supt Crandell observed that the low season was approaching one resident said there was no longer any low season in Kings Cross. This will be news to struggling accommodation businesses.

Sixteen residents attended the meeting.

by Michael Gormly