Warrnambool City Council can expect community backlash over its decision to end supervision at the city’s taxi rank on Saturday nights after this weekend.
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It emerged this week the council was cutting its $30,000 funding for security guards to oversee patrons at the Gilles Street rank.
The council says it can no longer afford the sum because its revenue has been restricted by the state government-imposed rate cap. It says last year’s $850,000 upgrade of the rank has created a safer environment for revellers waiting for taxis, reducing the need for security personnel.
Police are backing the council’s move, stressing closed circuit television camera monitoring and their presence in the entertainment precinct will ensure safety. They say assaults have fallen by 35 per cent since the cameras were installed in 2014.
The history is that the supervised taxi rank was introduced in the 1990s to reduce late-night, alcohol-fuelled violence. Private sponsors funded the initiative for several years as it helped create an orderly exit of revellers from the city centre and a reduction in street offences.
Sponsorship dried up about a decade ago and the council inherited the cost.
It’s easy to understand the council’s frustration at funding the service because other tiers of government have shifted programs and services on to it for years.
But the way in which the council cut the funding has been questionable at best. The decision was only publicly confirmed after questions from The Standard. Why wasn’t this revealed in the draft budget? Where was the consultation with the community?
Surely community feedback was essential. Do people feel safer at the upgraded Gilles Street rank? If the council knows this, why not tell us?
The barrage of negative comments on our Facebook page tells us residents don’t feel safe at night. Police will do their mighty best to protect us but they can’t have officers stationed at the taxi rank all night on a Saturday. That’s why security guards were there – so police resources could be best used.
With one of the city’s two taxi companies saying it will no longer pick up patrons from the Gilles Street rank fearing their drivers and vehicles will be in danger, the accepted, orderly collections are unlikely to continue.
Surely the council can find $30,000 in its $81 million budget because, as far as the community is concerned, no cost is too big when it comes to safety.
