THE owner of Mal’z deli in Scarborough spent last night on the roof of the business to protest the demolition of a derelict house at the back of the site.
Simon Mackenzie hung a banner off the roof that read ‘Danny Psaros come chat’ and said Mr Psaros did attend the site yesterday.
“Danny came down but didn’t get out of the car and then he sent his lawyer to come and speak to me,” he said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“They are done for today I am staying here overnight, I’ll be on the roof, outside, inside wherever I hear a noise.”
Developer Psaros has hit out against owner Simon Mackenzie, saying a protest on top of the roof jeopardised the safety of staff and residents.
A Psaros spokeswoman said Mal’z owners Janina Groger and Simon Mackenzie had no right to access the house at the back of the shop as they did not lease it.
“The owner will, however, continue to have access to the deli until the expiry of his lease,” she said.
The spokeswoman said bad weather caused significant damage to the back roof and workers had to force their way in to repair it last week after the owner denied them entry.
“They had no choice but to access the leased premises in line with emergency powers stated in the lease agreement,” she said.
“We are especially disappointed in the actions of the deli owner in threatening workers and continually hampering efforts to repair the site.
“The importance of the work was clearly communicated to the owner.
“His actions had the potential to jeopardise his personal safety, that of his staff and also nearby residents – we were not willing to allow that to occur.”
Mr Mackenzie said Psaros sent 13 security guards to the site yesterday and said the organisation was “lying” about him threatening site workers.
“(It is) complete lies, I’ve got nothing against the workers, the workers even come up to me and say sorry mate but we’re here to do a job,” he said.
“They have misconstrued this, I’ve turned around and said I know you’re here just to do a job but if anyone steps on to my property I will use any force necessary to repel it.
“There were 13 security guards and police; I’m just a skinny little Indian guy.
“One of these guys was three times the size of me, they didn’t need that.”
Psaros defended the decision to hire security guards when the roof was removed from the site yesterday.
“As a result of extreme threats made against workers at the site, it was deemed necessary to engage security personnel to allow for the final safety work to be carried out today,” the spokeswoman said.
“This required workers to access the deli for a very short period of time.
“Again, all efforts were made to communicate the importance of the work required to the owner.”