MOSMAN Park residents have the power to stop anti-social behaviour and crime by reporting incidents to the Department of Communities (DoC) says a councillor.
A number of incidents have been allegedly occurred at State-run Wellington Street flats.
“The most important thing is for anyone to contact the department’s complaint line, because when I called they said they’d only had one complaint,” Cr Jenna Ledgerwood said at last Tuesday’s council meeting.
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READ NOWDebate about Mosman Park crime has been reignited by ratepayer Lua Henry (38) reporting that she was followed by drug affected, aggressive men apparently linked to the 26 single-bed flats on February 6.
“They chased me down the street to my house, and if my husband wasn’t home they would have attacked me,” Mrs Henry told the meeting.
Last week, police arrested a male (41) resident of the flats who was remanded in custody in Hakea Prison on an warrant for alleged aggravated burglary, stealing and breach of bail, but it was unknown if he was linked to Mrs Henry’s incident.
At the council meeting, ratepayer Geraldine Rust said primary school students recently found a knife in Rope Works Park adjacent to the flats, where “brawls and fights” occurred and CCTV was needed, and over-55s resident Sally Clohessy said calls and disruptive behaviour reports to the DoC had not been acted upon.
The DoC’s Disruptive Behaviour Management Strategy can result in the eviction of tenants after three warnings or “strikes” for dangerous or illegal behaviour.
Asked for a strategy for the flats, DoC assistant director-general of housing Greg Cash said there were no plans to demolish of redevelop the site, the flat’s entry to the park had been closed, and each strike lasted 12 months.
Visiting Mosman Park with Cottesloe by-election Liberal candidate David Honey today, Opposition leader Mike Nahan said the flats’ problems resulted from an outdated concentration of single people, some with drug problems.
“If there is an intense number of the same people the three strikes policy struggles because they don’t complain about each other, and the role spills over to the community,” Mr Nahan said.
He said a solution could be demolition and redevelopment of the valuable siteand returning some of the tenants in better housing at the location, while others were distributed to other suburbs.
The Disruptive Behaviour Reporting Line is 1300 597 076.
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