GRIM MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS

THE State Government is showing particular pigheadedness in its
decision to dump its legalised shooting gallery in the middle of
Darlinghurst Rd.

It would also appear to have contravened its own law, the Drug Summit
Legislative Response Act 1999, which demands that the siting of any
Government-backed shooting gallery be made after extensive community
consultation and with a level of acceptance at the community and local
Government level, and with regard for public health and safety, and
visibility.

Plonking the chosen site next to a cab rank, opposite a bus stop and
opposite the Kings Cross rail station, apparently the fifth busiest in
the State during peak hours and the busiest in the evenings, flies in
the face of the Act.

After the closure of two illegal shooting galleries mentioned during
the Wood royal commission. Porkies and the rooms which operated out of
the Tudor Hotel, crime in the area dropped markedly.

With just the promise of a soon-to-be-opened legal shooting gallery,
crimes such as bag-snatching and car break-ins are on the increase,
and not just throughout the Cross but radiating from Potts Point
through to the eastern suburbs.

It is evident the crimes are committed by people from the Cross by the
number of discarded bags and other stolen effects found around the
area.

Like it or not, the Cross will be a focal point for tourists during
the Olympic Games.

Do we really want visitors to take away memories of the Harbour, the
Bridge, the Opera. House, and stupefied junkies lying opposite the
Kings Cross railway station?