VALE THE OLD KINGS CROSS, VICTIM OF LETHAL INJECTION

DEATHS CROSS, Kings - Passed away July 8, 2003 Late of Darlinghurst
Rd. Loved wife of Rex Hotel (Deceased). Beloved mother of Sebel Hotel
(Deceased), mother-in-law of Fountain Hotel (Deceased) and loving
grandmother of Gazebo Hotel (Deceased), Kingsview Hotel (Deceased),
Landmark Hotel (Deceased), Madison on Ward Hotel (Deceased), Manhattan
Hotel (Deceased), New Hampshire Hotel (Deceased), Millennium Hotel
(Deceased), Top of the Town Hotel (Deceased). A loving sister to
Commodore Chateau (Deceased). 95 years young. Dearly loved by all who
knew her. Forever in our hearts.

This is the death notice Kings Cross retailer Andrew Strauss placed in
his local paper the day the Government released a glowing report on
the injecting room at 66 Darlinghurst Road.

Last month, Special Minister of State John Della Bosca announced the
trial would continue for another four years based on its "success" so
far.

"The centre did save lives, there was no honeypot effect detected, no
increase in crime or drug-related loitering in the Kings Cross
precinct," he announced.

But for Strauss, who owns Blinky's photographic store, right next door
to the injecting room, and his fellow members of the Kings Cross
Chamber of Commerce, nothing could be further from their reality. The
shutters and For Lease signs testify to the dismal future of the Cross
where about the only business still thriving is the drugs trade. In
tiny Roslyn Street alone, there are nine defunct shops. Ask Cafe
Pralinka owner Annette Nevin how business is doing and she says: "What
business?" Nearby shops are reporting drops in turnover of more than
50 per cent in the two years the injecting room has been running.

"No one wants to set up a business in the area," says Strauss. "So
what's happened is you have Australia's most densely populated area
and there's nowhere for people to shop. Kings Cross used to be for the
Drysdales and the Dobells. But it's just become a suburb for junkies."

So rife was drug dealing via public phones at the entrance to the
railway station across the road from the injecting room that the
police had the phones removed. Dozens of ugly young men in singlets
and baseball caps scurry back and forth up the strip and down side
alleys, bundles of $20 bills in hand, busy, busy, busy.

The new currency at local pawn shops is "Nokia notes" - mobile phones
so easy to steal and sell they are as good as money.

When I lived in Springfield Avenue 10 years ago, the Cross was not
exactly squeaky clean. But it still had charms. There might have been
the odd gangster beaten to death in the middle of the night and
mysterious screams outside. But, in those days, drug dealers weren't
obvious unless you were looking. And Kings Cross was the only place in
Sydney where you could walk up to get a newspaper at 3am in a nightie
and overcoat and pop into the Bourbon And Beefsteak for a drink on the
way home without anyone batting an eyelid.

For a glimpse into the bohemian history of the area it's hard to go
past The Little Black Book Of Kings Cross Characters by local
Christopher Williams. It tells of William Dobell, who lived and
painted above the old ANZ bank, Russell Drysdale who lived at 59
Macleay Street, regular visitor Frank Sinatra and "Lindy", the owner
of Lindy's Restaurant who was "tragically beheaded by the dumb waiter
in the Gowrie Gate building in Macleay Street".

But the Cross seems to have crossed a line now, beyond raffish charm
to degenerate misery. And the Kings Cross Chamber of Commerce blames
the injecting room.

With 16 local hotels closed in the past two years, chamber president
Malcolm Duncan acknowledges SARS and a general downturn in tourism
since September 11, 2001, have played a role.

But the injecting room's arrival two years ago was simply the last
straw. "It's just a maintenance facility for long term users who have
tried and failed rehab," he said.

Duncan, a barrister, wickedly described by Premier Bob Carr as the
"Rumpole of the lower traffic courts", was born in the Cross and still
lives in Victoria Street. He is no zero-tolerance crusader and
believes drugs should be legalised. But he says the injecting room is
useless. "I couldn't give a tinkers cuss if people want to kill
themselves on drugs. But why should the rest of us suffer?"

Strauss wishes the injecting room would be moved into Sydney Hospital
with an entrance next to Parliament House. But with a new lease of
life and plenty of good press, it may wind up the only business left
on Darlinghurst Road, apart from the odd pawn shop and strip club, and
the fleabag hotels which still operate as illegal shooting galleries.