‘The situation is becoming untenable’: CBD businessman

From left, RE/MAX  Principal Tristan Brown, centre, with some of his team, including from left, Scott Walters, Jody Chatillon, Mr Brown, Ella Blackmore, Georgia Politanski and John Tobin.

A frustrated Nambour Real Estate agent says the solution to unlawful and anti-social behaviour in Nambour CBD is obvious.

RE/MAX Property Sales Nambour Principal Tristan Brown cited recent police activity in town, connected with Nambour Police’s “Operation Lucent”, as proof that the answer was regular, boots-on-the-ground police patrols. 

“The patrols up and down our main street have definitely made a marked difference; a significant improvement,” he said. “But the concern is: are the patrols going to be ongoing? Probably not. And then, slowly, we’ll see a return to how it has been.”

Mr Brown purchased RE/MAX in February last year and employs 20 people from his Lowe Street office. He said his staff had to put up with “constant abusive, inappropriate language being screamed from the street”.

Pressed on what he meant by “constant” he said: “It would be several times a day that we would encounter behaviour that is completely inappropriate in a public setting and completely inappropriate in front of young female staff, let alone the elderly, or kids and mothers with prams trying to do the shopping.”

He felt anti-social behaviour had increased since last year. “Everyone knows we need to care for all the community but, at the same time, we’re becoming very frustrated with what we are expected to tolerate. And there’s no doubt the situation right now is unacceptable.

“Regardless of the reasonings as to why we’re faced with these circumstances, at the end of the day it’s unacceptable that small-business owners and the public are having to deal with this on a daily basis.”

Mr Brown said that he was passionate about Nambour and even more so when selling the “wonderful positives of our community” to potential home buyers. “However, when buyers attend our office we are concerned about the behaviour they may encounter when walking along Lowe street. 

“I might be on the phone, out on the footpath, making calls, trying to encourage someone to  invest in Nambour and at the same time I’m dealing with people yelling and screaming abusive language across the street, and this could be several times daily. Sometimes it’s between themselves and other times it’s directed at members of the public.”

Mr Brown said there was reluctance from other business owners to speak up because they might be targeted or accused of being unsympathetic to the plight of addicts, alcoholics and other disadvantaged and vulnerable people. 

“I feel people are not speaking up also out of concern for the general wellbeing of their business. I guess this is the hard thing. Everybody has compassion for people in light of these social challenges, but at the end of the day businesspeople have invested into businesses and into Nambour, and we’re proud of Nambour, and it just saddens me that this sort of behaviour is impacting our town. 

“There’s clearly an issue here … the challenge is how best to move forward and improve the situation. 

“There are lots of good suggestions and varying thoughts on how to approach it all. There needs to be a win-win for small business and the vulnerable. Having either suffer doesn’t help anyone.”

Mr Brown said statistics that showed crime rates in Nambour District falling were not reflective of CBD business owners’ experiences on the ground.  

“Look, we all know statistics don’t always tell the whole story,” he said. “My concern is that the statistics showing a decrease may relate more to the lack of resources that police have at the moment rather than a reduction in crime.

“The situation is becoming untenable. With a staff of 20 I have a responsibility to them. We all feel strongly that the current response is inadequate.”

Fellow agent Backs RE/MAX Statements  

Another Nambour real estate agent, who did not wish to be named,  supported RE/MAX Property Sales Nambour Principal Tristan Brown’s  comments, above.

The other agent, from a different agency, said many businesses and staff in town employed strategies to avoid problem areas and help ensure safety. “My employee, when she goes to the post office, will drive there rather than walk. Because she’s afraid to walk past the town square,” he said.

“Other employees in town, when they turn up to work, they’ve got to have three of them in the carpark before they’re technically allowed out of their cars (by order of management). Because it’s classed as a dangerous work space.”

The agent said Nambour was being judged on the appearance of empty shops in the CBD, as well as safety concerns, and this was also having a detrimental effect on the potential of housing prices.  

“When you look at the wealth around Nambour — you look at Dulong, Kureelpa, Bli Bli, places like Rosemount. You’re not going to get into those suburbs for less than $1,000,000 at entry and many of those people shop outside of Nambour rather than in Nambour because they don’t feel safe.

“And you’ve got all those estates out at Burnside which are thriving with families and they’re beautiful little areas but the residents all work on the Coast. 

“So they go ‘I don’t want to go into Nambour I’ll do my shopping at Sunshine Plaza’ or ‘I’ll do my shopping at Buderim’. It’s such a crying shame because if we clean up the CBD, our town will  shine and those guys will go into town to shop.”

Other shoppers, particularly women and the elderly, have complained of being approached for money around the ATMs in Lowe Street.  

Meanwhile, a businessperson said he had noticed two banks in town have recently engaged security guards.