- Major infrastructure changes marked for Mandurah's waterfront and CBD, teamed with the competition of the city's upgraded CCTV network, has the potential to spell out a different image for the Smart Street Mall. This week Mail journalist Caitlyn Rintoul discusses the future one of Mandurah’s most well-known streets.
Smart Street Mall.
What do you think of when you hear that name?
In recent times, the centrally-located Mandurah strip has copped some media attention for being a place of brawls, late-night troublesome behaviour and a drawcard for the city’s homeless community.
In the past year, I have reported on some high-profile incidents along the mall.
These included the brick attack on a young couple in April and the sickening punch that knocked a woman to the ground in July.
Time and time again, local police and government representatives expressed their frustrations over the situation and tried to reassure the community that things were being done to mitigate these incidents.
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Over the past week, some big changes have been announced for Smart Street Mall.
I believe these changes have the potential to significantly change the future image of the area.
On October 9, the local government’s City Centre Waterfront project was presented to elected representatives.
The project aims to reshape the city’s central entertaining area, including the eastern and western foreshore.
Among the areas targeted in the project is the Smart Street Mall.
After receiving strong community response to a consultation process undertaken by the City of Mandurah, the team behind the project selected several ideas and turned them into a series of concept designs.
The concepts revealed by the City of Mandurah give the public three options for Smart Street Mall.
To put it simply, the first involves keeping the layout as it is but include interactive and flexible elements, such as activity nodes, shelters, play areas and seating.
The second involves removing the small section of one-way traffic access, making the street pedestrian only.
Both options would also encourage increased alfresco dining facilities along the street.
While Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams revealed it wasn’t the ideal choice for the council, the last option would involve creating one-way traffic access along the whole street.
He said the changes, teamed with the competition of the CCTV network, would hopefully see more people out and about “enjoying their city”.
While I’ve already heard the project labelled as “exciting” several times, we’ll have to wait until 2021 to find out for ourselves.
In the meantime, we’ll do our best to keep you informed of the project’s development.
What’s your thoughts on the Smart Street Mall? To share your opinion get in touch with the Mandurah Mail team via editor.mandurahmail@fairfaxmedia.com.
