By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
TO PUT it politely, it could be said that a rogue group of drinkers at Palm Plaza were taking the pee.
The drinking buddies re-emerged late last month after a several week hiatus, reportedly urinating on doorsteps and in the mall in full view of shoppers and workers.
After being confronted by a trader, one of the offenders said: “What do you think I’m doing? I’m taking a p… !”
The brazen piddling has been observed since the closure of the plaza’s public toilets that was part of a suite of recent measures by Greater Dandenong Council to deter a persistent mob of public drinkers.
The council also removed a bench and installed No Drinking Alcohol in Public Places signs.
A proprietor, who said many of his reports to police seem to have gone unheeded, said more frequent hardline police patrols were needed.
“The best results come when police rummage through (the drinkers’) backpacks and make them empty their liquor,” the trader said.
“That wipes the smile off their faces.”
Last year there were reports of regular daytime public drunkenness in Palm Plaza including brawls using bottles, indecent exposure and vomiting.
The group had been lingering most days outside Palm Plaza Meeting Room – home to the now-closed public toilet and a venue for kids’ ballet and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Members of the group told the Journal last year that they drank there because they enjoyed social conviviality but couldn’t afford to drink in a pub.
They also had misgivings about their health. One was a 45-year-old recovering heroin addict who couldn’t throw his alcoholism despite going to rehab twice.
Part of the reason was the proliferation of liquor outlets in Dandenong.
“There’s (liquor) outlets on every corner,“ he said.
“(At one of the outlets) I can get a two-litre bottle of apple whiskey for $3.”
– Cam Lucadou-Wells
