How median strips became the latest battlefront in Melbourne’s NIMBY war

The lush median strips of Carlton and Carlton North are a beloved shared backyard for residents. But how they should be used is now the latest battlefront in Melbourne’s NIMBY versus YIMBY war.

On one side: those who love a glass of wine on a sunny afternoon on grassy strips in the middle of Canning, Rathdowne and Drummond streets. On the other: those who say the prized inner-city outdoor spaces have moved away from family-friendly fun to become overrun by drinkers causing chaos.

The fight ignited this week when The Age revealed alcohol consumption had been banned by the City of Yarra across all three streets after police were called on to figure out how to respond to sustained complaints from residents.

While Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly vowed to find some middle ground – no pun intended – that was not good enough for the state government. On Friday, Premier Ben Carroll waded into the battle.

“Consider this unbanned. Because if council doesn’t reverse it, we will reverse it for them,” Carroll said.

What some locals say began as leisurely afternoon picnics when Wine Corner Store opened on the corner of Canning and Princes streets in 2016 has turned into “street parties outside your house four or five nights a week”, a petition signed by 30 residents and submitted to the City of Yarra Council in August stated.

The noise, as well as people standing on the road, smashed glass and drunken behaviour, including people urinating in a laneway behind their houses, have all increased over the past two years as more people began to use the median strip as an extension of the bar, the petition read.

“Residents have raised these concerns directly with the owner, who has made some changes we appreciate. The core problem remains, however. The owner says that many of those now gathering arrive of their own accord, with their own alcohol, and that he cannot control the numbers on the median. The practical result is that a commercial activity the venue actively promotes has spilled onto public land, on a residential street, on a scale far beyond what the premises is approved to hold, and with no effective management or accountability.”

Steve Mifsud-Ellul, the bar’s owner and a local himself, disputed these claims, saying he is not responsible for where people who have purchased takeaway alcohol from the bar consume it.

“They’ve [residents] expected me to change and police the public in a public space, which I have no jurisdiction over.”

Mifsud-Ellul said people drinking on the strip have access to the bar’s bathroom facilities and rubbish bins, and in response to recent incidents, extra staff had been rostered to ensure the lawn was tidied during busy periods.

Established in the 1930s, the distinctive median strips are a rarity in Melbourne. Over time, they have become an iconic image of inner-city life and a haven for locals to gather and interact, with many of the terrace houses along the streets having little or no outdoor space.

For Drummond Street resident Kii Belling and his housemates, part of the reason they were happy to live in a smaller house was because of the median strips.

“It’s such a lovely part of living in that area,” the filmmaker said.

“Many times, we’ve just been out there hanging out as friends, and we’ll end up meeting the neighbours and chatting with other locals. It creates such a great, genuine and tangible sense of community.”

One signatory of the petition, who has lived on Canning Street for 15 years and asked not to be named for fear of backlash, agreed that interactions like Belling’s are what makes the area “a really nice, friendly neighbourhood”.

“The drinking and people gathering on the median strip is just fine. I see that’s what they’re for – locals, families, kids kicking the footy, all that. No worries.”

But she said the mood has changed, with much larger crowds now turning out and the behaviour becoming rowdier over the past 18 months.

“It was the business [Wine Corner Store] exploiting the situation because they don’t have the facilities to accommodate that number of people, in addition to their licensed premises being close to full,” she said.

Photographs submitted with the petition and seen by this masthead include a group of men urinating in a laneway on residents’ back fences, a man vomiting on Canning Street, Lime bikes abandoned on the footpath and median strip, and broken glass and rubbish throughout the area.

But despite being considered de facto parks by many, these median strips are technically a part of the road, which means alcohol is banned.

When this rule came to light, Mifsud-Ellul warned patrons they risked police action if they stayed – sparking the saga of the past week.

Mayor Jolly said he asked council to look at reclassifying the median strip as a park, as well as investigate an option to have Wine Corner Store obtain a parklet or outdoor trading permit.

Edward Crossland, the City of Yarra councillor for the Curtain Ward, which takes in the three streets, said on Thursday he planned to bring a motion to the next council meeting to deal with “the genuine amenity issues being experienced by residents” without radically changing how the median strips are used.

“Rather than working through those issues and looking at practical ways to manage them, council jumped straight to an end point – restricting something that has long been a special part of this place,” Crossland said on Instagram.

The community division is indicative of a larger debate about gentrification, renters versus home owners, the cost of living, and how to create community.

Curtain Ward, which is an area of about 1.58 square kilometres, includes some of Melbourne’s most coveted real estate. Home to more than 11,000 people – of which more than 49 per cent are renters – almost 65 per cent of the ward’s residents earn a median weekly income of $2338, well above the national median of $1436.

Locals Abbey Dyson, 29, and Tara Faulkner, 28, who both started a “Free the strip” petition, are focused on how to remedy the situation rather than who or what caused it.

“How do we actually work constructively to try and mitigate any issues that might come up, like investing in more public toilets or bins or curfews?” Faulkner said. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Dyson said there’s a “lot to play with that can make this really amazing”.

In a 2004 article published by this masthead recalling his childhood in the area, novelist Arnold Zable described the median strips as his “most affectionate memory of Carlton”.

“The cigarettes glowing in the dark, the murmur of quiet talk, and the smell of grass on the median strip as we played epic cricket matches late into the Carlton night. But we could play only one shot well, a straight drive. Otherwise, we would have smashed windows on either side.

“There is always a price to pay for any lifestyle.“

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