What to do

The current condition of the building shows a great lack of imagination and creativity on the part of the owner. It is inertia on the part of the community that allows the owner to continue doing nothing. Imagine what Brisbane would look like if all owners kept their buildings in such a condition, speculating in the hope of capital gain. What can be done?

• Brisbane City Council - Show Cause notices. Who can do something? Even with current by-laws, just based on a cursory inspection of the lane, the ceilings in the Brunswick St stores, and the exterior of the Wickham St building, there are numerous health and safety problems. However, the BCC, up until 20 October 2011, seemed unwilling or unable to issue a Show Cause notice under Section 247 and 248 of the Queensland Building Act 1975 . (Such a notice may have been issued in the past but no public record of it seems to exist.) Also see Section 589 and 590 of the Queensland Sustainable Planning Act 2009 concerning show cause and enforcement notices.
• State Government - Power to force repairs. Perhaps the council or state government needs more powers to force owners to fix dilapidated buildings. In the Independent, James Delahunty has suggested council or state legislation similar to the "Building Act 1984" in the UK could be enacted here. Section 79 of this act gives the local authority powers to require the owner to repair dilapidated buildings or demolish them. On 13 December 2011, Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk announced his intention to draft such laws.
• Resumption. David Hinchliffe, Ray Smith and Paul Crowther have called for resumption of the walkway and the whole Waltons building.
• Blight Tax. Participants in a discussion about a vacant lot in Berkeley, California ( Rats of Telegraph Avenue , Vacant Lot on Haste and Telegraph ) suggest the council institute a "blight tax, which some municipalities do, when properties are left vacant and subject to blighted conditions". Other American cities have enacted or proposed a "non-utilization tax"; for instance Boston [dead link] and Philadelphia [dead link] or a "vacant property tax" as in Washington DC or "empty property tax" as in the UK.
• Recession. Geoff Dick commented: "(Dr Lee) just hangs onto the buildings till they go up in value.". Based on this comment, a recession causing a drop in the value of the buildings might force a sale. However, Mount Cathay has held the buildings since 1984 and has kept them largely empty since 1988.
• Land Tax. See Land tax. This would be the most effective solution and would have prevented the issues discussed here from arising in the first place, but requires political will.