We all know the derelict Drift restaurant well and truly wedged on the Coro Drive (Bicentennial) Bikeway, and the bikeway itself is covered in thick mud and debris from Toowong all the way to the city.
Sadly it looks like another political fight is brewing about how to get rid of the (no longer) floating restaurant.
The restaurant (used to) sit on a small patch of river which the State Department of Resources leases out to private operators. Drift had sat derelict and rotting since the 2011 floods, and two successive private owners consistently failed to redevelop it (partly due to delayed insurance payouts). We even passed special legislation in Parliament to allow the State government to move things along.
Over the last couple of years the current owner had let the place start shedding plastic and debris into the River despite my team repeatedly asking Council to force them to clean it up.
Then the 2022 floods came, and the place got lifted onto the bikeway. I had hoped that would mean it'd finally get cleaned up.
On Monday 7 March, my team heard from Brisbane Council that they had the power to issue the owner with a notice to move it off their bikeway. They could step in to do the work themselves if he failed to do so, seeking reimbursement later.
The next day, I saw that the LNP Lord Mayor was trying to blame the State government on Twitter, and the Transport Minister hit back. It looked like Council was starting to cooperate with the marine safety and salvage experts at Marine Safety Queensland, but no one is promising anything in a hurry.
Reading between the lines, it seems like both Council (as the owners of the bikeway) and the State government (as the lessors) are hesitant to challenge the current private owner, who seems to have a reputation as highly litigious.
It's deeply frustrating, since we all know that if this was a road, Council would have been out there with bulldozers within 24 hours.
I strongly support Brisbane West BUG in their call for BCC and the State Government to work together to get Drift cleared, and for Council to clear the thick mud and debris on the rest of the bikeway.
It's a corridor that carries 6,000 people on bikes and scooters every day, and there are no safe alternative routes nearby. If it can't be cleared quickly, there should be a temporary bikeway diversion via Coro Drive to keep everyone safe.
In the long term, this should be the final straw. The restaurant was always a hazard for patrons crossing the bikeway and for riders. The restaurant should be scrapped, and if anything else replaces it, it must be totally flood-immune public space which isn't commercialised and is open to everyone.
I've done a lot of work to push the State government on fixing Drift over the years, and I'm still hopeful the floods will mean it's finally resolved.
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