On Monday 23rd May, The Age reported that Cr Bernadene Voss, the Mayor of the City of Port Phillip ordered the closure of the Bookhouse on Robe Street on the basis of a single complaint from a neighbour.

While the person responsible would not provide comment to The Age, the basis of the complaint was that the store was trading illegally in a residential area. It's true. The store is not officially zoned for commercial purposes. However according to an 'existing use rights' clause, if a store has operated in a location for more than 15 years without more than a TWO year break it retains the right to trade.

The site at 52 Robe Street has been used as a commercial premises for since the 1920s!!!

But as Carolyn Webb from the Age explains in her article, Mayor Voss justified the closure decision on the basis that the Bookhouse failed to prove an 'existing rights' case. The reason? For three of those 90-odd years (2009-2012) the shop was used by a costume designer and was therefore not obviously enough a 'shop'. Given the clause allows for up to two years break, that means just ONE questionable year in nearly a century has been used as a reason to close a thriving business and deprive locals of a valued amenity. Aside from the injustice of that decision, why was the onus on the Bookhouse to prove their valid right to exist in a location that has been continuously commercial for longer anyone at the City of Port Phillip has been alive?

One complaint. A single person. And another piece of St Kilda colour - the reason we live here - is gone. 

And what prompted the complaint? Noise? Traffic? It's a bookshop!!!! A cynical person might see the hand of a potential developer in this. But regardless of the motivation of this one person, the rest of us - locals and visitors who LOVE St Kilda colour and Robe St residents who bought or rented properties here BECAUSE of wonderful quirks like the Bookhouse - must fight for what's left of our wonderfully diverse neighbourhood.

Sadly, Bookhouse owners Ben Kemp and Margot McCartney have said they don't want to operate 'in limbo' and will move out by the due date next week. So while it may be too late to save their business, we can save a little of our wonderful St Kilda diversity and preserve the space for the next unique business that decides to call 52 Robe Street home.

Please help send a very clear message to Mayor Bernadene Voss. Places like the Bookhouse are what makes our St Kilda special. Sign the petition right now and pass it on to anyone you know who lives in, or loves St Kilda. There's no time to lose - the store has been ordered to close by Sunday June 5th. Even if Ben and Margot move on, the decision must be reversed to ensure we sustain a voice in what WE want St Kilda to be, not just the developers.