Mildura basketball fans driven to despair

Pictures taken on Friday show what a shocking state it’s in, with potholes several inches deep at the entrance of the carpark from King Avenue.

The potholes extend much further into the carpark, but the entrance poses a serious threat to the front end of vehicles, particularly at night when the lighting isn’t flash at the location.

Just how has it been allowed to get into such horrible disrepair?

I began looking into this in April, shortly after I had a close shave with a few potholes driving my car into the carpark to cover a Mildura Heat Big V game.

My starting point was Mildura Council, which has a bit of form on things like this.

However, a council spokesperson was quick to apportion blame to Mildura Basketball Association, whose operations run out of the 55-year-old Hothouse.

“The Hothouse building and associated carpark are situated on college lease land and are the responsibility of the Mildura Basketball Association to maintain. It is not a council-owned asset nor is it on council land,” the council spokesperson said.

I then put questions to the MBA on April 19 about whether it was planning to fix the carpark.

It took more than a week to get a response, which said: “We are currently working on a program of works to be completed, but nothing is finalised.”

The issue fell off the radar till last weekend, mostly because there have been no Heat games at the Hothouse for several weeks.

I sent another email to the MBA on Thursday morning asking for an update about the carpark, but there was no reply by deadline on Friday.

The fact there has been no urgency to get the potholes filled is an utter disgrace.

The fans who pay good money to attend the Heat games ($13 for adults and $30 for a family) deserve a much better place to park.

And what a bad look it is for Mildura basketball when visiting Big V and CBL teams drive into the carpark for games.

We must be a laughing stock in their eyes.

I did a straw poll of senior members of the Heat teams about the carpark issue, and each person shared my concerns.

Two players told me they don’t even bother trying to get a park around the back of the Hothouse because of fears about damage to their vehicles.

Before someone has a fall in a pothole, or a vehicle is damaged, the MBA needs to prioritise work to fix the carpark.