For years, the frenetic pace of apartment construction in Canberra has given Belconnen the largest proportion of urban high-rise living than any other area of the ACT.
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But the troubling issues highlighted by a recent pre-budget submission to the ACT government have cast a shadow longer than a 15-storey tower block.
The collective voices of thousands of people living high above the Belconnen Town Centre have been raised in protest over what is happening just below them.
While secure within their apartments, it's the access points, garaging security and common areas which are generating concern. As the submission from the Belconnen Alliance of High Apartments bluntly stated: "Residents have been raising concerns with their local members for years. The time to act is now."
Underneath the 11 large multi-storey towers in Belconnen - most filled with residents in the past five to six years - are thousands of parking spaces and storage areas.
For criminals, underground garage access ramps are like an open invitation to enter. Security services and surveillance cameras can offer a limited amount of support and these are all costly, with the installation and operating expenses billed to the body corporate, then proportionately billed to each apartment owner.
Some of the costs detailed in the submission include $37,00 for more secure storage cage locks, $15,000 for steel door striker plates in common areas and $40,000 for security cameras.
Residents in Canberra's tallest apartment block, the stylish Wayfarer, have been advised to pay for a PO Box "due to criminal acts". Those residents, too, are having to dig deep for better CCTV, guards during peak periods and a roller door upgrade.
"The executive committee [for the building] has done all it can ... we are now actively asking residents - who are completely frustrated and fed up - to ... reflect their frustrations in the next ACT election," the submission stated.
A police station might be just up the road from the town centre but Belconnen is a huge and troubled policing district, second only to the inner north in the amount of reported crime.
Evident from the submission, too, is that ACT planning regulations are grossly inadequate in demanding minimum security measures for apartment common areas before the development gets signed off for residency.
Residents say they have paid up, again and again, to fix problems which should have been addressed before handover. Now they are counting themselves among fed-up voters, with an election just six months away.
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