Ōtāhuhu town. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Members of an Auckland business association says they are spending almost $200,000 a year to fight back against drunk and disorderly behaviour in the town centre.
Central Ōtāhuhu businesses say there has been an increase in public disturbances and breaches of the liquor ban, and they are worried it could deter visitors to the vibrant town centre.
Some business owners have even turned to hiring private security guards.
Behind the scenes, a network of 92 CCTV cameras, funded by the business association, are keeping an eye out for public disturbances.
Ōtāhuhu Business Association executive officer, Richette Rodger, said they were seeing concerning scenes along the main strip.
"The Ōtāhuhu Town Centre and side streets, including public car parks, are covered under the Auckland Council 24 hour liquor-ban," she said.
"Sadly, we have seen quite a big increase in people breaching the liquor-ban."
Rodger said some of the disturbances came from nearby boarding houses, where residents were not allowed to drink, and so made their way into town to do so.
"They don't have outdoor barbecue areas like we would have in our homes, and so the drinking and the partying, so to speak, is done else-where," Rodger said.
"It's normally done close-by, and sadly for us, it is merging into the town centre."
The CCTV room at the Business Association. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
She said the safety concerns were putting pressure on local businesses, while the association was paying nearly $200,000 a year for security.
"As it is, this little town centre is competing against mainstream malls," she said.
"We're competing against Sylvia Park, Botany, Pakuranga, Onehunga, Dress Smart."
"We've got quite a few places that are enclosed, huge amounts of free parking, and so we struggle everyday to get our little slice of the economic pie."
Last year, the association was one of the recipients for the Mayoral Crime Prevention fund, which Rodger said allowed them to do "just that little bit extra" for the area.
But disturbances were a daily occurrence, and Rodger was worried it could deter visitors.
"If you are a visitor to our town centre and you want to just have a nice time wandering around the shops and shopping, but you've got all of this going on, you're not going to want to come back.
"You're going to want to stick to the malls, you're going to want to stick to the places that you feel safe, or that you feel your elderly, or your children, are safe."
Rodger wanted to see stricter enforcement of the liquor ban by-laws, and to ensure that liquor stores were selling alcohol responsibly.
"In some occasions, there is a very fine line on whether those people should have been served when they came in," she said.
Some shops in town were hiring their own security to keep watch outside of stores, like one man, who was known to locals as Ninja.
"There's violence here everyday," he said.
Also keeping the area safe was Luke Mealamu, head of Mealamu Security, who said it was more than just alcohol causing problems.
"We're seeing a lot of anti-social behaviour in regards to not only alcohol, but drugs in our community," he said.
"It is affecting our outlook, especially in our areas, we have schools in our areas, and our youth and children have to walk past this all the time, that's probably my concern."
Mealamu said a community approach was needed to stop disturbances happening in the first place.
"I do believe it's a community approach, saying us as, not only a security company, but us as local rugby clubs, local boxing clubs, we're all pushing the vision of safe community, so that our kids can all walk the streets safe, without bumping into a group of men drinking on the corner.
"I want safer communities, I want my grand children to be able to walk freely, without bumping into intoxicated people" Mealamu said.
For people like Luke Mealamu, Ninja, and Richette Rodger, it was clear what the number one priority should be for Ōtāhuhu.
"Security for us is huge," Rodger said.
"Our security guards make our shops feel safe, they make our customers feel safe, they make our community feel safe, it does come with a really big price tag for this association but we wouldn't have it any other way."
