By Mary Afemata, Local Democracy Reporter
Street vendor Simona Lautasi has been selling lamb buns at the Ōtara shopping centre for the past year and a half. Photo: LDR / Mary Afemata
Street vendors at Ōtara Town Centre are being accused of taking business away from legitimate shop owners who have higher costs and pay rates.
However, the local board wants to empower street vendors in the south Auckland suburb rather than get rid of them.
Samoan street vendor Simona Lautasi has been selling lamb buns for the past year and a half at the Ōtara shopping centre.
The Papatoetoe local lives with his daughter who helps him prepare the lamb buns known as "keke mamoe", which he trades at the Ōtara shopping centre throughout the week.
Lautasi said he is saving the money to help his family here and in Samoa.
It's street stalls like his that Ōtara Business Association wants local authorities to clamp down on.
Ōtara Business Association chair Amit Narchal said street trading is "causing significant harm to ratepayers" in the Ōtara Town Centre, particularly to businesses within the Auckland Council's Business Improvement District (BID) programme.
The BID programme supports economic growth, but issues arise when non-contributing street traders operate within its boundaries, Narchal said.
"Shop tenants pay commercial rent, council rates, and other expenses, which already places a heavy financial burden on them.
Ōtara Business Association chair Amit Narchal. Photo: LDR / Supplied / Ōtara Business Association
"These legitimate businesses are struggling to remain viable, while street traders, who do not have to pay rent, power bills, or targeted rates, compete directly with them."
The unfair competition makes it difficult for existing shop owners to sustain their businesses and discourages new retailers from setting up in Ōtara, Narchal says.
The Ōtara Business Association raised the issue of street vendors with the Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board earlier this year.
The business association has asked the board to not grant licenses to the street vendors.
However, Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board chair Apulu Reece Autagavaia said the board would rather support the vendors than get rid of them."We want them to be legitimate and provide income for their families or whatever else.
Apulu Reece Autagavaia says the board supports entrepreneurship and empowering the street vendors to be legitimate in their trade. Photo: Supplied / Auckland Council
"In Ōtara there are people, there are families that are really on the breadline. They're really struggling."
"As a local board, we didn't want to look at it as an issue of trying to get rid of the families or the groups. But how do we empower the groups?"
The board used leftover funds from last year's budget to set up a programme for vendors.
Council officers "work with these groups, get their licenses up to scratch, and see how we can support the entrepreneurs," he says.
The board has considered street vendors working with Ōtara Kai Village (OKC) as a solution instead of being in front of shopkeepers and supposedly taking money away from their shops, says Apulu.
Leauanae Zeprina Fale, director of Bluespur Consulting Ltd, is working with the street vendors to assess their situations and address any barriers to their trading.
"The problem they're facing is with a street trading team, because if you're trading there, you not only need to get a food license, but you also need to get a street trading permit.
Leauanae Zeprina Fale is working with the street vendors around the Ōtara town centre to help get their licenses Photo: LDR / https://tomai.sprep.org
"I'm at that point now working with the Auckland Council street trading team to identify what the barriers are, what are the concerns, why have these permits been declined in the past, and how can we work that through."
Auckland Council Licensing & Compliance manager Mervyn Chetty says the council knows the community has mixed views on street vendors at the Ōtara shopping center, but this hasn't led to any licenses being canceled or not renewed.
"The council is currently in the process of reviewing a street trading licence application for a vendor at Ōtara Shopping Centre.
"As with any application, it is being reviewed against the relevant Auckland Council and Auckland Transport bylaws. This includes an assessment of any impacts around public safety and nuisance," says Chetty.
The Ōtara business association will present a petition opposing street trading licenses for non-ratepaying vendors in the Ōtara BID to the board on Tuesday 17 September.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
