Heart of the City recognises CBD is heartless and society is broken
The business association for Auckland’s city centre has “reluctantly” released a scathing survey that found store owners and offices believe homelessness, too few police, “neglect and disorder” and “frightening” anti-social behaviour are crippling their trade.
Among the most dire findings was 91% of operators saying rough sleepers and begging were affecting their business, and 81% believing the city centre was not in a good state to attract significantly more people and investment.
Heart of the City asked 102 business owners from in and around the Queen St valley area in late-September about the state of the city centre and what factors were hindering their financial success.
It found 72% of businesses were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the standard of Queen St’s cleanliness and 71% said Auckland Council and Auckland Transport’s cleaning and maintenance standards were not good enough.
One business owner said homeless people “defecate in the street daily”. Another claimed “drug dealers and other degenerate behaviour” behaviour created an “awful and often frightening experience” that put the public off visiting the city centre.
In August I went into the CDB for a Silent Disco and the enormity of the poverty that now curses Queen street was staggering.
Silent Disco seemed to encapsulate Auckland metaphorically, figuratively and literally.
Inside the Massive Town Hall thousands danced to their own concerts while jumping from genre to genre to genre like alternative universes all living beside one another.
Jump outside and the grim homelessness all along Queen street as you make your way to and from the Town Hall is set amongst a construction zone gridlock that makes the city unnavigable as shops shutter and close and grow into a graveyard where hope died long ago.
The abandoned people alongside broken buildings, cold and as unforgiving as a National Party Politicians Face, etch a shadowland of deprivation and depression no amount of Chris Luxon OCR cheerleading can massage.
Who can afford a house when you can’t buy butter?
Who can eat butter when the curb is your couch?
Jump again between DJ sets and up the hill at Albert Park where a new born infant died…
Newborn baby found dead in Auckland’s Albert Park by worker, police probe under way
…as I stumbled between a Silent Disco culture in an Auckland shattered by homelessness, the cold death of a new born in an inner city park is a snapshot of what we have become as a society.
A mute orchestra blind to itself.
When you underfund the outreach and safety nets, people fall over and we see that social failure all within the CBD.
The juxtaposition between the homeless and Luxury brands is so jarring it sickens in a country that once prided itself on egalitarianism.
Our broken mental health system.
Our broken welfare system.
Our cost of living crisis.
Our housing crisis.
All vomit up onto the streets of the CBD.
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One of the biggest challenges facing Auckland’s CBD is the conflicting expectations placed on the Police. On one hand, the Council and Mayor are pushing for stronger enforcement, while on the other, an ultra-liberal local MP frequently criticises how Police handle issues like homelessness. This puts frontline officers in a difficult position, caught between political agendas, and ultimately hinders any form of effective action.
Lets remember Westpac used to be the Bank of New South Wales that bought up all the trustee savings banks except the Taranaki Savings bank and the Auckland savings bank (now known as ASB) . The Asb eventually became Aussie owned.
National Party Politician: Why don’t these bottom feeders just buy some rentals like me.
Mayor: Congestion charges will keep them out of the cbd.
It’s not just the AKL CBD [and its Mayor] that are heartless/broken, this horrendous, uncaring CoC has broken the back of our our entire country, bringing it to its knees. We are all reeling from trying to deal with the never-ending lies from “Christian” Luxon, Seymour’s continuous slime, and Winnie’s whingeing. Collins has now cost NZ ~$150m for her ineptitude. Had she been a Labour MP she would have been sacked by now so how come she hasn’t? I will never forgive this irreformable, irresponsible CoC for their complete lack of morals, values, principles and brain matter. They are a dumb-assed bunch of arrogant show ponies who continually give the rest of NZ the middle finger, using our mealy-mouthed media, who haven’t the guts to call them out. This CoC is totally devoid of any real, sensible or intelligent initiatives – just knee-jerking wishful thinking. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND! D-day is oh so close!
To make matter worse we have a PM saying, ‘they, the fruit and vegetable growers are crying out for workers’, and yet the growers from the Hawkes Bay said this is not true, perhaps when the teenagers move as the PM has said he can rent them one of his houses.
Where’s Mark Mitchell? He was going to reduce crime.
Where’s Sonny Kaushal? He was going to make retailers feel safe.
Where’s Chris Bishop? He was going to house the bedraggled multitudes, just not in motels.
Where are Viv Beck and Auckland Business groups? They are “reluctantly” releasing the facts under a National government while they shouted from the rooftops about the same phenomenon under a Labour government.
Where’s Christopher conceited 3rd-rate dimwit business guy Luxon? Why is he not touring the streets victoriously as he did with sidekick Mitchell when they temporarily chucked a few extra coppers on the street?
They all pretended this was a problem that could just be tidied away with more police, a bit of ethnic cleansing of the central city by putting people somewhere else or just chasing them away. They all pretended they were the ones who could do it and we should vote for them. Simultaneously while making these infantile and ridiculous claims, they were plotting economic austerity for the unsorted which makes all of these problems worse. Now we know that they are the ones we should politically cleanse from our lives by using our votes – remove them from Parliament from Councils from school boards, from business associations, from anywhere they might exercise power over anyone else.
Yes where’s Luxon and Willis, who said they were going to fix a broken economy that didn’t exist but does now?
Mitchell said he would resign this month if he did not fix crime and employ another 500 police .Cant wait for him to honor his word .
We managed to keep the majority of businesses afloat and employing people through Covid only to have the country ‘put back on track’ by National. We still have one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the OECD. Time to invest and build infrastructure to support the extra 2 million “we” want to cram into Auckland? No, lets extend the recession created by the reserve bank to control external inflation with the domestic economy and double down on it. I am sure Christopher has a sprint team working on it.
Perhaps if the MP for Auckland Central actually cared about Auckland Central rather than Palestine, or the next trendy, anti-establishment protest movement, r community would be better served?
So, it’s not the job of the governing coalition, but the responsibility of an opposition MP? Jesus.
No her job is to incite violence. Glad that’s she’s finally being called out on it.
well you are wrong there .The hero that broke the potatoes window was from the grey hound racing people not the anti genocide group .I dont recall the great Chloe calling for the grey hound people to protest or for that matter I have never heard her call anyone to be violent .
Maybe you could come back when you’ve read the Greens housing policy and see if your comment still stands? Reading it might persuade you that Swarbrick can indeed chew gum and walk at the same time.
I’ve read their Housing Policy and it sounds like a Marxist wish list written by a thirteen year old. Let’s face it most on the Green Party are poor little rich socialist who have lived their lives on daddy’s trust fund.
I actually laughed at the Maori Lead Housing initiatives. Hmmm how many homes have been built for Maori at Ihumatao? So do radicals want to house Maori or not?
You might not like their policy, but you claimed that she didn’t “care” about Auckland. The policy shows that she does care, it’s just that you don’t agree with how that care would get expressed as policy. Maybe that’s because the policy wouldn’t make you richer or something – who knows or cares?
You are being silly Bg.
Perhaps some in the Auckland central electorate care about the health and life of Palestinians in Gaza and their MP is just doing what they want.
Good point, they probably do. Until they move on to the next fashionable faux outrage. Not many marches for the Ukraine recently I see? BLM anybody?
Auckland business owners are appalled at the numbers of homeless people?
So I assume they are willing to forgo their promised tax breaks and change their voting preferences to address the problems of poverty, addiction and homelessness?
Or do they just want these eyesores to move out of sight?
CBD businesses include firms like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Reckon people who charge between $3000 to $5000 for a fucking handbag can be squeezed a few dollars extra tax for homeless shelters(at least).
Just proving that the left don’t love the poor but just hate the rich*
*As defined as anyone who earns more than them