Viv Beck: Heart of the City Chief Executive says business need public by-laws to be enforced

Auckland city centre store owners believe homelessness, anti-social behaviour and not enough police is crippling their trade.

Heart of the City surveyed 102 business owners - with 91 percent saying rough sleeping and begging was affecting their business.

Seventy-two percent weren't satisfied with the standard of Queen Street's cleanliness.

Chief Executive Viv Beck says enough is enough - and it's important the needs of businesses, like the enforcing of public by-laws, are met.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New stats Downtown Auckland, seventy one percent of Queen Street
business is not happy with cleanliness, maintenance and homelessness. Seventy
seven percent. Our local council and government ignore their needs.
There are growing fears that this antisocial behavior could undermine
the turnaround the things like the CRL and the Convention
Center will bring. Apparently Vibeca is the chief executive of
Heart of the City and it's back with us. Third
morning morning. How long we've been talking about downtown Aukland.

(00:24):
How many years?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, A long time, A long time, and we're coming
up to a big year. That's why we're doing this.
We cannot allow this to continue.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Is this a council thing or is this a government thing?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I think it's a bit of both. I think to
be fear to government, they have responded to our long
standing request for a cross agency approach and we have
got ministers involved, and we really hope for what we
need is urgency on that. I think council has to
recognize this as a real issue. I think, to be fair,

(00:58):
they have put some ordans and things on, but I
think they just really need to understand this is not
this sort of thing you need in a trading environment
we're going to.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
I'm not downtown as much as you are, but haven't
gone downtown. I mean, the problem is evident, it's obvious,
it's overwhelming. Everyone can see it. Do you think the
council get it, or they get it but don't want
to do something about it, or they just don't get it.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, I have to say I would hope they get
it and want to do something about it, but I
actually think they don't get it, to be honest, I
think they really It's an attitude thing, and I think
they need to change their attitude for a start to
business and property owners in that area. They have to
listen to their needs and that comes into some of
the work they've done on the street scapes and the

(01:43):
access and the fines and all that sort of stuff,
and they have to understand that in the end, for
this to be a great place for tourists, for people
to want to get onto that train, and for a
great experience for the people coming into the convention center,
this has to be more like what you see down
in britam Art Commercial Bay the viaduct. They have to

(02:04):
take a leaf out of that and significantly lift the standards.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Because Mark Mitchell, from the central government point of view,
I'm sure would argue, Look, we've got an increased police presence,
we've got the new station coming all of that. They're
doing their bit, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
They are, and I think you know we've got the
downtown police station, so look, they are doing their bit.
We have said to them, and I've spoken to the
Police Commissioner. I've spoken to the Minister. We do need
more police before CRL because we're going underground and they
recognize that. So now I think police has done their bit.
I think Justice is doing their bit. We've got we

(02:39):
had a recent announcement from Minister Bishop about the housing.
We need more on that because that seems to be deteriorating.
But there's just a general deterioration and standards and Council
has to enforce its by law.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Couldn't agree more that, Go well, I wish you the
best with a VIVI bec chief Executive at the heart
of the sitting and of course at this point, go well.
The good news is we've got a local body election
on at the moment, so if you're exercised about this,
you could go and vote. But then why would I
Say that.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio