Len Brown mingles with bingers

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Len Brown mingles with bingers

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Police took mayor Len Brown for a tour of the CBD early this morning so he could see first-hand the effects of drinking on the streets

Police took mayor Len Brown for a tour of the CBD early this morning so he could see first-hand the effects of drinking on the streets

By Adrien Taylor

Auckland mayor Len Brown is promising to clean up the alcohol-related problems and bad behaviour that plague the inner city.

Police took him for a tour of the CBD early this morning so he could see first-hand the effects of drinking on the streets.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, Auckland's central city streets become littered with broken glass, rubbish, vomit and aggressive drunks. Many say it's a bad look for New Zealand's biggest city.

“They’ll turn up there and you’ll get the friction between drunk people,” says Inspector Andrew Coster.

But the Auckland mayor has struck a relatively quiet night – a few revellers, but the cold has kept many inside.

Still, night clubbers and police say alcohol and drug-fuelled violence is on the up, while the age of drinkers is going down.

Len Brown has established a task force in a bid to tackle the problem.

He's proposing a number of initiatives including better communication between security staff and police, better transport options, and one-way bar door policies.

“We want downtown to be fun,” says the Mayor. “We want it to be exciting. That's really what it's about. So it's about better management.”

The Government's Alcohol Reform Bill should also help in the crack down of binge drinking, if it passes into law.

At 6am this morning on Karangahape Road there were still revellers out, despite the cold. Some nearby streets are covered in alcohol and vomit as well as rubbish and even condom packets. But if the Mayor gets his way it will all be a thing of the past before too long.

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Comments

16/07/2012 10:14:58 a.m.

RedViolets wrote:

So the mayor went to out see all the of the terrible drunks threatening the city of Auckland and found nothing? What's the problem then? Sometimes I think NZ just likes making lots of rules and regulations.

19/06/2012 1:55:29 p.m.

Robert M wrote:

Auckland should have been developed as a world class Pacific city like those on the West Coast of the USA, Hawiai and East Coast of Australia. The actual hours the bars should be open is debatable, with somewhat different hours for bars according to whether their in the CBD or diifferent types of suburb and the type of club or bar and their door entry policies. In all cases the Police view is to demand too restrictive and universal polices which basically destroy NZ as a place for the intelligent middle class or as the attraction NZ was for the Northern Hempisphere 20 year olds to come here for their OE or gap year and make NZ a no go zone for the rich party people and sophisticated. Much more selective policy based on a more modern screening is required. Part of Wellingtons approach and success was many more sophisticated bars and bar staff. In Auckland the approach is compulsory egalitarianism, only couples,older teenagers and 20 year old are seen as people who would intelligently want to go out late or seek a partner of sexual companionship late. In reality the Auckland CBD largely attracts the young and beautiful and well off by kiwis standards and the violence and trouble is minimal compared with any large Aussie city and non existant compared with the kaos in any other UK City north or south other than London

18/06/2012 12:31:42 p.m.

Barry James Florence-Bennett wrote:

Len Brown should try visiting the area without a police escort, rather than just this 'I'm doing something' publicity stunt