Antisocial behaviour late at night is upsetting residents who live close to Ponsonby Road.
The noise and disorder kept children awake and terrified residents.
According to locals, hordes of young people descend on Ponsonby just before midnight. They ‘pre-load’ in cars parked in side streets like Collingwood Street. And then hit the bars. They’d return to the cars when bars like Harry’s closed at 3am and fight, argue, urinate and vomit until after 4am.
Ponsonby News has previously had complaints of similar antisocial behaviour around the Brown Street reserve, with residents citing similar disgusting goings-on.
We talked to Senior Sergeant Morgan de la Rue, and Auckland Council’s Alcohol Licensing Manager, Peter Knight, about the problem.
Peter Knight told us that when a business applies for an on-licence, off-licence, club licence, new or renewed licence, they are required to publicly notify it in the newspaper and online. Businesses are also required to display their licences on their premises.
“Business owners have a legal and moral responsibility to the surrounding community to operate in a respectful manner,” Peter said. “If people are unsure what steps to take, they can visit our website or call us for advice.
“Often, the community knows their community better than police,” added Peter. It was community participation in the Harry’s licencing application which led them to lose their licence. Harry’s vowed to seek the licence again, applied, but then failed to turn up. Harry’s licence is thus permanently revoked. “It is important,” Peter Knight told Ponsonby News, “for local groups and individuals to speak up and provide evidence if there are issues they can take to the District Licencing Committee. Get the information to us before a renewal is applied for.”
We asked if law changes were needed. Senior Sergeant Morgan said no, but he would like earlier closing times. Many bars can trade until 3 or 4am, after which much of the bad behaviour occurs. “There are four objections to behaviour in the Ponsonby area already being dealt with,” Morgan said.
Police are often very busy in the early hours of the morning dealing with violent offending and sexual assaults. They can’t be everywhere, but they do rely on public reporting of incidents and they do police hot spots.
Peter and Morgan both reiterated the harm which alcohol is causing in our community. Most admissions to A & E on Friday and Saturday nights are alcohol related. More security cameras down side streets off Ponsonby Road may be helpful, but bars must take responsibility for allowing customers to go outside to vomit against a tree, urinate or fornicate and then return to the bar.
Locals must be aware when problematic premises are up for licence renewals and attend hearings and object if they have observed bad behaviour. No liquor is allowed to be drunk or carried in public in the vicinity of Ponsonby Road.
Both Peter and Morgan acknowledged that Ponsonby Road presents a problem because there are residents in homes very close to Ponsonby Road. A certain tolerance is necessary, for the convenience of close proximity to shops, cafes and bars, but the tolerance needs to be reciprocal. Drunken teenagers at 3am wouldn’t know tolerance if it hit them in the face.
Police and residents both want the same thing – a happy and tolerant community in which to live, work and play.
Senior Sergeant de la Rue: “Don’t simply put up with it. Be proactive and report trouble.” We can do better. (John Elliott)
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