The New Zealand Herald is reporting that Auckland is portraying itself as the city where the party never ends. Maybe not the exact words, but you get the picture. However---do you really want to see the whole picture? Do we want our visitors to hang around after the wee small hours of the morning in our queen city? Do we really want our visitors to sample the pleasures of drunken assaults, revoltingly behaved young men and women and some not so young as they throw up in the street and fight like trolls in the vomit. Am I overreacting in my description of Auckland after mid night? Well, just go and check for yourselves but make sure you have a safe escape route because I would not like you to get caught up in the drunken behaviour that the participants pass off as celebratory. Auckland is an ugly sight at these times. I am not just talking about young men spoiling for a fight; I include the girls and women who feel free to join in and I would very much discourage any of you to ‘have them on;’ challenging their behaviours.
Oh it’s just like the UK on a weekend night. You may also say that only young people go out at night and that those a bit older and that they should be wrapped up in bed. Wrong---just look at most overseas cities and you will see that the belief that Auckland is a safe place at night is pure misinformation. I know I felt a great deal safer when I walked around late at night in Jakarta, a city of 18 million plus people. Auckland has a problem, along with other NZ cities and we need to address it. Instead of getting uptight about the shenanigans of our mayor, maybe we should focus on something that really matters, the safety of our citizens and our visitors!
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