A guest editorial by Paul Logan that criticised Whangarei suburb Otangarei has generated several strong comments after it was published on the Northern Advocate's website. Here are a selection of the responses.
Government to play role
The Government has the biggest role to play in tidying up a mess that was created by them in the beginning.
Unfortunately most of the problem is a lack of understanding of culture and of opportunities not afforded to the minorities.
Scooter1 Ruakaka
Time to clean up
The place is a disgrace. I visited there earlier in the year and it was like going to another country.
How people can live there with the attitude of a lot of residents I don't know. Clean up yourselves Otangarei.
dawnej Gore
Cut out the fear
People need to stop pointing the finger and judging Otangarei because this place is not as bad as you think. People are only afraid of this place because they listen to all the bad stories they never hear people talk about all the good that has come out of Otangarei.
sharnz Nanagurl Auckland
Don't judge
I still have family who live there and sometimes I wonder why they still do. I would also like to say don't be so quick to judge because their homes may look like a 'disgrace' as dawnej says on the outside but maybe it's a way of keeping thieves out because just like the rich places their homes get robbed too.
Krispy Otaika
Take responsibility
It's time to a bit of personal ownership throwing money in is just a band aid at best there needs to be a positive shift in the people living there. If they continue to put up with the drugs, p*** ups, crime and gangs in the area then that is what they are going to continue to have.
abh12Kaikohe
No real home
My parents moved to Otangarei, William Jones Drive, in 1963 and my brother and his family still live there now. In those days Otangarei was a "new" suburb of Whangarei, attracting rural people to live and work in the city - a movement called "Urban Drift".
Our home was a Maori Affairs house as were 50 per cent of other houses around "the block". The other homes were a mix of State Advance (Housing Corp) homes or privately owned. However, all the homes were BRAND NEW! Because over 50 per cent of the homes in OT were OWNED - we enjoyed a very REAL sense of community. We have a situation now where most of the homes in Otangarei are rented.
So like all rental tenants, people don't have a true sense that this is their home!
Up to 14 of us lived in our Otangarei house at any one time and it was not the most perfect of places to grow up. Our whanau attended Otangarei primary, followed by Kamo Intermediate and then Tikipunga high school (when it opened).
People looked after their homes, although many were sparsely furnished, We also looked after one another! We used the neighbours' telephone, in exchange my father would loan the neighbour our lawn mower.
Another neighbour would bring kai for us, and we would reciprocate.
Lots of people did that and still do. There was not the judgmental attitudes, complaining and looking to the government for financial assistance, support and blame ...
I never criticise my upbringing, or Otangarei. It is still home for us!
Hana King
Editor' note: Unless online comments are accompanied by the author's full name, we only publish excerpts of the comments in the Northern Advocate newspaper.