Colleen Brown: Blighted by graffiti and prostitution

Imagine if, when you opened your business, you had to clean away a mixture of used condoms, faeces, urine, broken bottles, vomit and sanitary refuse.

Imagine if every day you had to hose down the back entrance to your business so employees could enter the building.

Imagine if when you came to work prostitutes were still actively engaged in business transactions in the carpark.

Imagine if some of those prostitutes were still in their school uniforms when they practised their profession mid-afternoon after school.

Imagine if when you had a tea break, abusive foul language floated through the window and into the staff kitchen.

Imagine if when your staff worked late at night they were accosted and abused.

Imagine that every window of your shop is pitted with graffiti etchings.

For several businesses in Manukau this is reality. These things might not happen daily but they are frequent.

While the business premises are well-presented, clean and attractive, the owners have to remain vigilant that the area remains that way. For some it is a constant crusade.

As the Manukau City Council's chair of strategic directions I recently spent some hours talking to local business people about the effects of graffiti and prostitution on their firms. Not one I spoke to had an issue with prostitution. They all had an issue with it taking place in public places throughout the day. They all had concerns about the underage prostitutes. Everyone had concerns about graffiti.

Graffiti and prostitution. It seems that the two problems are inter-connected in certain parts of the business sector.

The graffiti battle scars are most obvious when you look closely at the large glass panes fronting the shops. Every window on one block was defaced with etchings into the glass.

One manager told me that occasionally the etchings are so deep it almost pierces the glass, creating a hazard. Large parts of the frontage had to be replaced. The cost to companies runs into thousands of dollars.

For small proprietors, the insurance costs are formidable and a daunting barrier to overcome so they can remain operating profitably.

Every business I went to had a story to tell. One small cafe's immigrant owners were astonished that this property abuse was tolerated. Every pane of glass on their frontage was scratched. Inside, the cafe was immaculate.

Manukau City Council spends more than $1.5 million of ratepayers' money annually trying to rid the city of the graffiti scourge. Every day the city is covered with teams painting out the offending tags.

Residents have also taken up the struggle to eradicate graffiti. Just the other day I saw Bill, a retired neighbour, sanding graffiti from the power pole outside his property. Others regularly paint over the tags in their neighbourhood, particularly on fences.

Another resident photographs every tag she sees on her journey to work and sends them to the police and the Manukau Beautification Trust for recording and culprit apprehension purposes.

It is because of the deep repugnance for the actions of a few on the property of many that Manukau has decided to draw a line in the sand and say enough.

It is because of the disgust business owners and employees have with the practices of prostitutes in public places and the effects of those behaviours on firms that this city is demanding change.

This city has two local bills it wants passed into legislation.

The first local bill focusing on graffiti regulates the sale of spray paint in our city. We want it to be an offence for retailers to sell spray paint to minors and we want such products secured in all retail outlets.

Our city wants it to be an offence for anyone to carry a graffiti implement with the intention of using it whether it is a public or private place.

The second local bill makes it an offence to solicit for prostitution in a public place. It gives the police powers to require information be supplied and to arrest offenders.

This city is making a stand and testing the understanding of central government politicians.

We know that other cities, not only in the Auckland region, face the same challenges. Local government politicians will be watching our progress intently. And they will be watching the responses of the politicians who will decide whether these bills become law.

Manukau City is fighting back and we want our residents to support these bills by making submissions to central government so our collective voice is heard and listened to. We live here. We all know our rates could be put to better purposes.

* Colleen Brown of Manurewa is a member of the Manukau City Council.