Liquor ban misses Viaduct Harbour

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The millions of visitors who go down to the Viaduct Harbour for the America's Cup this summer will be exempt from a central Auckland city alcohol ban.

A legal loophole means the public will be able to drink within metres of the water's edge but face a fine of up to $500 for drinking in the streets immediately surrounding the harbour.

From September 26, the Auckland City Council is banning alcohol in the city on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9pm to 6am.

But the council does not have the legal power to extend the ban to private areas in the Viaduct Harbour where the public has access. This includes the walkway around the edge of the harbour.

The last America's Cup attracted 4.2 million visitors - and there were wild, drunken scenes on the night New Zealand retained the silverware.

The council controls Waitemata Square, Market Square and Te Wero Island down at the harbour. Community planner Nicole Devereux said it would be too difficult to enforce the ban in these areas when it was powerless to act in private areas.

Inspector Kerry Kay, the police officer working on the council ban, yesterday acknowledged it was unclear whether the public could drink at the harbour during the hours of the council ban. The police had been authorised by one landowner, Viaduct Harbour Holdings, to control bad behaviour on the company's property.

"It's a tricky one to put any policy in place," Mr Kay said.

Asked if the public could drink at the harbour during the hours of the council ban, he said: "If it is within a public space defined by the council, no. If it is in the private places I presume that there will be a bit more latitude."

The drinking anomaly is a setback for the council's law and order committee, which wants an end to drunken behaviour on central city streets this summer.

Extending the ban to the viaduct has the support of restaurant owners, the Heart of the City business group and America's Cup 2003, the arm of Team New Zealand responsible for promotion and events at the Viaduct Harbour.

Heart of the City spokesman Alex Swney said six security guards it hired to patrol the city would be told to apply the rules consistently.

"We don't see the liquor ban as a draconian step to people's freedom but sensible controls in the hands of police rather than the hands of a drunken and unruly minority," Mr Swney said.

The ban covers central city streets and parks from the waterfront, up Queen St and including Karangahape Rd.

Drinking is still allowed at pavement seating attached to licensed premises.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup