by ROBYN WELSH
When people talk about living at The Bridge, you'd be forgiven for assuming that they're inner-city lifestylers overlooking the Auckland Harbour Bridge. However, on the opposite side of town residents in Mangere Bridge talk proudly of living at their own bridge.
It's a village-style community of about 3000 homes
that took its name from the original bridge built in 1874, which is now a pedestrian/cycle link to nearby Onehunga.
The new bridge, which opened in 1983, offers locals a 20-minute trip into the city. It's a stable area, with only a dozen or so homes changing hands each month, usually among buyers moving from the Mangere Mountain side to the water's edge.
Here, the most popular street, Kiwi Esplanade, affords million-dollar views to the city and Sky Tower for price tags nudging the $400,000 mark. Prices throughout this area start at less than $200,000.
Close to the airport without being in its flight path, Mangere Bridge is tipped for renewed interest. The nearby oxidation ponds are to be abolished in 2002. Mangere Bridge locals operate volunteer night patrols to support local police, regularly win Manukau City awards for their garden frontages and take pride in organising beach clean-ups to keep the water vista sparkling.
