Working together to reduce anti-social behaviour that has been keeping Māngere Bridge residents awake at night is the focus of a working group formed by Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board.
Families living close to the waterfront have been plagued by late-night parties as well as people coming into the area drinking in and out of their cars along the waterfront, playing loud music and leaving their rubbish behind.
The Māngere Bridge Community Safety Working Group (MBCSWG) is chaired by local board chair Lemauga Lydia Sosene with representative from Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, NZ Police, Māngere Bridge Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc. and Māngere Bridge Business Association.
The community has been keen to share a message with wider Aucklanders that reflected their sense of community pride so, with support from the local board’s support, a community-led project- ‘Caring for Māngere Bridge’ has been launched with a video campaign urging visitors respect the area and its people.
Māngere Bridge Residents and Ratepayers Association Chairperson Val Payne says that the residents just want visitors to respect the community that lives close by.
“Māngere Bridge people love the natural beauty of the area. They don’t appreciate people who come and play excessively loud music, break the law by parking and drinking, leaving rubbish or tossing it into the harbour,” she says.
“We want people to care for our environment and restore peace at night, so people can sleep.”
Local board chair Lemauga Lydia Sosene says it was keen to support a community-led approach to issues they were experiencing.
“Increased enforcement by police has helped to calm things down over recent months, but the community was really keen to do something that sent a message that this behaviour was upsetting their way of life, the things that they loved about living in Māngere Bridge.”
Meanwhile the group continue to look at a range of options that will have long-term benefits. One of these is to close the road through the village from the corner of Coronation and Waterfront roads to restrict traffic movement to the waterfront.
The local board has put budget from its Community Response Fund towards an investigation by Auckland Transport to see if this is a viable option.
View the video below or on Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board's Facebook page.
