The introduction of a liquor ban to reduce obscene behaviour around the Greerton Village Shopping Centre has been ranked a top priority by the Tauranga City Council.
Councillors unanimously supported a move to fast track the introduction of the liquor ban.
It means an amendment to the liquor bylaw that already banned drinking in public places in the Tauranga CBD and the Mount downtown will be drafted as soon as possible.
The council also agreed to include Papamoa's Palm Beach Plaza and surrounding retail areas in the extension to the ban.
Liquor bans are intended to reduce the negative impacts that drinking alcohol in public places has in a particular area and to provide the police with an appropriate tool for dealing with the antisocial behaviour that sometimes follows.
Mayor Stuart Crosby questioned whether the problem was being drunk and abusive in a public place or drinking in a public place.
Experience in the Tauranga and Mount downtowns had shown liquor bans just shifted the problem.
Soon the whole city would be a liquor-free zone, he said.
You may like to have a beer at a beach party, or a glass of wine with a picnic, but drinking out in public in Tauranga may soon become a thing of the past.
What do you think? Should Tauranga get a complete liquor ban?
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