Tauranga Mayor Noel Pope wants permanent liquor bans for Tauranga and Mt Maunganui trouble spots.
He is asking for law changes to give local authorities more teeth to enforce bylaws.
He said that one-off liquor bans, covering specific events such as New Year, were being ignored by the public, whereas permanent liquor ban areas would give the police year-round discretion to control drinking in public places, particularly on the problem nights of Friday and Saturday.
Mr Pope said that the hooliganism and drunkenness at the Mount over New Year, leading to 101 arrests, was symptomatic of a deeper community problem that the council and police were determined to tackle.
He would put pressure on local MPs to take action on bylaw changes and a really good look at the Government's method of allocating police.
Police resources available in Tauranga were not enough and the formula for police allocation - like the benefit-cost formula for roading - was flawed, he said.
Mr Pope said the council planned to meet next week for a debriefing on the New Year's Eve riots. The aim would be to talk to those in the frontline to come to grips with what triggered the riot.
He expected local MPs and those "with a conscience" who had supported lowering the drinking age to front up at the meeting.
He did not expect any quick-fix answers and said Mount residents, who were understandably anxious and had suffered property loss from the riots, would have to be patient.
The council and local MPs were very concerned for the safety and welfare of Mount residents and for the reputation of the Mount as a holiday resort after increasing problems created by young people, said Mr Pope.
Bay of Plenty National MP Tony Ryall said that the riots were a direct reflection of the Labour Government's hopeless police resourcing and its mean police budget, which was taking police away from the frontline.
- NZPA
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