A tale of two Grey Lynns

Grey Lynn shops are determined to clean up and become a thriving business hub similar to their neighbours, the West Lynn shops, reports Hayley Hannan.
Pulling her felt cap firmly into place, Soala Wilson is off. The Grey Lynn hairdresser is a whirlwind in black, pounding the footpaths to show how local shops are going to entice more customers.
"We're tidying up outside Urban Jungle - it was a jungle," she says, pointing to freshly turned soil awaiting plants. "We're tidying up everywhere."
The clean-up is part of a drive to attract more people to the area and to prepare for their adopted Rugby World Cup team, Samoa.
The Grey Lynn shops are often compared - sometimes less than favourably - to the neighbouring businesses at West Lynn.
Both shopping strips are within the Grey Lynn suburb and are less than 1km apart. Yet the two sets offer quite different goods and serve different clientele.
"Grey Lynn, unfortunately, is like a poor cousin of West Lynn. A poor cousin with a big heart. It's got really little health and no wealth."
Ms Wilson is confident Grey Lynn can enjoy the same success as the neighbours, starting with a spruce-up of store fronts and securing money to repave the footpaths. The shops also hope to unite with West Lynn as a business improvement district later this year.
As we walk around, it's clear Ms Wilson knows every second person, from shopowners to a local homeless man. The idea isn't to sterilise the shops, she emphasises. Grey Lynn wants to embrace the mix of homeowners, renters, pensioners, homeless and state-housing patrons. Why is there such a difference? One factor is that the West Lynn shops have enjoyed a constructive, organised community buy-in over the past five years.
Grey Lynn 2030, a steering group for the suburb, has made a huge difference to West Lynn by fostering connections, networks and community initiatives.
Member Mandy McMullin says the group has secured funding for an orchard in the park, a West Lynn drinking fountain, and has set up community gardens and composting, and helped set up farmers' markets.
The group has also worked with the West Lynn shops to set up and hold street parties and twilight markets.
Ms McMullin says the calibre of the shops contributes to West Lynn's success. "There are quite a lot of iconic shops. They are shops that people would come to, more destination shops ... The neighbourhood definitely makes an effort to shop locally."
Grey Lynn is in the early stages of creating connections.
Its business association chairman, Paul Dalton, says the shop owners and businesses are starting to form a network and are deciding on a vision for the area.
"The idea is to make the community a better place to be because one of the best ways to increase business in the area is to make the area more desirable to be in.
"Look at Parnell. The street is nearly on a 45-degree angle, but people love to go there because it's a nice place to be.
"There are a lot of people who are very enthusiastic about Grey Lynn.
"They look at West Lynn, and go: 'Why not us?"'
A Business Improvement District, incorporating Westmere as well as twin Lynns, would be able to secure a council partnership and funds, he says.
Ms Wilson says this can't happen without a lot of support and effort from the community.
"There are a lot of people from the community who have been waiting for someone to drive the bus. But I don't want people to just sit on the bus - I want them to get involved, too."
What am I BID?
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are partnerships between the Auckland Council and local business collectives, fostering economic growth in defined areas through targeted rates.
The rates go into improvements in the area. The council is developing a policy for the region as part of its economic development strategy. The policy will set the basis for 46 BIDs representing about  25,000 businesses from Orewa to Papakura.
The  policy, expected to be made final  in September, will replace all former councils' mainstreet and previous business improvement district guidelines.