Ban bad behaviour, bring back fun

Residents around a popular playground are hoping to put a cork in rowdy late night behaviour. Sophie Bond swings into the story.
The sun breaks through and Jamie and Haley Doig smile contentedly as their father swings them around on the roctopus* in the Mairangi Bay playground.
Parents sit, basking, on park benches while their holidaying children clamber around the play equipment. Neighbours stand and chat outside an apartment block nearby and the Mairangi Bay shops are humming.
Bruce Doig and his family love living here; it's got everything they could want.
But, there's always a but. The area also has nocturnal disturbances the residents would rather do without. Since moving in last August they've called the police several times to report noisy antics in the playground and neighbouring carpark.
Mr Doig says young people congregate late at night to drink in the parking lot and play music on their car stereos. "There's a streetlight on the corner that illuminates the whole area. They go into the playground and ride the roctopus, the girls are squealing and the boys are yahooing."
He says the night visits are intermittent, but a real hassle.
Mr Doig and his wife, Nicole, favour an extended liquor ban for the area, which they hope will stop the late night high jinks.
Last week, East Coast Bays Community Board received a request from Mairangi Bay Business Association to extend the liquor ban already covering the playground  to include all of the business centre including the carpark. Seven local households wrote to support the proposed overnight ban.
The community board has recommended the ban to North Shore City Council and a decision should be made by the council on July 28. The chairman of the business association, Paul Diamond, says that the group is trying to make the area more pleasant after dark.
"People start drinking in the carpark and move into the playground. There have been complaints from people in the area."
He says an extended liquor ban will provide police with the power to move people on.
Sergeant Grant Hand, of Brown's Bay  Police  Station, says the ban will allow police to take alcohol from people and prevent situations from becoming disorderly.
"No one could consume or have alcohol in their possession between the hours of the ban."
He says it is an effective mechanism to reduce drinking in public areas and provides police with more options.
 * A roctopus is a piece of playground equipment, with four arms suspended on a central pole (see picture above) that swing around as well as go up and down.
Keeping booze at bay
The proposal is for a seven-day-a-week liquor ban - 10pm-6am during daylight saving, 9pm-6am for the rest of the year.
It would cover Mairangi Bay CBD, including the carpark, the playground, Montrose Tce to the beach and Sidmouth St to the beach.