Darryl Penrose, of Whangarei Traders and Auctions, is sick of having to clean up vomit, urine, and sometimes worse, from outside his store in Vine St, after boozy weekend punters have left their mark.
Darryl Penrose, of Whangarei Traders and Auctions, is sick of having to clean up vomit, urine, and sometimes worse, from outside his store in Vine St, after boozy weekend punters have left their mark.
Urine stains, vomit and human faecal waste; that's what a Whangarei shop owner is forced to clean up after every weekend.
Whangarei Traders and Auctions owner Darryl Penrose said he and his wife have been in their Vine St shop for 12 months and the drunken urination and defecation has been relentless.
"It's been going on the whole time. You've only got to walk down the street and see stains everywhere, it's like a map of the world if you walk down Vine St."
Penrose said the steady stream of bodily fluids starts to spill on to the street when nearby bars close their doors.
"Some days I get there and there's a big poo in the middle of the footpath and by the end of the week it's walked its way down the road."
Penrose said the smell can be unfavourable after the weekend.
"They piss between the cracks in our building, they're obviously trying to get it between the cracks like a game."
Even the very young people in Whangarei are confused about the behaviour. Photo/supplied
Whangarei District Council community safety officer David Palmer said council is aware of this issue and share the retailer's concerns about the behaviour.
"Council has a weekly cleaning programme throughout the CBD but will also send out a contractor to clean up footpaths if they are made aware of any problems through their call centre," Palmer said.
However, Penrose said he and wife Paula have complained to council several times but nothing seems to have been done.
"Their response is to ring up and tell Citysafe who would clean it, but no one has ever cleaned it," he said.
Palmer confirmed that Penrose has complained about this issue to council, and his concerns had been passed on to police.
Penrose said there are cleaners in Vine St - a couple of ladies who sweep and are forced to dodge the urine and vomit.
"Their job is sweeping, they don't have a truck that comes down and washes everything off – which is what is needed."
So Penrose is forced to get out with disinfectant and his hose after the weekend and do it himself.
"Some of our rates need to be spent cleaning the street after the weekend's episodes. We pay fairly huge commercial rates, I feel like we deserve to have our streets washed and not have to be wandering around faeces and piss everywhere.
"We're not living in Calcutta."
There are two of Citysafe's nine CBD CCTV cameras across the road from the Penroses' shop that are monitored at the police station.
Area Commander Northland Police Inspector Justin Rogers said these are monitored by volunteers at the Whangarei Police station seven days a week, including peak times on Friday and Saturday nights from 8.30pm to 3.30am when the inner city population increases.
"Police work closely with Citysafe staff to attend incidents in town and it is not unusual to see an increase in incidents when the population increases.
"Police believe intoxication is a major contributor to inappropriate behaviour and work closely with bar owners to ensure they do not serve intoxicated people," Rogers said.
Penrose said he would like there to be more of a police presence when the bars close, so drunken patrons would be less likely to do their business on the street.
"The Whangarei CBD seems like it's slowly dying from my point of view and this kind of thing doesn't help it - I think a lot of the businesses just give up."
