“I have 65 to 70 staff. I’m concerned at many levels. I’m concerned about my employees, my customers coming into the city, and as a father, I’m concerned about my kids.
“I don’t know what the answer is but I do know that it’s getting worse.”
He said staff walked in groups to avoid being targeted.
“If we have one of our female managers and they’re closing up we make sure they go to their car in groups.
“We’re really conscious when we’re closing up the restaurant, we have our security protocols that we follow. For our city to grow we need to do something about this crime.”
On Fort St, Ima Cuisine owner Yael Shochat worried that her once-bustling restaurant would not survive.
Yael Shochat. Photo / Michael Craig
“I’m concerned about our survival and crime and safety is just one of the reasons our businesses are dying,” she said.
“Parking, the cones... it’s all just piling up.”
Shochat said there was little reason for people to visit Auckland’s CBD.
“People never liked coming into the city even when times were good.
“Now times are bad. The parking is expensive, the city isn’t safe, there’s cones everywhere, there’s less happening in the city and people aren’t working in the city as much.”
For the year ending June, business association Heart of the City spent $1.3 million on security patrols throughout the CBD.
“I had a guy sitting in my restaurant disturbing the customers ... he was vaping and he was off his face and wouldn’t leave.
“The guards were there, and normally the police would come but because they knew the guards were there they didn’t come. Police are busy and they think ‘Oh it’s okay, the guards are there,’ but the guards couldn’t get rid of him because they’re not police.”
Dearth hoped Budget 2024 would include funding for more police officers in the CBD.
“I’d like to see more of a presence of police officers [in] these spots that we know are trouble, as a deterrent,” he said.
Beck agreed.
Viv Beck.
“We definitely want to see a commitment to more police, and we’d like to see a commitment for a downtown police station,” she said.
“There needs to be a specialist approach to mental health and addiction. [The Government has] already indicated that they’re keen to see that, but we would certainly like to see what is going to happen and when.”
She said businesses in central Auckland would be watching closely when the Government unveiled its budget on Thursday.
