Banks out to bankrupt taggers' parents

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland civic leaders yesterday opened a gleaming new railway station at Glen Innes with appeals to the local community not to trash the $2 million public asset.

Residents watched from an adjoining carpark as Auckland Regional Transport Network chairman Ross Keenan pleaded for the extended and rebuilt station to be treated "with pride and not as a paintbox".

Auckland City Mayor John Banks amplified the message by vowing to help Mr Keenan's agency to track down parents of vandals caught on new closed-circuit television cameras "and bankrupt them".

"I couldn't miss this opportunity to say how horrified I am at the level of wanton vandalism and destruction in this city," he said.

"I hope you can convince the parents of the louts in this parish that they should respect this public facility."

Mr Banks ruffled some feathers among rail officials by using the new station as a soapbox for his controversial eastern highway proposal, saying that if his rivals for the mayoralty were in power in the 1950s "we would still be using the Devonport car ferry".

Although the new station is smart and spotless now, with sturdy benches under an extensive canopy framed by safety glass, graffiti remains depressingly evident along neighbouring fences.

Contractors had to paint over graffiti repeatedly in the eight months it took to build the station.

Glen Innes is the first of three "signature" stations to be officially opened to set the tone for upgrades of about 35 others throughout the Auckland rail network in the next three years at a combined cost of at least $110 million.