Crime-ridden suburb transformed

By Ken Lewis

WHANGAREI - Not long ago, Otangarei was known for its graffiti, state housing and crime.

But yesterday the Whangarei suburb was lauded for its award-winning kapahaka group and a new sense of community pride.

In 1997, Otangarei, along with the Auckland suburb of Otara and Lower Hutt's Pomare, won finance from the Crime Prevention Unit to run a two-year Safer Streets Project.

The Whangarei project, one of a series of measures paid by the Prime Minister's Department to make communities safer, yesterday came under the scrutiny of national and local politicians.

And such is its success that plans are underway to extend it elsewhere in the city.

Otangarei is Whangarei's state-house suburb - half its 600 homes are owned by Housing New Zealand - and in 1997 it had all the credentials to win the $72,000 grant.

Its population of 2300 suffered from poor health education and a sense of hopelessness. Ninety-eight per cent were Maori, of whom 21.5 per cent were unemployed.

Vandalism, speeding cars, domestic violence, roaming dogs, car wrecks and fire-damaged homes were all common.

The community school, Otangarei Primary, had high rates of violence and truancy and a 57 per cent annual turnover of pupils. Two years later, however, crime has dropped up to 40 per cent, and the roaming dogs, car wrecks and graffiti have gone.

At the centre of the suburb's about-face is the primary school, where principal Colin Watkins and youth worker Martin Kaipo yesterday explained their Safer Streets Project to politicians and community leaders keen to learn their secret.

Mr Kaipo said the project was initially most concerned with youth crime and health issues, but consultation with the community quickly revealed wider priorities like unemployment, road safety and the suburban environment.

This forced the project to expand its original focus away from youth to families and the community as a whole.

Their first task was to make quick, visible changes to gain the respect of people cynical about community projects which had come and gone in the past.

"We got the children to paint road safety signs and put them up ourselves," said Mr Watkins. "People driving past honked their horns in support. They could see we did more than just talk."

But one of the most important things the project did to break down community reserve was to enter the school's kapahaka group in the Northland championships in Kaitaia for the first time in 25 years.

The group won two years in a row and went on to win the national champs for their age group last year.

"We built social change for the whole community around the kapahaka group, " said Mr Watkins.

"People saw that we could not only do well, we could be the best. Now we have 150 parents actively involved in the group with their children and the school. There were 30 when we started."

The next challenge was to coordinate the multiplicity of agencies and programmes already operating in the suburb.

There are now 11 agencies working with the project, from Housing New Zealand and the Maori Women's Welfare League to the Fire Service.

Together they provide services for the whole community, including budgeting advice, computer courses and legal help.

Mr Watkins said that copying Otangarei would not be difficult for other communities.

"Nearly every community has a school at its heart, and that's where you start."

In the last Budget, the Otangarei Safer Streets Project was given money for another year. After that it will have to be self-sustaining.

Safer Whangarei is already planning a similar scheme in Raumanga, a suburb on the other side of the city.