Landlord Steve McLennan
A Hamilton landlord is forking out for a security guard to respond to antisocial behaviour affecting businesses renting his buildings.
Steve McLennan - who owns several CBD buildings in the vicinity of Garden Place, including about 1100 sq m of ground floor retail space - has employed a security guard to monitor and respond to any issues that concern the businesses operating from his premises.
Mr McLennan says the move is in response to undesirable behaviour from a minority of people. His tenants have reported people spitting into their stores, theft and tagging of tables and chairs on the pavement outside cafes and restaurants.
While Mr McLennan is comfortable shouldering the $30,000-$40,000 annual cost of the security service, he says there are aspects of the CBD environment that are contributing to the need for security services.
"The problems for us are relativity recent. The CBD has 14,000-15,000 people coming into it every day and by and large they are good people who are working here and shopping and going out for lunch. The recent issue has been the regulations around legal highs. Where we previously had 60 shops in an unregulated environment there were no problems. As soon as they regulated it they concentrated the activity around six shops and that's when we started having problems. It's a fairly typical scenario of the road to hell being paved with good intentions."
Since the stores were closed last month, Mr McLennan hasn't noticed a change in behavioural issues in the central city.
"The free central city shuttle is also a problem for us. It is not as well patronised by good, law abiding people as it is by those who aren't. It's really provided people a way of going from one bus stop to another and a place to hang out. Council needs to review the free shuttle. Again, the intentions were good but the outcome has been more bad than good.
"I'm certainly not one to advocate for banning these people whose lot in life is not that great in the CBD. But the CBD is largely for those who work, live and play here and abide by laws and behave in a manner befitting the environment."
He said the guard would use "gentle persuasion" to move people along and would make security footage available to police in the case of serious incidents.
"The guard's presence also helps with a perception of safety," which not only made the public feel safer but was conducive to a better environment for doing business. He cited a recent example where a woman had spent about $2000 in one of the clothing boutiques that leases a building from him. "It was getting late and because she didn't feel safe walking back to her car alone the guard accompanied her."
Mr McLennan says it is the responsibility of business owners to take care of their properties and that includes security where necessary. "It's important that our good quality long-term tenants are happy. And rental income is secondary to that.
"We want the CBD to be a happy, convivial place to shop and do business in peace. I'm seeing how relieved [tenants] are to have someone (a security guard) available."