The Star: June 06, 2019
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>June</strong> 6 <strong>2019</strong><br />
12<br />
NEWS<br />
news online at www.star.kiwi<br />
Beggars, homeless and drinking<br />
A number of strategies<br />
have been tried and<br />
tested in the Linwood<br />
Village area including<br />
a liquor ban. But it has<br />
been dealt yet another<br />
blow with the closing of<br />
SuperValue last week,<br />
Julia Evans reports<br />
THE SHELVES were nearly<br />
empty and almost everything was<br />
on special – including last year’s<br />
Christmas paper.<br />
Instead of beggars outside,<br />
there was a steady stream of<br />
people making their way in<br />
and out of the Stanmore Rd<br />
SuperValue to get a deal before it<br />
closed.<br />
Friday was the store’s last<br />
trading day, it was shutting up for<br />
good.<br />
But it seemed owner Choy<br />
Ming Lee wanted to leave quickly<br />
and quietly, without making a<br />
fuss.<br />
He declined to be interviewed<br />
by <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong>.<br />
Mr Lee had previously said<br />
drinking and begging outside<br />
the store was putting shoppers<br />
off – they were too intimidated to<br />
enter.<br />
Last year the city council<br />
approved a permanent liquor<br />
ban for streets around the village<br />
bound by Fitzgerald Ave, Armagh<br />
St, England St and Hereford St,<br />
including Doris Lusk Reserve.<br />
But beggars and people<br />
drinking outside the shops are<br />
still the main reason Steve Joseph,<br />
who owns Hibbards Butchery on<br />
the opposite side of Stanmore Rd<br />
said he is also leaving.<br />
Once his tenancy was up, the<br />
business would be the next store<br />
to close – he’s already purchased<br />
another butchery to move into<br />
and will leave Linwood when his<br />
lease runs out mid-2020.<br />
However, Mr Joseph said it was<br />
not quite as bad since the alcohol<br />
ban had come in.<br />
“But I’ve had customers<br />
phone in and say they would<br />
love to shop here but they won’t<br />
anymore,” he said.<br />
Police drive through and don’t<br />
stop to move people on, he said.<br />
“Losing the supermarket is a<br />
big blow, but it’s just the area.”<br />
Mr Joseph was waiting to see<br />
how losing the supermarket<br />
would impact the area, but he<br />
predicted it would soon be empty<br />
of any shoppers at all.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> street’s going to be a ghost<br />
town,” he said.<br />
“I can’t imagine how many<br />
customers we are losing because<br />
of all the drinking and smoking.”<br />
One of his customers Lisa<br />
Howard, who has lived in the area<br />
for more than 20 years, said she<br />
doesn’t go to the butchery often<br />
any more because of the people<br />
begging outside.<br />
“I haven’t been down to the<br />
butcher since people started<br />
drinking outside . . . I love the<br />
butcher,” she said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fact that the supermarket<br />
was going would impact the<br />
whole area, she said.<br />
“It’s going to affect a lot of<br />
elderly people and people who<br />
live nearby, for a lot of people its<br />
only a hop, skip and a jump,” Ms<br />
Howard said.<br />
“I don’t blame him, it’s not his<br />
fault.”<br />
However, she said the liquor<br />
ban had made a different and<br />
there were other initiatives, like<br />
the tiny shops, a hub for smallscale<br />
community businesses such<br />
as bike repairs, and other work by<br />
Te Whare Roimata, which were<br />
helping.<br />
“It’s hard to tell the difference<br />
between beggars and the<br />
homeless. If they’re genuinely<br />
homeless, I would like to see<br />
them get a home,” she said.<br />
Armagh St resident Adam Calje<br />
said SuperValue closing was a<br />
“major loss” for the area.<br />
“It’s angered me that the<br />
beggars have done this. I’ve got<br />
half a dozen neighbours I know<br />
that won’t come down to these<br />
shops at all,” he said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> whole area is dying.”<br />
Mr Calje said the SuperValue<br />
was convenient and cheap for<br />
those who lived on the south<br />
side of the Avon River, compared<br />
to New World more than 1km<br />
DAMAGE: It was 3pm when <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> visited Linwood Village<br />
and a man was urinating in broad daylight.<br />
FED UP:<br />
Hibbards<br />
Butchery<br />
owner Steve<br />
Joseph is<br />
planning<br />
on leaving<br />
the Linwood<br />
Village area.<br />
away along Stanmore Rd.<br />
“I don’t understand why they<br />
don’t have this problem on the<br />
other side of the river,” he said.<br />
“I resent the fact I’m going to<br />
have to walk further to go to the<br />
supermarket.”<br />
Mr Calje has witnessed major<br />
fights, drinking, drug use and<br />
been approached by women<br />
offering sexual favours in broad<br />
daylight.<br />
When <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> visited last<br />
week, a man placed his open<br />
can of bourbon on top of the<br />
Kiwibank ATM before he went<br />
and urinated up against the fence.<br />
It was 3pm.<br />
Mr Calje said he would drive<br />
around the block to go into the<br />
supermarket through the back<br />
door so he didn’t have to walk<br />
past the beggars.<br />
“But the neighbourhood has<br />
improved in some ways,” he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> alcohol ban had helped, but<br />
not enough.<br />
“Before the earthquake, it used<br />
to be quite a vibrant shopping<br />
area,” Mr Calje said.<br />
Now he’s made it his mission to<br />
bring attention to the issues and<br />
get some action.