Furious Clendon Residents on the March

Anger is building throughout the Clendon community over the awarding over a liquor licence to a shop two doors over from where Krishna Naidu was attacked and killed in January 2008.

Residents are angry that they were not informed and also by comments that it would not have made any difference to the outcome of the liquor licence being awarded.

Waina Emery the Chair of the Clendon Community Support Group said, ‘we stopped the shop owner in the same complex getting a licence in 2007. We marched. We told the owner that we did not want a liquor shop in our community. The application went no further. I strongly believe that had we had the same information this time around we would have stopped it opening. This community is on the move on this issue, let me tell you.’

Mark Beale, the Vicar of St Elizabeth’s church a few hundred meters up the road is also infuriated, ‘As a parish we see the effects of alcohol on our community on a daily basis. We have the proposed men’s prison site a kilometre away and from what we understand 80% of the prisoners in there will have alcohol related problems. Make no mistake the problems start right here in liquor shops like the one up the road. People have to realise that this is a fragile community – we do not need more liquor outlets.’

An urgent meeting of the community is being arranged and proposals for coordinated protest activities will be discussed. Community leaders are rallying behind the community.

Manukau City Council Mayor Len Brown said that he supports the Clendon community one hundred percent and looks forward to the day when communities have far more say in the location of liquor outlets. With the changes being signalled through the Law Commission Recommendations, this is a reminder that we as a local authority can only regulate so far. Central governmental politicians must support our communities on this.

Georgina Kupa who is in the Maori Women’s Welfare League office in Finlayson Ave, a few hundred yards away said ‘This totally disempowers our community. We do not need more liquor shops. I see the results of liquor on a daily basis in homes across our entire community. I will stop buying anything from this shop owner in fact our entire organisation will boycott him. We have families with many children who go without food because of liquor.’

Manurewa Councillor Colleen Brown said, ‘Communities need to be in control of their own areas, local voices need to be not only heard but listened to and authorities must heed this call. It would be an excellent decision by this owner to withdraw his application.’

Other areas in Manurewa have stopped liquor licences being taken up often through a show of strength and community opposition. Raewyn Clark from Totara Heights in Manurewa said that when their local shopping centre indicated that a liquor outlet would go in there the community objected because of the proximity to another outlet. ’It can be done, it’s about sheer determination and Clendon residents have that – it’s a great shame, this community needs this additional outlet like a hole in the head.’

Manurewa Marae chairman Eru Thompson said ‘we support the community on this issue and oppose a liquor outlet just two hundred meters up the road from the marae, the community says they don’t want it so we must do everything we can to support the community and stop it.’

ENDS

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