Zoe Hunter: CBD business owners deserve more accountability on crime – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

OPINION

A city restaurant is locked down after gang members chase a man into a chiller as he screams “they’re going to kill me”.

It sounds like a movie plot.

Unfortunately, it is not. The
Bay of Plenty Times reported last week that gang members chased a man into Nectar on The Strand on a Thursday afternoon. Staff had to lock the Tauranga restaurant down to stop them from getting inside and later found a “terrified” man cowering in their chiller.

It is not the first time businesses in Tauranga’s CBD have had to deal with this sort of disruption.

Nectar’s owner Jessica Mackenzie has described the state of the city as “a joke” and I agree.

Other CBD businesses say there is a big problem with high and drunk people in the area and that has worsened in the last 10 years.

This is unacceptable. Hospitality has had it bad enough during and after Covid, and having to deal with this kind of antisocial behaviour is way outside their job description.

Owners say there is nothing they can do. It has gotten so bad businesses have taken matters into their own hands.

Downtown Tauranga’s new initiative to help monitor and prevent the issues businesses are having and its plans for a platform where businesses can fill out incident reports for police and the city council are commendable.

This is a proactive approach.

Police…