Youths prompt public outcry

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 1

Youths prompt public outcry

By

NEIL CLARKSON

Young people gathering in the Cass Street area of Sydenham have been leaving week-end trails of destruction, including smashed bottles, broken windows, human excrement, and oil, strewn on the road, a public meeting heard yesterday.

About 20 residents and business people from the area yesterday met Christchurch City Council and Ministry of Transport representatives to discuss problems caused by the youngsters gathering on Friday and Saturday nights. The public meeting, in the Civic Offices, was told of the youngsters drinking, racing cars and vandalising nearby property.

One manager said the youths disposed of their empty bottles through the window of his business, with damage this year totalling $5OOO. "Some week-ends there might be one broken window. Some week-ends there might be 30 or 40 windows,” he told the meeting, chaired by Cr Ron Wright. A glazier said, "It happens to a lot of other premises, too.”

He named another business which suffered many window breakages.

"The number of times we are going down there after weekends is phenomenal.” A Colombo Street resident said, “Every Saturday morning I have got human faeces to clean up at the back of the garage.” He told of the youths damaging his power distribution box. After the police had made inquiries the youths tied a rope to it and pulled ,it from the side of his house.

“As far as I am concerned, I want out of the district,” he said. A spokesman for two businesses open late at night said the young people turned many customers away, at times intimidating them. A retailer said he had windows kicked in four times and his shop had beert ransacked once. He said a nearby shop had also lost four windows, each costing $lOOO.

“We have slept in the building on occasions to try to get them.” The meeting was told that the young people used radio telephones as part of an earlywarning system for the approach of the police, Ministry of Transport and security patrols.

One manufacturer said he was aware of $30,000 in damage being caused when a car hit a 10,000-volt power transformer. He said sand spread on the road by council staff to cover oil spilled by the youths blew into his business, hampering production.

Production had been forced to stop in some wind conditions, he said.

Suggestions to curb the youngsters were put forward, including the installation of cameras, resealing the road with a coarse gravel, providing them with a suitable off-road site, and making the area — Cass Street and part of Colombo Street — a “clearway.” Cr Wright said he 'was concerned that closing down one area without providing an alternative could spread the problem into the suburbs, where it would be more difficult to control.

A further meeting would be called after an approach had been made to the youngsters, he said. Chief Traffic Officer Garth Hames said at the start of the meeting that the problem was historical.

“You can go back 25 years. It was going on at New Brighton in the car-park. When chains were put up there it was Carlyle Street. Now it’s Cass Street and they’ve moved into Colombo Street.” One resident criticised the nonattendance of the police at the meeting.