DCC acuity: ‘Let’s shift Octagon taxi ranks, Again —near dire drinking holes #whatswrongwiththispicture

[click to enlarge]
Octagon taxi rank [dunedin.govt.nz] – orange overlay by whatifdunedin (drinking holes / hospitality)

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
New trial site for evening taxi rank

This item was published on 22 Aug 2016

A new location for the evening taxi rank in the Octagon will be trialled for three months. From tomorrow, the evening taxi rank will move from outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre to the central lane of the Octagon, where tour bus parking has been provided. The rank will operate from 7pm to 7am, Monday to Sunday. During the day time, the taxi rank will operate from the current location outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre. Dunedin City Council Acting Group Manager Transport Richard Saunders says the covered walkway will provide shelter for people waiting for taxis. There will also be a sign to show where the taxi stand is and the area is monitored by CCTV.

“This proposal has been discussed with taxi companies, local businesses and the Police, and there is a lot of support for the trial. The trial site has several advantages over the current site and we expect it to be popular with the public too.” –Saunders

DCC staff have talked with the mobile traders who use that space during the day and the trial will not affect their use of the area. Mr Saunders says at the end of the trial, staff will discuss the results with taxi companies, the Police and local businesses before deciding whether to make it a permanent move.

Contact Richard Saunders, Acting Group Manager Transport on 03 477 4000.

DCC Link

█ 22.8.16 ODT: Taxi rank trial in Octagon

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Previously published comment (2.5.16):

C E N T R A L ● C I T Y ● V I O L E N C E

Mon, 2 May 2016
ODT: Stabbing: ‘What is this place coming to?’
The stabbing of a 21-year-old man in central Dunedin early yesterday has left the man who rushed to his aid questioning the state of his city. Detective Sergeant Chris Henderson said the victim was taken to Dunedin Hospital after being stabbed in the neck and back outside the The Bottle-O store on the corner of Princes St and Moray Pl about 3.30am.

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DUNEDIN IS UP THERE (2015 statistics)

### newshub.co.nz Mon, 2 May 2016 at 4:45 p.m.
NZ’s most violent city spots revealed
By Lisa Owen
A Newshub investigation has revealed Auckland neighbourhoods dominate a leaderboard of the most violent city hot spots in the country. Statistics New Zealand has mapped 2015 police crime data, released to Newshub under the Official Information Act, to show the areas with the highest number of assaults, sexual assaults and robberies in public places. The crimes include anything from rape to being beaten up or being robbed of your cellphone at knife-point. Three of the five most violent city areas (precincts where there are more than 3000 residents) are in Auckland’s CBD. […] *By overlaying population data in the zones where crime has occurred, Statistics NZ has been able to work out the national average for incidents of public place violence. *Article uses 2015 statistics of victimisations by assault, sexual assault and robbery in public places.
Read more + VIDEO

█ Dunedin = No. 7 on New Zealand’s top ten most violent city hot spots
The only South Island hotspot, the area running north from the Octagon.
Newshub

█ For more, enter the term *octagon* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

University of Otago student mayhem continues, another LOSS for Harls

Star reporter David Beck notes feral practices and bully-tactics.

### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Students undergo hazing rituals for flats
By David Beck – The Star
Dunedin tertiary students who have secured flats in popular areas such as Castle St and Hyde St are being put through hazing rituals by tenants leaving the flats. Flat initiations are particularly common for students securing a flat for their second year of study and generally involve excessive amounts of alcohol.
Read more

█ Students needing support and advice in this area can contact Student Health, Campus Watch and staff at the university colleges.

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### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Red cards a booze-fuelled tradition
By David Beck – The Star
The scarfie tradition of red cards is all about doing something new and having a good time, a university graduate says. Each person in a flat is allowed to pull one red card during the year. On the day they decide to use it, the rest of the flat has to participate in whatever alcohol-fuelled activity the holder has decided on.
Read more

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### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Police out in numbers in student area
Police have turned out in numbers in the student area of Dunedin this morning after a disruptive night combining Halloween and Rugby World Cup final celebrations.
Read more

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One practice David Beck has missed (see various
student-authored social media reports) is sexual predation visited on young women by feral young men, read Students —recently brought to the attention of What if? Dunedin.

(Frankly, practically) None of this is helped by ultra short skirts and visible G-strings worn by ‘accessible’ young women, to Dunedin night venues and popup parties. YES that is a non-PC statement but hey.

It’s hard to report sexual assault if you’ve been surrounded (while you’re drunk or drugged, or not) on the dance floor by young men exercising pack instinct and intent. The case of whose finger was it anyway. YES, this in Your Swill Town.

The University, Police and Council authorities wouldn’t have a clue about what/who/how to manage the manifold risks posed to vulnerable young people studying at Dunedin —outstanding ignorance, blindness and naïveté pertain within the Establishment, whose business (MARKETING) it has been to play down the more unsavoury aspects of Student party life here.

The University of Otago and NZ Police FAIL to monitor, DO NOT investigate, and DO NOT offer strong guidance on Student use of social media at Dunedin. These ‘encounters’ make the recent Roast Busters case at Auckland seem trivial if not ephemeral. The ‘Stewards of Dunedin’ reside in the Dark Ages, a place not enlightened by smartphone use for good or bad. There is BAD. Despite the law change based on the outcome of the Roast Busters investigation, sadistic criminal behaviours at Dunedin go unpoliced. And unreported to Police.

Keep partying why not. Sell more drinks, more party drugs?
No-one wants to talk about it. Jolly the young sweet things along.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: samsunghdwallpaper.com – The Best Doll wallpaper for Samsung smartphone

Octagon mud

Council reaps us what it sows

It comes to pass that the CBD’s most-used symbolic gathering place, The Octagon, carrying a cluster of historic buildings, the city’s public art museum, our main performance theatre (Regent), a cinema multiplex under redevelopment, shop and office buildings, the Athenaeum building on the comeback through new stewardship, the impressive St Paul’s Cathedral, the stately Municipal Chambers and Town Hall complex, the seat of local government administration (Civic Centre), and a slightly down-at-heels landscaped wide open space at the junction of surveyor Charles Kettle’s two main arterial roads (Princes/George Streets and Stuart Street), also takes a bevy of drinking bars and night spots that make a strong contribution to central city nighttime violence, disorder, and lack of public safety.

The Craft Bar homicide and the connected serious assault investigations started last weekend point up the Dunedin City Council’s lack of urban design and planning vigilance in Health and Safety matters.

This tied to recent years of lobbying by the Octagon bar owners on licensing and trading hours and conditions, sometimes tied to hosting after-match wakes for Stadium sport and events (even although major events at the stadium are tapering, as predicted), unsupported youth, gang sqirmishes, under-resourced local police, and society’s access to cut-price alcohol and its liberal use (pre-loading and regular binging) alongside other substance abuse, means the Octagon is devolving into a hell-hole of collective making – not dissimilar to what happened at Cathedral Square in Christchurch before the quakes.

What will the city council do to mitigate the situation, and how soon can we restore the space to 24/7 safety for all? Is this even possible with the cluster of ‘intemperance’ bars and no push for building owners to move to greater diversity in mixed ground floor tenanting on the lower Octagon? One way or another “Party Central” has to fold – changing the pattern of ground tiles will not suffice.

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Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull speaks volumes when he says, at times, he does not feel comfortable near the Octagon.

ODT Editorial: Personal responsibility key (30.4.14)
Knowing Dunedin is one of the most statistically safest cities in New Zealand will bring no solace to the families involved in the tragic death of Ryan Court at the weekend. Read more

Related ODT stories:
30.4.14 Arrest after Octagon assault
30.4.14 Progress made in assault inquiry
29.4.14 ‘A good man’ mourned
29.4.14 Man hospitalised after Octagon assault
28.4.14 Bottle assault follows bar death
28.4.14 Names released after death at city bar
28.4.14 Arrest follows death at city bar
27.4.14 Man in custody over Octagon bar death

ODT ‘Booze Control: Stop and Think’ series:
Excessive drinking changes the way people act
30.1.14 Education fails, professor says
29.1.14 South’s alcohol statistics worst
28.1.14 Delicate balancing act over licensing
27.1.14 Still a ‘very safe community’
25.1.14 Time to clean up act over alcohol
25.1.14 The cold, naked truth about nightlife

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

tagging / graffiti crimes

### ODT Online Sat, 15 Jan 2011
Mass clean-up follows holiday graffiti spate
By Hamish McNeilly
A mass clean-up is under way to rid Dunedin of graffiti after a spate of tagging during the Christmas break. Keep Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Darlene Thomson said there had been a “lot of complaints” since Christmas, and Taskforce Green workers had removed much of the reported graffiti.

Dealing with tagging
• Report incidents to police.
• Take a photograph of the graffiti for police records.
• Remove it as soon as possible so the tagger does not get street credit for their work; graffiti is also easier to remove.
• Plant creeping vines or trees to eliminate wall space and protect fences.
• Good lighting will discourage offenders.

Read more + Images

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr