Left Bank bar plan rejected
Central Wellington residents reckon a new bar could clear out the boozed up, drug-toking ne’erdo-wells polluting an inner-city laneway.
But police think not – and neither does the District Licensing Committee.
In June, the committee rejected Sarah Ahern’s on-licence bid for a 120-capacity bar in Cuba Mall’s Left Bank complex, a stance that was backed by police alcohol harm reduction officer Damian RapiraDavies.
Rapira-Davies could not comment yesterday because the case is under appeal but he is quoted in the committee’s decision as saying a significant number of incidents happened in the Left Bank, mostly at night, and usually alcoholfuelled.
Downtown Wellington is the fourth worst location in the country for assaults in a public place, and police report that Left Bank has become a late-night magnet for groups of youths from Porirua and the Hutt Valley.
At night, metal gates through to Victoria St are closed, making the Cuba Mall lane a dead end.
Complex manager Grahame Hanns gave evidence during the application that Left Bank apartment-dwellers saw all manner of misdemeanours there, including drug-smoking, vagrancy, drinking and using the lane as an al-fresco toilet.
His duties include erasing graffiti from the property, as well as cleaning vomit, urine and alcohol-related messes left by loiterers. Their antisocial behaviour has forced the body corporate to take extreme measures, including letting off water sprinklers to deter intoxicated people. Hanns often had to call police for help.
Hanns, who has had death threats from two drug-taking men, said having a bar there could make the laneway safer and curb some of the antisocial behaviour.
Developer Ian Cassels lives in one of the complex’s apartments and agrees with Hanns that having more people around could clean up the area. ‘‘Bars are the best disinfectants for crime.’’
Left Bank, which hosts the Wellington Night Markets on a Friday, is curious in that it is on private land owned by a body corporate so it is not monitored by CCTV and can’t be patrolled by police unless a crime is happening.
Sarah Ahern, who declined to comment, had proposed more lighting and CCTV cameras in her application.