Hub to tackle violence at city’s bus exchange
A new youth hub is being set up at the Christchurch bus exchange in a bid to tackle ongoing violence and bullying after school hours.
It comes as a New Brighton father says his daughter is afraid to catch the bus home from school after witnessing four fights in two weeks.
Christchurch City Council has confirmed that it has increased security at the bus exchange during peak hours after an incident on February 19.
A video of the incident, seen by The Press, shows two school-aged girls fighting. It was broken up by members of the public.
Youth and Cultural Development (YCD) was awarded $750,000 in funding from the city council as part of a $2 million, threeyear package to tackle safety and anti-social behaviour.
YCD events co-ordinator and team leader Red Ngaia-Setu said half of the the funding would go to two full-time outreach staff members, while the other half would go towards events.
He said the money had been three years in the making, with Fresh (YCD’s event brand) building momentum with free events such as basketball tournaments, haircuts and pool and dance parties. “It’s got to the point where we’ve been able to show there is definitely a need for events like these in Christchurch and that’s led to this funding.”
Among those events will be activities and social support at the bus exchange, with a room previously used by Intercity bus customers to be turned into a youth hub where young people can also wait for their bus.
Ngaia-Setu said he wanted to create a safe space for young people and hoped his team’s presence would de-escalate any ongoing tension. He said the largest single factor that led to bad behaviour was boredom. “Sometimes young people like to test the waters with security and it gets out of hand. We just want to be that friendly face around the different hot spots.”
Ngaia-Setu said incidents had been getting worse over the past couple of years.
“That’s why we thought, ‘man, we really need to do some mobile work, get out into the community and be a presence at the bus exchange after school’.”
While the exact hours of the hub are yet to be decided, Ngaia-Seta said he wanted to be there as much as possible between the hours of 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. He hopes to have the hub up and running by mid-April. “I know that there is a lot of trouble that does happen there and a lot of parents are concerned that their kids are being bullied. We definitely want to be a presence there,” he said.
Gerrard, who didn’t want his real name used to protect his teenage daughter’s identity, said as a former police officer and a father he was concerned about violence at the bus exchange.
He said his daughter had seen four fights happen over two weeks in February.
“It sucks knowing that she has to run the gauntlet every time she goes to school.”
Gerrard said he became so concerned that he got his daughter to call him to confirm she’d safely caught her bus home.
The New Brighton dad liked the idea of having a safe space for kids to wait at the bus exchange, while also creating an opportunity for youth workers to engage with problem teenagers.
“I’m all about outside the box thinking - that could potentially be a brilliant idea,” he said.
YCD’s funding will also allow it to fund activities and youth workers in other parts of the city.
The Riccarton bus exchange, The Palms mall and Papanui have also been identified as popular after-school hangout spots for young people.
The council also granted $560,000 over three years for the Christchurch City Mission, which would go towards a second homeless outreach worker - someone who could refer people to housing providers and other support, and address anti-social behaviour as it arises.
Business Canterbury’s Leeann Watson said she was pleased with how the funding was allocated as the chamber members overwhelmingly agreed that outreach was the best way to help with loitering and anti-social behaviour.
Last year, The Press reported that city centre businesses had resorted to paying million-dollar security bills, sending staff to de-escalation courses and creating incident log books to keep staff and patrons safe in the face of rising crime in the CBD.
Watson said more recently anti-social behaviour had also reached the suburbs, and it was important that the solutions and funding did not only focus on the central business district.
Additional reporting by Sinead Gill.