Māngere East local Shirl e Fruean at the March 16 protest.
Photo: Justin Latif
Following complaints about how difficult it is for people to make objections to licences, Auckland Council s Marguerite Delbet wrote a letter to Glenn McCutcheon of Communities Against Alcohol Harm addressing these concerns. Delbet, as the council s then-democracy services manager, promised new efforts would be made to ensure objectors would feel heard , thanks to a more inclusive approach by those running the meetings.
The question is, has such an inclusive environment been implemented?
The shades of justice
The latest application in South Auckland was for a new liquor store on Vine street, Māngere East. I attended the second day of the hearing, but also listened to 467 minutes of audio recordings from the hearings, and skimmed over almost 100 pages of evidence and submissions.
Stuff
Hendrick Lim has compiled a CCTV dossier of complaints against his neighbouring liquor store, including rogue fireworks, a fight, car crashes and alleged after-hours sales.
Street brawls, rogue fireworks, drunken car crashes and alleged after-hour alcohol sales: Hendrick Lim watches an unusual variety of video clips on his iPhone. Every night, just after 11pm, Lim checks an app on his phone. It shows a live stream of the CCTV cameras encircling his family’s petrol station - and also gives him a perfect view of the neighbouring liquor store. He’s gathering evidence of what he alleges are repeated illicit after-hours alcohol sales. Behind Lim’s application to revoke the liquor licence of his neighbour, Gurpreet ‘Guru’ Kandola, is a bitter feud between two families which has split the business community of the south Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe.