A South Auckland resident says she will feel a whole lot safer when the benches at a nearby park are removed after complaints of indecent behaviour.
The Manurewa Local Board decided to remove two benches at Randwick Park on Magic Way, after nearby residents raised concerns about anti-social behaviour.
The bench seats, which faced away from the park and directly into the roadway and residential properties, were a few metres from a primary school.
A resident, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, said she’s complained to council for years about the inappropriate behaviour by some users.
She said at one time, boys sitting on the bench touched themselves inappropriately, and made suggestive gestures and remarks to her while she was cleaning her home.
“I was so embarrassed … they were my kid’s age,” she said. “I didn’t tell my family because I knew they would be upset.”
The resident said they’ve had people knock on their door at early hours of the morning, and empty alcohol bottles left on their driveway.
“These were people sitting at those benches, sometimes they play loud music and one time left traffic cones in the middle of the road which stopped traffic.”
She said she’s seen school students use the benches to meet up, “kissing, touching each other … sometimes they lay there together”.
She said she had mixed feelings after learning the benches were finally being removed.
“I feel really bad and sad because I know there are people that actually sit there to rest. I know some older people sit there sometimes.”
Another resident said her daughter often came back inside the house from playing because she felt uncomfortable.
“She said, ‘mum, they’re just sitting there staring at me’.
“Other than that, we’ve never had any other problems.”
Other residents said they didn’t experience any anti-social behaviour from bench users. Some were shocked to hear of the removal.
“It doesn’t matter to us if they’re removed. We know that some older people sit there to have a yarn.”
Randwick Park Residents Association’s Dave Tims said they were disappointed a proper consultation wasn’t made before the decision to remove the benches.
He said if nearby residents were concerned, they could have approached them to try and resolve their issues.
“The benches are not causing the disruptive behaviour, that’s caused by a few individuals,” Tims said.
“We can talk to students, we know a lot of young people, we’ve got relationships with them. There are lots of better ways of dealing with them than removing benches — removing it won’t stop the behaviour.”
The two benches would be removed by Auckland Transport and be relocated to Russell Rd.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
