Viv Beck is trying to be more positive about Auckland CBD

Friday, 14 November 2025

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From the defecating destitute to insidious infrastructure, it’s no secret that Auckland’s CBD has got its problems, but an increasingly disgruntled voice is saying it’s time to stop highlighting it.

While Auckland businesses tell The Post they’re “sick of the negativity”, an unapologetic Heart of the City chief Viv Beck says she’s just being a “realist” and the CBD still “needs some action” if it’s going to turn a corner.

“Of course we want to be more positive,” says Beck. “Some say we are relentlessly positive, and 90% of the time we are. But, we are realists who also believe if there are issues, they need to be addressed.”

But, in the words of one Karangahape Rd business owner at a meeting last month: “If people like my nan in Dunedin read in the paper that Queen St isn’t safe, are they going to visit?”

In recent weeks The Post has been receiving complaints from well placed internal sources and Auckland Council suggesting there are ructions over Heart of the City’s approach.

For instance, it’s understood there were dissenting views within the business association about the release of a scathing survey which showed 81% of business members believed that the CBD was “not in a good state” for investment while 71% said cleanliness and maintenance were “not good enough”.

Is an image of crime ridden and filthy streets what the association is trying to project? In her defence, Beck points out these statistics simply reflect the businesses’ own views.

“We didn’t release it with any pleasure, but we just weren’t seeing any action … we’ve had to push and push.”

A source who asked not to be named, who works with the City Centre Advisory Panel, said Heart of the City seemed to have “a curious way of marketing”.

“Their whole MO is to say ‘all the shops are shut, you’ll be stabbed and there’s no one here.’”

Another Auckland Council insider said in their view Heart of the City was “driving people away from the city”.

But how do you address a problem without being able to articulate it? Is it better for the supercity to have its head in the sand?

For Beck, the CBD is at a critical juncture having dealt with seemingly endless roadworks and pandemic pandemonium for the worst part of a decade.

Next year the City Rail Link will open and the NZ International Convention Centre will bring thousands of new visitors.

“We need to ensure we are ready to turn a corner in 2026,” says Beck. “Many business are hanging on by a thread.”

Last year, well-known restaurateur Mandy Lusk was forced to liquidate her business of 33 years - the iconic Vivace - because of poor trading conditions and a hefty tax bill.

If you’d asked her then, she would have thought she was done with the city centre.

Yet, in a sign of a new optimism, Lusk has partnered with Hotel DeBrett and reopened in the upstairs atrium of its historic building.

And, she says High St has “never been so busy”, “back to pre-Covid” with office workers now realising they need to come back in and give their support if they want their favourite eateries to survive.

For Lusk, that’s worth celebrating. She tells The Post: “There was so much negativity on social media, because it [the city] was no trains and all road cones … but people are actually getting over the negativity on all fronts.”

Beck, meanwhile, is on board with this changing attitude, and has launched a Heart of the City promotion encouraging Aucklanders to take “a fresh look” at the CBD.

The “straight to the heart” campaign has seen 1990s Toyota Corollas repurposed as retro taxis, taking people to city centre destinations free of charge.

“We’ve made it easy and we’re saying ‘come on back’,” says Beck.

The concept put together by marketing agency Motion Sickness sees old school cabbies offering to take punters to a novel “mystery location” and given vouchers to places like Wynyard Pavillion.

On a ride with The Post, driver Dipa Brar says the red cabs have proven to be an eye-catching conversation starter on Auckland’s streets.

Some passengers have been a little unnerved by the idea of getting in a car with a stranger offering them a ride to an undisclosed location, he says.

Yet, Brar says once he shows them the campaign on social media and offers them free stuff, they soon get on board.

“In this beautiful country, no one is likely to be a ‘fake taxi’,” he observes.

As a cab driver of 15 years, Brar knows Auckland’s streets like the back of his hand and says he doesn’t need a GPS.

But, as he drives to our destination he makes a sudden swerve through honking traffic - it’s to avoid a section of Queen St that Auckland Transport now fines drivers for using.

These $150 penalties were another point of contention in the Heart of the City survey with 79% of businesses saying it wasn’t helping.

But, by far the most prominent issue picked up on was rough sleepers and beggars with 91% of businesses saying it affected their business.

Since that survey was released, government ministers have hinted at new legislation which could give police “move on” powers to shift homeless out of the city centre.

Vivace’s Mandy Lusk is glad to see the problem is being “worked on” because people “need to feel safe”.

“Auckland is a gateway. For Americans it’s the first and last night [of their trip], and you want to be able to tell them they can walk safely,” she says.

But, Lusk says most businesses want to see “a package of options” and not homeless moved to “a subdivision out of town”.

Mayor Wayne Brown meanwhile has suggested they could go “into the countryside”, saying they might feel more comfortable in a town like Ngāruawāhia.

Waikato District Mayor Aksel Bech has hit back saying: “It must be nice having a city so flash you can evict people for not matching the decor.”

For Beck, the acknowledgement of the problem has been half the battle, and one that was hard-won. It’s another reason to be “positive”.

“We are seeing fundamental change but it’s not enough yet,” she says, unwilling to waver in the face of critics.

“There are some things where you can't just paper over the problem.”