‘We’ve lost control of Garden Place’ - councillor

Monday, 24 February 2025

Senior city councillor and CBD resident Ewan Wilson says people are showering in the Garden Place fountains and wants more action on that and other anti-social behaviour in the central city.

“We’ve lost control of Garden Place,” he said during a strategic growth and district plan committee meeting, which was discussing the central city transformation programme.

“I watched people have their morning shower this morning in our [Garden Place] fountains.

“And I’m mindful that that water is recirculated so it doesn’t drain off anywhere. It goes into a tank and it then becomes the water supply for the fountains.

“So kids will play in it”, he said, adding he was “exhausted” at attempts to address homelessness, streeties and anti-social behaviour in the inner city.

“It’s not working.”

While he had supported the drive to improve the presentation and cleanliness of Garden Place, including new gardens, he said “I’m concerned that we’re putting lipstick on a pig”.

“Until we address the underlying issues that is a significant concern.”

Speaking to the Waikato Times after the meeting, Wilson said the person showering on Thursday wore blue shorts, was using shampoo and washing “thoroughly”.

He said it was about the third time this week he’d seen someone washing there and had seen such activity previously as well.

He also regularly saw people drinking alcohol in the area, drying clothes, using shopping trolleys to transport processions, and sleeping in Garden Place.

“These people are living or camping in Garden Place.”

Wilson thought new bylaws were needed to stop people showering and shampooing in the fountains.

Councillor Geoff Taylor supported Wilson at the hui: “We’ve got a massive problem in Garden Place and around there.

“I saw someone using the stage as a clothesline the other day.”

On efforts to improve the central city environment, he said: “We can do all these weird and wonderful things but it gets undermined unless people feel safe.”

Taylor acknowledged a higher CBD resident population in future could help address problem behaviour “but in the short-term we’ve got a real issue and it just feels like we need to do something different”.

He agreed there wasn’t an easy answer.

Earlier, councillor Anna Casey-Cox asked whether the council was working with others on an idea for helping create a sort of community hub for streeties to use but was told no at this stage.

However, the council was involved in an inter-agency group looking at ways to manage the “complex” issue of homelessness and streeties.

Wilson asked: “Is it not time to pivot and try to do something different because the problem is getting worse?”

He welcomed a suggestion from committee chairperson Sarah Thomson to seek more information through the community and natural environment committee on the issues.

Thomson thought there could be an opportunity to advocate for doing more.

She said it was good to see physical improvements in the central city but more discussions were needed on anti-social behaviour.

“It is affecting people’s businesses quite significantly and also people’s enjoyment of the central city, and also there’s a real social issue here that we need to be empathetic to as well.”

Mayor Paula Southgate also agreed there weren’t easy answers to problems and noted information that more than half of streeties weren’t homeless. “They have homes, they like to loiter in the street for a variety of social and other reasons.”

Also, it wasn’t a crime to hang about unless laws were being broken, while there was a “grey area” where anti-social behaviour “becomes a little menacing to other people”.

She said the council wasn’t a social agency with its role being to focus on CBD revitalisation, “get people moving around, make the space more pleasant for everyone”.

“Because, believe me, street people exist in any large-scale city anywhere in the world.

“So it is about managing the space more than condemning the individual people.”

Casey-Cox said she was being told by housing services organisations of increased levels of homelessness.

“We will see more of that in our city going forward and the problems we’re seeing in Garden Place of people not having places to be will only increase.”

She said “having a community space downtown would help to address some of those issues”.

Thomson said it was also important to talk about the positives.

“When you go out on a beautiful sunny day there are people having their lunch at the tables with umbrellas and lying on the grass and enjoying the space.”

She said it was critical for Hamilton partners to look at advocating for help on the issues from central Government.