18 August 2006

Mayor recognises local safety initiatives with awards

Auckland City announced the winners of the Mayor of Auckland's Community Safety Awards in a ceremony held at the Town Hall yesterday afternoon (Thursday, 17 August).

The awards recognised and commended individuals and groups who have taken strong initiatives to make the city a safer place to live, work and play.

In order to be eligible for the award, a community safety project had to show an outstanding achievement in either crime reduction, injury prevention, road safety or community safety in the Auckland City area in the last year.

Overall, 16 nominations were received for the awards and the winners for 2006 are:

* The UP FM Solar Series for setting up alternative funding for the initiative and successfully bringing the road safety message to the party crowd, a traditionally hard to reach group. When police checks were carried out no infringements were reported.

* Fardowso Abi at the Auckland Somali Community Association went above and beyond the call of duty to get Somali women with limited English skills training for their learners and restricted drivers licences. A total of 85 women passed their learners licence, and 120 passed their restricted licence.

* Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind for the considerable work they have done with a wide variety of stakeholders to eliminate footpath hazards in Newmarket for people with disabilities. This initiative resulted in an estimated 70 per cent reduction in footpath hazards, making Newmarket a safer place to walk for visually impaired people, as well as people with other impairments and all pedestrians.

* Rosebank Business Precinct Security and Crime Prevention Initiative for making a real long-term and sustained commitment to crime prevention and improving safety in their area over the last year, bringing the community closer together.

The awards were judged by representatives from Auckland City's Public Safety and Community Order Committee, Auckland City District Police and the Injury Prevention Research Centre.

The awards, said Councillor Graeme Mulholland, chair, Public Safety and Community Order Committee, are an opportunity for people to be recognised for all the wonderful work they are doing in the community. They also act as an excellent reminder that safety is good news for the whole city.

"This year it was hard to select the winners and the four chosen reflected the best examples of how Aucklanders can take the issue of safety in their own hands and make safety a reality. "A safe community raises morale and improves the environment we live in. The awards seek out community safety projects and gives them the praise they deserve," Mr Mulholland says.

Mayor Dick Hubbard who presented the awards says that all nominees are tackled the issue of safety head on in ways that encourage other people to do the same.

Mr Hubbard presented the four winners with a specially designed trophy at the awards ceremony.

"The winners are a positive example of what can be achieved to make our city a better place and we hope they'll inspire others to adopt similar safety initiatives," he says.

"Despite the media coverage of crimes we should not forget the hard and good work that is achieved by community safety projects such as the nominations received for the Mayor of Auckland's Community Safety Award," says Mr Hubbard

The awards coincide with the annual Safety NZ Week, promoted by the Accident Compensation Corporation to raise awareness of injury prevention and encourage involvement in community safety.

ENDS

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