Laying the groundwork: Introductions

@taylorgrove and @katewalker and @aaronthornton how about beginning a discussion thread on young people and drinking attitudes, sounds like you all have concerns, ideas and experience in this area

Thanks to everyone who's given their introductions - great to see such a diverse and interesting group coming together.

If you have not yet done so, please tell us a bit about yourself and what's brought you here to this collaboration.
@geraldinemurphy @rubendehaas @gilesthompson @hadleightiddy @nicolarankin @annaguenther @richardfortune @mattlamason @jaredbothwell @shaunlines @freddmarshall @johnirving

Hi there, my name is Shaun Lines and I regularly work in Wellington. I am keen to see how this type of open dialogue can lead to better community outcomes around issues that affect us all. Drinking is a great place to start and while I enjoy a drink regularly, sometimes I get to a point when I see that the costs outweigh the benefits in many lives. Having a Dutch partner I am also aware that many communities where drinking is a regular part of life do not lose their sense of perspective about alcohol and appear to have lower social issues connected with it though. I do not know the statistical realities of this though and maybe that is just heresay. Thanks for the prompt Alanna.

Greetings all, I'm Jared and I have joined this group as I really interested to see how Loomio works as a discussion tool as I see huge potential for online collaboration to help shape public policy and democracy.

In regards to the alcohol strategy it would be great to see Local Government take a more proactive stance on management of alcohol and the harms that it can cause to communities. I don't want to be a party pooper but I believe that the harm that alcohol causes to our community’s are often glossed over.

Hello, I'm Geraldine Murphy. An innercity resident for 10 years, Chair of the Inner City Association (residents & businesses) and also on the Reference Group for this strategy. I was keen to join this group to hear the wider public discussions that are happening - and have been told there are some great ideas coming forward.

As others have mentioned we (along with many inner city residents) get to see the downside of excessive alcohol consumption (broken bottles, vomit/urination around our front & back doors). We also like to have a drink and support the local bars/cafes, etc - as that is part of what makes Wgtn city so vibrant.

I am interested in finding ways of putting more responsibility for outcomes of excessive alcohol consumption back on the individual. It cannot be left to bar licensees, police, WCC. There seems to be limited options under current legislation - and probably even less for WCC. How do we make it uncool to be wasted at any age? Would being able to easily report bars/venues/off licenses that are not demonstrating good practices for follow-up - and recognise places that are doing a great job - help? (I wouldn't know who/where to make a complaint) It may be easier for individuals to report to someone else rather than the bar - especially if they feel intimidated by their peers (or they are part of the problem). I don't think it should be anonymous but could be less threatening.

look forward to ongoing discussion.

Hi all
it sounds like we have some good data about health and civic costs of alcohol. And we have experiences (in europe) where drinking moderately is the social norm. I guess I'd like to see a plan where alternatives to drinking that provided as much stimulation and excitement for people in the city were available. I don't think campaigns telling people not to drink are very useful, on their own.

One of the missing pieces of information I'd like to hear about is the recent restrictions/limits around alcohol advertising that have been passed by the central govt. IE how big is the commercial push from the industry cf other countries?

Where shall I tell about myself? Is there a info part of my profile to add this to ?

Hi, I'm Nicola. I've lived in the Wellington region for 20 years, sometimes inner city, sometimes outer suburbs. I've been involved with Transition Towns and am currently active in various personal Permaculture projects, taking some time out from a career in software development.
I've recently moved to Aro Valley with my 10yo son in order to be in walking distance of all the cool stuff that you can do in Welly and it has been awesome. Except at night, when our vibrant inner city seems full of people who are drunk, out of control, aggressive, disgusting and possibly dangerous.

In 3 years my son will be a teenager and I am so scared that he will get sucked up into the binge drinking culture, to the point where I'm even thinking of moving away from the city again.

I would love to see our city as a place that families could come at night as well as in the day time. I'd love to see more alcohol free events, venues and hangout spots.

I read somewhere recently that if pubs had to shut earlier then we would no longer be the 'coolest little capital in the world'. I think that we can be cool without drinking all night long, and I hope that we will decide for ourselves what we think is cool rather than letting some kind of global tourist perspective dictate that to us.

I'm hoping the Alcohol Management Strategy will revolutionise the role of alcohol in entertainment and socialising. Remember all the hoohaa over not being able to smoke in pubs and how much money it was going to cost businesses and how awful it was going to be? But everyone just got over it and learnt how to have fun/run a business without smoking inside. Lets just do the same with drunkenness ay.

@rubendehaas you are very welcome to introduce yourself here in this discussion. It is great seeing everyone's introductory statements, it really gives the whole collaboration a strong feel for who is here.

@lynseyferrari I just noticed your comment about not knowing how long the group will go on for. Our understanding from WCC is that as long as the group is finding it useful and discussion is developing WCC are happy to be involved. @gisellebareta might like to commenton this as well