Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

One of the many things that are hopefully on the new government’s radar come October 15 is the state of our cities.   I mean yes our communities and our suburbs are in dire straits too getting ravaged by crime and unruly gangs in many places, but our CBDs are a mess - they’re unsavoury places.   They don’t feel safe anymore. I get people messaging me every day about the CBD, particularly Auckland, and what a mess it is, or how embarrassed they are of it. Which is a shame because parts of it are really cool.   There are cute little precincts and awesome little shopping areas which have been hijacked by dickheads and losers.   Two messages I got just this week, from two completely different people, travelling in Australia at the moment.   The first one said, “In Sydney, not a road cone in sight, streets are clean, everyone looks lovely, don’t feel unsafe at all, city is buzzing, Michael Hill don’t have security guards.. didn’t realise how bad NZ was til we left.”   Another one said, “Hi Kate I’m in Sydney. What