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Speaker 1: Now we know that Darwin City Retailers Association is seeking

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Speaker 1: an urgent call to action from the government when it

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Speaker 1: comes to some of those issues that our retailers in

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Speaker 1: the city are facing right now. Andrea Wicking, the Darwin

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Speaker 1: City Retailers General Manager, pendacolumn on the weekend, urging the

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Speaker 1: government to take action, saying this does not mean directing

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Speaker 1: people to grants to secure their businesses, while continuing to

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Speaker 1: ignore the problem at hand, saying that it's about learning

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Speaker 1: to read the room, listening, understanding, not being dismissive, and

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Speaker 1: looking at alternatives to start making the city a safer

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Speaker 1: place for locals and visitors alike. Andrea Wicking joins me

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Speaker 1: in the studio right now. Good morning to you, Andrea,

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie. Thank you so much for joining us.

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Speaker 1: I know on this show we've spoken on numerous occasions

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Speaker 1: about the issues that we're seeing with crime and anti

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Speaker 1: social behavior. How badly or how is this issue impacting

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Speaker 1: our businesses in the city.

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Speaker 2: It's been this situation has been escalating over the years,

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Speaker 2: and I would say definitely over the last fifteen to

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Speaker 2: eighteen years, it's been escalating. We started with, you know,

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Speaker 2: problems on our buses. We had problems in our nightclub

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Speaker 2: nightclub district. Now we're seeing issues, you know, throughout the city,

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Speaker 2: not just in the city center, but throughout Darwin. And

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Speaker 2: it's violent crime, violent humbugging behavior, aggressive behavior, but also

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Speaker 2: crime and businesses being directly impacted.

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Speaker 1: And it is, you know, it's something that's as clear

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Speaker 1: as day to all of us when you walk down

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Speaker 1: the street. It's actually like it's so obvious at the moment,

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Speaker 1: and it's so upsetting to see in so many different ways.

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Speaker 1: But last week we have Marian, one of the owners

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Speaker 1: of a retail business in the city. She's got the

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Speaker 1: harvest press and look, I felt, you know, really bad

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Speaker 1: for her that she's in a situation where she's standing

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Speaker 1: on the street at you know, two o'clock in the

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Speaker 1: morning or whatever it is, after a senseless rock throwing

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Speaker 1: through her window for no real reason.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know we see before coming into the

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Speaker 2: studio this morning, I drove around the city.

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Speaker 3: I do this every day.

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Speaker 2: I do it on the way into work, I do

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Speaker 2: it when I leave work, and I do it in

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Speaker 2: the evenings to see what's going on. And you know,

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Speaker 2: we are seeing so many instances daily of humbugging, begging, drunks,

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Speaker 2: aggressive and violent behavior, stealing and harassment of our traders.

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Speaker 3: As I said, it's escalating.

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Speaker 2: But the perception by you know, the community of Darwin

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Speaker 2: is that government is burying its head in the sand.

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Speaker 3: They're not.

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Speaker 2: They've had no small wins to date and they've got

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Speaker 2: no strategies to move forward and improve the situation. It

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Speaker 2: will be a collective way forward. There'll be many players

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Speaker 2: in this. It's not just the government's responsibility to fix,

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Speaker 2: but we also have a lot of social groups and

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Speaker 2: aboriginal organizations that work with a lot of these people

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Speaker 2: who are not actually coming to the table with some

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Speaker 2: solutions or some constructive feedback.

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Speaker 1: Andrea, what are retailers saying to you at the moment

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Speaker 1: in terms of the impact that it is having for them?

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Speaker 1: I know that you know they probably come into contact

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Speaker 1: with tourists more than you or I or more than

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Speaker 1: most people do. So what are they saying to you

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the way in which it's impacting

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Speaker 1: their business?

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Speaker 2: Well, the impact of business at the moment for retailers

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Speaker 2: is they've got damage to their shops, They've got lots

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Speaker 2: of stock, they've got lots of revenue during the recovery,

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Speaker 2: not to mention the fear of shoppers not wanting to

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Speaker 2: come into the city and there's a shattering of confidence

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Speaker 2: the retailers and shoppers and visitors to our city. We

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Speaker 2: also have the psychological impact that is now affecting a

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Speaker 2: lot of our retailers. So just like you said with Marianne, yep,

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Speaker 2: I mean I've just gotten.

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Speaker 1: A message as well that's come through from a listener

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Speaker 1: saying that they went to one one venue, one takeaway

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Speaker 1: license venue or over the weekend and they actually had

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Speaker 1: the doors locked until you get the staff's attention by

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Speaker 1: coming out to the doors and then they'll let you in.

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Speaker 1: You know, like, how's that for trying to run a

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Speaker 1: bloody business at that moment.

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Speaker 3: That's quite common, Katie.

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Speaker 2: And you will see in a number of the arcades,

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Speaker 2: and I'll point out too, in particular that are being

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Speaker 2: targeted by young youth the Air Raid Arcade and the

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Speaker 2: Carpenteria House arcade.

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Speaker 3: You know, we've got traders in there who.

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Speaker 2: Are locking their doors after two pm because of the

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Speaker 2: lack of you know, walk past traffic who are being

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Speaker 2: harassed by these youth day in day out. We are

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Speaker 2: also talking about the safety of retailers.

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Speaker 3: You know, we have a lot of.

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Speaker 2: Women who are owner operators of these businesses, who are

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Speaker 2: working in these businesses on their own.

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Speaker 3: A lot of these women are forty five plus.

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Speaker 2: You know, they have to feel safe working in their business,

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Speaker 2: and a business is not viable if you're having to

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Speaker 2: your hours, you know, from nine to five to ten

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Speaker 2: to two to ensure you're safe.

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Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. Look, honestly, it's you really feel for these

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Speaker 1: business owners. And I actually know a lot of them

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Speaker 1: around the city, and I know that they're just trying

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Speaker 1: to make ends meet. They love their businesses. They've opened

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Speaker 1: for a reason, you know, they love retail and they

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Speaker 1: love being able to interact with people, and the fact

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Speaker 1: that they're having to deal with this is it's quite heartbreaking. Andrea,

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Speaker 1: what do you think, you know what needs to happen

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Speaker 1: here from the retailer's perspective.

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Speaker 2: Look, we're not sure exactly what the solution is, and

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Speaker 2: I know that's not an ideal answer, but we do

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Speaker 2: know that leadership is required. We do know there's going

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Speaker 2: to be really hard conversations and hard decisions. But both

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Speaker 2: levels of government and the community. We need to be

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Speaker 2: thinking for the good of the territory. We need to

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Speaker 2: be thinking about the big picture. Darwin deserves better. All

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Speaker 2: of these retailers are long term investors and members of

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Speaker 2: our community. This is their livelihoods and it impacts all

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Speaker 2: of us throughout the community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it most certainly does. And look, I know that

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Speaker 1: today obviously with you, we are talking about those city retailers,

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Speaker 1: but we know this is something that we've heard about

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Speaker 1: across the board in other locations as well, And it's

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Speaker 1: sad to see what's going on on so many levels.

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Speaker 1: And I think for those of us who've lived here

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Speaker 1: for a long time, or even if you haven't, it's

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Speaker 1: really sad to see the inaction.

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Speaker 2: It certainly is, and it's disheartening because you know, the

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Speaker 2: territory is a very easy place to live and it's

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Speaker 2: got a wonderful cosmopolitan community. But what's happening day to day,

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Speaker 2: whether you live and or work in the city, it's

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Speaker 2: just unacceptable.

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Speaker 1: Andrea, how are things going for some of our retailers

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Speaker 1: when it comes to staffing and things like that, because

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Speaker 1: I know that's another tough area unfortunately at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so some of our well, our members cover retail

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Speaker 2: as well as some of the hospitality businesses, and yes,

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Speaker 2: they are struggling with a shortage of staff. Yet there

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Speaker 2: seems to be a lot of people that are looking

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Speaker 2: for work as well, so I'm not sure why it's

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Speaker 2: not marrying up, but that too has impacted on trading hours.

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Speaker 2: But also, dare I say it COVID because we have

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Speaker 2: got a lot in the community contracting COVID. Now that's

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Speaker 2: also having an impact and we've seen, you know, some

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Speaker 2: of the businesses choose to close for you know, for

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Speaker 2: a period if they don't have staff to handle it.

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Speaker 3: They or they shorten their hours.

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Speaker 1: I've got a question from a listener It says, what

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Speaker 1: about insurance premiums for some of our businesses as well?

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Speaker 1: Do you have much of an idea about that.

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Speaker 2: With some of them, Yes, they have escalated, They have increased,

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Speaker 2: unfortunately because of the lack of response from police, and

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Speaker 2: that might be due to their own shortages or ability

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Speaker 2: to handle it. A lot of retailers, we're encouraging them

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Speaker 2: to still report the crime. We're also encouraging people to

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Speaker 2: use the app that Larikian Nation has for antisocial behavior.

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Speaker 2: Now I know that you know, often the police can't

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Speaker 2: turn up. But the thing is with reporting it, we're

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Speaker 2: going to get more accurate statistics delivered from government because

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Speaker 2: the crime and antisocial behavior. My understanding is that's been separated.

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Speaker 2: So the anti government reports on the crime, but the

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Speaker 2: antisocial behavior is what Alarikian Nation is reporting.

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Speaker 1: You've made such a good point there, and I've wondered

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Speaker 1: this in the past. You know, if they've got the app,

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Speaker 1: and if they've actually got those reports coming through, then

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Speaker 1: they should be able to tell us, you know, how

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Speaker 1: many reports of anti social behavior we're getting in a weekend,

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Speaker 1: in a week, in a month, and whether the resources

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Speaker 1: are able to go out to those different locations.

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Speaker 2: I use that app many times a day, not only

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Speaker 2: as in my role through the retails Association as I

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Speaker 2: walk through the city, but also because I live in

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Speaker 2: the city. You know, we've got those security teams on

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Speaker 2: the buggies going around. They're actually just moving the problem,

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Speaker 2: and they move the problem on across daily street, so

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Speaker 2: that impacts where I live.

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Speaker 3: So we every day.

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Speaker 2: When I get home, I'm calling you know, I'm using

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Speaker 2: that app to let Larichiea nation know that we've got

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Speaker 2: a problem and it's every single day.

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Speaker 1: Well, Andrea Wicking, it is something that you know, I

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Speaker 1: know this discussion is going to be something to a

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Speaker 1: lot of our listeners. They think, yep, we are well

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Speaker 1: and truly aware of what's going on. But unfortunately, at

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Speaker 1: the moment, there's a real sense of frustration, Like you've said,

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Speaker 1: from retailers, it is echoed throughout the community right now

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Speaker 1: that nothing's changing. And I think it's really important that

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Speaker 1: all of us do continue to stand up and talk

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Speaker 1: about it or nothing will ever change. So we really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, Katie, Thank you