Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Last week, council decided to consult on having a ‘sinking lid' on the number of gaming machines. This proposal would see a reduction in the number of pokie machines over time.

It follows a survey last year that was sent to residents, and nearly two-thirds of the 5,736 responses wanted a ‘sinking lid', with only 15 per cent wanting the status quo.

Over $34m was taken out of our community through pokie machines in Tauranga last year, but only $8m was given back as grants to community organisations based here.

Gaming trusts threaten that grants to Tauranga will reduce over time if there's a sinking lid, but from these figures it's clear we aren't getting our fair share anyway, and perhaps they'd be better to focus their efforts on ensuring we do!

It also falls to council, under the Prostitution Reform Act, to have a prostitution bylaw.

Soliciting on the street is prohibited, however workers can work in brothels in commercial areas or in residential homes if they are single ‘owner-operators'. The proposed draft bylaw as written would allow up to four independent workers to work from the same home.

Personally, I'm not particularly interested in the work itself, but I do object to more clients parking up in residential streets awaiting their appointment.

It's not the same as folks waiting to go into the hairdressers.

Residential streets should be for families and kids to ride their bikes, not dodgy dishevelled blokes parking up.