As the Director of D65 Fitness, I spend a lot of my time facilitating group fitness programmes in South Auckland and, being a mum to five active children. My husband and I see a real need in helping bring negative health stats down for our communities.

Alongside other programmes, we run FITLIFE, free for the community in Mangere and Otara. Our Mangere location uses the Future Streets paths infrastructure for fitness testing and, trainers also use it for their morning warm ups. When we first started, a lot of our participants didn’t even know the pathway existed, but now they are more confident going for walks there with their families. We just wish the lighting was a bit brighter, so those who wanted to use it at 6am when we’re out there, or after work, feel a bit safer in some of the dark spots.

Lighting is a real issue for me. We had to change one of our fitness session locations in Mangere Bridge because the lights on the old bridge were never on, or bright enough, for us to train safely at early hours of the morning. Even notifying the right departments didn’t see it fixed. Not just for us, but everyone who uses that space in the mornings.

It is also an issue for my neighbourhood in Papatoetoe. I don’t let my kids walk to the train station in Winter because it is often too dark and the street lights aren’t sufficient for the whole journey on the footpath. I am also hesitant to let them cross the main roads without me or their dad because I have seen so many cars drive through the pedestrian crossing to catch the lights before they turn red, it is just too dangerous.

All of our kids have bikes, they ride them up and down our street, but again, with safety issues, I won’t let them go out of my sight. I really do wish it wasn’t this way because our kids love being active.

If I could spend the investment money I would improve tracks in Hayman Park, Manukau and make them more connected. I’d improve the lighting along the current pathways so they are safer to use in all seasons and, I would make our communities more conected in general, improving safety in alleyways and back streets so we are are safe from traffic and other hazards.

Through our programmes we see hundreds of people a week and there is a real need now, to support active transport. The central city boasts lots of active people because they have the infrastructure to connect and get around. We want that here. Our participants want to be able to move more, safer, and more easily. We need investment to meet that need.

We want to help address health issues now. Our community need to voice their opinions and advocate for change. Everyone is responsible. I am responsible. We shouldn’t have to wait for decision makers to improve our own health and lifestyle, but lets rally together as a community to be an active part of the solution, not just complain about the problem.