The Christchurch City Council is getting a good rev up from me today.

This is because I think it’s appalling that it’s told the Central City Business association that it doesn’t have any money available to pay for security patrols in the central city - and so the association is going to have to cover the costs itself - at least for the rest of the year.

And let’s not beat around the bush. When I say the business association is going to have to pay, it’s the businesses themselves that are going to have to pay - because it’s the businesses that put the money into the business association.

And so, for the last few months they’ve fronted up with the money to trial security patrols in town because businesses are at their wits end with what’s going on.

Just this week, we’ve had a 61-year-old man viciously assaulted outside Ballantynes just after 6 o’clock at night, and he’s in hospital fighting for his life. An 18-year-old is facing charges in relation to that.

And today, there are reports coming through about kids - thought to be as young as eight - terrorising retailers in the central city, nicking stuff from their shops and gangs of them running around the place assaulting and robbing people.

It’s being reported that some of these kids - who range in ages from eight to about 16 - are carrying knives and sharpened sticks.

And a lot of it is centred around the Bus Exchange which, by the way, seems to be turning into just as much of a cesspit as the old Bus Exchange on Lichfield Street. Remember that place before the earthquakes? It was awful.

So the Central City Business Association has trialled these patrols and wants to keep them going because it thinks they’ve made some difference. But it’s going to have to cover the cost for the rest of the year at least because the city council says it doesn't have any money available.

Which, as far as I’m concerned, is absolutely pathetic. If I owned a business in the central city, I would feel abandoned by the city council.

The same city council which likes to bang on about activating the central city and supporting businesses and getting more people into the area blah, blah, blah.

But if it’s going to pull this stunt and tell businesses it hasn’t got the money needed to deal with this problem - which is not only threatening the personal safety of the people who own and work in these businesses, but also threatening their livelihoods - then all the talk about being a business-friendly council is just blah, blah, blah.

Remember, this is the council that wants to spend $33 million beautifying the streets around the new stadium site - before there’s even a stadium there. The council that wants to widen footpaths and slow down traffic. $33 million for that, thank you.

The same council that’s already turning a blind eye to the situation on Hereford Street. I spoke the other week with a guy who runs a business there who has to close early because of the security concerns for his staff.

Which is consistent with the reports coming through today, where one person who works in the central city is saying she’s leaving her retail job because she doesn’t feel safe. As she says, just the sight of someone in a hoodie sends her heart rate “through the roof”.

And here’s how someone else, who manages a vape shop in town, is describing the bus exchange as “a microcosm of all the rotten parts of Christchurch all rolled up into one place”.

It’s consistent too with the latest Quality of Life survey which found more than 50 percent of people don’t feel safe in the central city at night time.

Yet, despite all of this, the Christchurch City Council has the temerity to tell the people running businesses in this environment, that it doesn’t have any money available and - if they want more security patrols - they’re going to have to pay for it them themselves.

It is absolutely shameful.