Manukau City’s singing Mayor, Len Brown made a special appearance this week at Auckland’s major steel manufacturer Pacific Steel Group after a meeting with General Manager John Beveridge at the Lease signing of the Old Papatoetoe Fire Station to Youthline.

The Mayor spoke to staff during the lunch function held in their staff cafeteria, commending them for their outstanding efforts to remain resilient against the odds of economic adversity. Among many personal experiences the Mayor spoke of his early years in businesses as a Lawyer mentioning the hard times of starting up during early 1991 in the middle of a recovering market.

“I had decided in 1991 to go into business in East Tamaki. Now at that time, there was nothing but for sale signs, for lease signs around the place.” A lot of people were unemployed and businesses really being challenged and that was the time that I felt to set up business – at the bottom of the trough, because you might be at the bottom of the trough, but you’re also at the beginning of the next wave coming through. And that is the mentality that I learnt from being a resident, a citizen, a proud homeboy of this community”.

Pacific Steel is a large employment player within the South Auckland Community drawing over 400 in employment and contractual positions. They are recognised as staunch supporters to the South Auckland community during these tough economic times, with various sponsorship projects on the go - the latest being a $20,000 sponsorship of Youthline for their new premises fit out of the Old Papatoetoe Fire Station. This project which will see the arrival a much needed youth centre for South Auckland.

“This is something positive big businesses can do to help with youth issues." "The old fire station is 50 years old but ¬ it is brilliantly located and it now needs to be warm and energy efficient, it needs to be quiet (for counselling) and it needs to have a heart. It needs high quality building product for its transformation from fire station to youth hub", says John Beveridge, General Manager of Pacific Steel Group.

At the close of Len’s visit to Pacific Steel he signed off his speech with a few special verses in Maori, proving he’s still the Mayor who is very proud to be born and bred in South Auckland.