Still trying to introduce evidence-based pragmatism in place of what is currently fashionable in green circles, Cr Lee Vandervis wrote to "decision-makers and Councillors".
[my bolding for emphasis]
Why ‘Pedestrianisation’ works in ancient European capital Downtowns but won’t work here.
Subject: Re: Cycleways and pedestrianisation [#ABE06C]
Dear decision-makers and Councillors,
As well as reading the suggested stories about pedestrianisation in Oslo – Norway’s Capital of nearly 700,000 of the most oil-rich people in Europe, or reading similar stories of equally dissimilar to Dunedin ancient Capitals like Copenhagen, Berlin etc. it would be in the interests of relevance to consider the pedestrianisation experiments of two small English University cities of similar population to Dunedin – Ipswich and Norwich.
Here, even after decades of pedestrianisation the results have been much more mixed, with many regrets about the downsides of pedestrianisation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/…/pedestrianised-towns-say-we…
Closer to home, the pedestrianisation of Christchurch’s Cathedral Square had already banished the vibrancy and character that existed in the Square before the earthquakes permanently unsettled the whole city centre.
Christchurch’s Square was the functional equivalent of our Octagon, the intersection and crossroads of the cities’ two main central streets, a portent of what is to come for Dunedin if our most successful George st is to become a cycleway using the biggest debt-funded street ‘surface treatments’ budget in our history.
I caution careful consideration, not of population-dense ancient European capital city centres designed before automobiles, but of how much we will certainly lose financially, as well as lose functionally, by removing parking and motorised transport from the heart of Dunedin.
Kind regards,
Lee
His follow-up Facebook post, 22 December 2019:
Party politics in the DCC has an agenda to take Dunedin back to the 1950s...
As well as reading the suggested stories about pedestrianisation in Oslo – Norway’s Capital of nearly 700,000 of the most oil-rich people in Europe, or reading similar stories of equally dissimilar to Dunedin ancient Capitals like Copenhagen, Berlin etc. it would be in the interests of relevance to consider the pedestrianisation experiments of two small English University cities of similar population to Dunedin – Ipswich and Norwich.
Here, even after decades of pedestrianisation the results have been much more mixed, with many regrets about the downsides of pedestrianisation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/…/pedestrianised-towns-say-we…
Closer to home, the pedestrianisation of Christchurch’s Cathedral Square had already banished the vibrancy and character that existed in the Square before the earthquakes permanently unsettled the whole city centre.
Christchurch’s Square was the functional equivalent of our Octagon, the intersection and crossroads of the cities’ two main central streets, a portent of what is to come for Dunedin if our most successful George st is to become a cycleway using the biggest debt-funded street ‘surface treatments’ budget in our history.
I caution careful consideration, not of population-dense ancient European capital city centres designed before automobiles, but of how much we will certainly lose financially, as well as lose functionally, by removing parking and motorised transport from the heart of Dunedin.
Kind regards,
Lee
His follow-up Facebook post, 22 December 2019:
PEDESTRIANISATION,
George st, soon the Octagon, then lower Stuart st, to the new Hospital positioned to further choke One-Way traffic flow.Party politics in the DCC has an agenda to take Dunedin back to the 1950s...
Lee is right - simply follow the migration of business from George Street to the 'barns' that provide convenient parking.
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