Aberdeen Rd ill-suited to cycleway

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Once more the proposed cycleway is bringing much correspondence to your office.

An issue that does require thought before any decision is made is the fact Aberdeen Road has several establishments catering to many residents who are retired, infirm or requiring special care, ie the Salvation Army units, Bupa, Riverdeen Park, Te Wiremu and Arohaina.

Aberdeen Road is a busy street and quite a narrow one.

Only two of the five aforementioned establishments have provision for off-street parking for residents and visitors. Will folk attending the other complexes be required to negate a busy roadway should parking be permitted on one side of the road only?

Recently the post office box in front of Bupa was removed, so the elderly and infirm must now trek down to the Aberdeen Road shops to post mail. However, the post box in Rutene Road was left insitu as it was deemed the residents of Dunblane would be disadvantaged should this facility be lost.

Sometimes decisions made are not in the best interests of the residents of our city.

Just how many students would use the proposed cycleway? A lot now travel to school in cars. For the serious cyclist, Gisborne has some awesome rides around the city.

Isn’t it time the council started to address some other very important issues such as the state of footpaths around town, removing the graffiti that adorns many fences and buildings, and cleaning up the beach parking lots? There are no litter bins in the Pipe carpark opposite the Adventure Playground and the overnight freedom campers leave one big mess.

Surely it isn’t all about Oneroa walkway? Our beaches used to be beautiful but sadly are not now.

Do the councillors ever get out and really look at what is happening in our region? I would suspect not, or surely they would get some action going.

J. Lockett