Re: Tairāwhiti Moves, inner city transport plans/Grey Street redesign.
I read with concern the Tairāwhiti Moves plan put forward to council. At the same time we are reading daily the issues and huge expense such plans are having in Auckland, with the people and mayor seeking to rein in Auckland Transport, not to mention similar issues in Tauranga. I do not believe the wider community has asked for this mode shift.
Right as we speak, we have a significant number of businesses and our farming community that just want the basic roading infrastructure repaired and improved, so the economic foundations of this region can be supported. The council already acknowledges the scale of the rebuild in our region is beyond their financial and physical capacity. This is not the time to be contemplating mode shift plans to further frustrate our community in going about our daily business.
Councillors need to recognise we are a small provincial city and do not need raised platform pedestrian crossings on main arterial routes that cost $500k.
The delay to Grey Street is an opportunity for this redesign to remain on hold, with the absolute focus on repairing our roading network post-Cyclone Gabrielle.
