The goal is “increasing the number of people using active and low-carbon modes of transport to access and to move through the Gisborne CBD” — says NZTA/Waka Kotahi.
“This will help to normalise these modes of transport and increase mode-shift. It will also help business owners in the CBD to see the value added by a space that is more people-friendly and encourages visitors to stay longer and spend money in their vicinity.”
Weasel words couched in bureaucractic, jargonistic gobbledegook; “helping business owners” and “encouraging visitors” is none of the NZTA’s business — not core, not at all.
Council says: “We want everyone to be able to move around safely and easily using a variety of transport options in this region.”
Sounds laudable — but actually it is up to council to respond to the public’s actual transport choices and uses — not to try to force behaviour into someone’s notion of what is “better”.
Then Adventure Trust chair Haimona Ngata says: “We want streets that are inclusive for everyone, and to make sure our tamariki have a safe way to get from A to B on their bikes or scooters.”
Who is this “We” Mr Ngata? The only reason children frequent that area is because council has continued recreational use there, instead of relocating it to a more suitable area as the city has developed.
Mr Ngata says there are “massive” issues for people . . . using alternative modes of transport not feeling safe on the roads. Speed, driver behaviour, lack of safe crossing points, not feeling confident cycling on the roads, were all contributing factors.
“This project is an opportunity to look at roads differently. The child riding their bike to school and the logging truck on its way to the port are both users of the road, and both have a right to be on the road, regardless of their size or destination. Let’s make our streets safer for everyone.”
So Mr Ngata is a transport/road safety expert?
Let me remind him, and anyone else who supports this — roads are for wheeled transport. Footpaths are for people.
Any hindrance to Grey Street performing its proper function as a road will have immediate effect on the surrounding road network and traffic.
Mr Ngata says: “This project will be about a transformation of Grey Street to allow our community to interact with the street better, encourage a shift in transportation away from cars and change our perceptions of how we use our streets.”
None of your business, Mr Ngata — or that of the Adventure Trust. Stick to skateboarding.
Meantime, I see this as another example of the council deciding things without proper consultation with the public.
This is not democracy — it is local government in cahoots with small interest groups pushing selfish barrows and becoming ever more dictatorial.
