Car parks forgone for safety

Forty-five car parks are being removed from within new school safety zones around six Dunedin schools.

The work was part of the Dunedin City Council’s $3million, 15-school programme that prioritised safety over parking at Dunedin schools, council transport engineering and road safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said.

But T M Automotive owner Mike McMillan said there were no longer parks available when he showed up for work at his business in Howe St at 7am. Work on nearby George Street Normal School was under way.

Mr McMillan said that over two decades — despite at times hearing otherwise — he had seen 16 parking spots reduced to just four in the about 100m congested stretch of Howe St that did not need any more traffic calming.

"It’s been a historic thing — every four or five years we lose more and more parks. After having discussions with the council about the best way to sort out issues, they turn around and do completely the opposite," he said.

Local businessmen Mike McMillan (left) and Jim Strang are deeply unhappy about changes to parking...
Local businessmen Mike McMillan (left) and Jim Strang are deeply unhappy about changes to parking in Howe St. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
"It’s one of those things — now it’s in, it’s probably never going to go.

"It’s just extremely frustrating after all the years of trying to sort this out every few years they make it more and more difficult for businesses in the street, and, I would say, for a lot of the residents that are trying to park outside their flat.

"It seems to be that when they have the slightest what-they-consider-a problem they start placing these bloody bollards everywhere instead of actually trying to fix the problem," Mr McMillan said.

Mr Poulsen said the current work programme — the installation of speed signs, gateways, and safer crossings — had been completed at Bayfield High School and Fairfield School.

Work at the nine schools in the programme (three school zones have not lost parking spaces) was hoped to be completed over the next several months.

"We’d love to make these changes without taking any parking out ... it’s just not possible unfortunately," he said.

"The main thing for us is really the safety there."

In other areas of the city, feedback from schools and residents and monitoring and assessment showed the measures had slowed vehicle speeds and improved safety for people, a January statement from the council said.

Mr Poulsen confirmed there had been discussion of adding spaces through angle parking in Howe St, but due to the number of driveways in the street the benefit was deemed negligible.

Mr McMillan’s neighbour, Piano Specialists owner Jim Strang, did not buy the safety argument for Howe St, which runs perpendicular to George St.

"If it was for a good reason, if it was safety, if it was going to save a life, you can’t argue. But this is one short block with traffic lights at each end.

"Nobody speeds up or down here. They spend most of their time here sitting at those lights."

Out of space

Parking spaces lost for school safety:

George Street Normal School 12
Bayfield High School 9
Dunedin North Intermediate School/Sacred Heart School 9
Fairfield School 8
Kaikorai Valley College 7
East Taieri, Waitati and Wakari School 0
Source: DCC

Comments

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Another fine example of council stupidity is the massive increase of speed bumps along Maori Road. It's plain to see that far fewer motorists actually use this road any more. It has been turned into a such fairground ride, that drivers simply drive past it, and continue down Serpentine Road and Maclaggan Street. Now we have daily traffic jambs at the intersection below Speights Brewery!

And this was done to increase safety for children crossing over Maori Road! Which is impossible anyway, as there is only one footpath the entire length of this road...... Sigh!

The ploy seems to be: "If we slow down the business of a few people who have only a few votes every few years, we can disempower them and maybe they will complain but have little ability to do anything about it. This being so, we may pressure them to move to another area and we can make easier the sale of their properties to our University of Otago mates."

Watched the video didn't read the whole article, well done gents for highlighting. The DCC is all take no give take more money for rates, take carparks, take the octagon, where is the giving? this council under the dictatorship of Hawkins is out of control, and needs to stop. Parking doesn't concern him he doesn't understand it because he doesn't drive. Where are the stats on accidents in and around the areas, Bayfiled school I can understand How does a town/city get a mayor and or council removed and re voted in.

This will just push mum/dad dropping of poor johnny 110m firther away from school until the zone increases to 150m! And yet in Christchurch you can park within 25m of a school and visit their lovely museum for half the price of the parking you pay here for an hour.

How many children have been hurt or killed in these areas? You can’t idiot proof crossing roads.

There is also the problem of moving the issue away from schools as parents have to park further away to collect their children.

This is busy work for the council to be seen to be doing something while wasting our rates money and of course justify increases.

I'm not sure on this one. I'm usually all for safety first but there comes a point when it's over done. But then, I don't have kids so maybe it would make a difference if I had.

Unbelievable comments here again, really people you should be ashamed of yourself! Some people seriously want to see injured and dead children first before they accept that anyone is taking away their sacred parking spots!! If you haters would all spend less time in your cars and more time walking you could burn of some of that negative energy together with a few calories. Better for your physical and mental health, better for the environment!

Imagine if this was in Paris, the public wouldn't stand for it - I'm not condoning it but...
#DunedinUprising #RiseupDunedin

Haha good one, are you aware that Paris has car free days?
I cite: "On Sunday 22th Septembre, Paris’s fourth car-free day will empty the entire city of cars! The city will be closed to car traffic and turned over to pedestrians. For once, Parisians and visitors alike can get around and enjoy free events in peace and quiet."
https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-show-exhibition/170120/third-car-free-day...

Yes I am aware - I’m also aware that Greater Paris has a population of 10.2million residents and with a very good public transport system can support these initiatives. Dunedin doesn’t. A larger percentage of Dunedin residents live outside of the the city/CBD now so rely on private transport to get into town to work or shop - although I can’t wait until Amazon Prime comes to NZ!

Stripping the city of car parks is going to hurt business in the long run. The elected government at DCC need to stop wasting tax payer money on frivolous projects and more overpaid staff. Cars are here to stay for the foreseeable future. DCC should use the capitalist model and spend money on productive resources like parking structures. They would recoup the funding, in a short time period, through parking fees. A huge parking structure with at least 1000 parks should be completed before beginning the hospital rebuild.

Completely agree. 3 have just been completed in Christchurch CBD and 2, maybe more are currently under development in Auckland water front.

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