LWB_Issue_934_Online

Page 1

16 Jan - 22 Jan

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE FOREVER

No 934

LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN

JO

BS

61 IN SI

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Park and pay You have just under two weeks left to have a crack at Queenstown council’s plans for parking. There are few topics that get as much discussion, or get locals as hot under the collar, as car parking across the district’s townships, especially in Queenstown CBD. Where once you could drive into town and park on the street for free, or pay a reasonable fee for an all-day spot in a council-run car park, now your time is limited and you have to pay through the nose, and many locals have given up coming into town as a result. I can tell you, by my reading of the Draft Parking Strategy, released just before Christmas, it’s not going to get any better. It should be labelled a Draft AntiParking Strategy because it will deliver less parking, with no consideration for locals over visitors. It starts off on the right track - the intro nails what we want perfectly: “Townships should be easy for everyone to get around, whether by foot, bike, car, or public transport. When heading into town in a vehicle, parking should be easy to find and stress free. This means having enough parking, in the right places, for a variety of needs.” But once you get your head around the nicey-nicey council / corporate language through the rest of the document, which does not explicitly state what the council intends to do, you realise what the goal is. The same parking strategy as a major city ... but without the competing multi-story commercial carparks, or effective public transport. More people fighting for less parking that costs more. Look, we get it. Fastest growing population + thousands of visitors. We can’t just keep funnelling an endless line of cars and campervans into our restricted urban centres. But how about some consideration for locals? We live in low density housing spread out geographically and while public transport is adequate for a few, the rest of us still need a car to get around. Only Queenstown, by the way, has any local public transport. With no bed tax on the horizon, how about we make the tourists pay? Give us a locals card which offers cheap (or free!) preferential parking in councilrun carparks. Or ban campervans and rental cars downtown if you want to tackle congestion and provide enough spots. Because paying $70+ a week for parking, if you’re a worker, is not “stress free”. How about resurrecting the Boundary St carpark plans? How about decent park & ride options? Otherwise, it’s just like we’re being used as the cash cow to pay council debts. Locals should be able to park reasonably close to where we want to go, for a reasonable amount. Consultation closes Sunday, 28 January. David Gibbs

THE ORIGINAL CAMPING, CLIMBING & BACKCOUNTRY STORE TENTS - SLEEPING BAGS - CLIMBING & TRAMPING - FOOTWEAR - RENTAL SMALLPLANETSPORTS.COM - 15 SHOTOVER STREET, QT

It was all the fun of the fair for youngsters at the 108th Lake Hayes A&P Show on Saturday. More photos on p2. Photo: Wesley Jarman / Motion Bros


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