Call for review of George St work criticised

The ticket calls itself a political organisation, rather than a party.

Cr Barker said a review would be a frivolous waste of resources, money and time, when years of work had gone into developing the plan.

The Otago Daily Times has previously asked the council if the road could realistically be made capable of sustaining twoway traffic, should the oneway traffic system not work out.

Central city plan project director Dr Glen Hazelton said in April this could have imposed an additional cost of between $7 million and $8 million.

Mayoral candidate Bill Acklin said it was all very well to call for a review, ‘‘but with what goal in mind?’’.

It was difficult to change council decisions once work had been contracted, he said.

City council candidate David BensonPope said the contract was let months ago.

‘‘What’s more, the public response to [Team Dunedin’s] suggestion indicates the overwhelming wish of the community to get on with this longoverdue upgrade.’’

City council candidate Steve Walker was scathing.

‘‘Without even factoring in the impracticality, inconvenience and stupidity of the suggestion, it's quite clearly a Trumpesque attempt to tap into the disgruntled minority who believe that Dunedin should remain a 1970s backwater, giving no regard to safety, our zerocarbon ambitions and the fact that people are the economic powerhouses of the city and not cars.’’

Vick Veera was one council candidate who supported a review.

Replacing underground pipes had to be done, but he did not agree with the plan for the aboveground work.

Council candidate Christine Garey said the council needed to finish the projects it started.

However, mayoral candidate Richard Seager said the George St project was ‘‘not good for cars, not good for cyclists, not good for pedestrians and not good for retailers’’.

There were plenty of cities in Europe with retail precincts that were carless, he said.