Crs bicker over future of street
A DUNEDIN city councillor has launched a scathing attack on one of his colleagues over the suggestion the full pedestrianisation of George St is ‘‘inevitable’’. The comments were made as upgrades to the George St retail quarter came to an end last week after nearly three years of construction along the central city street.
George St jeweller and city councillor Brent Weatherall hit back at fellow councillor Steve Walker, who predicted within five years there would be a public push to fully pedestrianise the area. At the opening of the completed oneway street, Cr Walker said full pedestrianisation would fulfil his ‘‘lifetime dream’’ for the area. He said he had heard from various businesses a fully pedestrianised George St had become more desired as the work had progressed. Cr Weatherall said those comments were a ‘‘kick in the guts’’ for retailers who, he said, had told him a different story. Cr Weatherall — who said he chose not to attend the opening of a project he was ‘‘opposed to from day one’’ — suggested the idea pedestrianisation of the street was Cr Walker’s lifetime dream was incorrect ‘‘considering [his] accent’’. (Cr Walker was born in Singapore and raised in Hong Kong and Scotland.)
‘‘I was born here, live here and worked in Dunedin continuously with all my working life on George St,’’ he said.
‘‘You are entitled to express your biased views as I am entitled to express my biased lifetime views and visions for Dunedin.’’ Through the construction phase, George St had ‘‘basically’’ been pedestrianised for more than two years, which had caused some retailers to close their doors and cost others millions of dollars in lost revenue.
‘‘The feedback I’ve got from business owners is that what the work did was basically pedestrianise the main street so they had a feeling on how it was going to be, if it ever was pedestrianised. ‘‘Accessibility was compromised hugely over the redevelopment phase and as far as the dollars that went through their cash registers dropped.’’
While he conceded he had lost the battle over the future of George St, Cr Weatherall said he was not going to say he was happy with the George St redesign.
He was pleased with elements of the redesign — the planting, quality of the finished street and parking around the Farmers block — but was not pleased with the inclusion of a playground and the expected $104.97 million bill, which he labelled ‘‘horrific’’. Cr Weatherall said customers would ultimately judge the success of the project.
‘‘If they come back retailers will stay.
‘‘If the public choose to shop elsewhere because of accessibility, parking and congestion issues, retailers will follow them.’’
Cr Walker did not respond to questions by deadline.
Steve Walker