Time to sort out Queen St shambles
To Viv Beck, Heart of the City: What a sorry state affairs has developed in Queen St.
I have been following the saga in the Herald during the past few months.
I live on Waiheke and avoid every possible reason to come into the city but occasionally I have to. During those odd visits over the past few years the congestion on Quay St, for a very important seawall rebuild, Albert St and the bottom of Queen St due to the CRL and latterly Queen St during the trial, causes me to get back on the ferry as quickly as I can.
I understood your organisation was set up to deal with promoting the city centre, advocating for your members and staging events which in turn promote the city centre.
So why are you joining force with Save Queen Street to sue Auckland Council, the organisation that collects a special rate that funds your organisation ?
You have to return to the grass roots of your organisation.
The most sense I have read about the saga was in Simon Wilson’s story in the
NZ Herald, April 23. Such practical ideas if people would “get off their bums” and put them into practice. Save Queen Street should be using the skills of their architectural members to formulate ideas to “bring to the table” for discussion, maybe modification and then implication.
My heart goes out to Chris Upton with his $230,000 annual rates bill. He has to sell a huge number of flat whites to deal with that overhead. Who is his greedy landlord ?
Why develop Heart of the City into a protest organisation? In my opinion protests have had very limited success in achieving anything.
I suggest you organise for all parties in the argument to assemble in one room and start “banging some heads together”. Maybe Heather Simpson could be the moderator?
John Mead, Waiheke.