Bringing back the good energy
Lobby group aims to re-create a city centre people feel safe in, writes
An energetic Auckland City Centre Residents’ Group has drawn up an urgent list of things-to-do for smartening up and revitalising the downtown, including making it safer.
“Our role is to create a city centre people want to come to and feel safe in. We have to do that now,” says group chair Noelene Buckland.
Over two years of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, foot traffic in the city centre has dropped as much as 70 per cent, and many retail and hospitality businesses have closed because of the lack of patronage.
“It will be a process and take time to get people back,” says Buckland. “As the borders open up, the tourists will return. As the entertainment opens up, people will want to engage.
“We are social animals. I’m confident the city centre can be as busy as it was, and we have to plan for it.”
Established in 2005, the group — representing 40,000 residents living within 433ha — has two seats on the 19-strong Auckland City Centre Advisory Board which advises the council on achieving outcomes of the Auckland Plan, City Centre Masterplan and spending the targeted rate of nearly $23 million a year or $220m over 10 years.
The residents’ group is pressing for street improvements and fresh laneways, the return of a downtown police station and a novel transport plan to attract visitors. The group wants more shared spaces, and the streetscaping and increasing pedestrianisation of Queen St to continue through to Mayoral Drive.
Elliott St, Darby St, Jean Batten Place, Fort St, Fort Lane, Lorne St and O’Connell St have been transformed in favour of pedestrians to create more seating, outside dining and a cosmopolitan edge.
Now, the group wants the Federal St shared space extended across Victoria and Wellesley streets, improvement to Emily Place and development of the Victoria St green link to Albert Park — all outlined in the Masterplan.
The Waihorotiu Stream runs under Queen St, buried in pipes. It once meandered down the Karangahape ridge, feeding a swamp at Aotea Square, a mini waterfall near Victoria St joined by tributaries and reaching the sea at the Fort St beach.
The residents’ group wants to tell the historical story — it’s said the stream was inhabited by Horotiu Taniwha — and create water features along the way, making it a visitor attraction.
Adding spice would be a series of community gardens within the city centre. The group already runs the City Centre Market on Freyberg Square for fresh produce, organised by committee member Antony Phillips every Saturday morning.
“It’s a way of building a neighbourhood,” says Phillips. “People come and do their weekly shopping and have connected with others to form walking groups and book clubs.
“When I see these things happening, it makes me feel happy.”
To recreate a vibrant community in the city centre, the group’s ideal is to have more walking and cycling and limiting vehicle through traffic. The shared spaces have certainly reduced the amount of vehicle traffic.
Buckland says “we need to take a wide view of transport in Auckland from a climate change perspective as transport is responsible for 45 per cent of the carbon emissions.
“The Masterplan calls for zero emissions, and why not restrict Queen St to electric buses, and service and delivery vehicles, though light rail trams are still envisaged.”
Buckland’s plan is to charge an annual parking permit of $500 for every registered vehicle — 1.7 million of them in Auckland, providing $850m a year. Each registered vehicle owner would pay $1.37 a day. “If you have a car in the city centre but no car park, it costs $300 a month to rent one, and you are paying $3600 a year for hardly using your car,” she says.
Crime has increased in the past two years in the city centre.
“We need a physical police station in the city centre, and a return to community policing,” says Buckland. “It’s not for the police, it’s for us. It’s a place where we can go and report lost property and incidents.”
But police poured cold water on the proposal, with acting chief commander for Auckland City Inspector Grae Anderson saying the best bang for the buck is having more boots on the ground, patrolling in pairs on the street and in vehicles.
Buckland says: “We haven’t seen many of the boots. The central police station has moved from Greys Ave to College Hill and it’s not easy to access. We need 24/7 security and I’m not sure we are seeing that yet.”
The downtown police station in Fort St was closed in 2013. Phillips says Fort St has been a hot spot for crime and “we know crime doesn’t happen outside police stations.”
He says a police station in the city centre doesn’t have to be fully serviced, and it is an opportunity to have other social agencies involved such as the Ministry of Social Development and District Health Board.
“There is a range of issues downtown ( such as alcohol abuse and homelessness). One of the big problems is the troublemakers bring alcohol into the city centre, consume it in public places and then something bad happens.”
Buckland says foot traffic, or lack of it, drives behaviour. “More people coming into the city centre will modify that behaviour. What we are seeing at the moment is perfectly predictable.”
We are social animals. I’m confident the city centre can be as busy as it was; we have to plan for it. Noelene Buckland