Certainly no cone of silence at protest
The Island Bay cycleway fiasco just got stranger after a Wellington City councillor called 111 when opponents of the route staged a traffic cone protest in the suburb’s main street.
A group from the Island Bay Residents’ Association put the cones out in the southern Wellington suburb on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against the likely impact of losing 17 car parks in their shopping centre under the latest plans for the cycleway.
Businesses on The Parade, including Island Bay Butchery, say they fear being forced to close if the 17 car parks go.
Councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman, who witnessed the cone protest, said he was concerned about protesters standing in the road, and felt ‘‘duty bound’’ to call police via the emergency number.
He made it clear to the operator that the matter was low priority.
The protest soon ended and police officers were called off.
Calvi-Freeman said he had experience in traffic management, and was concerned about people standing on the carriageway.
‘‘I believed there were people potentially putting themselves in danger,’’ he said yesterday. ‘‘I know how easy it is for people to get killed.’’
The cones were being put at the road end of empty angle parks. The road through the village has a 30kmh speed limit.
Under police guidelines, 111 should be called only when someone is badly injured or in danger, there is a serious risk to life or property, a crime is being committed and the offenders are still there or have just left, or for a major public inconvenience such as trees blocking a road. The event should be happening or just have happened.
Jane Byrne, from the residents’ association, said Saturday’s protest met none of those guidelines. ‘‘There was no risk or danger to anyone.’’
The protest was reduced from an hour to 30 minutes at the request of business owners, Byrne said.
A police spokeswoman said that, if the positioning of the cones posed a ‘‘serious risk to public safety’’, police should be called.
‘‘It doesn’t sound, in this case, there was a serious risk.’’
Vicki Greco, also of the residents’ association, described CalviFreeman’s 111 call as a ‘‘knee-jerk reaction, which I think he would have regretted later’’.
Calvi-Freeman said he did not regret his involvement. He discussed the situation two or three times with chief planner David Chick, and called police only when things escalated into what he called ‘‘high farce’’.
Police confirmed receiving a 111 call about 12.15pm on Saturday and that, before they could attend, someone called back to say the situation had been defused.
Submissions on what Wellington City Council should do with the Island Bay cycleway ended on Sunday night, by which time about 3300 submissions had been made.
Councillors must now decide which options to go with: options A to D, which are essentially changes to what is there; option E, favoured by the residents’ association and businesses; or option F.
Neither options E or F are part of the public consultation process.
Councillor Diane Calvert, who holds the community planning and engagement portfolio, said under options A, B and C, 17 car parks would go from the shopping centre. Under option D, two would go.
While options E and F were not put out for consultation, that did not stop councillors from considering them, she said.
At Island Bay Butchery, Don Andrews said if the parks were removed permanently, his business of 30-odd years could probably not keep going.
Across the road at cafe Floyd’s, owner Dane Hur said losing the parks could also be a fatal blow to her cafe and others in the village.