A controversial new 10kmh speed limit and coloured dots on Dunedin's main street are likely to be removed next week.
And when the blue dots and slow speeds go on George St, so will the free parking.
The 10kmh speed limit for a section of the city centre’s main thoroughfare, and the accompanying coloured dots, indicating a road shared by pedestrians, cyclists and cars, were part of a suite of Covid-19 Alert Level 2-inspired measures approved for the city centre in a 9-4 vote by the council’s planning and environment committee on May 15.
Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was the Government's ‘‘strong desire’’ to move to Level 1 as soon as practical, which could be as soon as Wednesday next week.
On Monday, the Dunedin City Council will decide whether to end its ‘‘Safer CBD’’ measures immediately, or when the country moves to Level 1.
It is not clear whether the measures had their desired effect.
‘‘Observations showed that most people appeared to be paying little concern to the 2m physical distancing requirements, either on footpaths,
inside shops or in the malls,’’ Mr Drew’s report to the council reads.
Further, Enterprise Dunedin staff surveyed 68 retailers and hospitality businesses in the affected parts of Princes and George Sts and found 51
respondents thought people shopping in the city centre were not using the safety measures to allow for physical distancing, 15 thought shoppers were, and two were unsure.
One of the advantages, listed in the report for council consideration is that with the immediate end of the measures, the collection of parking fees could resume which, prior to the lockdown, generated $135,000 a week.
The other option for council consideration is to end the trial when the country moves to Level 1.
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Comments
Somebody should be held responsible for this absolute waste of ratepayers money.
That somebody should be Bidrose for pre-empting a council decision and the 8 councillors that rubber stamped it....
Dunedin has the near perfect city center. It's not broken and doesn't need fixed. Nurture what you have got because if you don't people like Hawkins and his supporters will steal it all away from you. People have mentioned in these forums that Dunedin City Council should look at the pedestrianized city centers throughout the world and copy them and I have regularly asked the whereabouts of theses cities but alas nobody has come up with a realistic example of a city center that would work for Dunedin because the truth is there are none. The Greens will go to any length to prove a point even if it means telling lies. Dunedin has the best CBD of any city in New Zealand so please don't let anybody spoil something that is almost perfect anyway. Come and have a look at the Tauranga CBD and you will see what I mean.
The dots as well as the speed limit.... Not the smartest move, especially not in a country where many would prefer to drive in two cars at the same time if only that was possible.
These councillor's and mayor are doing their utmost to kill Dunedin's city centre. If Mayor Hawkins is so set on walking and providing social distancing rules, stay in Port Chalmers! It is nigh impossible to travel in a vehicle at 10km/h. I would think most bikes, electric scooters and skateboards all exceed this speed limit on a regular basis.
Its only $40,000 of taxpayer and ratepayer money. One of the cheapest wastes of money this council has come up with.
Mind you, the greens must be steaming, this was step one of closing George St, how dare road users be allowed back? But it isn't done yet, still time for the planners to dream up another BS reason to remove traffic before next years closure.
Probably won't be the last of this kind of nonsense as Greenies always think they know best so they think they do not need to bother with democracy.
The dots we're ridiculous, as was the idea of mixing pedestrians with traffic.
Parents spend years teaching our children to keep off the roads and away from cars, but this foolish council though it was a great idea to mix the two together and safety be darned!
Kids and cars don't mix, not even in Far Left Ideology world!
On go the dots, off go the dots.
Close off the Octagon, open up the Octagon.
Put out the ping pong tables, "disappear" the ping pong tables.
The only thing we can be sure of with Mayor Hawkins and Company is that they have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what they're doing...and it is costing you and me a fortune!