Forty-nine car parks have been added and 51 have been removed across the city in recent changes voted in by councillors after being recommended by the traffic and parking bylaw subcommittee.
These include the addition of 23 five-minute parks, three mobility parks, four motorcycle parks and five authorised-vehicles-only parks.
Parks lost include 10 240-minute parks, seven 120-minute parks and 19 unrestricted parks.
Cr Lee Vandervis said many of the changes would affect parking in the city, and he asked council staff why many parks around George Street Normal School had been lost to signage about safety.
"They [the signs] could have been made cheaply without destroying badly needed car parks," Cr Vandervis said
Following several similar questions about parking, Cr Steve Walker raised a point of order and said Cr Vandervis had been speaking about parking in general, which was not covered by the item the council was discussing.
It was the second point of order raised in relation to Cr Vandervis and was upheld by Mayor Aaron Hawkins, who said staff were there to speak to questions raised about the item rather than a "wide-ranging discussion around parking".
Cr Jim O’Malley said it was frustrating to see questions asked of staff "that are there to criticise".
While parking near George Street Normal School was not on the agenda, it was still being brought up by Cr Vandervis, he said.
"They are traffic-calming measures [at the school]. It’s not us running around trying to steal car parks from people.
"We are improving the outcome but the only commentary some people can say is that car parks are going down," Cr O’Malley said.
The addition of 28 leased parking spaces at the site of the former The Warehouse in Maclaggan St, additionally included in the changes, was the result of "great negotiation" by council staff, he said.
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"We are improving the outcome but the only commentary some people can say is that car parks are going down," Cr O’Malley said.
I fail to see why Cr O'Malley is complaining about people saying car parks are going down ... they're certainly not going up and it doesn't take a genius to work out that there are a lot less parks in the CBD than there were a year or two ago.
One also has to take the time limits and restrictions placed on some of the "new' parking spaces compared to what the old ones were ... what we really need are the number of parks 5 years ago, the cost of using those parks, and the number of minutes "lost" due to parking restrictions and compare them to todays numbers.
As far as the 28 leased car parks in the old Warehouse are concerned, before patting yourselfon the back and having a celebration, how about telling us what the "great negotiations" ended up costing ? I don't believe leased carparks should be included in the totals, mainly because they are not for public use and probably cost those leasing them quite a bit more than the average parking space.
Would love to know why we suddenly have parking right around corners now. Teviot/timaru street intersection. Very distracting.
Why are there so many 5 minute parks now? Finding a place to go to a Vogel St precinct shop or cafe is such a mission we gave up, plenty of empty parks all 5 minutes. There must have been a big demand from the public for 5 minute parks, that the council heard while all us deaf and blind Dunedinites in deep comas were unaware of.
There are plenty of car parks on the Briscoes/Rebel Sport building, at the Spotlight car park and all along Crawford Street. That would mean of course that you have to walk a few meters (heaven forbid, walking and burning a few calories before eating at a cafe, what is the world coming to?!?!?!). The 5 min car parks are for drop off/pick up of people who really are unable to walk longer distances or if you just quickly want to run an errand. Makes perfect sense. The entitlement of some people who think it is somehow a human right not to have to move their bum a single meter is unbelievable!!!
Hey Lisa, companies provide parking for their customers. Not so the public can use them and do business where ever they want.
In fact if you use a shops carpark and go else where you can face a fine. and rightly so.
Face it, council and councillors are determined to remove public parking and force everyone onto alternate transport. Or be like the lazy mayor and just sponge off everyone else.
How can the car "drop off/pick up of people who really are unable to walk longer distances" when that person is the driver of the car? Don't you know that people who are physically challenged are not automatically unable to drive? Did you think they all have chauffeurs?