The creator of a second Facebook group launched to attack the Dunedin City Council - this time over parking - is calling for a protest in the Octagon.
The online group "Dunedin City Parking" was started by Dunedin man Dale Wedlock on July 12, but by late yesterday had attracted just 142 members and 17 messages.
In one of the messages from Mr Wedlock - posted on Thursday - he suggested a protest against the city's new parking charges be staged in the upper Octagon, beginning at noon on August 8.
He encouraged those protesting to bring banners with "toot for support" on them, to "get the attention that this problem requires".
Contacted yesterday, Mr Wedlock said he believed the council was ignoring people's concerns about parking, and the protest would go ahead.
"I think it's about time they realised the people that voted them in have had enough," he said.
Meanwhile, the group "The DCC has lost the plot", started by Dunedin musician Chris Keogh earlier this month, has continued to grow.
Membership had risen from just over 1600 on July 23 to nearly 2500 by yesterday, while the number of messages posted had also increased, from 130 to 230.
However, council communications co-ordinator Rodney Bryant yesterday said there were "more effective ways" to comment on the council's performance than Facebook.
The council received feedback through various "traditional" means of consultation, including the council's long-term council community plan (LTCCP) consultation, the residents' opinion survey, public forums and consultation on specific issues, such as parking or kerbside rubbish collection, he said.
The council's own website also included a feedback form, and the website had received more than a million visits from 250,000 users since September last year, he said.
"There are more effective ways of recording and influencing the decisions of the council than posting complaints on Facebook sites," he said.
