Everyone has an opinion on how many carparks should be provided on streets and nobody enjoys paying for parking, wherever it is, with some viewing charges as unnecessary revenue raising.
However, paid parking and time limits help to ensure that, particularly where parking is near places many people might want to visit — shops, cafes, tourist attractions, for instance — there is a turnover of vehicles which allows more people travelling by car to visit those places.
Having designated carparks for those with disabilities also means those who have no choice but to use private vehicles are not disadvantaged.
The recent dramatic increase in penalties for using on-street disabled parking may have shocked some people who thought it was OK to just pop into such places whenever they are free. A wake-up call to those people was needed.
Unlike those living in some other centres, Dunedin motorists still enjoy the perk of free parking on Sundays.
But, while free parking on public holidays seems unlikely to change, last week city councillors, on the prompting of deputy mayor Cherry Lucas, agreed to a proposal which would introduce Sunday charges for parking in the central city and the council’s carparking buildings.
She suggested it should be $1.50 an hour, the same as Saturday rates.
This, along with other proposed increased charges for some off-street metered parking, outer zone on-street parking, parking permits and off-street leased parking will go out for consultation as part of the nine-year plan deliberations.
We trust there will be a breakdown of the expected extra revenue alongside the increased cost of policing any changes.
Like any parking issue, there will be a range of views on Sunday charging, but Cr Carmen Houlahan was the only councillor to speak against the idea.
She felt it was mean-spirited and worked against encouraging people to come into the city to shop.
However, the general feeling around the council table was this was long overdue, and free parking was likely a hangover from the days when shops closed on Sundays.
No mention was made of whether the same problem exists on public holidays, such as Boxing Day, when many shops may also be open.
Cr David Benson-Pope expected a backlash about the Sunday move if it goes ahead, and suggested the council would need to do some "associated marketing" around the issue.
It would make sense for such marketing to include collaboration with the Otago Regional Council on a promotion of Sunday bus travel.
Welcome wool change
Last week it was good to hear Kāinga Ora will revisit its tender process for carpets for state housing, which had earlier excluded considering wool options.
An understandable backlash from those in the wool sector and some political pressure was likely responsible for the backdown.
The state housing provider is reopening the tender process and, rather than excluding wool, says it wants to compare the quality and price of nylon and wool carpets.
Kāinga Ora, which owns and maintains more than 75,000 homes, has previously said it used nylon carpets because of their durability and price.
Any comparison between the two products must not be a once-over-lightly affair when it comes to cost.
It cannot ignore the environmental cost associated with plastic carpets which end up in landfill when they wear out. More than an estimated 130,000 tonnes of such plastic waste are dumped in New Zealand every year.
Nor should any comparison overlook the health benefits of wool, long recognised as a better choice for those living with respiratory diseases.
Also, there is the small matter of the government’s coalition agreement with New Zealand First, which states the government would "direct government agencies where practical and appropriate to preference the use of woollen fibres rather than artificial fibres in government buildings".
Let us see some evidence of such direction and a government commitment to the wool industry which goes beyond fine words.
