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Mind your Manners: the upheaval begins
People still oppose the Manners Mall reconstruction – even as the pavers are lifted from under their feet.
-Story from Newswire.co.nz
Traffic noise, pollution, interruption to business and the loss of space to “hang out” in an iconic Wellington area are among the reasons they oppose the mall work, according to an informal NewsWire poll.
NewsWire talks to mall users as the $11 million project to transform the busy pedestrian route into a bus lane begins.
Earl Hilton, kaitiaki and stall owner from Wellington central, says the development is another example of the council “forgetting about the people and harking back to the grinding dollar”.
“Rip and tear, that’s all it is. Where is the spiritualism, the love, the soul?”
He is concerned that the council is not making changes that are best for future generations. “We can stop all this. We just need a Maori to make a claim on the land, which is part of the foreshore and seabed. “What a bunch of clowns. The whole thing is a joke.”
Marcus Ward, a student from Wellington central, says the redevelopment “is the worst thing the council has ever done,” and puts the popularity and central location of Manners Mall at stake.
Hospital volunteer Roger Hall, Seatoun, thinks it is “all quite crazy”. He is against the changes and concerned about potential losses for businesses in the area. “The changes in traffic patterns will be interesting. Buses cause noise, pollution and fumes.”
Opinions expressed by interviewees included concern about access to shops.
“I walk heaps and don’t use buses, and until now Manners Mall was a good thoroughfare,” says Ainsley Thompson, a chef from Mt Cook. She says the development will affect access to central shopping areas, and she will shop elsewhere.
Johnsonville student Jessie Scott calls the redevelopment stupid. “Once the road has been completed, all the shops will go downhill. There will be heaps of noise and pollution, and nowhere for the kids to hang out.”
She is concerned the police station around the corner will see an influx of trouble when the communal area within the existing mall is removed. “Manners Mall is where all the kids hang out. Once it changes, all the gangsters will start pushing kids out in front of the buses.”
Dave Henskie, who manages Time Zone in Manners Mall, has been a part of the consultation process. “Political buskers come in all the time. We fill out surveys and answer questions, but no one listens to us.”
He cannot foresee how the development will change anything, but hopes the proposed bus stop outside his shop will bring in more customers. “The council told us that the changes will happen in stages so that there is still access, but the delivery staff are hating it.”
Unlike the majority of those questioned, Stewart Zaya , of Abrakebabra, is cautiously optimistic about the development. “Maybe it will be better for business, maybe worse. I can’t tell.”
He was initially against the project, but now hopes regular customers will continue to eat at the restaurant.
Some of the interviewees knew little of the development.
“I don’t know a whole lot about it personally, but it might be a good idea because Manners Mall is not as busy as Cuba Street,” says Ben Hazlewood, store assistant from Newtown.
Construction has not yet affected his store, but he says that it might cause problems in the future.
It will be interesting to see if all the predictions come true. Can someone keep a toll of how many kids have been pushed in front of buses by gangsters?
I notice this vox pop has six anti comments, and just the one pro.
In Council surveys polled that 68% of people were supportive of turning the mall into a bus lane.
Why did these journalism students decide to only print mostly pro-bus lane comments? That’s pretty unrepresentative of public opinion. If I was their teacher, I would give them a fail grade for writing a biased article.
Greg – it’s obvious that the council surveys failed to capture the opinions of people using the Manners Mall.
Unlike Cuba Mall, Manners Mall has never really worked as an inviting public space. Part of the reason for this is that, unlike Cuba Street, developers demolished the low-rise historic buildings that lined it in the 1970s and put up bland, shadow-creating high rises. It’s therefore not a place you really want to linger in.
I think revamp is a a good idea because it will improve the speed of buses through town – lowering green house gases. As for the kids: they’ve hung out on street corners for centuries so there is no reason why they can’t continue to ‘claim’ this part of Manners Street if they want to.
Manners Mall was compensation for the destruction of 50 hectares of heritage land and buildings in Thorndon, and materialised when Wellingtonians cried foul after 3.700 graves were desecrated in the seventies in the Bolton Street Cemetery. To have it returned to a two way bus lane is an insult to the past and shows how shameless our Councillors are in fact.
The survey mentioned by Greg was comissioned by the WCC after discovering that 74% of Wellingtonians opposed the idea of running buses through Manners Mall. This project was and still is dogged by half truths and lies and anyone who believes bus services will improve is delusional.
But wait there is more: Vibrant Wellington is a team standing for the pedestrianization of the Golden Mile from the Railway Station to the Embassy Theatre … your opportunity to Save Manners Mall one more time.
This Council has thrown millions of dollars at this project regardless of the submissions in opposition by affected retailers who have to suffer inconvenience during construction. What about the millions of dollars that were thrown at this Mall to convert it from a roadway in the first place? Seems as if silence is golden on this issue. This Council spends money with reckless abandon, after all it is not theirs!
If the “project management” of Manners Mall is carried out in a similar fashion to that of the Taranaki St/ Manners St intersection upgrade then we are all in for a very long winter.
It is significant that the Local body voting will be held in the midst of the disruption & at least there will be a chance for Wellingtonians to make a point.
One wonders just how much longer the “upgrade” project at the Manners/Taranaki Streets can be extended by. Those old enough to remember the Ministry of Works teams with extended tea breaks and many shovel leaners thought that we had seen inefficiency at its worst, but this project is trying to set a world record.
So little being done by so many in so much time. One hesitates to ask at what cost, but then it is only ratepayers’ money.
Was this job an advertised tender, or given to the WCC’s favoured contractors on a “do and charge” basis?