Opinion: Bring on the Tauranga harbour boardwalk

An artist's impression of how the harbourfront boardwalk could look from Memorial Park to Tauranga's downtown. Image/Supplied

The pros and cons of a walkway from The Strand to Memorial Park have been argued for more than a decade.

In the latest Tauranga City Council Annual Plan hearings Robyn Molloy once again put the idea on the table for discussion. Read more here.

I found an archived story from January 2004 about a study looking into construction costs so the idea has been floating around for at least 13 years.

It's a topic that everyone in Tauranga seems to have an opinion on. More than 150 people commented on the Bay of Plenty Times Facebook page - the overwhelming majority in favour of construction.

Those that were against the project were Avenues residents that didn't want the walkway in front of their homes or people who don't like anything that will increase their rates.

If it happened, I'm sure the Avenues residents would end up being the most frequent users of the boardwalk, and I don't think it would end up being the "corridor of crime" some of them fear.

Any thief would have to travel the length of the boardwalk with whatever they've managed to steal - I can't see a burglar wanting to lug a television that far, especially as the risks of being seen would be pretty high.

Part of living in a growing city is paying for new facilities, so the rates argument doesn't wash with me either.

The walkway would be such a gorgeous addition to our central city. I love the idea of being able to park up at Memorial Park and go for a stroll or ride my bike along the waterfront for lunch on The Strand.

This reminds me of the Hairy Maclary statues. The project took ages to get over the line and had many opponents, but now they're a well-loved waterfront attraction.

Let's add another one.