There's a classic riddle which goes, "The more you remove from me, the bigger I get. What am I?" You'll probably know that the answer is: a hole. But for the Rotorua Lakes Council, the answer could just as easily be: controversy.
Back in 2015 the source of the controversywas a cycleway which required a handful of car parks to be removed for its construction, and this week it's the removal of three car parks in favour of a "parklet".
In both situations, businesses who benefited from car parks mere steps from their front door appear to not have been adequately consulted on the changes and are rightly seething at the unannounced removal of the car parks.
Both the cycleway and the parklet are brilliant ideas, both aim to get more people into our streets by creating a fun, people focused vibe in the CBD. In my view, a CBD where people are out walking, interacting with each other, and checking out shop windows as they stroll or cycle to their destination can only be a good thing. Moving around in metal boxes removes opportunities for the same interactions and impulsive purchases.
The visionary ideas led and implemented by the RLC are admirable, the way in which Rotorua strives to leave the status quo behind can only be good for our city, but if the RLC continues to take bold steps forward without consulting and attempting to bring people and business along with them, they risk leaving the same people and business behind too.
Desert-like space The new City Focus is so bland and so confusing that every time I ride my mobility scooter through this area I feel like bursting into song.
How many will remember the song with the words "I rode through the desert on a horse with no name". I'm sorry I don't agree with the lovers of this space, but I'm entitled to my opinion too.
Hard to believe Reading John Pakes' letter in the Rotorua Daily Post (Letters, October 31), I was amazed to hear the word "benefits" used to describe the new City Focus. If there is a benefit, no matter how minute, I would love to know.
The writer also claimed "the request of inner city businesses so as to return a north/south east/west traffic flow to our CBD". This is such an absurd statement, I just cannot believe it.
Surely, anybody with a bit of common sense would know that foot traffic past shop windows is miles better than cars racing past. Ever since the council started to tinker with the CBD, first an unused bike track and now the hassles with the City Focus, businesses have lost a lot of trade, one of them even closed up.
On top of this the poor ratepayers face the $1.1 million bill. For what? We lost what we had and all we have left is a bare unsafe area. Seems a lot of money to me. Mr Pakes must be an easy-to-please person.
