The City is Ours #29, you lost me on the Manners Mall was neglected to justify with in my comment. The registered in the District plan, as you should know, has the value of the paper it's written on. (perhaps more to the solicitors milking it) A plan is just that. Something, an intention, a guide, to work to. It is not an actual. As variables and future unfolds progress should keep pace. Perhaps next you'll be telling us we should follow the plan of the New Zealand Company, who foresaw ponies prancing along the waterfront, because the plan was registered. (registered, as in placed in a known place - London)

To repeat. See past your emotions. People are flocking to the suburbs. The central CBD is mess. A dismal tatty run down one at that. The topography and building make it totally unsuitable for vehicle artery anything. It would seem the only way out of the mess is to have arterial bypass roads, perhaps as in Vivian and Quays, and make all the inner pedestrian. (That even works in proper cities) With public transport going to where it should, parking buildings appropriate, walking distances would be short. Shorter than now for many. Emergency services would easily traverse if the area had only pedestrians.

Again to repeat. You should know by now, Be it right or wrong, clever or totally stupid, council staff will go to any length, at any expense, to prove they know what they are doing. The more you antagonize, the more they will be determined. _ Same as with the NZTA, who have changed it's name almost monthly, but still remains a descendant of the Ministry of Works, who were affectionately known as the Ministry of Jerks, for obvious reasons. (they are getting better tho. Was reported they discovered their new motorway (?) was built in the wrong place before the paint had dried, rather than after)

The City is Ours. Is it really. It does seem that rather than electing councilors, to act on your behalf, to be head of council, (as in managers, directors) all of whom are effectively employees of the ratepayers. You instead have, unlike progressive districts, council staff doing what they want, councilors doing circles and stamping staff papers on the way round. Unless you're members are council staff, perhaps long ago you lost your city. Perhaps the city is theirs,

I think a two way bus system through manners was a hazardous decision and I think headlines discussing casualties will become incredibly common in the coming months. Anyone who believed that manners was a dying mall doesn't understand the student culture in Wellington - we aren't paying to get to the suburbs, we are already in town so we will shop in town. Granted it doesn't cater to your older generation but it was still quite popular. My major concern is the drunks heading home after a night out - it would be too easy to wobble on your heels and go under a bus in the new system. Personally I feel bad for the bus drivers... they don't want accidents to happen, but when this is the standard for their route it is bound to!

We think it is totally irresponsable of the Council to rely on Wellington bus drivers with different driving skills and abilities to guarantee public safety while manoeuvring through a sub-standard precinct designed for pedestrians. City safety would have been addressed by the rightfull owner had they applied the WCC 2008 Walking and Cycling policy at the planning stages of the Golden Mile improvements. Downer EDI have not done themselves any favours by constructing a disaster in the middle of the CBD.

We all know how bad Go Wellington bus drivers are, will just be a matter of time before the hit someone or something!

The bus stop option I proposed is not Wakefield Street but on lower Cuba Street now to be a shared space. It is premium to the shops and the waterfront. We could not have a more legible bus stop. There is no information to suggest the public will use lower Cuba Street because it is the thing as you say that is not close to the shops. The main foot traffic to use the mall is because it is premium access to the shops. Thank you for registering my energy. The youth will not go away from the city. They will go down to lower Cuba Street into the new mall making it even more sinister than that presently feared on Manners. Manners Mall is run down because council has let it get run down. The place appears shady at night because the lighting is poor. The street youth are responsible for the tagging not the lighting that disguises their nigh activity. You miss my point on why there is no effective defence against the mall being turned into a road. It is not because the public do not want the mall to stay. After all the initial response registered that 74% of the public were against the change. It is because the bureaucracy in the guise of transport machine has claimed it as its own. The arguments presented to challenge the revocation were never given a fair hearing. The democratic process was simply stolen. If you are to believe that the supposed benefit cost ratio supported for the change looks anything like that which was measured by Opus then I promise you are in for an extraordinary surprise. The only thing now that resembles anything similar is if the Wakefield Street option, was implemented and that is because the buses could still pass and the bus stops on lower Cuba were not constrained by buses pulling over.

Political Busker #28

I guess I just think there are three opinions on Manners Mall being turned into a bus lane:

Against it, for it and couldn't care less. Given the potential benefits to the public transport route I feel the Against it view would need to be in the majority to overturn this decision. That clearly isn't the case is it?

Like I said, I find your passion admirable but I also find it slightly misplaced. Manners Mall was rundown and I experienced little more than threats and violence in the place. I also can't see how shifting the bus route to Wakefield St is a good option when it takes passengers further away from the shops.

Manners Mall was designed in this way because it is the arterial route for the New Zealand Fire Service with Boulcott Street for direct access to the Terrace incase of an emergency for the purpose of saving lives and/or property.

Manners Mall was compensation for the bi-secting of the Bolton Street Cemetery as part of the Urban Motorway and a deal struck between Fowler and Muldoon to compensate Wellingtonians for the destruction of 50 hectares of heritage land and buildings in Thorndon.

Manners Mall is registered in the District plan 48 appendix 7 for open space value with sunlight protection. Manners Mall was neglected to justify D#25 and James#22 comments.

The City is Ours.......yours and mine Rex#27

Rex, spin is opinion (or fact even) if significantly weighted to one part of the argument. This is not the case in what I claim. In the Opus Report a term was used on page 20 (25 electronically) of the 'key attractor'. It gave reason why the wider Wakefield Street option was not given any due consideration, even though it is physically superior and has better bus stop legibility to the Manners Mall option. The text (read it for your self) http://www.wellington.govt.nz/projects/new/goldenmile/pdfs/appendix4-opus-report.pdf identifies Cuba Mall as a ‘Major Attractor’. As I say it also dismisses the massively ‘wider’ Wakefield Street option, because it is away for this key attractor. The key attractor cannot be the Civic Square because the bust stop would be closer. Logically and by Council design there is only one possible key attractor. This is upper Cuba Street (Cuba Character Area). This is also where the former Mayor and her Husband Rex have a 20% share in a hotel business and all the empty character Transit NZ buildings sat off the market for ages waiting to be filled. So I dispute I am spinning my opinion. My opinion is built off documented fact.

The City is Ours #23

Of course I have no objection to your relatives signing the epetition but I don't believe the council should put any weight on signatories from the other side of the world.

And even your own figures show you have around 1% support so I still don't see how you claim our city as yours.

Political Busker #26

That's your spin. I suspect the majority of Wellington isn't so concerned about the loss of Manners Mall. I know I'm not.

Rex, the buses going through the mall is simply a cheat on democracy. The reason the cheat was successful is because it was so protected by the minority working bureaucracy. This includes media. The story is not told in full and the City is Ours has caused variations in the design. For example the original design had the buses pointing directly into the Paris Texas corner. You talk about the e-petition getting only 53 votes. The answer is simple. Why would anyone sign? Of course it is too late. What the e-petition shows is how beaten the resistance to our proudly Wellington democratic abuse really is. Manners Mall has been neglected not that it is a natural place of neglect. The traditional spoilers for its condition and demise are openly those with Council interests and influence. Cuba Mall and Upper Cuba obviously benefit if the mall area is not attractive.