Property investment, gentrification and residential activity in city blocks ain’t all it’s cracked up to be with businesses and local authorities in cahoots. This ‘sell-out’ happens the world over —welcome to market economics and no protection. Economic development, baby!
PUBLIC ALERT – GOOD ONE, HAMISH MCNEILLY
About “CAR PARKS” and military precision *eheu
### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:55, May 31 2017 Dunedin students may leave vibrant area after parking spaces cut
By Hamish McNeilly
Students may be driven away by parking changes designed to make Dunedin’s warehouse precinct more vibrant. Otago Polytechnic student Nick Mowat is angry over changes to short-term parking on Vogel St this week. Earlier this year, the Dunedin City Council announced it would cut the number of all-day parks from 75 to 37, and increase the number of short-term parks to 108. None of the remaining all-day parks would be on Vogel St though, which was home to an annual street party celebrating the area’s rejuvenation. Mowat said many students flatted in the old warehouses and were part of the revitalisation of the area. They were disappointed about the parking changes. Despite opposing the changes, residents were issued with a notice from the council saying the changes would go ahead. Council safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said: “The parking changes are designed to make the area safer and more dynamic for residents and visitors, and to make it easier for people to get to local businesses.” Read more
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[click to enlarge] DCC Webmap JanFeb 2013
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[click to enlarge]
█ Warehouse Precinct Revitalisation Plan (PDF, 3.6 MB)
This Plan seeks to support the revitalisation to ensure the important historic Warehouse Precinct area becomes a vibrant and successful part of the central city, once again. [DCC weblink]
### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:09, April 21 2015 Christchurch Convention Centre location a ‘mistake’
By Lois Cairns
Putting a convention centre in the middle of Christchurch’s city centre is a mistake, Canadian urban experimentalist Charles Montgomery says.
“If your interest is in creating rich, social, connected environments in your core you should be very wary of plans to drop mega structures into that fabric. Convention centres are notorious, because of their architectural requirements, for killing street life around their edges,” Montgomery said.
“We need to be very wary of renderings of mega structures like convention centres that are filled with cartoon people because frequently those cartoon people don’t actually appear after the structures are built.” Read more
Link received from Hype O’Thermia
Sat, 4 Apr 2015 at 10:20 a.m.
█ Message: Local shop owners blame lack of free parking and rising costs for “demise” of Hamilton’s CBD.
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The Central Business District of Hamilton is looking a little gloomy, with for lease signs up in many shop windows.
### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, April 4 2015 Hamilton central-city retail space sits empty
By Rachel Thomas and Nancy El-Gamel
Twenty per cent of ground level central Hamilton retail space is empty. Local shop owners are blaming lack of free parking and rising costs, while business leaders are pointing fingers at absentee landlords, sub-standard buildings and an inability to compete with lower rents at The Base.
The Base is New Zealand’s largest shopping Centre based in Te Rapa, 7 km North of Hamilton CBD.
To quantify what the average shopper sees [in the CBD], the Waikato Times counted all ground floor premises in the block within Hood St, Victoria St, Angelsea St and Liverpool St, finding that of 524 premises, the 104 empty ones outnumbered the 67 locally owned and operated stores in the area. […] Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker acknowledged the CBD needed desperate attention, and said council was taking a “holistic approach” to the problem. […] “For the city centre to be successful it must be commercially and economically successful and over the last few decades most reports have focused on physical changes, so we have started with an economic analysis and looked at the trend since 2001 in terms of the economy.” Read more + Video
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Read comments to the article.
How many other places – like Dunedin – mirror Hamilton ?
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
*Images: Waikato Times/Stuff – Hamilton CBD [screenshots from video]
Peter McIntyre and John Christie from the Otago Chamber of Commerce had lots to say about the rejuvenation of Dunedin’s heritage fabric and the city’s “vibrancy” after their trip to Portland, Oregon in 2011. What they said then is directly contradicted by the Chamber’s submission on the application for resource consent to redevelop the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Building (31-33 Thomas Burns Street) for residential use.
### ODT Online
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 Board bylaw reviewed
By Debbie Porteous
Having the ability to confiscate skateboards in the inner city would be ”extremely useful”, Dunedin police say.
City councillors seem set to recommend that the power to confiscate boards from people riding in prohibited areas in the central city be added to a reviewed skateboarding bylaw. Read more
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Worthy comment at ODT Online:
Where’s the problem?
Submitted by Challispoint on Wed, 19/02/2014 – 9:59am.
Sometimes I really wonder at the focus of our Dunedin City Council. With all the major issues and challenges they are facing they have decided to focus on . . . . skateboarding. After two days of public hearings (attended by four groups I understand) the staff are recommending that the current by-law be strengthened to allow “recreational vehicles” to be confiscated and the owner fined $100 if caught riding their scooter or skateboard in the central city area, the Gardens or St Clair. Read more
Dunedin, March 2010. Benchill (Wikimedia Commons).
### ODT Online Fri, 3 Jan 2014 Streetlight ideas from US trip
By Debbie Porteous
Seeing the bright lights of some major American cities has given the man responsible for a street lighting revolution set for Dunedin some solid ideas. Dunedin city council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring went to the United States last year to look at different technologies and visit cities that have started updating their street lighting. Read more
Puzzled. The news story says Peter Standring went to USA.
But lower down, it says (our emphasis):
“Los Angeles was in many ways the world leader in the procurement, installation and development of LED technology, and the group was “very lucky” to have had one and a-half hours of Mr Ebrahimian’s time, Mr Standring said.”
What group? A DCC group? (or a USA group he tagged along with?) What have we paid for? A 2013 trip for one person to Los Angeles, Durham, Racine, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco —or a trip for a group of staff and their wives?
Clarification, please.
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[via Upstart Incubator (@UpstartDunedin) who tweeted at 9:29 AM on Tue, Dec 31, 2013]
### mckinsey.com September 2013 How to make a city great
By 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. That could mean great things for economic growth — if the cities handle their expansion wisely. Here’s how.
What makes a great city? It is a pressing question because by 2030, 5 billion people — 60 percent of the world’s population — will live in cities, compared with 3.6 billion today, turbocharging the world’s economic growth. Leaders in developing nations must cope with urbanisation on an unprecedented scale, while those in developed ones wrestle with aging infrastructures and stretched budgets. All are fighting to secure or maintain the competitiveness of their cities and the livelihoods of the people who live in them. And all are aware of the environmental legacy they will leave if they fail to find more sustainable, resource-efficient ways of managing these cities.
Explore six diverse initiatives aimed at making cities great places to live and work.
To understand the core processes and benchmarks that can transform cities into superior places to live and work, McKinsey developed and analysed a comprehensive database of urban economic, social, and environmental performance indicators. The research included interviewing 30 mayors and other leaders in city governments on four continents and synthesizing the findings from more than 80 case studies that sought to understand what city leaders did to improve processes and services from urban planning to financial management and social housing.
The result is How to make a city great (PDF, 2.1MB), a new report arguing that leaders who make important strides in improving their cities do three things really well:
█ They achieve smart growth. Smart growth identifies and nurtures the very best opportunities for growth, plans ways to cope with its demands, integrates environmental thinking, and ensures that all citizens enjoy a city’s prosperity. Good city leaders also think about regional growth because as a metropolis expands, they will need the cooperation of surrounding municipalities and regional service providers. Integrating the environment into economic decision making is vital to smart growth: cities must invest in infrastructure that reduces emissions, waste production, and water use, as well as in building high-density communities.
█ They do more with less. Great cities secure all revenues due, explore investment partnerships, embrace technology, make organisational changes that eliminate overlapping roles, and manage expenses. Successful city leaders have also learned that, if designed and executed well, private–public partnerships can be an essential element of smart growth, delivering lower-cost, higher-quality infrastructure and services.
█ They win support for change. Change is not easy, and its momentum can even attract opposition. Successful city leaders build a high-performing team of civil servants, create a working environment where all employees are accountable for their actions, and take every opportunity to forge a stakeholder consensus with the local population and business community. They take steps to recruit and retain top talent, emphasise collaboration, and train civil servants in the use of technology.
Mayors are only too aware that their tenure will be limited. But if longer-term plans are articulated — and gain popular support because of short-term successes — leaders can start a virtuous cycle that sustains and encourages a great urban environment. Link to source
*Image: commons.wikimedia.org – Central city view of Dunedin, New Zealand, at night from Signal Hill lookout. The dark horizontal band above the centre of the photo is the Town Belt. Some landmarks including First Church of Otago and the Dunedin Railway Station are visible near the centre. Photo by Benchill, 9 March 2010.
How DUMB is your Dunedin City Council? You’d think councillors and council staff might have some conception of what the Chamber is and who it represents–given Harbourside, given Parking, given freaking EVERYTHING commerce related. Perhaps the council has a collective brain aneurysm; there must be some sort of obvious explanation. Would it further insult the general populace to learn what it is. And who’s the chair of the council subcommittee considering the policy revision, oh right, none other than Councillor Wilson, a cafe owner of Middlemarch. 1 + 6 = 3
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### ODT Online Fri, 8 Jun 2012 Bold bid to clear footpaths
By Debbie Porteous
Dunedin city councillors are recommending all portable advertising signs and possibly all displays of goods be banned from city footpaths. But the moves to keep the city’s footpaths clear for the whole community’s use was greeted with scepticism by some of those who might be affected by the revised policy.
Second-hand trader Neville Herd, of Arkwright Traders, who displays furniture outside this South Dunedin stores, said the public should decide what was appropriate.
Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie said the proposals were very bold and it was frustrating the council did not include them in the original extensive consultation on the issue.
### architectmagazine.com January 20, 2010
Architect: Design Enough Arts; More District
By Cathy Lang Ho
Dallas seeks to create a vibrant urban neighbourhood out of a slew of starchitect buildings. It’s not the first city to pin its hopes for a shot of urban adrenaline on dazzling new cultural buildings, but it’s among the more ambitious.
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House by Foster + Partners, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre by REX/OMA, and the Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park by landscape architect Michel Desvigne are the latest additions to the downtown arts district, a 68-acre area that already includes structures designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, I. M. Pei, Renzo Piano, and Brad Cloepfil.
The newly completed projects—along with an outdoor amphitheatre by Foster and another theatre by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, slated for completion in 2010 and 2011, respectively—constitute the AT&T Performing Arts Centre, the largest and most costly performing arts complex built in the United States since Lincoln Centre, which, of course, grandfathered the trend of arts districts doubling as urban development tools. Read more + Slideshow
DCC Webmap JanFeb 2013
![Charles Montgomery on Q+A TVI 12.4.15 - ONE NEWS [tvnz.co.nz]](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/charles-montgomery-on-qa-tvi-12-4-15-one-news-tvnz-co-nz.jpg)
![ODT 8.10.11 Otago Chamber of Commerce [odt.co.nz] rip](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/odt-8-10-11-otago-chamber-of-commerce-odt-co-nz-rip.jpg)
![Skateboarder grace_k_grind_caversham [schidt.com] 1](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/skateboarder-grace_k_grind_caversham-schidt-com-1.jpg)
![Dunedin at night [commons.wikimedia.org] 1](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/dunedin-at-night-commons-wikimedia-org-1.jpg)
What if? Dunedin... 