Call to delay cycleway project
However, Cr Jim O'Malley has defended the project and says he is so tired of accusations from "these same businessmen" he may quit local politics.
His comments come after Jason La Hood called for the Albany St Connection project — which aims to provide a safe walking and cycling connection between the shared Te Aka Ōtākou harbour path, Dunedin's tertiary area and the CBD — to be delayed by 24 months, to give business owners in the city a chance to recover from an already difficult period.
An "overwhelming concern" of business owners was why Dunedin city councillors seemed "hell-bent" on proceeding with work on the project this year, Mr La Hood said.
Many had already endured "years of punishing disruption" — first the Covid-19 pandemic, then the George St upgrades project that "drove shoppers away with many businesses barely staying afloat".
If the work proceeded this year, business owners would be "hit with a devastating trifecta of soaring rates, collapsing consumer spending and the prolonged disruption of street works".
"What is worse is the growing perception that some councillors are indifferent to the suffering it's causing.
"As one business owner put it, 'it feels like councillors are torturing us'.
"The comment may sound emotional, but it is born from real exhaustion, fear and frustration from people who are simply trying to survive and support their families."
A simple and "empathic" alternative was to delay the project by 24 months.
"Let them trade through this economic storm without another round of chaos being dumped at their door."
The council last week announced it had reintroduced nine carparks to the project's design along two areas on the northern side of Albany St.
Public consultation would take place until August 7 regarding suggested parking restrictions.
Mr La Hood was one of two business owners whom Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said at an infrastructure services committee meeting last month had contacted him with concerns about the level of consultation on the project.
Cr O'Malley said Mr La Hood said the same thing every time the council did street work.
"And, frankly, it's difficult to perform your role as a councillor when you're accused of dirty things like that.
"To be honest, I still haven't put in my form to go back for another three years because I am tired of this stuff.
"Seriously, you work your arse off to run these committees and run them properly, you come up with a conclusion and then these same businessmen, every time, turn around and say 'I wasn't consulted'."
There had been a "complete and utter lack of respect" for the consultation process, Cr O'Malley said.
"It happened, it was done properly, it was well executed.
"They just didn't get what they wanted."
The project would not receive co-funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi if it was not completed this year, he said.
In late 2023, a hearings committee voted 2-1 to proceed with the then recommended proposal to remove 68 carparks in the street.
But Cr O'Malley said this had never been put before the full council and believed building owners had since "got in and interfered with the process".
"I am more concerned that it took 18 months and nothing happened at all, and now the mayor is going around and, suddenly, we're having another consultation."
He believed Mr Radich was acting in business owners' interest, "and that's not necessarily the interest of the city as a whole".
He likened it to talks had with the business community during the George St redevelopment.
"I see this as just more of the same, the mayor and his mates."
Mr Radich said yesterday he was "mates with many business owners, job holders, residents and shoppers in this city".
As with George St, the "vast majority of them" wanted reasonable access to shops and services in Albany St.
"There is a balance to be achieved between the majority of people who use cars to get around the city and the 5% or so who use bikes and want more cycle lanes."
Council transport group manager Jeanine Benson said they acknowledged any construction project came with a level of disruption.
"But our staff and contractors work hard to minimise this and support local businesses through these periods where we can."
tim.scott@odt.co.nz
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