Chloe Swarbrick is 100% right – dump those filthy cars! Now solve inner city crime
Auckland MP Chlöe Swarbrick launches petition to ban cars on Queen Street
Auckland MP Chlöe Swarbrick has launched a petition to ban cars on Queen Street once and for all.
Once again, Chloe leading the debate.
I’ve called for decades that Queen street should be made a pedestrian boulevard. It has never made sense for a city attempting to build a vibrant inner city life and culture that fucking cars are allowed to dominate the space.
Queen Street should be made car free, allowing only delivery vans and busses weekdays and zero traffic on weekends so that the space can be used for the Farmers Market which happens in the lower part of town on Saturdays.
It could be a constant all weekend festival using those spaces and making it far more attractive weekdays.
Look, here’s the naked reality, Auckland City Council and AT have fucked the inner city with their fucking city rail loop and have fucked any culture in the inner city because of the crime rate.
I’ve lived in the CDB for 18 years, so have some idea of how bad shit has become.
We need an urgent reset and banning cars will allow the inner city some space to grow and regenerate.
The problem will then be police and as this jaw dropping interview with the cops shows, they are more frightened of the crims than people who live there are!
Central Auckland Reborn: New city centre police base to open amid crime spike
“If we have a station that is there and manned then we need to have staff in it all the time instead of using our staff, which I think is a far better purpose, to be out there providing prevention, reassurance patrols.”
Certain criminal activity was on the rise in central Auckland.
There were 5633 instances of theft, 2130 assaults, and 154 aggravated robberies reported in the year to March.
When compared with 2016-2020 data, victimisations were up 36 per cent.
Anderson said concerning trends included the rising prevalence of vehicle theft, public violence and intoxication.
While such trends were being recorded elsewhere in Tāmaki Makaurau and New Zealand, Anderson said the pandemic had radically changed the city centre’s demographic.
Without tourists and international students, some backpackers and motels were being used for emergency accommodation.
…we all remember the Fort St Police station, it was the main Police surveillance centre for Auckland City, the problem was that beaten up people kept banging on the doors, so they moved the station. Now the gutless wimps refuse to operate there because so many people are getting assaulted…
While the city centre received less of these incidents than in the south and west, Anderson said the risk posed to his staff had prompted some reluctance to come to work.
“They signed up to keep the community safe, they signed up to get out there and provide the best service possible.
“They didn’t sign up – despite what some sectors might say – to take a bullet, but the risk is out there for them.”
…the Police are big and tough when it comes to attacking your and my civil liberties, but they don’t like crims with guns, they might fight back!
Central Auckland has been destroyed by a poorly thought out City Rail Loop that has made moving through the city impossible, it has been destroyed by a lack of international students providing safety in numbers, it has been destroyed by working from home privilege, it has been destroyed by emergency housing tenants with enormous social service needs that aren’t met and it has been destroyed by gangs of teen truants coming in from the suburbs and 501s who have now moved in and are running the streets.
Getting rid of the cars and trying to regenerate the central city is a must followed by a far more pervasive Police presence.
If we don’t try and save the inner city now, there won’t an inner city to visit once that fucking city rail loop is fucking finished!
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Should ban motorbikes from Queen Street Also.
I suspect it might be too late. The WFH thing and the missing students has killed the inner city. Will it come back – who knows!
It could but whilst I agree with Martyn’s suggestion of a pedestrianised Queen St from Wellesley St to Quay St I think he’s missed the critical issue with regards to the police / crime issue.
Labour needs to grow some balls and tell the cops to get it done, back them and give them what they need to make the city safe again.
They also need to start dealing with all the scumbags they’ve just left to fester in the central city.
The cruise liners start returning in October and all it will take is for one well of passenger to get assaulted or worse and all hell will break loose. There’s just too much revenue for NZ Inc on the line to not get this sorted.
Very smart comment considering 94% of all first time criminals are inside for motor vehcile offences banning private motor vehciles from the CBD would be a winner see what it has done for Brisbane the downtown has been revitalised.
The car is a major componet of criminal activity try taking the stolen flatscreen on public transport.
But curtail motor vehcile use and you stand on the toes of the biggest players in the economy ie the oil industry and there cohorts the motor vehicle dealers any activity that attacks there income stream will be denigrated from every angle.
Won’t happen if Leo wins.