open the gate

12/08/2016

Hi all, it is now time to canvas those who are standing for Council to see if they believe the status quo should remain or whether they are open to a fairer arrangement for those that want to make use of this area. Ask them how they would vote on a change that would open John Wilson Ocean drive back up to vehicle use during some part of the weekend.

14/02/2014

Was down there last weekend. Two people walking their dog in the 'dog park'. Numerous cars parked enjoying the view and the weather. The council have got this one really wrong! This is what happens when there personal ideology is followed and the voice of the people are ignored, bad decisions. They take an oath when joining council and then immediately breach that oath.

21/04/2013

The drive has been re-opened for a couple of months but I still haven't had a day off to use it. Opening during weekdays only is not working for some of us. :-(

Seems like Mayor Cull thinks that it is done and dusted see his comments below a few weeks ago

[image]An unusually low number of comments on the Dunedin City Council's annual plan has been described as a sign of ''approval'' and, conversely, ''apathy''.

19/02/2013

Photo taken by Bev Smith's husband, Mike Smith, from JWOD looking back along the beach from Lawyers Head yesterday about noon.

14/02/2013

[video]John Wilson Ocean Dr has reopened to motorists. A lone protester watched in silence as First Security operations manager Garry McLennan unlocked and removed two bollards at the St Kilda end of the windswept seaside drive at 11am yesterday.

13/02/2013

Hi the first of two battles is over with access restored during the week to JWOD.

We need to thank the Councillors who have supported us but now we need to push for weekend access to allow us all to enjoy it.

In a recent media poll of Dunedin people, 70% of people supported the Council reopening JWOD and 30% opposed it.

We need to be supporting the Dunedin Cycleways project to demonstrate that we are not the enemy of those wanting to be able to use parts of the city for recreation.

I have heard many times by those opposed to reopening the drive that there is many places to park a car and enjoy our beaches. To my knowledge there are a couple of parks above Tomahawk, a couple further opposite to Bird Island, St Clair esplanade if you get there very early in the morning and about four parks at Blackhead Quarry. No more than a dozen car-parks city wide and many of these occupied by Freedom Campers.

On the other side we have cycle-ways and walkways surrounding the harbour and the peninsula with multiple places for recreation cycle and walking use. Not to mention the ability to walk on the beach itself.

We need to make Councillors understand that we are more than willing to share JWOD with cyclist and walkers but we need to have fair shared use of it ourselves.

31/01/2013

Unbelievable!

Dunedin residents may be stuck with the reopening of John Wilson Ocean Dr.

21/01/2013

Hi all, the long awaited reseal is in progress. While we still need to push to get weekend access we, are at least finally getting some progress. We thank all the Councillors that have given this their attention and particularly those who have supported the reopening of the road to vehicles.

Contractors started resealing the 1km closed stretch of John Wilson Ocean Dr in Dunedin yesterday, in preparation for it being reopened to vehicles.

08/11/2012

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31/10/2012

Joan Mann points out the need for vehicle parking in the ODT today.

Those on either side of the debate about whether John Wilson Ocean Dr should be reopened to vehicles largely begrudgingly accept the compromise the council is proposing.

31/10/2012

Hi All,
Cr Jinty MacTavish tells me that the 20km speed limit is still a possibility. If they opt for this option they may choose re-design the current proposal to incorporate traffic calming measures.

I encourage you to contact the city councillors and suggest that they look at providing an option that includes car parking which is what vehicle users want to do. You can find their email addreses from the link below.

Click on the councillor you wish to contact from the menu and you will see contact details for that councillor.

Find in this section information about Dunedin city councillors, code of conduct and standing orders.

30/10/2012

And it still goes on....and on.... and on....

and the pain behind my eyes continues!

The voting yesterday went this way:
Crs Bill Acklin, Bezett, Syd Brown, Neil Collins, Paul Hudson, Andrew Noone, Lee Vandervis and Colin Weatherall voted...in support of the proposals.
Crs Jinty MacTavish, Chris Staynes, Teresa Stevenson, Richard Thomson, Kate Wilson and Mayor Dave Cull voted against them.

Don't be too hard on those that chose to voted against the current proposal, the options they were offered means that for some short sightness, we have ended up with a less than ideal option for shared use of this great asset.

The continued delays now mean that it now falls outside of the NZTA's criteria for funding (a further $107,000) cost to the council.

The Council is not poor when you measure borrowing against assets, but it seems adverse to borrowing a little more to get a better long term outcome. The amount borrowed is minute compared to other projects the Council funds (and less than a senior council staff members salary for a sungle year).

Sometimes when the emphasis is on Council debt they forget this is something that will be used and enjoyed over many years. They also forget money will have to be spent on it regardless on whether the drive reopens or not. How much was spend on other public facilities used by only a small sector of the community this year, such as the settlers museum extention or other such projects? JWOD appears to be viewed by our Councillors as a lessor form of enjoyment and not worth spending money on!

I find myself agreeing with Crs Vandervis (Someting I do not often do) he calls it "the most acute public embarrassment in the history of the city council". Cr Neil Collins also called the issue a "long, sorry saga that had more plots and sub-plots than a Greek tragedy".

We have gone from someting that makes one or other party very unhappy, to one of compromise that is not ideal but was a least a solution of sorts, to one that nobody will be happy with and that we will regret having.

Trevor Turner
(See ODT Article below)

[image1]For a brief moment, after 90 minutes' debate, it seemed as if a final decision on John Wilson Ocean Dr had finally been made - albeit one that would cost ratepayers $160,000.