Living Streets Aotearoa
Minutes of meeting Monday 25 July 2005


Guest speaker: Tina Chong, Wellington City Council Policy Analyst,
to discuss the issue of footpath parking.


Present: Mike Mellor, Neil Newman, Debs Moir, Ralph Chapman,
Kate Shutleworth, Alexia Pickering, Brent Efford, Lily Linton,
Don McDonald (all LSA members), Brent Skinnon (Health Sponsorship
Council), Andy Foster (WCC), Jim McNeice, Rosie Crocker, Rod McLeod,
Robert Hansen, Nigel Roberts

Apologies: Celia Wade-Brown, Lisa Bridson


·	The population in Wellington is increasing, which is
	creating limited parking spaces
	*	Wellington people have an "entrenched" habit
		of driving and expecting close parking also.
·	Paper written by Steve Spencer for the council looked
	at options for the council to take re. Parking (paper
	on LSA website).
·	Options include increasing enforcement, increasing
	education and publicity.  Tina is now working on how
	to implement the recommendations
	*	where to focus enforcement and how?  Should
		the focus be on the CBD or on a complaints
		basis or some other area?
·	Limited by budget e.g. increasing parking warden employees.
	Rosie raised the issue of increasing the fine cost to
	cover this, however fines are set by central government
	and not the WCC.
·	Education campaign could include a warning system and
	phasing in ticketing/fining.
·	A Danish study stated there is lots of parking available
	in cities, however Wellington has a large number of cars
	per head of population.
·	Should the focus then be on a particular area or a particular
	offence?  Given the budget, how is this best spent?
·	Parking makes money for councils (i.e. parking fees)
	*	should this be extended to fining at night to
		collect revenue?
·	Issue raised of people answering phones after-hours
	*	not necessarily based in Wellington so they don't
		issue tickets.
·	Parking on footpaths often case-by-case basis
	*	there are guidelines but it is up to the discretion
		of the parking warden.  Does this need to be more
		precise so the parking wardens don't have to make
		the decision themselves? Discretion goes against
		the by-law, which says "no wheels on footpath."
		Are mixed rules sending confusing messages?
·	Do we put parts of large footpaths as designated loading
	zones?  E.g. near schools.
·	We need to be practical with narrow Wellington streets
	(e.g. Devon Street in Aro Valley)
	*	sometimes there are power poles along the footpaths
		at regular intervals which limit the footpath.
	*	difficult to park legally without making carriageway
		too narrow.
·	Do we need to encourage people to park further away and
	hire garages?
·	Safety should be the first priority!! I.e. of pedestrians,
	not cars
·	Question raised of whether there is anything in place to
	look at the streets of Wellington for the future
	*	they have been the same for a very long time and
		haven't accommodated the shift in modal use, number
		of cars per household etc.
	*	onger-term council project looking at engineering
		changes but just scooping this at the moment.
		Does this encourage more people to use vehicles on
		roads?
·	Issue raised on distinguishing between 'parking' and
	'storing' cars
	*	should open space be for people storing their
		property?
·	Australia has increased publicity around enforcement, which
	has improved public actions.
·	Possibility of developing a marketing education campaign
	*	there are new rules for pedestrian crossings and
		advertising campaigns improved vehicle behaviour
		for the first 3-4 months but people seem to have
		reverted back to their old ways
	*	a reminder every so often?
·	Cars parking even a little on footpaths sends a message
	to all people that it's acceptable (e.g. word of mouth)
·	Often parking on footpaths can be second or third cars -
	is this responsible?  This is the council saying it's a
	priority to have extra cars safe and not pedestrians.
	Should the council have a short parking blitz??  Flow-on
	effect is that it will only get worse.
·	Should there be a degree of tolerance?  E.g. trades vehicles
	have great difficulty during the day
·	Should the council focus their efforts on areas where a lot
	of money will be made?  Areas where there are schools etc
	are important in terms of good pedestrian access
	*	vulnerable places are important.
·	Issue raised of why is it 'worse' to block the passage of
	other cars (e.g. yellow lines) than blocking the passage
	of pedestrians?
·	Highlighted that there needs to be good communication to
	the public as to what will be happening.
·	Question raised as to what is the advantage of a softer
	approach?  Reply was that this will build a constituency
	before a legislation- moving slowly will build support for
	it.  Councils don't want to provoke a storm.
·	Public perception is not that council is hard on parking.
·	Safer Roads is being rolled out in each suburb by WCC, which
	will affect people's behaviours.
·	Should WCC have community walkers?


Request for LSA to provide feedback for proposal that goes to council (Tina will provide).

All those wanting 'Yellow Feet' to contact Kate Shuttleworth


Meeting closed at 7.30pm