Living Streets Hamilton

 

Notes from Meeting, June 14^th, held at Sport Waikato, 290 Tristram St,

 

Present: Max Weinberg, Judy McDonald, Rose Fowlds, Celia Hope, Sandra Baxendine, Cr Joe Di Maio, Peter Bos, Andrew Richardson

 

1. Our guest speaker, Max Weinberg, gave us a very interesting history of the development of Walking Groups in Hamilton since 1990. He traced the changes from the initial “Seniors Programme” set up under the Hillary Commission, in which over 40 groups were established, some with 80 to 100 members meeting between 1 and 3 times a week, to the present more wide-ranging activities overseen by SPARC. Some of us were initially a little dismayed by the apparent loss of such large and active groups over the years, but as Max pointed out, the focus is now on community at large rather than just a certain age group, and the emphasis is much more on getting groups essentially running themselves rather than depending on outside assistance from agencies such as Sport Waikato. Max commented that with the focus on ‘active communities” there is a very wide range of activities available, including exercise classes, walking groups, aquatic exercise, dance classes etc. We received copies of the current “What’s on in Hamilton for the Community” brochure produced monthly by Sport Waikato, which does contain an impressive array of activities including community exercise classes held at a range of venues, assorted programmes at the Uni Rec centre, “Upright and Active” and “Sit and Be Fit” classes for the elderly, Walking groups, Water activities, Cycling groups including women’s only groups, Dance classes and Tramping groups. All are available at very minimal cost.

 

Max also pointed out that the emphasis is now on helping people change their behaviour to become more active in everyday life. He noted the importance of the walking school bus project and also commented on the difficulty of getting the adult supervisors required to run the scheme. The combination of lack of time, lack of recognition by employers that this is a worthy activity which should be encouraged, and the responsibility of caring for other people’s children can deter many from becoming involved. This may be an area that we should continue to emphasise to council. If we could get such systems working they could remove a great deal of pressure on the roading infrastructure and simultaneously contribute very positively to health of both children and adults. We need to discuss this issue further with council and find out whether application can be made for suitable funding to allow recruitment of adult supervisors so that they are not penalised financially for carrying out a very important civic function. Any ideas from those with good knowledge of council and funding application procedures, please??

 

 2. Andrew Richardson from the O’Neill St residents group gave us some background to the group’s submission to the HCC annual plan in which they have requested that O’Neill St be made a pedestrian-friendly boulevard approach to the Events Centre in Claudelands Park. Speeding in O’Neill St has been a problem for some time, and speeds of 70 to 80kph were recorded by the HCC speed cart very near the intersection with River Rd. The residents are also concerned that HCC may intend putting the pedestrian approach to the events Centre between the railway line and the existing bridge lanes, which would tend to leave O’Neill St as a ‘back alley’ leading away from the events centre. The street already has problems with tagging and antisocial behaviour amongst passers-by, and residents are concerned that this would worsen. If the street were actually the main approach, well lit and attractive, the high level of foot traffic would be likely to diminish the risk of antisocial activity. O’Neill St is classified as part of the CBD, and it was suggested that the group should apply to council to ask for the next CBD upgrade to in fact be O’Neill St. It was also suggested that since there is already a proposed upgrade for the crossing at Grey St at the railway lines, the residents’ group should ask to be included in consultation as interested parties for that upgrade.

 

3. Our idea of holding a few field trips to look at problem areas for pedestrians led to the suggestion that we should adopt a process of cataloguing major walking routes around Hamilton (obviously including the CBD!), noting the inherent problems. These could then be systematically presented to the appropriate HCC subcommittee meetings. The obvious place to start is to examine the Victoria St – O’Neill St – Events Centre route. Can we get some feedback please from members about whether they would be available for a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday to go round as a group and come up with ideas. The big headache with this particular route is the River Rd crossing, which would almost certainly need an overbridge to accommodate the kind of foot traffic that might be expected after a decent-sized event at Claudelands (maybe 5000 people….) There is a better chance of getting a design to work here than in many other places, because there is a potentially very long approach already available along the side of the Sonning Car Park. Anyone with engineering, drafting and design skills – we need you!! Please get back to me an let me know whether any of the following times might fit in with your busy schedules: Saturday June 23, Sunday June 24^th, Saturday June 30, Sunday July 1^st, Saturday July 7^th, Sunday July 8^th, specifying morning or afternoon.

 

4. Peter Bos discussed his pedestrian barriers map – hopefully everyone got a copy of this by email. It shows in heavy black outline all areas of major roads that are more than 200m from a pedestrian crossing. As you can see, there are some impressive “walls” around the city. Suggestions made were that the minor roads be removed from the map for clarity, but that highlights be put on parks and reserves, schools and early childhood centres, rest homes and residential care institutions. Putting names on the major roads, parks and schools would also help people to identify at a glance what they were looking at.

 

Considerable discussion ensued from this map, not surprisingly, and there are areas which need us to take some action. For this I need some enthusiastic volunteers, PLEASE! A slightly random list follows. If more clarification is needed, please get back to me and I’ll do my best to improve comprehensibility.

 

The to-do list:

• Find sources of funding for our own organisation: We don’t need much, but we need to apply to various organisations, including HCC itself, and probably Weltrust and others, for sums of a few hundred dollars to enable us to pay our way in terms of venue hireage for meetings, fund production of pamphlets and posters, advertise public meetings when necessary, etc. Is there someone out there who is familiar with these procedures and could undertake to get the necessary forms and fill them in? I’m happy to help but I’m no expert and would like some guidance and moral support.
• Find out about standards for pedestrian provisions in new subdivisions: this may involve approaching both EW and HCC
• Promote our aims in a positive way to candidates for the upcoming October local body elections: Peter has suggested that as many of us who can should try to attend meetings with candidates, ask them pertinent questions about their stance on pedestrian issues, and also have available a pamphlet of our own which presents them with our priorities, in an attempt to educate them on pedestrian issues. The Environment Centre often has a session with potential candidates and this may be a very good opportunity to put our issues up to the candidates. For this, we need to do some quick and efficient work to put together a concise, positive-feeling handout about the aims of Living Streets Hamilton and how they can benefit the community. Any takers for the editorial team, PLEASE??