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Lots of wins when we work together
We do so much so well in Christchurch I think that maybe we
also tend to take it a little too much for granted.
For this first column of the year I thought it might be fun to look
at some of our collective “wins” as a city and also why I think they
work so well. Starting in the central city, the biggest smash hit in recent weeks
has been the way the new produce market has roared into life. It’s turned out to be a rollicking affair
where the buyers and sellers around the
quality produce merge to make one big
exciting central-city show. Run by Christchurch Market Ltd, the
market takes place on Council land
opposite the Council's Civic Offices from
early each Saturday and Sunday. It took a while to find a site but now it’s
arrived, the strong demand for the
produce and other wares has confirmed
what the Central City Mayoral Forum was
told some time ago. We were told that
produce markets were proven central-city
assets internationally and that they could
take on a life of their own. We also heard that such markets are
great crowd-pleasing ice-breakers, giving a
huge cross-section of a city’s population a chance to mingle and
meet that they otherwise might not get. The produce market idea was one of the strongest that came
up when we set about getting all our people together to look at
how to revive the central city for the good of the whole city. It may seem hugely simple, but we were only told this idea
because we provided the public and other sector groups with a
forum that let them tell us what they wanted. So far the results have been outstanding. For the central city the turnaround is marked. A few years ago
the complaints were about the decline of the area and its lack of
attractions. Now they are about how hard it is to find a car park. In recent years we have found that by careful listening and
responding we are able as a Council to help steer and shape
Christchurch in a way that hopefully is often in line with the real
needs and wants of the public. The produce market project and the public response to the reality
is a great example of how we can achieve great collective results. Driving around Christchurch recently I have also been thinking
about another good example of the collective will at work —
how the graffiti plague, which was once starting to swamp our city,
has lost strength. The tagging and graffiti pests are learning that
their awful efforts at visual pollution are doomed to a very short
lifespan. It was a negative problem where the
community rightly was very angry to see
so much public and private property
being defaced. A small group of people
with no respect for other people's
property rights were eroding our image
and reality as a city that takes pride in
looking good. As a Council we put together a
response that acknowledged the severity
of the problem and provided a solution
by involving the public in supporting and
telling us about graffiti. The staff and funding for the graffiti
hotline combined with intense public
support to slash both the incidence and
duration of tagging/graffiti in Christchurch
— another collective win for the people of this city. It has also attracted more favourable national media attention,
as has our most recent scheme for our youngest citizens on their
way to and from school. We now have nine schools using the new 40 km/h speed zones. These slow traffic to at most 40 km/h near schools at the start
and end of each school day. The idea was developed by the Christchurch City Council and
Transit NZ to improve safety for school children, and it is proving
to be effective. The scheme has now moved from the trial phase to spreading
out around the city as funding permits — another example of
Christchurch leading the way for the rest of New Zealand and of
a collective win that adds to our over-all quality of life as a city. We do so much, so well. |