But yes, the PR too.

This has been lavish praise for so meagre an accomplishment in the context of the overall economic transformation and leadership we're looking for.

Only if you saw a cycleway/s as some sort of solution to our economic woes imho. Which always seemed nuts to me.

If you're viewing it from…

Amusing link though. Maybe we just need to build a War Memorial Tower to draw Endless Streams of Visitors.

Elsewhere there's celebration as the first $9m in funding is confirmed, a mildly optimistic editorial on the subject, and John Armstrong declaring that the project's a total fizzer as far as its initial ambitious goals were concerned.

Thoughts anyone?

For some reason, the Heralds coverage reminded me a bit of…

Thoughts anyone?

Conflicted.

Delighted to see those routes, planning to ride every one of them. And yet, and yet. This has been lavish praise for so meagre an accomplishment in the context of the overall economic transformation and leadership we're looking for.

Cycleways are getting a rather bigger than usual airing in the Herald today, including Beth Vass' front-page piece: Cycling: on track for summer. The article itself is an odd fit with the sunny headline and photo, being the story of Beth Vass being gradually scared back into…

I can't help thinking that the congestion charge in London helped.

Dooda was riding his bicycle…

Yep, every road leads to lawless hippes and spineless bureaucrats in Garthworld.

Now, if you have any tips for the 3.45 at Ellerslie, I'll take them. I'm guessing the Lotto…

The about-face you've quoted is necessary for George to make his desired connection between lawless hippies and the spineless and quite possibly Labour-friendly bureaucrats who Let It Come To This. I think he just treats external reality as inspiration for a creative voyage through his own little world.

Even though…

not that he's predictable or anything...

I'm guessing this means I won't be getting a prize for this?

The about-face you've quoted is necessary for George to make his desired connection between lawless hippies and the spineless and quite possibly Labour-friendly bureaucrats who Let It Come To This. I think…

Loving the 180-degree about-face in the middle of the article where he says that the cyclists should have been allowed ont he bridge anyway. Gives him a chance to rail against 'faceless bureaucrats'. Nothing like an old, familiar jumper to keep the cold out on…

NZTA just in case you have the slightest thought about taking part in any protest involving the harbour bridge and breaking the law. Please just quietly erase that thought.

This is quite ambiguous, clearly he should be encouraging his employees to avoid breaking the law. But I think that joining…

I don't care very much about cycling/walking over the bridge – or rather, I would quite…

Hyperbole aside I do understand where NZTA is coming from. However it does raise the issue as to why McDonald felt compelled to "remind" staff. Could it be that he was facing dissent and decided to…

Last week in an email McDonald reminded staff of "who your employer is, their decision and your conditions of conduct as an employee of the NZTA just in case you have the slightest thought about taking part in any protest involving the harbour bridge and breaking the law. Please…

If I worked for LTSA & I had received such a threatening email like he sent to staff, I would have made sure that he saw me there & the union would have been involved, how dare he threaten staff with what they can do…

police would be looking at video footage and officers' reports to identify law-breakers

...the get across spokesman didn't seem very well prepared – the first question 'what gives you the right to break the law and disrupt people's days' wasn't dealt with well at all.

I cringed. Graeme Knowles was a bit hopeless. Not once did he say that getacross didn't want to…

Given that apparently the protest organisers couldn't stop the people from going onto the bridge, their ability to stop them doing something stupid while on it = about nil.

Point taken, but I would offer that the middle class tend to be very, err strident about things from time to…

Borrowing one of David Bain's jumpers wasn't the best idea either.

Hehe! That was the first thing my girlfriend said as well.

But the get across spokesman didn't seem very well prepared – the first question 'what gives you the right to break the law and disrupt people's days' wasn't dealt with well at all.

Borrowing one of David Bain's jumpers wasn't the best idea either.

Close Up is going to have a story on the disruption. Not that I hold out much hope for some penetrating analysis.

That really was a complete waste of ten minutes of my life. Paul Henry was predictably awful. But the get across spokesman didn't seem very well prepared -…

Not that that makes him a dickhead...

Large numbers of 'weekend warriors' were there, who, for all intents and purposes, are solid middle class professional blokes and blokettes who work in the City (how else to afford that $5000 bike?)

I joked at the protest that we were probably surrounded by two cycleways' worth of hardware, which…

Yes but marathon runners will behave a lot differently than a bunch of protesters who aren't supposed to be there. Marathon runners are trying to get across it as quick as possible. Protesters might try and climb things, put up flags, have kids doing who knows what.

Particularly given that…

I really lament the polarising and the aggro.

At least some of it comes from car drivers who cannot abide being overtaken by cyclists while they're stuck in traffic. I once had a friend arguing with me as to the legality of cyclists passing stationary cars up the left. The…

Just out of interest to anyone who was there, what was the ratio of walkers to cyclists ?

About half and half, I'd say. This photo would be a good sample of helmet to no-helmet ratio.

I really lament the polarising and the aggro. If cycles were provided their own…

Just out of interest to anyone who was there, what was the ratio of walkers to cyclists ? The pictures I've see don't have a large number of cyclists in them.…

Wellington where the Budget is dominating everyone's thoughts.

This Wellingtonian had forgotten all about it.

Close Up is going to have a story on the disruption. Not that I hold out much hope for some penetrating analysis.

F**k me but that was utter rubbish. All three participants were just mugged by Paul Henry. Throw some light on what happened? Nah too much like hard work.…

Marathon runners are trying to get across it as quick as possible. Protesters might try and climb things, put up flags, have kids doing who knows what.

I was there on the bridge and believe me most people were enjoying at a steady pace. For the most part the "protestors"…

http://jeffsbike.blogspot.com/2009/05/auckland-harbour-bridge-30-year-plan.html

Jeff

BTW I find this campaign tinged with irony, helmet or no helmet

No helmet, please.

open two disused railway tunnels

Makita 18v cordless angle grinder – the tool of choice for vandals, protesters and children everywhere.

I take your point, Gareth, but that's how it works on marathon day, and no-one gets hurt.

Yes but marathon runners will behave a lot differently than a bunch of protesters who aren't supposed to be there. Marathon runners are trying to get across it as quick as possible. Protesters…

James – nice. I'd ride those tunnels.

Likewise!

open two disused railway tunnels

That looks very cool, and the link to the Gorge Train and Central's Rail Trail sounds great

James – nice. I'd ride those tunnels.

I'll gladly take my flick on the ear if I can visit again.

Our campaign is to open two disused railway tunnels to gain better access for cyclists and pedestians, to those very plains.

None of that woolly PC crap mate, a punch in the face, administered as part of good parental correction. That's what kids get for not behaving while cycling on the Mainland, mate.

2 years ago a did a large portion of my Ironman training on the Taieri Plans. It was…

excellent blog, i strongly agree with what you say.
And well done everyone who organised and took part.
i would have been with you if i'd been in AK.

The "MOTORWAYS FIRST, LAST AND ALWAY" brigade have ruled AK since 1959. Fifty years is long enough, thanks. now it's…

could have been given a flick on the ear as a warning

None of that woolly PC crap mate, a punch in the face, administered as part of good parental correction. That's what kids get for not behaving while cycling on the Mainland, mate.

But it would be plausible that either a kid or a protestor (who had already demonstrated their intention to be out on open motorway) to wander over there.

I'm sure that any child that looked like they were going to get into the traffic could have been given a flick…

Also, I'm in a mad contrary mood today for some reason! I…

defriending

I'm going to assume that's a portmanteau of "befriend" and "defenestrate".

You kids and your facebook slang.

I would have been pretty pertubed if I'd been driving in lane 3, with nothing between me and the kids that attended. It is still an open motorway after all.

Umm, I live in Dunedin, and I know there's a painted and textured median between Lane 3 and those other…

People get really worked up about trade unions to. I don't get it. What is it about democratic collective action that so many people find so threatening that they demand the full might of the state be used to crush the merest murmuring of dissent?

Well, they have a point.…

I would have been pretty pertubed if I'd been driving in lane 3, with nothing between me and the kids that attended. It is still an open motorway after all.

I take your point, Gareth, but that's how it works on marathon day, and no-one gets hurt. Likewise, there are…

speaking of, here's what one of my Facebook friends said about the pics I posted...

People get really worked up about trade unions to. I don't get it. What is it about democratic collective action that so many people find so threatening that they demand the full might of the…

Prior to yesterday my opinion of cyclists was .5 of 50...

What is wrong with just saying 1 out of 100?

I don't get the base five.

Pictures and my own bit of drivel on the matter.

That's good stuff 81st, and another PAS reader (Chris) posted his one
here. I really should update mine, since I wrote it quickly ... I wanted to get it up asap (and did, by 11.40am yesterday) in the naive belief that…

NZTA did what they could to discredit the protesters by directing the crowds onto the centre lanes, completely blocking the bridge.

As I said in the other thread, this PR conspiracy story seems well over the top. A bunch of people had just proven that they were willing to ignore…

pointless and predictable

Speaking of, here's what one of my Facebook friends said about the pics I posted:

Every stupid person involved in this action should be ashamed about the danger they put everyone in, including the kids on the bridge, the motorists and the Police! No excuse at all, shame on…

Those photos warm the cockles of my little anarchistic heart. It's so good to see people not doing what they're told for once, and having fun while doing so.

People should do that more often.

I always smile when I'm passing a stopped school bus at 120kmh

As we approached the bridge, my friend spoke with Wayne McDonald and was told that they couldn’t allow protesters…

And that was just page 1! Of 38.

Well, since he's on crutches, he probably doesn't have anything else to do other than rant away for 38 pages. Sitting around at home, watching Oprah, getting bored, needs to vent.

Oh, wait, I see what you meant. :)

It really, really…

And that was just page 1! Of 38. :(

Well, not just page one. I yanked out the most batshit quotes from the first eight pages – the rest predate the bridge walk, as the Herald just bumped an old YV thread (can we call them that?).

My little digest…

Yes, I know it's pointless and predictable, but I can't resist, so here goes.

And that was just page 1! Of 38. :(

Here we go again. Let us all teach our children to break Laws.

The man's a menace, but there's no call for this. Think of the children!

Go back to your communes, or better still, get a job.

I haz job bzy educatn yr kidz n studnets.....

This bunch of selfish,arrogant no brainers need to be taught a lesson by the police who should review all film, media and motorway closed circuit tv and prosecute those shown to be breaking the law.

I…

People should do that more often.

DownloadHelper (for Firefox)

something like this?

Modelled after Paris and ..... Bogota?!

In the meantime, and especially if the leisure foot-and-bike traffic is a larger constituency than the commuter foot-and-bike traffic, could we at least have something like this?

That's cool. Every city should have something like that – part foot/cycle transit, part street party/market.

I would like to know more about the tanker carrying "urgently needed oxygen" to North Shore Hospital.

Just how small a buffer does the hospital have, that a fairly typical hold up on the motorway causes this sort of concern?

I'm aware that North Shore hospital is a bigger hospital…

One of the clip-ons every weekend? Too much to ask?

Also, I'm thinking Fisherman's Wharf would be ripe for yet another incarnation, this…

One night we got in and walked through the clip-ons. Believe me, driving across them these days feels risky, let alone having hundreds of thousands of people walking…

Is there still time to get the work included in the clipon strengthening? Or has that already started?

One News

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Just how small a buffer does the hospital have, that a fairly typical hold up on the motorway causes this sort of concern?