Speaker: Living under bridges
75 Responses
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TracyMac, in reply to
Yes, that is a bit of a shock. He called me up out of the blue 20-odd years ago to see if we were related. No - my family has been in NZ since 1841, and his hasn't - but he was very passionate about the possibility of a shared family history (maybe in Ireland..).
And that sums him up - passionate about his beliefs and enthusiasms, even though I personally found them wrongheaded (and embarrassing because of people who did think we were related). You could not accuse him of not caring about our community.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
And that sums him up – passionate about his beliefs and enthusiasms, even though I personally found them wrongheaded (and embarrassing because of people who did think we were related). You could not accuse him of not caring about our community.
He was an intriguing character. But I found him harder to deal with as he became more of a fringe ideologue. His Waterview commentary – where he was openly disdainful of the residents – was really out of order.
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Steve, that video is strange for a host of reasons. Yes, the production is low as, and I don't know whether to praise her for doing it anyway or write her off for using the medium when she clearly lacks the resources. Least she's getting some milage on this forum!
She seems preoccupied with the prospect of a spontaneous surge of bodies gushing forth towards the gateways, which does seem rather farfetched. Bomb attack? Gas attack like in Tokyo all those years ago?
But, at a more practical level, I can't see that a lane divider would be very onerous: even something like one of those yellow, bumpy blind guides would be both effective and crossable if necessary. But not at high speeds on skinny tires. Unless you were in the middle of a crash, when you'd want to cross it without too much extra bashing.
And maybe something less bike-crossable for peds. If the sections are prefabricated it could be incorporated into the mould.
Or does the whole usage concept break down if you start carving up the 4m?
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Hey! Maybe the naysayers are planning a gas attack to prove their point!
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
He was an intriguing character. But I found him harder to deal with as he became more of a fringe ideologue. His Waterview commentary – where he was openly disdainful of the residents – was really out of order.
From what I remember, wasn't McShane also a very strong Clash of Civilisations type, like many of his fellow denialists? I've said it before, but there seems to be a proportional relationship between climate denialism and 'fear of a Muslim planet'. Are they both part of a wider Dominionist-industrial complex?
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Russell Brown, in reply to
It is perhaps telling that his Centre for Resource Management Studies website has been taken over by moonbat Muriel Newman.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
It is perhaps telling that his Centre for Resource Management Studies website has been taken over by moonbat Muriel Newman.
Another red flag is any usage of the term 'cultural Marxism' without any sense of irony. There's an inherent John Birch whiff about the very term, given its origins in the Elders of Zion fan club.
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I agree about the shared space. We have a lot of shared pedestrian and cycle lanes in Melbourne, and they are not a good solution. Three people walking abreast will completely block both directions, and a large number of pedestrians are completely oblivious to their surroundings while using mobiles.
Separation has to happen. It is not a case of there might be accidents between cyclists and pedestrians if separation does not occur, there will be accidents. It doesn't need to be a large fence between pedestrians and cyclists, but something that visually dissuades pedestrians and cyclists from entering each others' space.
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JessicaRose, in reply to
Fantastic post Jolisa!
Also I want to add to the general stream of comments, who is going to drive to the bridge to walk across it? If you are taking your car there, why don't you just drive across it and continue on your journey. The car part of the bridge will still be open for business as usual.
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Sacha, in reply to
who is going to drive to the bridge to walk across it?
right? some people just cannot imagine a journey without a car in it.
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I don't necessarily believe that you need to have separation here between people on bicycles and people walking if it's clearly a shared space. The limitation will be that when it's really busy you just won't be able to ride a bike.
If you look at other events such as walking and cycling over the harbour bridge there have been some crowds that made it impossible to cycle. The Quay St open day was another example. No space to cycle most of the time. It was slightly annoying as only the half the road was closed to motor traffic but there were no safety issues.
People moderate their behaviour in a shared space. If there are thousands of people strolling over in a busy peak then people on bicycles will roll very slowly and carefully around them if they can. We see this everywhere and it works well. As always, a ding of a bell or a simple 'excuse me' solves most problems.
Just like on the road, if we mark clear lines of territory people will be encouraged to speed up due to increased 'perceived safety' lowering 'actual safety'. One person walking takes a step sideways to take a photo while a person riding sees a clear cycle lane and they get clipped. If there's no clear delineation it encourages everyone to use caution.
This DOES NOT apply to proper separated cycle lanes on roads though. They are crucial.
SkyPath is a good thing but I believe this shared path will turn into a walking track just naturally when it's busy.
The question then becomes - do we want to add separation for the convenience of people on bicycles when it's moderately busy?
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Glenn Pearce, in reply to
People trying to avoid paying for parking in the city?
Issue in St Mary's Bay now around Jacob's ladder, big problem in Kirribilli in Sydney too I believe
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
a spontaneous surge of bodies gushing forth towards the gateways,
Gateways that are neither wanted nor needed and in the event of crowd panic could become death traps. Have you ever been in a boat when the mast hits the bridge? it makes a hell of a row i can tell you. You might not notice it if you were driving across but walking or cycling you may just panic and you would not be alone, no joking matter.
I am not proposing not mixing pedestrians and bikes, that is not the problem. -
Andrew C, in reply to
and one of their main complaints is that the onstreet parking will be taken up by people who are not them (and the correct response to that is “tough”)
Oh come on. The promoters of SkyPath are predicting weekend crowds of people not too dissimilar to that which attend a Blues game, with an entry/exit point located outside their front door. This is their home, their neighbourhood, and its about to be massively changed.,
And your response is - too bad, fuck em?
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Brodie Davis, in reply to
Street parking doesn't belong to the property. It belongs to everyone, so complaining about street parking being used is a wash (and I live in a area that has commuters parking every morning so can't park in front of my house ever).
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linger, in reply to
Given the location under a bridge, I would guess space is not readily available for off-street parking, so access to street parking is a legitimate concern.
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Brodie Davis, in reply to
Well I guess thats a matter of opinion, and Auckland Transport tends to disagree with that position. They have consistantly taken the position that street parking is not a right and can disapear at any moment. As it should be as it is public roads paid for by everyones rates.
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Andrew C, in reply to
Auckland Transport tends to disagree with that position
Not sure about that given that they administer and run residential parking permit schemes. Eden park would be a relevant example here.
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Howard Edwards, in reply to
What a website! I particularly liked Teaching Maths through the Years.
Where do they think the word "algebra" came from I wonder?
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
They have consistantly taken the position that street parking is not a right and can disapear at any moment. As it should be as it is public roads paid for by everyones rates.
There is also the aspect that roads are really designed for movement of people and goods, not for parking.
The idea that you should be able to leave your lump of iron on the (public) road is perhaps a little unreasonable.
That gets a little bit more tricky in residential streets where traffic is not intense and even more tricky in streets where houses were not designed with the expectation that every owner in the street would have a car (or three plus a boat).
There has to be a balance somewhere between "it's our street, go away" and "we're taking over your street". At least from what I've read from the Skypath folks there is a real intent to reach a compromise.
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Andrew C, in reply to
There is also the aspect that roads are really designed for movement of people and goods, not for parking.
Not really, at least not for residential roads anyway. They build those roads with space enough for both parking and driving.
The idea that you should be able to leave your lump of iron on the (public) road is perhaps a little unreasonable.
Why? Especially given the road was built to do just that. If we go and visit my family what are we supposed to do, take turns circling the block while the other person pops inside for a bit?
There has to be a balance somewhere between “it’s our street, go away” and “we’re taking over your street”. At least from what I’ve read from the Skypath folks there is a real intent to reach a compromise.
Clearly, and that's the sensible thing to do. Much better than "tough"
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I assume that all these people who believe they own the publicly maintained tarmac outside their house only drive between said personal car space and paid car parks, never parking or stopping on "other peoples" roads.
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Brodie Davis, in reply to
Clearly, and that's the sensible thing to do. Much better than "tough"
But no parking was going to be removed, it was just that other people might want to use it.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
What a website! I particularly liked Teaching Maths through the Years.
Where do they think the word “algebra” came from I wonder?
That was exactly the page I had in mind. It’s a hoary old chestnut that’s been deconstructed by the urban myth busters at Snopes. There’s a variant of it in Spanish that appeared on Stormfront, and another variant name-checking Enron or Arthur Andersen.
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