Sydenham businesses: "Please listen!"

Sydenham business owners ask Council to listen!!!
>>
>> The Sydenham business group has got a simple message to the
>> Christchurch City Council – listen to us!! Stop the Bus Priority Lane
>> through Sydenham!!
>>
>> “We are a group of hardworking, rate-paying locals, and we think the
>> Council should be on our side, not working against us. They are
>> threatening our future, wasting our money and we want them to listen
>> to us,� gary knight , spokesperson said today.
>>
>> A few years ago, Council said they were launching a Sydenham
>> Beautification programme. Great, we said. They started it. Then they
>> stopped it. And now they are going to undo the little bit they have
>> done.
>>
>> Then they started talking about a Bus Priority Lane. We don’t want it
>> in Sydenham and we don’t need it. The Bus Lane is going to cost
>> $3.2m. That’s a waste of our rates. It will operate between 3pm and
>> 6pm. That’s a busy time for us. And now they tell us that all our car
>> parks are going to go to make way for the Bus Lane. That will hurt
>> our businesses.
>>
>> Then they developed a parking strategy. They said this would make up
>> for the lost car parks. But they didn’t ask one single Colombo St
>> business for their views on this! We will lose carparks under this
>> strategy. And we will lose business.
>>
>> To make all these bad things even worse, they say now that they are
>> not even going to put the Bus Lane in Sydenham out to tender – they
>> will just award the job to the same company that gets the first part
>> of the run – from PMH to Dyers Pass Roundabout. So our legal options
>> have been severely cut back by this decision.
>>
>> We know that Riccarton Road is a traffic nightmare. But they say they
>> haven’t got enough money to put a bus lane in there. We are happy to
>> do a swap! Leave our car parks and our businesses running. Take the
>> $3.2m and use it where it’s needed.
>>
>> We don’t need the Bus Lane. We don’t want the Bus Lane. We want
>> strong businesses well supported by customers who can get to our
>> shops. And we want to work with Council so that all of us can keep
>> working in our shops!
>>
>> Council – please listen to us!
>>
>
>> garry knight 021359769 or 3663278