 Just wanted to show what Auckland Council is allowing, incrementally, on Queens Wharf. Right now. I took this picture from the end of Queens Wharf looking out to the Harbour entrance. You can see Mt Victoria and North Head to the left. A signature view from Auckland's public waterfront.I took the picture about a year ago. |
 This image is from a blog I posted a couple of months ago, showing how that view would change, if Ports of Auckland expansion plans went ahead. |
 This photo-shopped image shows how that view could change after the reclamation. In fact it is likely to be even worse because Ports want to stack containers high on their newly reclaimed land to cope with an almost quadrupling of container volumes. |
 But sadly, that view has already changed. I took this photo today. This incredibly ugly and threatening fence has gone up. A sign of things to come on Queens Wharf. Which is already turning into a taxi rank and car park for all and sundry.I appreciate there are gates in this fence which are usually open when there is not a cruise ship there. But the fence is a hundred metres long. Ugly and threatening. |
 This fence is presumably needed when a cruise ship visits. A far cry from the striking red fence that kept the public away from the port in days gone by. There are so many other more creative ways to temporarily protect the cruise ship industry from the attention of Auckland's public. Given that the majority of days the whole wharf is available to the public, surely it is in the public interest NOT to have a permanent fence like this.One leader described Queens Wharf as Auckland's next Regional Park. Do we really need permanent fences like this in public places? |
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Public Interest and Queens Wharf
| Just wanted to show what Auckland Council is allowing, incrementally, on Queens Wharf. Right now. I took this picture from the end of Queens Wharf looking out to the Harbour entrance. You can see Mt Victoria and North Head to the left. A signature view from Auckland's public waterfront. I took the picture about a year ago. |
| This image is from a blog I posted a couple of months ago, showing how that view would change, if Ports of Auckland expansion plans went ahead. |
| This photo-shopped image shows how that view could change after the reclamation. In fact it is likely to be even worse because Ports want to stack containers high on their newly reclaimed land to cope with an almost quadrupling of container volumes. |
| But sadly, that view has already changed. I took this photo today. This incredibly ugly and threatening fence has gone up. A sign of things to come on Queens Wharf. Which is already turning into a taxi rank and car park for all and sundry. I appreciate there are gates in this fence which are usually open when there is not a cruise ship there. But the fence is a hundred metres long. Ugly and threatening. |
| This fence is presumably needed when a cruise ship visits. A far cry from the striking red fence that kept the public away from the port in days gone by. There are so many other more creative ways to temporarily protect the cruise ship industry from the attention of Auckland's public. Given that the majority of days the whole wharf is available to the public, surely it is in the public interest NOT to have a permanent fence like this. One leader described Queens Wharf as Auckland's next Regional Park. Do we really need permanent fences like this in public places? |
1 comment:
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Hi Joel, reading your comments about Queens Wharf and traffic made me realise how inconvenient the development has been. I pass from the Devonport ferry to Britomart and back every day day and the trip has been made more hazardous since the pavement has now become an intersection with lights and the wharf itself a road, like Princes Wharf. In essence, Auckland's roading system has now been extended over the harbour. Further, the phasing on the lights outside the Ferry Building has been changed so that pedestrians have a shorter time to cross. All in all, navigating the waterfront near the ferry building has become less pedestrian-friendly. It was better when there was no public access to Queens Wharf. Perhaps the ideal would be to have only pedestrian access to Queens Wharf from Quay St , and service vehicles should drive from Tinley St. This commuter was happier to see Queens Wharf used to store imported vehicles than it is now, because at least they were stationary and didn't try to mow him down on the way to work.
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December 22, 2011 at 9:34 AM
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1 comment:
Hi Joel, reading your comments about Queens Wharf and traffic made me realise how inconvenient the development has been. I pass from the Devonport ferry to Britomart and back every day day and the trip has been made more hazardous since the pavement has now become an intersection with lights and the wharf itself a road, like Princes Wharf. In essence, Auckland's roading system has now been extended over the harbour. Further, the phasing on the lights outside the Ferry Building has been changed so that pedestrians have a shorter time to cross. All in all, navigating the waterfront near the ferry building has become less pedestrian-friendly. It was better when there was no public access to Queens Wharf. Perhaps the ideal would be to have only pedestrian access to Queens Wharf from Quay St , and service vehicles should drive from Tinley St. This commuter was happier to see Queens Wharf used to store imported vehicles than it is now, because at least they were stationary and didn't try to mow him down on the way to work.
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