No middle ground on median

By Grant Johnston

The front page article in last Tuesday’s Courier about an upgrade of Te Awamutu CBD on the new Council’s agenda has drawn plenty of reaction from readers.

From the moment the paper hit the street, my email has had a steady stream of traffic from locals wanting to give their views on what sort of things they would like to see in the CBD upgrade. What is apparent even at this early stage of the process is that the ‘ideal’ upgrade of our central business area means different things to different people.

Former town clerk Ashley Reid says the median, which he rates the best thing that’s happened to Te Awamutu, has to stay and the cherry trees are now a recognised Te Awamutu trademark (see letters page 2).

Regent Theatre owner, Allan Webb says the median has to go (or at least be made much smaller), along with the cherries - “okay, so for a few weeks each year, the pink blossoms look lovely but they end up in the shops and someone has to clean them up”. Mr Webb, who has been in business in the main street for 34 years, says the “biggest step backwards was the (last) alteration to the main street. The parking was decreased which is exactly the reverse of what we all wanted, despite a large petition. It was changed from much safer angle parking to parallel parking. One doesn’t have to go far down the street to
see how badly people park. Cars are smashed and arguments have developed because of this.”

Some respondents have said that heavy traffic should be removed from the main street.

Mr Webb agrees and adds that if this can’t be done, traffic calming measures should be installed to at least slow traffic down.

“The theatre has mini earthquake many times a day, especially when the tankers drive past. It is accentuated when there is little traffic about such as a Sunday morning when we can get six ‘earthquakes’ in 30 minutes.”

If you want to add to the debate, the opportunity is ongoing — use the Courier contact form or by letter to PO Box 1, Te Awamutu).