I had an interesting conversation with New Zealand Herald opinion writer, Simon Wilson, about Auckland Transport's attempt to make Surrey Crescent safer for Grey Lynn Primary School students.
I said, "I think the 'best bit' is the 'SCHOOL' sign printed on red on the road. And the 'worst bits' are the hump hidden behind that sign, and the taking away of parent parking."
Simon said, "taking away parent parking is the 'best bit', as how else do we have social change?"
Then there's the NZTA conversation with Newstalk ZB, admitting that the traffic slowing down is intentional. The anti-car lobbyists agree it's going to cause more emissions, but they think that if motorists get pissed off enough, we will abandon our cars. These are the same lobbyists who advocate for cycleways on our arterial roads. Auckland Transport has bought into this dogma and even give them final sign off.
Confirmed! This "social change, intentional slowing of traffic, blocking of arterial roads and taking away parking" is about social engineering. Not a conspiracy theory! Hold on, when did New Zealanders buy into social engineering?
Call it 'tactical urbanism, play streets, innovating streets, people friendly streets' or whatever spin you like, if you really want Kiwis to decrease the number of cars on the roads, then work with us, not against us, NZTA and Auckland Transport.
Kiwis are world famous for our number 8 wire mentality of problem solving, rating highest in the world, per capita, for inventors when we 'boomers' were in our heyday. So we're more than capable of coming up with innovative solutions to our emissions quota, when offered the 'carrot', rather than the 'stick.
We can do this. Already parents are dropping kids off at school without stopping. Talking with them might result in more walking buses or even actual buses, as that bus route was removed some time ago. The reinstatement of the bus route would mean that the villages of Grey Lynn, West Lynn and Westmere were reconnected and people could move between them by public transport as we could previously.
It's bound to be more effective that trying to control us!
From studying Sociology, I remember this powerful statement, "successful societies must resist change, so only positive change occurs." (Gael Baldock, Community Advocate)
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Published 3 September 2021