SkyPath - Generation Zero gets to pay!

SkyPath gets Auckland Council funding for SkyPath and one really has to congratulate all involved, Even though a barrister told the Finance Planning Committee that it was illegal to vote on this  proposal before it had appeared in the Auckland City Ten Year Plan it made not a jot of difference as the Council unanimously voted for this to go ahead even though council were warned that this was the last time they would be allowed to debate this matter. Now it is in the hands of the CEO. The Council although told  about this did not take this on board and think they will have another crack. No such luck. Tis done! Well and truly done. Auckland starts paying today.

Even though there was a very eloquent presentation on the safety of SkyPath.Even though it is still highly unlikely that after all the expense of plans and wind tunnels, the design will pass the Health and Safety regulations, it was voted unanimously at the last moment, have you noticed that in NZ committees the one who shouts the loudest gets, in this case, her way. Dogs on leashes are to be added to the mix of pedestrians, bikes, electric bikes and wheelchairs. No problem, and children under five do not have to pay. Big cheers.

Win, win for everyone. Everyone was thanked, even the residents of Northcote Point who have been bulldozed over completely as if their concerns were irrelevant. Councillor George Wood who was expected to vote against with Dick Quax and Cameron Brewer, felt that he had to say that the residents of Northcote Point had  been unfairly treated.  The three of them looked like characters from Alice in Wonderland  with the residents of Northcote Point playing the oysters who trusted them to see fair play  but get hoodwinked  by these shifty characters and are eaten up without so much as a by your leave:

      I weep for you,' the Walrus said:
      I deeply sympathize.'
With sobs and tears he sorted out
      Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
      Before his streaming eyes. 

All three of them voted for SkyPath. I feel sure all the councillors are proud of themselves. Cheers all around except for Northcote Point which will now be deluged by visitors it is not equipped to handle as everybody who tries to use SkyPath will find out in two years time. But that is two years away and a miracle might happen and someone in authority might come to their senses but now Auckland will have to pay penalties.

Caution was swept to the wind. Nothing nasty is going to happen. The Ratepayers have nothing to fear. It is all going to be Lovely.  The Ratepayers have heard that one before.

So who are the winners? Difficult to say but Generation Zero have definitely won. I hope they enjoy their triumph because they will be paying for it for the next 25 years in tolls, taxes and rates. So will the rest of us. I wonder if those who opposed can opt out. For the residents of Northcote Point paying for this is a bit like paying for your own execution!

Not one of Auckland Council's better days and certainly not for the Ratepayers.

SkyPath - Does Generation Zero want to pay for SkyPath?

Auckland Council votes to fund SkyPath tomorrow although they may not be entitled to do so! The decision cannot be reversed. This is it!  But do Auckland  Ratepayers know what they are signing up for? That includes Generation Zero.

Tomorrow Thursday 21 July 2016 The Auckland City Councillors vote on underwriting SkyPath. This is a momentous decision as it will mean that whatever happens in the future, for example SkyPath at just 4 meters wide and 1.2 K long with a low headroom and steep gradient may not be usable as a shared path because the accidents that are bound to happen when pedestrians and cyclists share the same cage. No research has been done in this field it, Auckland Ratepayers take the risk.

If this happens SkyPath may not be able to function but the Auckland Ratepayers will be stuck with it. The Ratepayers will have to pay the full subsidies as if  SkyPath was open, up and running. This is just one scenario but SkyPath has many other clauses that safeguard its investment, like compensation if NZTA allows cycling and pedestrian lanes  free once the second crossing is built. This will continue for 25 years!

“All ratepayers are affected by the proposal to underwrite this project ( as general rates will cover any shortfall in revenue from patronage with patronage demand being the biggest unknown factor in the whole project (p 138 of the Agenda) 

"The decision to proceed cannot be reversed without Council incurring considerable penalty costs ( pages 42 to 43 of the Agenda)” NRA letter to AK Council

The Council should have notified Auckland Ratepayers under the current 10 Year Plan but have failed to do so. Without this notification and consultation this vote should not take place and in fact the Northcote Residents Association has asked that this vote be deferred until it is included in the next 10 Year plan so that Auckland Ratepayers have a better idea of what they are being asked to back. It is not the senior citizens who will be paying for Skypath all their lives but Generation Zero.

SkyPath is unique. Nothing like it has been tried before anywhere in the world. For those who know nothing about SkyPath’s operational problems, and for those who find SkyPath’s visual images and promises appealing, there is widespread support for SkyPath. However, Council’s Agenda reports and media seriously misrepresent the level of opposition that exists to SkyPath’s implementation. 

In particular, Councillors should know that every community organisation, yachting club and residents’ association directly affected by SkyPath, has formally notified the Environment Court of its opposition to SkyPath’s implementation. Those organisations democratically represent more than 13,000 directly affected people and include RNZYS, WMUA, RYC, PCC, SMBA, HBRA, LSBPS, NPHPS and NRA.

0. ”Should Auckland Council build an unworkable, unsafe, short-term, white- elephant extravagance now, or would it be better to wait another few short years, to implement a safe and workable facility that achieved the same function SkyPath promises, but at no cost, safely and much better?" NRA FAQ's 
   

It will be interesting to see how many of the present councillors do the right thing by the Ratepayers and decline  to vote until Aucklanders are better informed.

SkyPath - How did the Commissioners come to this Disastrous Decision?

In June 2015 I made a submission to the Resource Consent Hearing for SkyPath a shared cycling/pedestrian 4 meter wide footpath across Auckland's Harbour Bridge. Having spent my life dealing with large crowds I was shocked to see that 14,337 people were expected  to access the landing at Northcote Point through one 5 meter gateway which was blocked by turnstyles. To make matters worse there was a gradient ramp running down to the barrier. At the same time the public on the landing were expected to enter the SkyPath plus bicycles, pushchairs and wheelchairs.

It does not take much imagination to see this would be a disaster, especially if there was a panic as people will push forward unaware that the people in front are being crushed at the same time as people are trying to get on. No security was planned at all. The more I read and looked at the demonstration video the worse it got. It seemed to me that it was a gigantic cage for 2,000 people as there is no other exits.  Once on the thing you are trapped.

The landing is just 50 sq meters at Northcote Point and the actual SkyPath takes up most of that so where on earth were the thousands of people to go? Each needs at least 1 sq meter for safety. The fact that there were to be no toilets and no parking and there would be difficulty in getting more than one fire engine in, and no hope at all for ambulances or police cars in the event of an emergency pailed into insignificance.

Having experienced an angry crowd myself when unexpectedly 2,800 turned up for my first children's show at Auckland Town Hall I know a disaster when I see it and if 20,000 turned up on the first day of SkyPath, as they will because Auckland has been sold this dream anything could happen.

There is no way 2000 an hour could make it through the two turnstiles available. It is very serious as people panic. It happens somewhere in the world many times each year, usually through miscalculating capacity and bad planning. Sometimes it results in many deaths.

Having had a rather serious illness I did not feel up to presenting personally so I made a 15 minute film to show the dangers of building SkyPath in its present form. A picture is worth a 1000 words and a moving picture is priceless and I knew that the Commissioners had experience with traffic & town planning but none with crowds. Crowds are not like cars that one can manage easily. People do what they want and cyclists are known to be aggressive.

It was not easy to do as the subject is not what the Commissioners wanted to hear as the Mayor had made it plain in the press that the consent had to go through. The Mayor chose the Independent  Commissioners. However one hoped they would be reasonable when people's lives are at stake.  A Shared Path of this magnitude  in a 4 meter tunnel has never been attempted anywhere else in the world as it is too dangerous. It UK it would be illegal simply because cyclists are vehicles and can kill pedestrians as easily as cars kill cyclists.

The press who were supposed to be there were late so instead of the dangers to human beings being reported the danger to life  bird life in the local reserve got the article. Not quite the same thing.

My video was watched in horror by the submitters and the Commissioners. It was clear everyone there had got the message but with no press it was quietly buried.  The decision entry says "The video addressed issues of whether the facility would be safe for users"! This is the understatement of the year.

Today is not like yesterday where the powerful could do this and get away with it. Social media has given me the opportunity to set the record straight. If just one death from a shared cycle/pedestrian  path occurs it will be the Commissioners fault because they have been warned. They know that the path is too narrow even under NZTA guidelines, there is no world research into shared paths and certainly not this type of shared path. They know it is dangerous. Our main street is just 4 meters wide yet nobody would think of sharing it with cyclists one way let alone going both ways on the same path. It is illegal because it is deadly.

I hope that the fuss I am making will make deaths from a human panic avoidable. Again the Commissioners know but have done nothing. They cannot say they have not been warned. I should not have to do this.

I have read all the evidence and they have seen mine so it is hard to understand how they can have come to the conclusion that SkyPath is fit for purpose and safe for humans without a complete redesign like make SkyPath a dismount for cyclists area and make them push their bikes over, or make the path 6.5 meters wide and put up a median barrier or have another SkyPath on the other side and separate the two. How you increase the ground footage on Northcote Point defeats me or solve the problem of the Onewa Road intersection where there is to be another shared path. This time cyclists and school children! I may win that one.

Hopefully now when 20,000 turn up on the first day something will be in place to avoid an angry crowd who cannot get on or off the SkyPath, cannot buy tickets and cannot park their cars and cannot get back onto the motorway without a 4 hour wait. The one thing the Commissioners did do was to provide a couple of WCs. They had to be forced to do this.

The fact that if the numbers do not eventuate will mean the Auckland Ratepayers will have to stump up is minor to the mayhem that might ensue if a 20,000 crowd were left to its own devices. This is one event where I hope I am wrong but like Cassandra at Troy I fear I could be right.

Beware the Greeks bearing gifts. Now watch the video!