Gateway to the city from the sea, yet disfigured by motor vehicles. Fine, sunny day, yet only fifteen or so people in view; is this what’s meant by a liveable city in New Zealand? Just as the site where Pakeha settlement began in this place (on Fort Street) is now a car park. Says it all, really.
Well it’s probably the time of day, Quay Street is often packed with people, the footpaths that is. Meanwhile the vast majority of the space is dedicated to 6 odd car lanes. The upgrade of this street couldn’t come sooner and there needs to be a serious re-allocation of space such that everyone including pedestrians and cyclists get the respect they deserve.
I work right there and sadly that is representative of the pedestrians in that part of Queen Street. Agree that past Customs Street it can be shoulder to shoulder.
This really follows on from Matt’s post about Queens Wharf. This whole area of Queen Street from Customs Street onto the wharf is just horrible and that is shown by the number of people. It is really a shame and a massive indictment on the people who run the city. The people at the top have little clue on how to create liveable public space. I know there are people at the bottom and in the middle who do but they are hamstrung by rural hicks at the top who just want to get home to their lifestyle block in Drury.
I was walking down Elliott St yesterday and got passed by a guy on a bike in a full suit and tie. Being that there were also no cars around at the time I wondered if I had been transported to another city
I’d love to see the day when normal people doing normal things could ride so freely in Auckland.
We need a mentality shift. When I first arrived in Nz I looked for a bicycle on trademe but I couldn’t find any. I looked under car, bikes and boats and nothing. I then found out that they were under sport. Cycling a sport? I’m not Indurain
Dangerous taking this photo, might get run over by one of many vehicles or buses circling around the Waiheke Ferry terminal. Airbus certainly doesn’t need to be there. Really can’t see why ferry drop off can’t be just along Quay St, or maybe one turning circle directly inside gates.
If you had it on Quay Street, you’d need constant enforcement to stop people double and triple parking to load and off load. But I completely agree that the current set-up on Queens Wharf is a complete shambles and really poorly thought out. I still remember after the Americas Cup races in Shed 10 that thousands of people were pouring out and security guards had installed barricades to allow 5 cars to continue circulating. They were even shouting at people who ignored the barricades to get off the road. So even in this supposed public space, 5 cars had priority over 1-2000 people exiting an event there.
The ghastly 48 Queen Street building replaced one of Auckland’s more interesting 19th century hotels, the Great Northern. I remember as a youth in the 1970s being summonsed there to dinner by a great aunt in what I recall as an enormous double-cube dining room with louche waiters in dirty white jackets serving Brown Windsor soup. Magnificent sense of atmosphere; all replaced by corporate vinyl, mirror glass and fake plastic veneers. Didn’t have an underground car park, so a must for demolition; amazing that the Dilworth building survived though, even if it has been largely gutted.
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Gateway to the city from the sea, yet disfigured by motor vehicles. Fine, sunny day, yet only fifteen or so people in view; is this what’s meant by a liveable city in New Zealand? Just as the site where Pakeha settlement began in this place (on Fort Street) is now a car park. Says it all, really.
Well it’s probably the time of day, Quay Street is often packed with people, the footpaths that is. Meanwhile the vast majority of the space is dedicated to 6 odd car lanes. The upgrade of this street couldn’t come sooner and there needs to be a serious re-allocation of space such that everyone including pedestrians and cyclists get the respect they deserve.
I work right there and sadly that is representative of the pedestrians in that part of Queen Street. Agree that past Customs Street it can be shoulder to shoulder.
This really follows on from Matt’s post about Queens Wharf. This whole area of Queen Street from Customs Street onto the wharf is just horrible and that is shown by the number of people. It is really a shame and a massive indictment on the people who run the city. The people at the top have little clue on how to create liveable public space. I know there are people at the bottom and in the middle who do but they are hamstrung by rural hicks at the top who just want to get home to their lifestyle block in Drury.
Compare here:
awesome. That level of awesomeness is unthinkable here unfortunately. And they’ll all die soon anyway cause they don’t wear helmets.
Yes and how are they able to bike without lycra and glowing vests? Dont they realise how silly they look in dresses and light shirts.
I was walking down Elliott St yesterday and got passed by a guy on a bike in a full suit and tie. Being that there were also no cars around at the time I wondered if I had been transported to another city
I’d love to see the day when normal people doing normal things could ride so freely in Auckland.
We need a mentality shift. When I first arrived in Nz I looked for a bicycle on trademe but I couldn’t find any. I looked under car, bikes and boats and nothing. I then found out that they were under sport. Cycling a sport? I’m not Indurain
Dangerous taking this photo, might get run over by one of many vehicles or buses circling around the Waiheke Ferry terminal. Airbus certainly doesn’t need to be there. Really can’t see why ferry drop off can’t be just along Quay St, or maybe one turning circle directly inside gates.
If you had it on Quay Street, you’d need constant enforcement to stop people double and triple parking to load and off load. But I completely agree that the current set-up on Queens Wharf is a complete shambles and really poorly thought out. I still remember after the Americas Cup races in Shed 10 that thousands of people were pouring out and security guards had installed barricades to allow 5 cars to continue circulating. They were even shouting at people who ignored the barricades to get off the road. So even in this supposed public space, 5 cars had priority over 1-2000 people exiting an event there.
Shame that the Dilworth building never got it’s twin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilworth_Building
The ghastly 48 Queen Street building replaced one of Auckland’s more interesting 19th century hotels, the Great Northern. I remember as a youth in the 1970s being summonsed there to dinner by a great aunt in what I recall as an enormous double-cube dining room with louche waiters in dirty white jackets serving Brown Windsor soup. Magnificent sense of atmosphere; all replaced by corporate vinyl, mirror glass and fake plastic veneers. Didn’t have an underground car park, so a must for demolition; amazing that the Dilworth building survived though, even if it has been largely gutted.
A shame it is. The good news is that we’re saving up and will be cleaning it up a bit soon and re-doing the canopy 🙂
The saddest part for me is the loss of the buildings where the Mall is now… http://i.imgur.com/tAgSqCw.jpg
As others have said, the wharf is such a mess at present. Just no need for vehicles of any description to be there. End of.
Nice photo though – I love the Dilworth building.
Wondering about the c.1970? Mercure Hotel building. Does anybody know what was previous-ly on this site?
The rather splendid Waverley Hotel (c. 1885).
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/HeritageImages/images/photos/acc1f/1_W01039_mm.jpg
The heritage site is fascinating for seeing how the city used to look.
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/heritageimages/
The greater tragedy is perhaps the beautiful arches that used to exist over Tyler and Galway Sts.
Here’s an interesting thought: could our loss of quality public places have something to do with low voter turnout at local elections? http://www.alexsteffen.com/2013/10/reboot-the-civic-sphere/