You Can't Fight City Hall? My Try for a Safe Path
6/9/2015
For a long time, when I happened to park for work in the area, I walked past this unusual object, an amateur-looking length of galvanised steel pipe sticking up right in the middle of the footpath. It was secured to the footpath by a flange held down with what looked like toggle bolts, slightly loose.
I kept thinking it looked positively dangerous, and could not recall ever seeing anything like it in my life. It looked like real hazard to an unwary skateboarder, or pedestrian with head down behind an umbrella, especially at night. It was outside a small restaurant with an outdoor area with impermanent cover. I surmised it might have been erected to stop customers' cars from running into the flimsy shelter. |
Eventually I came to the conclusion that it was so blatantly hazardous it must contravene the City Council's rules on obstructing footpaths, and I decided to see what I could find out in that regard, after stopping to take the picture above.
I found on the Auckland Council website that there was indeed a bylaw concerning the situation. At the page on Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaws we find Auckland Council Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw 2013.pdf which states in
Section 7,
Damage in any public place:
(1) Except with the prior written approval of Auckland Transport, a person must not cause damage on a public place including but not limited to:
(c) placing a structure, opening a drain or disturbing a surface that is likely to be injurious to or cause a nuisance to any person or to cause damage to that public place; (My Italics),
and also states in
Section 8,
Obstructions in any public place:
(1) Except with the prior written approval of Auckland Transport, a person must not:
(b) erect, construct, or place a building, structure, tent or projection of a building, structure or any part thereof, on, under, over or across a public place; (My Italics).
Thus emboldened, I decided to call them and make enquiries.
On 18 June the Customer Services Representative I spoke to was very receptive to my concerns, especially after I emailed the above picture. I was told the matter would be passed to the appropriate people to be looked into.
On 13 August, two months later, after many hopeful checks as I passed the site, I sent a message to the email address I had been given to send the picture: -
Subject: FW: Footpath obstruction
Hi xxxxxx,
Has anyone had a look at this yet?
Is there any outcome?
It is still there.
Only 40 minutes later, the Representative replied that the job was "still active and in progress." Apparently my surmise that the pipe had been put there by the restaurant was quite wrong. "It seems that the community board installed the pole because customers from [the adjoining business] were driving down the footpath. Auckland Transport has decided that they are going to remove the pole and replace it with a proper bollard which will be taller and much easier to see so it will not be a safety hazard.
I have requested that the person looking after this case contact you to let you know when this will be done."
This was an impressively prompt and informative reply, and prompted me to reply 4 minutes later: -
Thanks xxxxxx,
Nice to see a sensible compromise being made.
Thanks for your response....
On 25 August I received an email from the contractors advising "....Auckland Transport engineers have now provided us with a taller, removable bollard to install. We have ordered a new socket and when this has been delivered the bollard will be installed. The socket should arrive this week...".
I found on the Auckland Council website that there was indeed a bylaw concerning the situation. At the page on Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaws we find Auckland Council Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw 2013.pdf which states in
Section 7,
Damage in any public place:
(1) Except with the prior written approval of Auckland Transport, a person must not cause damage on a public place including but not limited to:
(c) placing a structure, opening a drain or disturbing a surface that is likely to be injurious to or cause a nuisance to any person or to cause damage to that public place; (My Italics),
and also states in
Section 8,
Obstructions in any public place:
(1) Except with the prior written approval of Auckland Transport, a person must not:
(b) erect, construct, or place a building, structure, tent or projection of a building, structure or any part thereof, on, under, over or across a public place; (My Italics).
Thus emboldened, I decided to call them and make enquiries.
On 18 June the Customer Services Representative I spoke to was very receptive to my concerns, especially after I emailed the above picture. I was told the matter would be passed to the appropriate people to be looked into.
On 13 August, two months later, after many hopeful checks as I passed the site, I sent a message to the email address I had been given to send the picture: -
Subject: FW: Footpath obstruction
Hi xxxxxx,
Has anyone had a look at this yet?
Is there any outcome?
It is still there.
Only 40 minutes later, the Representative replied that the job was "still active and in progress." Apparently my surmise that the pipe had been put there by the restaurant was quite wrong. "It seems that the community board installed the pole because customers from [the adjoining business] were driving down the footpath. Auckland Transport has decided that they are going to remove the pole and replace it with a proper bollard which will be taller and much easier to see so it will not be a safety hazard.
I have requested that the person looking after this case contact you to let you know when this will be done."
This was an impressively prompt and informative reply, and prompted me to reply 4 minutes later: -
Thanks xxxxxx,
Nice to see a sensible compromise being made.
Thanks for your response....
On 25 August I received an email from the contractors advising "....Auckland Transport engineers have now provided us with a taller, removable bollard to install. We have ordered a new socket and when this has been delivered the bollard will be installed. The socket should arrive this week...".
The whole process has taken ten weeks from 19/06 to 28/08, but I can't help wondering how much has been achieved.
The question is: has safety been improved? I am not convinced there is much less likelihood of an unwary footpath user being surprised by an object stuck in the middle of the footpath.
Is it just me, or does the reader see any significant difference between the below situations?
The question is: has safety been improved? I am not convinced there is much less likelihood of an unwary footpath user being surprised by an object stuck in the middle of the footpath.
Is it just me, or does the reader see any significant difference between the below situations?
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"You Can't Fight City Hall Blues"
Chosen mainly for its title, here is the B-side of a 1966 45 rpm 7 inch vinyl single I bought from the cheapies bin about 1969. The A-side was "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago". It was released by Dr. West's Medicine Show And Junk Band, which was a psychedelic rock band. They were known best for both producing Norman Greenbaum; and their own hit "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago", which reached No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. |