A lot of Wellingtonians took the time out of their busy schedules over the couple of weeks to come in to the council offices and make a submission on the Long-Term Plan. Individuals have 5 minutes to speak to their submission and answer any questions from councillors. It can feel intimidating the first time, but our Wellington City Councillors are actually a pretty nice bunch of people and want to hear what you have to say. We are however pretty disappointed in the Mayor, who was so absent from the hearings that he ended up missing out on listening to everyone we selected in our top 5.
5. Trudy, New to cycling.
Trudy talked about her experiences as a new cyclist in wellington, making a point about how cycling infrastructure reaches a wide group of people. Leaving lots of time to respond to questions from councillors, she also gave some great answers about her confidence in ‘pop-up’ bike lanes and the difficulties finding bike parking in the city.
4. Marianne, Kids Freedom Fighter.
Backed up by a solid powerpoint presentation, Marianne talked about the independence a safe cycling network would bring to children in Wellington. She presented an idea from Florrie (age 8) that the new integrated cycling network should be called the “Kids Freedom Network”. Even Sean Rush came onside at the end!
3. Davey, Getting involved early.
Davey talks about how he likes the freedom of biking ahead on his own, but wishes there were more places that he could do so, and that he would like to bike from his house rather than having to be driven out to the Hutt Valley to ride safely.
2. Ian, Ringer of Bells.
If you want to make an impact on councillors after days of hearings, this is how you do it. I’ll let Ian speak for himself on this one.
1. Kate, Last: but not too late.
The final submitter on the very last day of hearings, Kate made the journey in to the council offices in the dark with her partner and young child after many councillors had already tapped out. She describes their experience making their way into town only to find no cycle parking outside the council offices. Big bonus points for shouting out Cycle Wellington, and for leaving the councillors with some appropriate final remarks.
A big thanks to everyone who completed our quick submit, and to everyone else who made a submission or took the time to speak to council. We’re going to keep on pushing for a future Wellington that’s better for people on bikes.
You can watch our Cycle Wellington submission here: https://youtu.be/Ftha77IXcEU?t=18194
Or read our full written submission:
Cycle Wellington 