Some Thoughts on the Botanic Gardens
Posted by llew on Thursday, 19 Mar 2009
Ahem … climbs up onto soapbox. I have something to say about the Botanic Gardens, the Council & Garden staff & some of the people who go there.
1. To the Wgtn City Council & Garden staff:
- Many thanks for the doggy-doo bag dispensers at the main gates, cable car & Rose Garden – I'm not sure if all dog owners have noticed them yet (more on that later), but even those of us usually packing more plastic than the dashboard of an 80s Japanese import get caught out now & then. If I'm allowed a wish list, then another one at the Glen Rd entrance and (dare I say it) Magpie Lawn would be grand!
- The 'Get off your bikes & walk' signs are really pissing some cyclists off, if the frequently ripped up signs are anything to go by. I think that 'Please bike considerately – go slow' signs would be a good compromise, particularly on those roads that are already used by cars. Everywhere else, they should walk. Most cyclists are considerate anyway (not all – and more on that later too).
- The playground used to arguably have the greatest drinking fountain in the Southern Hemisphere. What happened to it? The one there now is adequate, the other was attractive & functional. Could we get one at the top of the Cable Car too? And (dare I say it again) Magpie Lawn?
2. To walkers of dogs through the gardens:
- Every 4-5 years, the council sends waves of dog control officers to the gardens, morning & evenings to hide in bushes & catch you when you let Tiddles off his lead. They come because the gardeners complain about the amount of dog shit in the gardens. How do I know this? Last time they blitzed, I asked the dog control officer & he gave me an honest answer.
- There's a lot of dog shit in the gardens right now. Just saying. Pick up after your dog or pay the hefty price. I think it's $300.
- Arguing or abusing dog control officers is futile & counterproductive. Last blitz, one guy with a black spoodle got quite abusive calling the officers 'Gestapo' and similar. Shortly afterwards a man was fined for having his black spoodle off a lead. Not the abusive spoodle owner as it happens. Coincidence? You be the judge.
3. To cyclists:
- As it stands, riding through the gardens, including the stretch between the cable car & Salamanca Rd is against the rules. I don't particularly agree with this, but if you're going to stop right on top of a Bike-buster sign to tell me off about my dog, who is on a lead, getting in your way, you sir, have lost all my sympathy.
- Likewise, if you're going to barrel past me, my wife & our dog, at speed, around a blind bend on a pedestrian track, with your poo coloured designer lycra, helmet & 'don't mess with me I'm important' look on your face, you earn the loud 'Fuckwit!' aimed at your speeding and ample arse. I expect to find you over the bonnet of a car any day soon. And hopefully not a bowled old age pensioner, because you'll get more than a 'fuckwit' from me if it is.
- And update! There is a public meeting for cyclists on this very issue, next Tuesday (24th) at 5.30pm Kelburn Scout Hall (right in the middle of the offending track.
4. To whomever is responsible for the appearance of 'Plants have been stolen from this area' signs in sundry locations:
- WTF? It's not even edible plants being filched. Dudes, it's not cool to steal plants from the Botanic Gardens, not cool at all.
What is a 'spoodle'?
A repackaged mutt with a 4 figure price tag.
http://sunnyo.blogspot.com/2005/09/designer-dogs.html
I have heard that there were complaints (how frequent? I don't know) about cyclists in the gardens for ages, with nothing done. Then a high-up in the council had a close encounter and the signs went up..
I've seen a cyclist scatter a bunch of old ladies as he came swooping around horeshoe bend. I've nearly been bowled myself near the Met office on a few occasions.
The signs aren't working - they're ignored at best, and destroyed in fits of pique at worst. Middle aged bikers seem the worst too, not kids.
I'm please that someone from WCC visited the gardens, I attended the public submissions on the dog control policy about 5 years ago, some of the comments from councillors at the time suggested they'd never, ever visited the gardens & they displayed little or no knowledge of what goes on at all.
Sample: (Ex) Cr Sue Piper expressed reluctance at designating Magpie Lawn a lead free area because there would be nowhere for picnickers. Seeing as Magpie Lawn is often a waterlogged, tractor tracked poaddock used as a dumping ground for fallen trees & a mulching site, and is half a kilometre away from water or public toiltes, just about anywhere else in the gardens would be preferable for a picnic. Including the Dell, the Soundshell, the duckpond and the PICNIC area at the playground.
Maybe Sue's had the chance to visit since she failed to be re-elected.
People picking up dog shit in plastic bags and sending them off to the land-fill crack me up. Isn't that just preserving it for generations and generations longer than necessary? In 'nature' it dries up and breaks down quickly. What's wrong with paper bags? I pity the archeologists of the future.
Most doggy doo bags are biodegradable these days, but if dog owners would even go as far as to scuff the offending deposit off the track & down a bank where no-one ever goes, it'd be an improvement.
Phew - who would have thought the Gardens were such a hotbed of drama and conflict??
That being said - this is all good stuff. I'll flick a link re this dialogue to all the people at the Council who've got an interest in the Gardens (and that's lots of us).
cheers
Richard MacLean - WCC Communications
Thank you Richard, that's exactly what I was hoping would happen.
It'd be cool too, if everyone could spread the word to cyclists & dog owners they know who travel those parts.
Richard,
Do you want to come and work for Auckland City Council?? It has a terribly dysfunctional Comms team that, well, I'll stop there.
I very much like the fact that you are leaving comments (which points to the fact that you are reading this blog), which is GREAT.
Cheers,
Christopher
The fact that it's verboten to cycle between the cable car precinct and Salamanca Road strikes me as a bit odd, particularly since you can drive along there (more or less). For what it's worth, the WCC is having a meeting with the cycling community on the 24th March - see http://www.vorb.org.nz/meeting-about-cycling-botanic-gardens-salamanca-upland-t93696.html for details.
I agree - but I think we can hold the wanker in the poo coloured lycra & his ilk responsible for wrecking it for everyone else.
Thanks for that link, I've updated the post.
It's the reputation of these cyclists that put me off allowing them to take to the tracks in the Thorndon Hills.
Why not have a few dogshit deposit bins as well as plastic bag dispensers? Centralise that shit, chuck a bit of lime in and wha-hey, organic compost!
I'm sure the Bot Gardens would applaud that initiative! Maybe some perches too, so the birds can crap in those bins.
Perhaps the dog poo could be collected in handy piles, with scoops on sticks like doggy ball thowers, for pedestrians to pelt the cyclists with.
Mybe for dog owners & cyclists to pelt everyone else with?
The gardeners like a good jape, we could pelt them.
Greetings - attached are a few quick comments passed on from the Bot Garden staff in response to the initial post on this subject:
Re the apparent revelation about the dog-doo bags, they've been available in the gardens for aeons and they're well used...
In terms of the suggestion that Magpie Lawn be made more dog-friendly, our line is that we'd be reluctant to do that. While we don't have problems with dogs on leads in the garden, it's not a place for dogs off leashes - even on Magpie Lawn.
While nearly every dog owner says their dog is docile and wouldn't hurt a fly, we just don't want dogs on the loose in the Garden - especially in a place that's so popular with young kids.
Our experience is that the owners of dogs off leashes are also far less likely to pick up their droppings. Dog shit is a big problem in the Garden - and it's not just the gardeners who hate it. We get loads of complaints about it - including from people who end up standing or sitting in it while trying to have a picnic or throw a frizbee about in places like Magpie Lawn.
Re the cyclists: We generally don't have problems with considerate cyclists who ride slowly. As is already well covered by others, it's the arrogant, thoughtless, cyclists (and there are a lot of them about) who create the problems in the Garden by treating the pathways as a racetrack.
The pathway between the Cable Car and Salamanca Road is a case in point. Generally we haven't got a problem with cyclists riding on the pathway - but it's when they rip through groups of people walking in the busy area around the Cable Car terminal itself and the nearby lookout -that's when we get the complaints.
Re the late, lamented, drinking fountain in the playground, it was smashed up by vandals and had to be replaced. A fountain on Magpie Lawn? Unfortunately it'd cost an arm and a leg to put one there because there's no nearby water main - so we'd have to install a long pipe connection. A fountain by the Cable Car? Sounds like a reasonable idea - we'll have a look at it.
cheers
Richard MacLean - WCC Communications
Thanks Richard - and just to clarify, I'm happy with the status quo at Magpie Lawn. (bummer about the fountain though, it'd make it a slightly nicer place for a picnic.)
But one at the cable car would be great!
And cripes - even I hate the dog shit :)
re: cyclists and the troubles.
Is it too much of a stretch to look at the reasons why cyclists use that route through the gardens? Your response smacks of us and them. Bike riders assess routes and choose the safest, most convenient and most pleasant. If they use the route through the gardens, it must fit these boxes. Instead of blaming people on bikes for problems and applying the 'bicycle riders are different to us and therefore bad, lets ban them' attitude that WCC seems to do quite regularly, why can't you tackle the underlying reasons for them being there? If you aren't going to provide a safe route on the roads, and don't want bikes in the gardens, you really aren't solving anything. The opportunity to at least talk is a start. And the plus side of people complaining about bikes is that it proves bikes are being used. There is a demand for facilities. These bike riders are Wellingtonians who must be considered in plans just like all other residents - hell, they are just residents (who sometimes ride bicycles). Any other group (motorists, pedestrians etc) would expaect WCC to respond to the demand for fecilities. Seems bikes are the exception more often than not.
How did the meeting go anyone know? I forgot about it & then some cyclist rode past & told me it had just been on.
I was only going to press my face against the window & make faces anyway.
All of this is just typical of you Ilew, going to the gardens in Wellington and looking at flowers and dog psychology and that: when you could just as easily have bagged Macadamia nuts and sold them, or if you couldn't find Macadamia nuts thrown in some other stuff round the farm there, pour chocolate over it all, send to Japan, pay taxes, but no, you go to the gardens in Wellington, probably thinking the weather would be ok, like one man trying to make his life easier,
your site is getting hard to enter dude
I totally sympathise re cyclers in Bot Gardens. I was in Wgtn over summer - there seemed to be far too many in Wgtn fullstop, using pedestrian areas as race tracks. Trying to walk around the waterfront was a nightmare. They came up silently at great speed behind pedestrians and one wrong step could've resulted in a terrible accident. I'm surprised there haven't been lots of accidents. Cyclists should be banned from pedestrian areas. Why can't they stick to the roads? Wgtn has some of the most scenic roads in the country and virtually none of Auckland's congestion so there's no excuse.
Why can't they use the roads? Because the relevant authorities, here and in Auckland, not only constructs roads with no shoulders or cycle lanes, but in the case of the waterfront, creates cycle paths that have no clear demarcation that keeps pedestrians off. From the Railway Station to Oriental Parade there is no shoulder or lane, and after Oriental Parade there is a shared pedestrian cyclepath (the pedestrians walk all over the nominal cycle part) and a bunch of angle parking where parked cars reverse into the zone where cyclists are.
The last time I read the Road Code cycling on the footpath was illegal, but in Auckland and in Wellington this seems to be becoming unofficial policy. Roads are only for cars, you know.
I agree that normal cycling speed among pedestrians is antisocial, but the built environment definitely encourages it.
i do find differnt perspective intersting, and perhaps they show a bias we all have
where mr judd see pedestrians on the cycle spaces on oriental bay i see cyclists in the pedestrian spaces.
Which tells me the council just has not made it logically clear to anyone
Oh absolutely. I don't think it's right to run down pedestrians on your bike or anything like that, I'm just saying that the cues for cyclists are pretty mixed.
And it's a while since I've been that way, but there was a line down the middle with bike symbol on one side and a stick figure on the other...
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