Urmila Bhana: Independent Business and Residential Group chairwoman on the Greens getting caught asking to use private carparks after their cycleway impacted parking

Several Greens members have been caught asking to use the private carparks belonging to Wellington retailers for a party event.

These retailers were impacted by Green-led cycleway project, which took away on-street parking in the area.

Independent Business and Residential Group chairwoman Urmila Bhana says this cycleway has negatively impacted several businesses.

"Businesses are down 60, 80, 100 percent, they're either moving, closing, or heading into liquidation. And that's nothing to do with the recession, it's the carpark removal."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah. So, as I told you before, the Greens have
been busted asking to use the private car parks of
some Wellington retailers for a party in Wellington, which is
so hypocritical because they were the ones who took the
car parking away so they could build one of their
favorite little cycle ways in the area. Right. Irmila Barner
is the chairwoman of the Independent Business and Residential Group.
And for the record, not the Greengrocer, but.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
The what Irmina, the general Grocer, the.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
General Grosser, because the green grocer is on side with
the Greens? Am I right?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Mm hmmm?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
And not you though, no, why not?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I guess I have a Shakespearean relationship with these cycle lanes.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Why do you call it Shakespearean?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well? How much do I love thee I mean, you know,
we've got a spectrum out here which is pretty dire.
Businesses are down sixty eighty one hundred percent. They're either moving, closing,
or heading into liquidation. And that's nothing to do with recession.
It's the car park remover. And you sort of like, hello.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
How do you know though, because I mean, like I
it's difficult for everybody, right, So how do you know
that it's the cycle way doing it well.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
In new Town, we were ahead of the pack. Went
in two years ago and businesses were already reporting that
dire situation. The Newtown's been that the cycle aid's been planted,
the parks have been removed. It's a ghost town. Like
you know, the uber drivers don't like getting into hospital
because there's fucking traffic to try and get here. So

(01:29):
the meals that are going out to the poor residences
that want to eat are cold. What did you think that?

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah? What did you think when you heard that Tamitha
Paul and Julian Jeni's staff has been going around asking
to use private car parks have affected businesses?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
What did I think? Well, you know, what do they
say about hypocrisy? There's no forgiveness for that sort of evil?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Is there really quite right? Do you know anything about
this situation? Because I had heard that they had asked
this office had asked for the council to re designated
a couple of car parks around the corner from their office,
to make them shorter terms so that their visitors could
use them. Did you hear about that?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, rumor has it that during a break at the
Regulatory Process meeting, on the eighteenth of April, Jordie Rodgers
was speaking to the senior Wellington City Council offices with
the current Green Deputy Mayor, Lourie Boone about parking for
the Green MPs on King Street and King Streets, the

(02:27):
side street of Adelaide Road. So we're all sitting here
in Newtown as residents. There's business owners outpatients, hospital workers
thinking well, hang on, we can't get to work because
of you. We can't get to the hospital because of you.
We can't get to the businesses we like when we
want to because of you. So this whole thing is

(02:50):
hypocritical and underscored with a golden pen. Ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Was that the eighteenth of April?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Was it? Apparently? So it's the rumor. So I've chased
it up with one of the senior counselors, so hopefully
we'll get a response shortly.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Irmla, thank you very much and best of luck fighting
this absolutely brain dead situation. That's Irmla Barner, the chairwoman
of the Independent Business and Residential Group. I'll just remind you.
So the conversation happens between Jordie and Laurie on the
eighteenth of April at the regulatory meeting. But what did
the Green say to me in the statement. There have
been no formal discussions with the Council in regards to
using parking on King Street. No formal discussions, but the

(03:27):
informal ones they work though.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
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Speaker 1 (03:33):
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