John MacDonald: Should the Christchurch mayor use personal funds for public projects?

Just because someone can afford to do something, it doesn’t always mean they should do it. 

Which is how I’m feeling about Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger using his own money to pay engineers to design a replacement for the controversial Park Terrace cycleway which, he says, is under-utilised and causing traffic congestion. 

According to council data, 648 cyclists use it every week day. Which doesn’t sound under-utilised to me. 

What’s more, I don’t like the idea of the mayor circumventing his in-house transport staff and getting some private engineers to come up with another design. I think it’s very sneaky. 

You may remember the row over this one a couple of years back, when council transport staff blocked-off one of the lanes heading north on Park Terrace and turned it into a two-way cycle lane. 

Marking it off with bollards and reducing that stretch of road to one-lane, instead of two. 

If you can’t quite envisage where this is, it’s the stretch of road that goes from the Antigua boat sheds, past the museum, past Christ’s College and The George hotel, up to Salisbury Street.  

Which, as I said at the time, was the outcome of the council transport people over-thinking things because they were concerned about cyclists and pedestrians being put at risk by the development work going on at Canterbury Museum.  

So they thought that closing a lane of traffic, turning it into a cycleway, and making that stretch of road one-lane, instead of two, was the answer. 

When this all flared-up back in 2023, Phil Mauger got into strife when he said council staff were “running amok and they need to be reined in”. 

He also described staff as "the anti-car brigade". 

Two years down the track - and with an election coming up - Phil has paid some engineers to come up with an alternative design. 

Which would see the traffic lane used for the cycleway being reinstated and the 2.5 metre-wide shared footpath that runs between the road and the Avon River being widened to accommodate cyclists.  

Personally, I think the idea Phil is pushing is a good one - but I don't like the fact that he’s worked around his own council engineers and paid other, private engineers to come up with a new design. 

I know some people will think he’s being a bit of a legend and putting his money where his mouth is. But I don’t. Even though I think it would make much more sense to use some of that space between the footpath and the river. 

The reason I don’t like what he’s done, is that he is riding roughshod over his transport staff and he’s riding roughshod over his council’s processes. 

Because this cycleway is due to be in place for another three years. Some concillors didn’t like it at the time. But that’s how things ended up. 

Even though the mayor has spent his own personal money getting these engineers to come up with a different design, it will only happen if he’s re-elected. And it’s not as if he’s going to pay for the work. 

He says his plan will cost ratepayers about $300,000 and will be done within 100 days if he is still mayor after the election. 

He also says it depends on him getting a working majority of what he calls like-minded councillors. 

But just because he can afford to pay the outside engineers to come up with an alternative design - and even though I think the alternative design he’s proposing would be much better than the set-up at the moment - I don’t like what he’s done. 

He’s top dog at the council and he needs to show the council and its staff more respect.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Just because just because someone can afford to do something,
just because they've got the money, it doesn't always mean
they should do it, which is how I'm feeling about
christ Churche Mayor Phil Major using his own money to
pay engineers to design a replacement for that controversial part
Terra cycle way you know, which he says is underutilized

(00:34):
and causing traffic congestion. By the way, according to council data,
six hundred and forty eight cyclists use that every weekday,
which doesn't sound underutilized to me. What's more, I don't
like the idea of the mayor circumventing his in house
transport staff and getting some private engineers to come up

(00:57):
with another design. I think it's very sneaky. If you
remember this row started a couple of years back when
the council staff they blocked off one of the lanes
heading north on Park Terrace and turned it into a
two way cycle lane that they marked it off with
bollards and they reduced that stretch of road to one

(01:19):
lane instead of two, and you had fell and some
other councilors saying, oh, we were blindsided with us where
he had no idea this this was happening, which turned
out not to be the case at all. Now if
you can't quite envisage where I'm talking about, this is
the stretch of road that goes from the Antigua boat sheds,
past the museum, past Christ's College and the George Hotel

(01:42):
up to Salisbury's treat which, as I said at the time,
was the outcome of the Council Transport people overthinking things
because or they were concerned about cyclists and pedestrians being
at risk because of the development work going on at
Canterbury Museum. So they thought that closing a lane of traffic,
turning it into a cycle way and making that stretch

(02:03):
of road one lane instead of two, they thought that
was the arts. And when this all fled up back
in twenty twenty three, Phil got into a bit of
strife when he accused his council's staff of running a muck.
They were the words he used, and he said they
were quote running a muck and they need to be
rained in And he described as council staff, as Council

(02:26):
Transport staff, as the anti car brigade. That's another direct quote.
That's what he said. And now two years down the track,
with an election coming up, Phillis paid some engineers to
come up with an alternative design, which would see the
traffic lane used for the cycleway as it is at
the moment being reinstated, and the two and a half

(02:47):
met a wide shared footpath that runs between the road
and the river being widened to accommodate the cyclist. Now, personally,
this way, when you might think where you might think
I'm a bit hypocritical. I think the idea that philis
pushing is a good one. But I don't like the
fact that he's worked around his own council engineers and

(03:08):
he's paid private engineers to come up with a new design.
I mean, I know some people will think that he's
being a bit of a legend. You know, he's putting
up his own money, putting his money where his mouth is.
That I don't feel that way, even though I think
it would make much more sense to use some of
that space between the footpath and the river. The reason
I don't like what he's done is that he is

(03:29):
riding rough shod over his transport staff. He's the top
dog at that council. He's riding roughshod over his transport staff,
and he's riding rough shod over his council's processes because
this cycle way, whether you like it or not, it's
due to be in place for another three years. I
mean some counselors is to say they didn't like it
at the time fell among them, but that's how things

(03:51):
ended up. But now what we've got, we've got a
meeral candidate. And let's remember what this actually is. This
isn't Phil doing this out of the good of his heart.
He's doing it as an election bribe, because even though
he spent his own personal money getting these ends engineers
to come up with a different design, it will only
happen if he is re elected. And it's not as

(04:12):
if he's going to pay for the work itself either.
He says his plan will cost right payers about three
hundred thousand dollars, and he says it'll be done within
one hundred days if he becomes mayor again. He also
says it depends on him getting a working majority of
what he calls like minded counselors. But just because he

(04:32):
can afford to pay the outside engineers to come up
with an alternative design, and even though I think the
alternative design is better than the setup, at the moment,
I don't like what he's done. He's top dog at
the council and he needs to show the council and
its staff more.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Respect for more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald. Listen
live to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.