We would like to congratulate Hamish Carter on an excellent article in Friday 17ths publication.
The first action needed is for the council to give the CBD free three hour monitored parking seven days a week. The council has done every other thing imaginable since the early eighties to try and stop the decline of customers to the CBD but have never tried free parking as is available elsewhere. How many times has the City centre been reinvented, how many times has the Waterfront been updated? How much money has been spent on marketing? All to bring in more customers to the city, but to no avail. How much money has been wasted? The new waterfront upgrade is all about having areas to run markets and shops in competition to the existing businesses in the city. Is this going to stop closures? Of course not, it will just divide the same number of dollars into more business's, and speed up the process. It appears the council doesn't expect any increase in customers because they are removing the best parking from the City and not replacing it. The Council has to stop spending millions on the waterfront and start spending it on the very tired appearance of the CBD. A little paint would help at very little cost.
We always understood that Mainstreet was an independent organisation from Council but we have found out the hard way this is not the case. They take directions from Priority One which is another council controlled organisation so the businesses have no say in how the CBD should be run.
The second area where the CBD can help it self is by every business involved in retail to open seven days a week. This and the free parking will put us all on a level playing field and the rest is up to the business's to give their customers a reason to come back to the CBD.
If the Council feels that these comments are untrue no doubt they will respond with the facts as they see them.

Bill & Frances Campbell, Tauranga.