As pointed out to Council members in many submissions, yes there is an economic down turn still affecting the whole of Tauranga, and retail has been suffering. This has had an impact on all of Tauranga retail and the Tauranga CBD.
However other contributing factors have hugely added to this loss, ever since large numbers of busses have been moved into down town Tauranga over the past 18 months and the construction of roads to facilitate this move it has had a major impact on the CBD.
In the next six months City Hall will be surrounded by big yellow buses (reminiscent of Custer's last stand) and will continue to have a detrimental effect on Tauranga CBD, until those in power start listening to those at the coal face.
Tony Young, Tauranga.