No parking

While central government works to wreck Christchurch's downtown through endless uncertainty about whether anchor projects will proceed, Christchurch Council is doing a number on its suburbs.

Council's having at a neighbourhood cafe and bar in Cashmere. Why? They want it to have 62 more car parks than it currently has. It seems one neighbour's been complaining - perhaps there's parking overflow on side streets.

Mike Yardley's been checking into things:

Hospitality New Zealand's regional manager, Amy McLellan-Minty, tells me "a council employee who lives nearby" triggered the storm. She considers the council's treatment of the Vaughans as the worst she's seen.

Since the council's Kaizuka swoop last August, Hospitality New Zealand notes the district licensing committee pointedly requires licence applicants to produce a far more prescriptive floor plan, to avoid any confusion. So is this heavy-handed treatment of Kaizuka by the power-trippers primarily a butt-covering exercise?

Local councillor, Tim Scandrett, has previously failed to make any headway. Crs Phil Clearwater and Scandrett notified me they'd be meeting council staff, in a bid to resolve the fiasco.

Living in Huntsbury, I know how cherished this venue is. The social media response from the local residents' groups has been emphatically supportive of Kaizuka.

The ludicrous council dictum for 62 more car parks has been roundly pilloried, particularly given the overwhelming number of patrons walk or bike there for a meal or drink. The Vaughans have clearly had a gutsful trying to strike a pragmatic resolution.

With 18 jobs on the line, a Christmas miracle is needed.

Flow-on effects to side streets are real potential adverse consequences for some local residents, but you could equally ask why those households didn't bother with sufficient onsite parking.

In either case, isn't the better solution to put one side of the affected street to residents' passes, so the locals know they'll have a place to park? It isn't that hard. And it makes more sense than killing a business.