Why pavers on King William Road. The current public conversation is asking that question.
Why pavers on King William Road? Because that is what you asked for. Certainly that is what I heard you saying. Accordingly, it influenced my vote. With a unanimous vote it must be what the rest of the Councillors heard too.
You made this a paramount request of us from the very beginning of the design process. You were telling us the pavers are what makes King William Road unique. That the street came alive back in the 80’s after that Red Scheme project because of the pavers.
In response to that prevailing observation you were telling us, we provided you with three different approaches to paving the street. You chose the one we are providing.
The three choices are shown on the Design King William website. They were as follows:
- All paved.
- Bitumen Paved.
- A Hybrid bitumen and paved road
Option 1 was for a paved road, paved footpath, paved parking. The bitumen option included paving to the parking bays and the footpath. The 3rd option was for a Hybrid. A bitumen paved road with brick infills at the intersections. It also included paving to the parking bays and the footpaths.
You told us overwhelmingly that you wanted option 1. 54% of you wanted this option. A clear majority. The option we are therefore implementing.
30% of you wanted the hybrid version. This was a compromise solution if you want and it was your 2nd preference.
Only 16% of you favoured the bitumen option. That is 1 in 6 of you.
And yet this is not what we are hearing. What we are hearing is that this is the way we should have gone with the 2nd Option, the least preferred option previously. We are hearing that the disruption would have been less with this option. Therefore we should have listened to those who did not want pavers.
Sorry!
We listened to the majority. The significant majority. I am sure the majority will enjoy it.
Maybe the majority did want the least popular option but didn’t express it. In that case, it’s a lesson learned. We have to participate to have our voice heard.
Such an astute observation Cathy. If people don’t speak, they wont be heard. Closer to home the Clarence Park LATM is due to be considered by our local community. The letter should arrive any day now.
I pray that everyone with an interest will speak on this one.
That said, the few (with a negative view) will also be attracted to and by the media. I believe that is at the core of King William Road. There is no storey without dissenters.