Bring the buzz: Free parking for 6 weeks.
We're offering 🐝free🐝 parking for the next six weeks to help keep our Central Business District buzzing.
At an emergency meeting yesterday Councillors unanimously decided to cancel all parking charges in Council-owned parking spaces for up to six weeks starting Monday 14 March 2022.
“It's time to mask up, scan in, use sanitiser, and support local businesses" says Mayor Sheryl Mai, "They need us and we need them. Let's pull through this together and we can all rebuild in the good times that lie ahead."
“Businesses that rely on foot traffic have been doing it hard during the COVID pandemic and in the past two weeks especially, the central city has seen fewer people."
Parking will be free in all of Council’s off-street carparks, on-road metered parking spaces, the John Street Carparking Building and the John and James Street carparks managed for Council by Wilsons Parking.
❗🍭 We can't turn our mechanical "lollipop" meters off, so don’t put money in them unless you're feeling reeeallly generous.
Our ticket dispensers and MPark (our online parking) will be shut off during the campaign, and there will signage posted to support this message.
We are also asking people to play fair – this initiative is to get people back to positive routines of shopping local, eating from our lovely local food businesses and enjoying our public spaces. If you work in town, please park where you normally would and leave the parks outside your shop for customers.
Our wardens will still be out there checking that people move on after the allotted time and ticketing where necessary – the idea is to keep things moving, bring the buzz, inject energy and life as people come in, go about their business and head off again.
Our contribution is the equivalent of about $240,000 in lost parking income, but we reckon visitors will spend that and much more at local businesses.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Today’s Mind-Bender is the Last of the Year! Can You Guess It Before Everyone Else?
You have me today, Tomorrow you'll have more;
As your time passes, I'm not easy to store;
I don't take up space, But I'm only in one place;
I am what you saw, But not what you see.
What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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