Arts Centre plans to replace vibrant market with tarmac wasteland: people urged to protest

www.lizformayor.org.nz

Last week the Arts Centre Trust Board wrote to the Stallholders Association confirming that all market stalls would have to move within six weeks.

The move will affect around 100 stallholders in the country’s most visible and vibrant ‘kiwi made’ market. It will also affect the 20 or so food stalls along Food Alley.

While this was reported in the media, Mayoral candidate Liz Gordon thinks that Christchurch people do not yet understand what the move will mean for their Arts Centre.

“Yesterday the market was bathed in the weekend sun, full of bustling visitors and the occasional free attraction. Each time the tram stopped in Worcester Boulevard, a group of people got off and entered the market. Sales were brisk.

“Contrast that with what it will look like for the next couple of years, if the Music school goes ahead.

“As the main access for all building materials and workers, the area will be fenced off and entry to the Arts Centre complex allowed only through the building, or the quadrangles. The market square will be mud valley, littered with bins and trucks and builders huts. When the tram stops (if the trams even bother to run), tourists will be repelled, not invited.

“As with the current mess at Christchurch Airport, people will be forced to cope.

“What about the stalls? Well, they are to be ensconced mainly in the North Quadrangle, an area that rarely sees any sun and is also a notorious wind tunnel. Indeed, it was the early location for the stalls, and Market Square was developed precisely in order to provide an open and user-friendly space for the market.

“The inevitable effects are as follows:” says Dr Gordon,

“The number of local, national and international visitors will fall significantly, as the main weekend gateway to the market is turned into an embarrassing and ugly morass.

“Those who do go there will spend less, because the stalls and their wares will not be displayed to advantage.

“Finally, the earnings of the stallholders will dwindle, as will, over time, the number and quality of stallholders. Jobs will be lost and earnings reduced.

Dr Gordon said that news that the move is permanent, and that the “fabulous market square will become a car park on top with a car park underneath”, hasn’t yet sunk in.

“This is our Arts Centre, not some kind of private property development, and I want to urge Christchurch people to fight to save Market Square”, she said.

ENDS

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