Our old CBD is becoming our new Inner City

[Here is number three of my "Top Five Issues" listed on the vote.co.nz website.  The rest will be up soon] 

Changes in our business environment are happening all around us.  Our population is aging, convenience retail shopping is undergoing a shift to neighbourhoods and our inner cities are becoming more residential.

Rotorua's Eat Streat will look like this pretty soon.

This means a complete re-think about what we do with our inner city space.  Rotorua is one of many cities in NZ and around the world facing the same issue.  It will be our creative solutions that set us apart.

Clinging to the past and resisting change won’t get us anywhere.  We need to imagine our city in 20 years time and start planning now.      

Communities expect Council to provide things to do and see in the city and the Rotorua Night Market was a direct response to this expectation.  Events in our city provide a steady stream of free public activities like the Lakeside concerts, the Bike Festival and the recent Festival of Ice.  Work on the Eat Streat development is well underway.  This is a good model of how a successful public/private partnership can work.

We need to work more closely with other groups of retailers, business owners and residents. The increasing demands of earthquake strengthening, new building regulations and safety in public spaces provide a challenging opportunity to redevelop the look and feel of our inner city. 

I believe Council needs to assist in this transformation any way it can and I believe the addition of city art and a focus on creating a cycling pathway through the city will be a major driver of re-investment and pride in our new inner city.

See what Indianapolis did at http://www.treehugger.com/cars/biggest-bicycling-infrastructure-achievement-north-america-youve-never-heard-about.html