The other day I met a guy from Chengdu, so I looked it up on YouTube. I also follow a modest YouTuber who uploads videos of Saint Petersburg when he goes for walks with his wife and granddaughter.
I’m not suggesting that Christchurch should look like one of these big cities with 10 or 20 million people, but could we please knock down that derelict building that’s next to the bus exchange? It has walls falling down, and graffiti everywhere. Then there’s the case of shipping containers on the side of the road.
These inner-city features give third world vibes. I don’t care what these buildings are, please destroy them.
We also need a city-wide land tax to encourage development. There are empty sections all around Christchurch that aren’t being used for anything (or they are just for parking a jetboat). I saw two properties in Sumner that are used for parking a jet boat, and there are places in Riccarton like Kirkwood Ave and Leslie Street, each have an empty section which has been empty for 20+ years. The central and local governments aren’t doing anything to solve these problems.
This is an issue in Wellington as well, we have a few buildings of dubious “heritage” value, that cannot be torn down, as well as a few where the owner just seems unwilling to do anything with them.
It’s really holding us back as well.
You can’t say it’s bad until you’ve seen the mansion on Riccarton Road here in Christchurch. It’s been gutted by arson, but it’s still “heritage” lol. It’s owned by a bank or investment firm or something. It should be knocked down and turned into apartments, with restaurants and shops on the lower level.
Yeah, the last time I was in Christchurch was a few years ago now, and they had a number of empty lots in the CBD still, as well as a rotting pile of stone in the middle of the city.
Hopefully those building owners are paying full commercial rates on those properties.