Editorial Scott Stevens Issue 461 In 2001, a couple of $100 Warehouse BBQ’s fired into life at the back of the Betty’s Liquor Store on the corner of Camp Street and Cow Lane. Using an unused part of the liquor store, Fergburger opened out into a vacant car park at the back of the shop serving customers. From humble beginnings in the entrepreneurial spirit that defines Queenstown, an icon was born. Within only a few years, Fergburger had out grown its car park and “pop up” hole in the wall service counter. The move from Queenstown’s top hidden secret to main street commercial juggernaut is there for us all to see today. Out of the shadows serving late night party animals to serving nearly everyone who has spent a day or two in Queenstown in the last ten years. Ask a taxi or Super Shuttle driver operating out of the airport what the most common question people ask is and they’ll say…”where is Fergburger”? But tourists hardly need to ask that question because you simply cannot miss Fergburger. It is like the WINZ office in Invercargill, or the district court in Alexandra. It’s the busiest place in town. Negotiating your way past the crowd can be a ten second inconvenience that sends jealous less successful business people wild. What right do they have taking over a public footpath for their customers to loiter on? Is that a breach of their resource consent? And another question Fergburger must have considered themselves, have they out grown their premises again just like the original Cow Lane location. Recognising the problem, Fergburger asked a question of the council. Can we own the public space in front of our business? And the council said yes, for a meagre $100,000, sparking another huge debate. The outraged objectors quite rightly point out a terrible business decision effectively selling prime downtown land, or at least the right to occupy rent free, and the loss of three car parks for the public to use. However rather than suck sour grapes I prefer to see this development as a positive move despite the poor financial return for ratepayers. It shows the council is willing to do a deal with and support private enterprise, if the end result is better for the town. I argue that many of our social problems late at night in central Queenstown stem from lack of ownership and responsibility for the public spaces. Most bars and restaurants must close their doors at 10pm and stop patrons from using outdoor seating. Rather than manage the streetscape outside their premise, businesses are restricted from using it. Therefore washing their hands of responsibility and leaving the antisocial to do as they please on the streets. Allowing legitimate business to operate in public spaces is a good thing. I hope the next step will be restaurants in The Mall and elsewhere allowed to serve food and beverage to outdoor tables all night, not just to 10pm. When 10pm rolls around The Mall goes from an appealing place full of hospitality goodness to a dangerous thoroughfare where the people nobody wants inside their premises congregate to pick fights with each other and prey on anyone who dares to look sideways. The more user friendly we make our town the more positive the reaction is going to be. Queenstown is not perfect and if we do nothing to improve then we run the risk of falling out of favour as a desirable place to live and visit. If the new outdoor space outside Fergburger becomes a hotbed of uncontrolled mayhem, as ratepayers we have the right to ask the council why. And this decision also invites other businesses to try their luck acquiring council land. But to simply say no to private and public partnership is stubbornly negative. We already have enough negative rules and regulations stifling private enterprise growth. It feels much better when the council tries to be positive. lwb.co.nz
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 23:37:46 +0000
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