Credit where credit’s due

Local government can sometimes become a bit of a punching bag for dissatisfied residents, but when they get it right – man it’s a beautiful thing.

For seven years I’ve been biking through this path with my kids to and from school. And for seven years these barriers have frustrated us. I don’t know why they were placed there. The path is too narrow for cars to fit down anyway so it’s not that. Possibly to block motorbikes. But the trouble is they also block bicycles, tricycles, wheelchairs, mobility scooters, prams, buggies, etc. etc. I’d contemplated taking my angle grinder to them on several occasions but never followed through.

In July I saw a facebook post saying that council have realised these things are a pain and are gradually going through the city removing them.

On Sunday I requested through Snap Send Solve that these ones be considered for removal.

By Wednesday the next week they were gone. Or at least one of them had been removed so it was much easier to get through.

It was so good. We no longer had to hop off our bikes and lift them up onto their back wheels to manoeuvre them through. We could just cruise through like normal people.

I was amazed how quickly it happened. They’ve annoyed me for seven years, and in the end all it took was a 2-line email and three days later it was sorted.

Cheers council – I thought I’d give credit where credit’s due.