Enough is enough, says Maggie Sweetman. The 63-year-old has joined the campaign to keep cyclists off the Maitai River Walkway after a “last straw” encounter with a pair who wouldn’t cycle around her and Pepe, her 14-year-old terrier.
Sweetman, a heart attack survivor who wears hearing aids and has a number of other health problems – “I’ve got all sorts going on” – said it was a “gorgeous” day when the two cyclists approached.
Having been frightened on many occasions in the past, this time she decided not to get off the path but instead of riding around her, the two also stayed on course, leading to an ugly confrontation.
‘They said, ‘This is a cycleway’ but it’s not. It’s a walking place.”
She has signed up with the new group Nelson Walkers Unite and said she’d decided to speak out not so much on her own and Pepe’s behalf but out of concern for elderly walkers who were “really getting fed up” but didn’t want to rock the boat.
The group wants the Nelson City Council to make the park-like section of the walkway between Nile and Collingwood Sts cycle free and Sweetman said that wasn’t a lot to ask.
She said Pepe was deaf and nearly blind, which added to her fears.
“I’ve got nothing against cyclists – If I could do it, I would, it’s a lovely healthy thing – but there needs to be a place for walkers too. This is such a beautiful, pretty walk.
“They’ve got loads of places they can ride. This is the middle of town and I believe it needs to be just a walkway.”
Nelson Walkers Unite convenor Cynthia McConville said in the week since she spoke at a council public forum the group’s mailing list had grown to 75, with more joining each day.
“Fear is the big issue – wanting to walk somewhere where they’re safe and where they’re not frightened to walk.”
Last week Bicycle Nelson Bays spokesperson Chris Allison said if a council proposal to widen that section of the walkway went ahead, it could work for everyone if there were clear rules in place.
Other shared pathways in Nelson did not cause huge conflict, he said.
“Older people versus cyclists is nonsense.”
At last week’s council meeting Mayor Rachel Reese told McConville that there would be plenty of opportunity for the public to be informed and a variety of options produced before the council made a decision on the walkway’s future.
Councillors will get a report on the Maitai project by September, after a council workshop on cycling that will pave the way for the development of an offroad cycle track strategy.
– Stuff
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