Thanks QLDC for the $70 mayoral debate parking ticket

I'm sure that Crux is similar to most Queenstown residents - when we go into the CBD we are very, very careful not to get a parking ticket. It's a total minefield - and is the reason that many have simply given up and don't go in there any more.

So when it came to covering the Chamber of Commerce debate at the Memorial Centre on Tuesday evening my wife and I got there super early - in order to find a "safe" car park.

Boundary Street car park is close to the venue ... and traffic around the unsealed "temporary" Stanley Street car park was grid locked.

So after a lot of caution, and even some strategic repositioning, we parked inthe Boundary Street with other private vehicles. We purchased a QLDC parking ticket, placed it very carefully on the dashboard, and headed for the Memorial Hall. "X" marks the spot on the main image above.

Everything seemed OK.

Except - it wasn't.

We got back to the car to discover a $70 parking ticket for being in a "prohibited area." As in a paid QLDC car park?

Since when is a public council car park a "prohibited area" for cars?

Some detailed online research reveals that this area of the car park may be some sort of secret reserved space for large tourism buses (not camper vans) but we could see no signage to indicate this and the spaces are all clearly marked out for private cars. Lots of other car drivers has made the same "safe" assumption. We parked next to them. They all would have got $70 tickets to help with the council's crippling debt burden.

There were no large tourism buses there. Nothing.

Do the large tourism companies pay to exclusively hire this public space for their large tourist buses? How much do they pay? Does QLDC make more money by giving tickets to locals? We don't know and these days it's not worth asking the QLDC comms team anything. Like parking in the CBD, it's not worth the pain.

Needless to say - we'll be appealing. But it's the time and the stress - all of us can do without that.

Another salient detail about Tuesday evening - we had a quick meal before heading back to write the coverage of the debate. We had to walk out of one (unnamed) CBD restaurant due to prices that can only be described as obscene. And we mean off the scale obscene - so much so that even overseas tourists were walking out. The people that stayed seemed totally preoccupied with photographing their meals for Instagram, presumably made interesting by the astronomical pricing. Not really good publicity for Queenstown. 

Thanks to Póg Mahones Irish Pub for a great meal, great atmosphere and great service - and decent prices. 

Of course there's no "safe" parking anywhere near the pub - but that's the Queenstown CBD for you.

Killed, for residents, by our council.