A landlord has been leasing out car parks to a Queen St population battling to find a park. Eight to ten car parks have been made available for lease by the landlord after he realised his tenants only “had about three cars.” What’s shocked students is the price, with one student, Abby, telling Critic Te Ārohi that she had been quoted a price of $35 per week to keep her vehicle in the park – that’s $4 more than a Les Mills membership.
The leasing of car parks comes after continued student complaints that the amount of allocated parking spaces is insufficient to meet the needs of all residents. Some residents report a 5-10 minute walk just to get to their flats, which they don’t seem too happy about – despite the extra leg gains.
Owner of the parking spaces, Adrian, told Critic that he’d “thought about doing it for a while now, but have been busy.” His property on Queen St sits at the bottom of a notorious cul-de-sac with a limited number of available on-street parking spaces. With clear interest in the spaces, Adrian told Critic Te Ārohi that “at the start there was a lot of interest,” with other students reporting that the parking on Queens St is “generally pretty shit.”
Queen St resident Abby told Critic that she was going to lease a park “but it’s just so expensive.” Initially, she was quoted $35 per week for the parking space, and $140 per month before “he dropped it to $25 because no one would pay that much, I don’t think.” She continued to say that she “lowballed him pretty hard. We were all going to share one space. Now we just battle and stack the drive.”
Despite the price drop, Abby held firm, though she has stated that Queen St residents face considerable challenges dealing with parking. “Everyone on Queen St’s reversing game is strong.” Adrian also commented on the problem, stating, “I mean, it’s a problem everywhere around the Dunedin CBD, but on Queen St it’s particularly bad.”
One student, Ana, reported to Critic that, “Bins never get emptied because the rubbish truck can’t get up our street […] Everyone parks on the yellow lines because they have to.” In addition to this, Ana cited her concerns more generally, arguing that, “It’s horrible, my car has crashed like four times […] I think it’ll be a surprise if any of our cars make it to the end of the year.”
Jeremy, a student living on the intersection of Warrender and Queen St, told Critic Te Ārohi that “it’s pretty shit around here, we couldn’t get hot water at one point because the guy couldn’t find a place to park.” Another Queen St resident, Ella, said that her flat “struggle[s] a bit [...] Usually we use our driveway which isn’t actually a park but we kind of have to.”
Abby reported to Critic Te Ārohi that Adrian has successfully leased some parks for $35 a pop.