Brian Rudman is right to call for the St James Theatre to be restored and recommissioned as a theatre. It was commercial lunacy as well as an artistic crime to allow the St James to become so rundown. An imaginative developer would restore the St James and make it the centrepiece of the development. It surely would become Auckland’s swankiest residential and sought after commercial address.
Brian is also correct when he says that nothing is likely to happen around the St James in the foreseeable future. But this should not stop Shared Space Project happening. The Shared Space Projects are essential for Auckland. They are pedestrian friendly. This is the overseas experience. Why would it be any different here?
Published in New Zealand Herald 26 January 2010
This Shared Space linking the library and the art gallery will tidy up a substantial part of the town and with the Civic Theatre and Aotea Square help create an arts entertainment zone. When the other Shared Space Project in Fort Street is completed from the bottom of town to the Town Hall will have premier streets which will be wonderful for residents and visitors alike. The Shared Space Projects are a bold move for Auckland. They must happen.
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