Bikers protest motorcycle parking space fees 
Leather-clad riders fill council's chamber
DAVE BURGESSLast updated 11:03 04/08/2011
LUKE APPLEBY
Members of BRONZ and other motorcyclists converge on Wellington City Council to protest the introduction of parking fees for motorbike spaces.
BIKE POWER: About 50 motorcyclists protested proposed parking fees at a Wellington City Council committee meeting.
About 50 motorcyclists turned up at a Wellington City Council committee meeting this morning to protest proposed changes.
Motorcycle portfolio leader Bryan Pepperell moved that the paper, which cleared the way for the council to impose parking fees for motorcycles, should be left to "lie the paper on the table". His colleagues agreed to the move.
The paper proposed imposing time limits on the 600 on-street motorcycle parks, and that parking fees should not, in principle, be excluded from future parking management regulations.
Mr Pepperell said after the meeting that the paper was "totally deficient in its analysis".
"It is obvious from the support I got from other councillors that they thought the same. Now council officers will have to take it right back to the drawing board."
This morning Bikers Rights Organisation of New Zealand spokesman Simon Gotlieb told councillors that imposing parking fees on the spaces, or imposing parking time limits on those parks, was unacceptable.
"Motorcyclists are generally the employees of the hospitality and retail sectors... and they need to park all day."
The Council was also investigating allowing motorcycles to park in pay-and-display spaces. Mr Gotlieb said the move would be incredibly divisive by "introducing envy" as drivers of four wheeled vehicles saw one motorbike parked in one parking space.
"We would prefer you don't go down that path," he told councillors this morning.
The motorcyclists, many decked out in full leathers, were well behaved during the meeting but were scolded by committee chairman Andy Foster for applauding at the end of Mr Gotlieb's speech.
