To Rail or not to Rail

The Wellington urban class really wants light rail. And why wouldn’t they? Light rail is sexy transit…cruise smoothly, comfortably, and quickly to the local tiki bar; no more lurching starts and stops, no more endless waits behind four other buses boarding at the stop on Willis Street, no more fighting with cars for road space.

And so there seems to be a grumbling undercurrent regarding the position of the Ngauranga-to-Airport strategic study report. The report does mention light rail as a possibility, but only as far south as Newtown, and even then it rather clearly leans away from that option. So is the study group accepting kickbacks from the all-powerful Southern and Eastern Suburbs Car Lobby, or is there reason to this recommendation?

Wellington undeniably has a great, dense, transit-oriented corridor, particularly the Golden Mile, but also the greater transit lanes extending southward to Newtown. This corridor boasts an impressive number of riders for a city of Wellington’s size. In fact, the ridership is such that, according to various metrics used by transit planners around the world, the corridor nudges the low end of numbers required to justify light rail (based on operational …

A New Farm for Ohariu

It has been confirmed that Meridian Energy plans to build a new wind farm in the Ohariu Valley, with 31 turbines across 4000 hectares. The proposed site is owned by 5 farmers, who banded together in 2002 to negotiate proposals with various energy companies. Talks had stalled over price issues in 2003, but recently an agreement has been reached.

Having met with the community last night, it is unclear whether the project will face significant opposition from the local residents. Unlike the Makara West Wind project - which is now under way after 2 years of opposition - it looks like they are aiming to take more of a sympathetic approach to local consultation.

At 111 meters high, the turbines certainly aren’t diminutive. Hopefully some form of viewshed analysis will be completed soon; Im uncertain on what impact they would have on views from the greater Wellington region. Note: the diagram to the right assumes the height does not take into account the rotor radius at a peak.

Ohtel by the Park

Wellington’s buildings continue to surprise and delight me, relative newcomer as I am to this small, perfectly-formed city. It’s not a place that you could say has great traditions of anything in particular - it has demolished most, but not all of its Victorian heritage, has a fine collection of post-modern eighties buildings that have firmly gone out of style, with the remaining collection being eclectic at best, and motley at worst.

But being unbound by tradition obviously has its advantages. You can play around with the status quo to your hearts content, without having to worry about upsetting established sensibilities. Sometimes that’s good, at other times it makes small children and old people run screaming for cover. This building pushes the boundaries in a number of ways, bringing out instant dislike in some, and curious admiration in others. Sited on the edge of the city proper, its a four storey structure that I’ve been watching with interest as it nears completion.

Designed by Alan Blundell (RAB design), the building sits slightly above the surrounding two storey houses and is one of the more curious creations in recent years. It looks like it …

Heads Up #1

We’re aiming to keep replacing our header image on a regular basis, using it as an opportunity to feature local photographers and showcase our city in a fresh light. There’s no set criteria for the image’s subject; we’re open to pretty much anything interesting that contains ample amounts of Wellington. If you had an image in mind that you think would make for a great header, then feel free to get in touch.

Our first image comes from Phillip C, a local photographer. In his own words:

I’m a long term (30 year) Wellington resident who has quite recently converted to inner city apartment living and absolutely loving it - despite (because of?) the street noise, the constant battle to keep our walls graffiti free (we’ve reframed that as a competitive sport - ‘14 days clear, best performance in 6 months’ , ‘all time best rapid response -painted out 10 minutes after they finished it’) and the pigeons (another competitive sport armed with a water pistol).

You can see the original here, and more of Phillip’s photography on his flickr page.

[attached for future reference, click for full size]

Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou…

…tena koutou katoa, welcome to Eye of the Fish. We are a fledgling blog that was created to continue the legacy of Tom Beard’s superb WellUrban. Our aim is to further discourse on Wellington’s urban environment, as well to as report on the other aspects of life in the capital. Tom has set certainly high standards for us - but hopefully we will be able to live up to them - and we him all the best in his new position.

What’s in a name?

… his bait was his nose; he punched it, the blood ran down, and he smeared it on the jawbone of his grandparent Muri-ranga-whenua. By the time the jawbone reached the bottom, his fish had bitten on it. Then the canoe was lifted up and its bow was pushed down. His elder brothers cried out in fear… Then his fish came to the surface… That fish continues to lie here as land.

Attributed to Mohi Ruatapu, a Ngãti Porou tohunga. Written ~1870

Slightly cryptic, Eye of the Fish refers Wellington’s location on Te Ika-a-Māui, the Fish of Māui. We wanted a name that was …