I must confess that yesterday I laughed considerably and quite loudly, at the report that Simpleton Brown received, informing him that spending a billion or two drilling two new tunnels under / through Wellington was actually going to make the traffic slower, not faster. Well, duh! I’ve been saying for quite some time that putting in a new Terrace Tunnel in, to speed up the amount…
The world is a silly place at the moment, with an over-inflated orange sock puppet stealing the airwaves far too much at present, so I thought I would have a post about something else – like a musical interlude. What could go wrong if we have a brief look at the Emmys? Grammys? Oscars? Silver Scrolls? After all, one of the songs was called “The Architect”,…
Like the rest of the Wellington Architectural Cognoscenti, I went to a special Architectural Centre showing of The Brutalist in the weekend, because I do love me some nice hard concrete edges. Harder than 60mPa, if you know what I mean. It is a film that has got Hollywood talking, having been nominated for many Academy Awards, if that’s the sort of thing that blows your…
Carnage. American Carnage, to be specific. That’s what DJ Rump announced eight years ago to the day, and what he will deliver in buckets over the next four years. It’s deja vu all over again. I know, I know, this blog is meant to be about Wellington and Urban Design and Architecture, and yet here I am talking about the orange Rumplestiltskin and his infantile, egotistical,…
What a great way to start off 2025, with the sale of Reading cinema to Prime Property. That’s the best news Wellington could have, outside of Wellington Water saying “We’ve fixed all the pipes”, or WCC saying “Rates bill going down 50% this year”. Prime Property has just secured itself the bargain of the decade, no matter the cost, as the land parcels make up a…
So, this is the way we are going to end the year then, is it? Not talking about Jesus or Santa, but talking about whether Councils should just concentrate on Roads or Water or Fixing the Pipes or a Nice big convention centre down the road? I had the misfortune of listening to the dullard duo of Luxoff and Simian Brown natter on at the last…
Today, the Eye of the Fish goes West, to the deepest darkest reaches of known civilisation within the burgh of Welly, to visit the Kapital village of Karori. I’m not used to Karori – or many of the suburbs konfusingly starting with a Kapital K, but Karori once held the title of Wellington’s most populous suburb. Recently it has hit the headlines as a site that…
And so it starts. Fears of the Mt Victoria Residents Association, much bandied about as the end of the world, have now actually been put on the table. Is this the beginning of the end? Or merely a logical outcome to a much discussed situation? I’m referring, of course, to the proposal by Quinn / Forma to build a 7 storey high medium density block of…
That was energising – and deeply moving. I’ve just come back from the Hikoi – and I feel more Māori than ever before. Yes, I’m probably all Pākeha, but I think that most of Aotearoa is part Māori and part Pākeha these days – we are a mixed blood nation, although still deeply riven in two, whether ethnically or financially. We are definitely a nation of…
Statement from Wellington Mayor Tory WhanauToday I met with Councillors to further discuss our Long-Term Plan amendment in the lead up to official deliberations on 21 November. I remain committed to working effectively and constructively with Councillors to find a solution to our insurance risk following the decision to not sell our airport shares. That includes looking at increasing our debt headroom, so we are better placed…