Transport Minister Michael Wood blindsided Wellington this morning, with an announcement – and a definite decision – that Wellington is going to get Light Rail to Island Bay, a resolution to the Basin Reserve, and a new tunnel in a big diagonal from the Basin to the far end of Haitaitai, right under Mt Victoria. I’m overjoyed and excited, not just for the solution but also…
Fish
1,097 Articles
4
7
nemo
7 Min Read
Today is the day that the elected Councillors will vote on the Proposed District Plan, which will shape our city for the next thousand years (too long? legally, only 10 years, but who knows how long we’ll be around!). But the Councillors only get to say Yes, or No, even though they will go through it line by line. It is really the unelected Officers who…
17
4
nemo
4 Min Read
Engineers – it’s time to stand up and be counted. I’m not sure if you lot in the Engineering crowd have noticed lately, but Aotearoa is getting mighty tired of you and your antics. Engineering NZ needs to be present in the room and take some responsibility for what a horrible unholy mess you have got this country in. Yes YOU, you know who I mean…
9
1
nemo
1 Min Read
I hesitate to even bother to post this, as the topic seems so small and the problem is so easily solved, but apparently the Busdriver’s Tramways Union has been “in discussions” for over 18 months on this topic, and they still don’t have an answer. Jesus wept. The incompetence of people in charge! It is all very solvable, for the price of less than $20. The…
8
4
nemo
4 Min Read
At the risk of raising the hackles of the designers of the revised Library design, who appear to have positioned an overly-large bedside table next to the beloved crinkly face of the Wellington Library, Te Matapihi, I’d like to explore the concept of “The Portal” a little further. I hope that you don’t mind. I used to call it the Portico, but I’ve been very firmly…
17
7
nemo
7 Min Read
When I’m not posting up here, it’s generally because I’m busy doing other things, but recently, because I’ve been following the war in Ukraine with horror. Doom scrolling, if you will, but I find it amazing that Putin thinks this was a good idea. I know that it is not the purpose of this blog to debate the war in Ukraine – but on the other…
15
9
nemo
9 Min Read
The unveiling of the scheme for the revised central Wellington Library has had an interesting effect. Some people have been shocked at the price, of around $188 million, but I checked back on the estimates spoken about at the time, and that is bang on target from what they estimated when the Council voted to do it. Others have said they are aghast at the architectural…
7
2
nemo
2 Min Read
Hello again, and welcome back to the Eye of the Fish. I had quite a bit of work to do, and then I needed a holiday. And what did I do on holiday? Well, I read books, of course! Yes, I am one of those old-school types that still prefers a written book to an online presence, and so I’ve been really pleased recently to see…
16
6
nemo
6 Min Read
So today Transmission Gully was opened – blessed, ribbon cut, journos let through, and a few selected souls have had access. Tomorrow, it opens to the public, as Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata, or the Big Pathway of Rangihaeata (Te Rauparaha’s nephew). No doubt he would feel honoured to have such a beast of a road named after him – and probably also a little shocked…
9
2
nemo
2 Min Read
So…. that was interesting. No real surprise there, that it would end in violence, given the people involved and the poor attitudes towards common sense right from the beginning. And despite the protestors bleating about police brutality, in reality they have not got the slightest justifiable complaint. Never before have I seen a protest so carefully picked apart by police, with amazing restraint, despite widespread incitement…