By John Shrapnell
Within a month or so, more than five hundred Wellington community groups will lose their websites. Their presence on the Internet will disappear. Their prime means of connecting with members and encouraging others to join will be gone. All their electronic links to other groups will be useless and any stationery carrying their web address will be out of date.

This will be happening because the Wellington City Council is shutting down the Wellington Community Network by withdrawing its funding. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop makes a selective choice from what’s been written about this weekend’s International Rugby Sevens at the Stadium.

“Along with the World of Wearable Arts and the International Festival of the Arts, the Wellington Sevens is one of the jewels in the capital’s crown.”
– Dominion Post editorial.

“Excessive alcohol consumption again led to the downfall of some partygoers with 63 persons being arrested for incidents of fighting, disorder, minor assaults and breach of the liquor ban.”
- police report on Saturday night’s after-Sevens celebrations in the central city.

“Intoxicated fans kept the 20 paramedics at the stadium busy.”
– Radio New Zealand report on Saturday.

“One woman said she and many of her group of 30 friends had smuggled spirits in water bottles … ‘We can’t afford to pay for alcohol the whole day. I’m unemployed.’”
– Report in yesterday’s Dominion Post.

“Everyone I know has been successful [sneaking alcohol in] … ”
– John Paradise quoted yesterday in the Dominion Post.

“Last year the Island Bay bus was awash with vomit at 2.30 on Friday afternoon – going to the stadium.” – comment posted on Wellington.Scoop on Friday.

“The Sevens [rugby] people are OK – they’re drunk, but they’re happy drunks.”
– Lower Hutt taxidriver interviewed in today’s Sunday Star Times.

“Twenty20 hasn’t got to the stage of this weekend’s Wellington Sevens, in which the sport was almost relegated to a side show.”
– New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan, quoted in today’s Sunday Star Times.

” … basically two days of non-stop drinking rugby.”
- David Farrar on KiwiBlog.

“I don’t think the crowd cares that much that New Zealand lost … It just takes away a distraction from their party.”
- Stuff’s live blogger Michael Fox on Saturday night.

“You should have seen the place after last night – what a mess. There was rubbish absolutely everywhere and the concourse smelt like a urinal.”
- Michael Fox on Saturday afternoon.

“Funny how everyone thinks they can sing when they’re drunk.”
- Michael Fox on Friday afternoon.

“Wellington have done an outstanding job. They have created a lot of what this is all about. It has just got better year after year.”
– NZ Rugby Union boss Steve Tew in today’s Sunday News.

The New York Times reports on US efforts to curb binge drinking at football games

Wellington.Scoop
There’s been a lot of talk about the rollout of ultrafast broadband, with the government offering millions of dollars, and three companies competing to do the work in Wellington. But while most of us may be unmoved by the thought of speeds a hundred times faster than today, the rollout raises a bigger issue: whether our local authorities will seize the opportunity to move the cables underground. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
By Lindsay Shelton
I’m surprised to discover that The Dominion Post has only 48,000 subscribers. Perhaps the reason is that it keeps increasing its price. Or perhaps it reflects the worldwide declining interest in print media. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
The Architectural Centre has come up a brilliant idea for rearranging traffic round the Basin Reserve.

Whether or not you agree that there are traffic problems, there’s now a concept which would bring a remarkable improvement to the area from Tory Street through to Mt Victoria, and without the need for a flyover. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
It’s the first time we’ve ever heard a Stadium show in Brooklyn. No need to buy tickets. It’s almost like having a front row seat. Except we can’t see the band. Read more »

by Kent Duston
Back in the halcyon days of the Muldoon administration – circa 1979 – the then-National government embarked on a series of large-scale interventionist construction schemes called “Think Big” that were designed to transform the economy. The projects ranged from hydro dams to petrochemical plants and were amongst the largest-scale civil engineering works ever undertaken in New Zealand.

This orgy of infrastructure was immensely lucrative for the politically-connected construction firms of the day, but the profligate scheme was funded almost entirely through debt, which in turn contributed to the virtual collapse of New Zealand’s economy by the mid 1980s, thus ushering in the Rogernomics era.

Thirty years later, Transport Minister Steven Joyce is hell-bent on repeating the same failed experiment. Rather than petrochemicals and electricity generation, he’s intent on throwing $11 billion into New Zealand’s roading infrastructure – again largely to the benefit of a few politically-connected construction firms.

Here in Wellington we’re on the receiving end of Joyce’s Road of National Significance, a four-lane monster highway running from Levin to the Airport. The project will cost billions more than budgeted once the inevitable cost over-runs have occurred, will slice through heritage areas, destroy homes and disrupt communities. And the Minister now admits that key sections – Transmission Gully, the Terrace Tunnel, the second Mt Victoria tunnel – don’t make any economic sense, even with the best creative accounting from the NZ Transport Agency. Read more »

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Scoop article and images – Carl Suurmond
Complaints over Stalinist architectural overtones and concerns over cost overruns accompanied the opening of New Zealand’s newest civic masterpiece or mistake (depending on your opinion) last week. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Aucklanders have decided to copy one of the most popular features of the Wellington waterfront. They’ve started talking about the idea of a waterfront promenade. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
When you walk through Wellington these days, it seems that every shop has cut the price of everything. Read more »

by Kent Duston
Wellington International Airport recently released its finalised Master Plan, which aims to provide a roadmap for expansion for the next 20 years. The event went largely unremarked in the media, despite the glowing projections – passenger numbers will double to 10 million passengers every year by 2030, the airport’s contribution to the local economy will grow to more than $1.4 billion per annum, new international routes will be added.

Yet reading the report and its promise of a bright airline-driven future, I was gripped by one overwhelming impression: it’s time for Wellington City Council to sell the airport shares. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Why is the New Zealand Transport Agency so unpopular? The government has given it billions of dollars to spend on new roads, and yet people in the Wellington region are attacking it. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
by Lindsay Shelton
The six-year-old knows all about princes and princesses. But her experience of them is skewed towards the Disney versions. When we went to see “The Princess and the Frog” (charming, by the way) she enjoyed it but nothing surprised her.

What a surprise to have all those great songs (by Randy Newman) I said to her as we walked out of Reading’s. “They always have songs in princess movies,” she said. It seems I’ve missed several of them.

She was out of town during the visit by a real prince. I wonder what she would have made of it all. Read more »

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Scoop photos and article by Carl Suurmond
The 1000 plus crowd outside the opening of the Supreme Court in Wellington was a mix of Prince William fans, young and old, monarchists and protesters from the PSA and Republican movement.

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Scoop photos and article by Carl Suurmond
Prince William opened New Zealand’s new Supreme Court in Wellington just before midday today. In the morning heat more than 1000 people lined the streets around the new building.

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John Key escorted the Prince, while royal security and police kept a close eye on protesters who stood behind a barrier across the road.

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Photographers snapped away while Prince William was welcomed by local iwi. Read more »