by David Underwood
John Key was wrong again. Wellington is not dying. It may be resting on its laurels but it’s certainly not dying. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
There seems to be a belief, among some people in Wellington, that if you try to ignore serious or embarrassing issues, then they’ll go away or be forgotten. There’ve been some notable silences recently, when the people concerned would have been wiser to have spoken out. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
When I reported last week that a city council organisation had received a $5million management fee from the council, there was an angry denial from the organisation’s chairman. Which was strange, as the information came from his annual report. The mystery continues. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
An apology seems a less than adequate response to the disruptions of Wellington bus services which are now in their ninth day, and continuing. The explanations from the people in charge of the buses seem less than adequate, too. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
It’s not that we’re obsessed by sewage. But sewage is a recurring topic in Wellington. We first reported sewage spilling on to the South Coast in February 2009, just a few months after Wellington.Scoop had been established. Similar reports are being published this week. With the same explanation from the city council – its Moa Point treatment system can’t cope with heavy rain. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Should we be jealous of Auckland because it’s getting a $402million convention centre? Probably not, because the price of the project will be a big increase in gambling in central Auckland. Sky City, which is to pay the costs of building the convention centre alongside its casino-hotel, is being rewarded by the government with 230 more poker machines and forty more gambling tables. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
It’s amazing to discover so much misinformation about the flyover that the Transport Agency wants to build at the Basin Reserve. I had two reminders of this yesterday. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
The Wellington City Council sent out a hasty denial on Monday after a DomPost report that councillors were to get a nine per cent pay increase. (The increase, said the council, will be only 1.7 per cent). But bigger pay increases have been approved within the council’s orbit, which the council cannot deny. For example – the annual salary of $260,000 being paid to Glenys Coughlan in her job as chief executive at Positively Wellington Venues. Read more »

by Patrick Morgan of Cycle Aware Wellington
Cycling is booming in Wellington (it has doubled since 2006) but we have a poor record in cycling safety. In fact, Transport Agency figures show we’re the most dangerous city to cycle in. However there are effective, proven ways to address this problem: Read more »

by Paul Bruce
The Christchurch City Council should be congratulated for listening to the people of Christchurch, and investing in smart, active transport to the tune of $38million over the next 3 years. This level of expenditure is also needed in the Wellington Region so that we can also provide adequate safe cycling paths along the main arterial routes. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
A brief news release about local body candidates has attracted a surprising amount of attention. Most of the comments have focused on Leonie Gill, a Rongotai resident who’s been a city councillor for 15 years and is hoping to be re-elected. Read more »

by Kent Duston
I’ve had two near misses in less than a week. Read more »

by Brent Efford
A much-hyped Public Transport Spine Study, which grew out of the Ngauranga – Airport transport corridor study conducted under the previous Labour-led Government, is nearing its end. As usual, it is an exercise conducted by presumed experts and consultants, in which ‘civilians’ have a minor role. Read more »

Opinion from the Strathmore Park blog
Wellington City’s Draft Annual Plan, recently released for “consultation,” represents a watered down, ineffectual attempt to pander to personal projects, released by a Council that is in serious trouble. I’ll bet you $50 that it gets passed despite opposition from residents. The WCC has proved again and again that its “consultation” process is of little value and lacks the credibility it deserves. Read more »

by Celia Wade-Brown
Science has intrinsic importance to how we shape our decisions. At civic level it’s how we shape our urban design form so we don’t lay stormwater pipes where sea level rise will disable them prematurely … and how we assess the risk of death or injury against the other values of society. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
It was only this year that I read my father’s wartime diaries for the first time. There were no revelations. But there was an under-stated accumulation of basic facts and simple routines. One small page for every day that he was away from home – building a picture of his life as a quarter-master at the constantly-moving headquarters of the 2nd New Zealand Division in Egypt and Italy. A life which he never talked about. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Fran Wilde and her supporters are ramping up their campaign for the Wellington region to merge into one super city. But her fierce powers of persuasion have not been able to silence the voices of dissent. Read more »

by Keith Johnson
On reading through a sample of the supporting documentation sent to me by the Wellington City Council in response to my Official Information Act request, I am struck again by the degree to which financial data and financial management issues are folded away from prying eyes – from potential view by both the Councillors and Mayor, and the public at large. Read more »