Wellington.Scoop
Accidents involving the city’s buses have led to discussions about city politics this week. There’s a lot of sadness about the two accidents involving buses and pedestrians. Flowers have been placed inside the Brooklyn bus stop near the spot where a mother of three young children was hit by a bus on Friday; she died in hospital.

The discussions all lead to the Council’s wish to open the Manners Mall to buses traveling in both directions. More and more people are arguing that buses and pedestrians don’t mix.
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Wellington.Scoop
by Lindsay Shelton
Information issued by the Wellington City Council seems to be in danger of becoming mayoral-centric. Many of its press releases are focusing on the mayor, instead of what is actually happening. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
by Lindsay Shelton
I think that Wellington city councilors under-estimated the strength of public opposition to Variation 11 when eleven of them (or was it ten?) voted for it this week. Read more »

Scoop Images – Karim Sahai

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Scoop photographer Karim Sahai was on the sideline for tonight’s epic clash between New Zealand and Bahrain at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium. The All Whites defeated Bahrain 1 – 0 and will head to South Africa next year for the World Cup.

The New Zealand victory was earned with a first half goal scored by Rory Fallon in the 45th minute. There were no goals in the second half. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a an intense cinematically creative week in Wellington, with an excess of opportunities to participate. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
The Hollywood Reporter yesterday named Peter Jackson and his colleagues Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham as producers of the year.

In giving them this honour, the publication says that District 9, which is among the most acclaimed releases of the year, is “a reminder of just how effective Jackson, Walsh and Cunningham are as producers.

“For this and their upcoming adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel ‘The Lovely Bones’, the Hollywood Reporter has selected them as its producers of the year.” Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Why does the Wellington City Council bother with consultation? When it asked people to say what they thought about its Variation 11 waterfront plan, it received 49 submissions, with a clear result: 48 of them had various reasons for opposing the plan.

The council selected three commissioners to consider the submissions. The commissioners acknowledged that “most of the submissions oppose Variation 11,” rejected almost all of them, and then decided in favour of the plan.

After the commissioners’ decision was announced, the mayor said the plan has the backing of “the vast majority of Wellingtonians.” But a weekend poll has failed to show that her claim has any validity.
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Wellington.Scoop
by Lindsay Shelton
It’s exactly a year since a new Apple store, the Bay, opened on Lambton Quay. It was Wellington’s only “Apple premium reseller,” but the store closed less than four months later and the space has been empty for eight months. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Just inside the front doors of Arty Bee’s in Manners Street this week: a shelf of the Sookie Stackhouse mystery novels on which Prime’s Wednesday night vampire series True Blood is based. Which provides an excuse to write about the series, now completing its second season, starring Lower Hutt’s own Anna Paquin (16 years after The Piano) playing a telepathic waitress with a delectable southern accent. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Wellington’s music businesses have gained some new competition this week, with the arrival of a 75-year-old Auckland retailer on a prime corner in Cuba Street. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
by Lindsay Shelton
I’ve discovered why the New Zealand Transport Agency is failing to communicate with Wellington residents. It’s because no one is responsible for its organisational capability.

This has got to be why the Agency has failed to start consultation with Mt Victoria residents about the unpopular plan to build a flyover on the edge of the Basin Reserve. Its regional director said that community consultation would begin early last month. But nothing happened. Read more »

By Tim Bollinger
I was recently alerted to the Wellington City Council’s sponsorship of anti-graffiti volunteers, with the WCC providing gloves, graffiti remover, paint and scrapers to volunteers in Tasman Street, Mt. Cook.

I am not opposed to graffiti, as at least it is an honest reflection of the state of our community. However, I find nothing more depressing than huge areas of black, grey or brown paint on walls and pavements around our city, which appear almost perfectly designed to provide a blank canvas for the next tagger, thanks to anti-graffiti volunteers. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
A week ago we commented that the Wellington City Council is running a misleading campaign promoting its plan to reopen Manners Street for bus traffic. Today, it seems the council hasn’t been telling the truth.

The council’s urban development and transport director says “6.5 metres is the standard we use for bus lanes.” But council documents have been pretending this isn’t so. They claim the bus lanes planned for Manners Street would be only 6 metres wide.
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Wellington.Scoop
Sir Robert Jones’ challenge to make central Wellington a traffic-free zone is a refreshing change from the approach that’s being pushed so hard by our local authorities. Read more »

By Patrick McCombs
Mt Victoria residents have heard nothing from the New Zealand Transport Agency since it promised to consult us about the developing plans for the Basin Reserve flyover and a second tunnel. Read more »