The America’s Cup is going to sharpen up the city’s thinking about the waterfront, right? Like, why are there cars parked on Te Wero Island when there’s a perfectly good council car park building just over the road? Here’s a proposal from architect David Mitchell and pressure group Urban Auckland. There’s a car park in … Read more
The super city is broken, says eminent sociologist Ian Shirley – but it doesn’t need another review. It needs the government to fix the problems we already know about. Recently the NZ Herald published an article by Terry Dunleavy, a member of the National Party, under the headline: National’s ‘super city’ for Auckland is not … Read more
Welcome to the first Spinoff Auckland serial: The Bakers’ Tale, Brian Ng’s story of a couple of guys and a pastry stall at La Cigale market. Episode 1: Starting with a thousand leaves. Ever the Frenchman, Ben Chevre’s first question when talking to a girl was if she had a boyfriend. Of course, if she … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Don Rowe worships at the temple of roti, K’ Rd Malaysian joint Warisan Uncle Man’s. In the late 80s, more than eight thousand kilometres from Auckland city, a tradition of roti excellence began. The venerable Uncle Man, a humble … Read more
It’s not just the sailing, or the tourism, or the technology. Major sports events give cities the best chance they ever get to transform themselves – so, asks Simon Wilson, will Auckland seize the day? And will the oil companies and other corporates currently sitting on the Tank Farm turn out to be good corporate … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today The Spinoff’s general manager Kerryanne Nelson visits Specsavers on Auckland’s main street. I’d been having headaches on and off for a few months. I just thought it was part of life with a toddler and a job, so I … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Sam Brooks reviews the West Side Story touring blockbuster spectacle. I consider myself a big fan of musicals. I listen to them more than your average homosexual, I try and see a few every year, and I wish I … Read more
Remember that proposed new highway from Penrose to Onehunga, the East-West Link, set to cost close to $2 billion? Turns out no one has worked out, using current figures, if it’s worth the money – and it’s most likely no one ever will. And it’s not clear if the responsible ministers even know this. You … Read more
Paperboy launched late last year as a stylish free weekly magazine by and for Auckland. We at The Spinoff noticed what they were doing with their covers, and not doing – all 30 of them run below – and asked editor Jeremy Hansen to write about what he looks for in a cover. We’ve just … Read more
Opera – especially an opera like Carmen – is the world turned upside down: being good makes you miserable and being in love is a sure portent of doom. And it’s fabulous, says Simon Wilson. The best way to listen to opera is when you don’t know the language. I probably should confess I am … Read more
Better than algebra! The Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick and Labour’s Jacinda Ardern talk personal aspirations and politics with students at an Auckland inner-city school. Jacinda Ardern told the students at ACG Senior College this week she got saddled with a nickname when she entered parliament: “Socialist Cindy”. She hates being called Cindy, although her mother has … Read more
The Official Information Act is being badly undermined and our transport planning system is broken. Researcher Harriet Gale reports on the nonsense at the heart of both problems. Sir Geoffrey Palmer has written just recently about the failure of the Official Information Act to provide true government transparency. He noted that as a country we … Read more
Last September a meditation centre in the Kaipara discovered the council had allowed a shooting club to move in almost next door. Simon Wilson went to a public meeting to find out how the battles lines are drawn. The little community hall at Makarau smells of mice and dry rot, but mildly, like it’s what … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today Jesse Mulligan, former celebrity figurehead for the local anti-Bunnings campaign, takes a first look around New Zealand’s most controversial hardware store. The new Bunnings is big and green with a sausage sizzle and a playground. In these respects it … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Duncan Greive discovers Whoa! Studios, a magical place where parents and their children can co-exist in equal happiness via playgrounds, beer and food. Taking your kids to restaurants basically sucks. They cry, throw food around, run off when you’re trying … Read more
The Pacific Dance Festival, opening in Auckland tonight, brings rich and challenging expression to the stage. Leonie Hayden talks to dancer and choreographer Tia Sagapolutele. Artists are compelled to dismantle. The best of their generation are revered, reviled and remembered for being the most disruptive. But ambitious Māori and Pacific artists are eventually faced with the … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, Auckland Transport parking warden Mark Chisholm walks us through his job and hints at the dark desires that lurk beneath. The Auckland section is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated … Read more
Simon Wilson is fresh back from France and filled with enthusiasm for ways to make Auckland better. Here’s the first: a great big bike share scheme. Ten days ago I rode a bike around the Place de la Concorde. It’s that roundabout in Paris with about 10 lanes, none of them marked on the … Read more
To fix the housing crisis in Auckland, mayor Phil Goff put most of the key players in a room and locked the door. Good plan. And guess what? They’ve produced a really good report, full of good ideas and provocative proposals, says Simon Wilson. Now we’ll see who really wants to fix Auckland’s housing problems. … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews If There’s No Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming and Power Ballad, two plays by rising star dramturgist Julia Croft on now at The Basement. Winter brings us many things. It’s the weather for holding your hot water bottle tight, for drinking coffee for warmth as well as staying awake and … Read more
The Storm in the Port: The story of Auckland’s waterfront is one of environmental degradation and indifference to the interests of iwi, writes Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair Ngarimu Blair. Now that the port may be for sale, it’s time to redress the balance in favour of the kaitiaki of Tāmaki Makaurau. Read other contributions … Read more
The government and Auckland Council have announced a two-year study of congestion charging. OK, but why aren’t they trying to fix the city’s transport crisis right now? It’s not that hard, you know, writes Simon Wilson. The government and council have announced a two-year plan to investigate congestion pricing for the inner city. It’s a … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, an exclusive tour of Auckland’s most famous street with local man, Trent Davidson. The Auckland section is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the growth of downtown Auckland as … Read more
Free clothes, entertainment and more: a one-day freestore is coming to west Auckland this Saturday, writes Zaskiya Lesa. The Street Store, initially a South African venture, provides clothes for the homeless and others in need, especially families. It’s already popped up in central and south Auckland and now, hosted by Habitat for Humanity and Taniwha … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Sam Brooks on his favourite bowling-alley-in-a-multiplex-bar, Metrolanes. “Where are the dive bars in Auckland?” A visitor to this fair city asked me that recently. I assumed by dive bar they meant ‘an empty bar with cheap alcohol’ rather than … Read more
It made good sense to develop the port in its current location on the Waitemata Harbour. But, says Urban Auckland’s Julie Stout, it doesn’t make sense to keep the container and mixed-goods operations there now. So what happened to the consensus agreement to find a new location? Read other contributions to this debate here. Ports … Read more
An interview with the super-sharp, furious, funny and startlingly creative Eleanor Bishop, whose acclaimed play about campus rape, Jane Doe, is on for two weeks in Auckland. When she was aged 20, Eleanor Bishop says she was struck by three things. One, she was surrounded by sexual harassment. Two, there was, thank god, feminism. And … Read more
Indian restaurant Paradise is a phenomenon – three huge branches on the same small city block. Yet its biggest competitor is run by a co-founder, finds Duncan Greive, and their breakup has fuelled one of Auckland’s most intense food rivalries. “They paved a parking lot and put up a Paradise,” a Sandringham friend told me a while ago. He had introduced … Read more
Yes folks, hold on to your rates, it’s time for the other budget! This week’s council budget is set to get a lot of people’s backs up, writes Simon Wilson – and some of it might not even be legal. NB: An earlier version of this story attributed the distribution of white feathers to The … Read more