Look at us Kiwis, a bunch of risk-taking, rule-bending, fresh-thinking suck-it-and-see adventurers, right? Who wouldn’t want to be one? So if we really do think that’s who we are, how come our transport planning isn’t keeping up with the ideas now transforming the cities of the world? Not radical ideas, just orthodox planning ideas. Like: … Read more
Overflowing buses, long delays to the airport and chaos downtown: Transport planning is a complete bloody mess and most of the big things needed to fix the problems are delayed or are being ignored altogether. And meanwhile, a battle is growing between different parts of council over what to do. Why are we putting up with … Read more
Mayor Phil Goff is likely to lose the vote at council for one of his signature policies: the “bed tax that isn’t a bed tax”, otherwise known as the targeted accommodation rate he wants to charge hotels and motels. It will be embarrassing for him and, far worse, it’ll put a $30 million hole in his … Read more
How come there’s still no publicly available business case for the government’s next big transport priority in Auckland – the East-West expressway that will cut Onehunga off from the foreshore? Simon Wilson reports from Council. Mayor Phil Goff took the stairs to the meeting room on the top floor of the town hall two at … Read more
The War for Auckland was the most exciting thing we’ve ever done, and we hated shutting it down. Now, with the support of Heart of the City, we’re launching a new full-time section dedicated to Auckland. Former Metro editor Simon Wilson, who has joined us as editor of The Spinoff Auckland, nails up his colours. … Read more
New Auckland mayor Phil Goff wants everyone to know he’s in charge. He’s been laying down the law for council officers, getting offside with some of the councillors, turning himself into the star of his own show. This week, as the new mayor and his council meet for the last time in 2016, Simon Wilson … Read more
Why is everyone hating on the Council’s latest attempt to sell Auckland to the world? Actually, is it everyone, asks Simon Wilson – or just the Herald and the other usual cynics? No subject is more guaranteed to provoke ridicule than a city slogan. No ridicule is more likely to be attended by outrage than … Read more
Reports of cutbacks at Auckland libraries have prompted the council to issue librarians with a question-and-answer script, so that they might deal appropriately with public inquiries. The script, obtained and published by RNZ, beneficently enables librarians to recite bureaucratically approved, leaden sentences. Lucky things – it’s almost as if they’re call centre operators or, even … Read more
Phil Goff just completed the first important act of his mayoralty: picking his leadership team. Did he screw it up? And how long must Penny Hulse pay for Len Brown’s doodle? Hayden Donnell investigates. Forget Donald Trump. He’s already sliding down the sewer drain to Loserville. It’s time to refocus your attention on the only … Read more
The King of Clevedon, the Franklin guvnor: Bill Cashmore is to be Phil Goff’s No 2 at Auckland Council. The National-Party-supporting councillor popped in to Spinoff HQ a few weeks back. Here’s what he told us. The New Zealand Herald‘s Bernard Orsman has the scoop: the newly elected Mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff, has chosen … Read more
Auckland councillors Penny Webster (Rodney) and Calum Penrose (Manurewa-Papakura) both crashed to shock defeats on Saturday. Their campaign manager Hamish Coleman-Ross says it wasn’t his fault – that his opponents stooped to a place his candidates refused to venture. Losing sucks. But when you do, I believe it pays not to disappear into the night, nor … Read more
You won’t believe who’s won the Auckland mayoralty race (you will), and all the other outcomes of interest. And the new Mayor of Auckland is … They tried, oh how they tried, to sex up the contest. Guyon Espiner called the leadup to Phil Goff’s candidacy announcement “the longest striptease in history”; Hayden Donnell made … Read more
Deputy mayor and Unitary Plan hero Penny Hulse has told the Spinoff she is ‘vaguely uninspired’ by the candidates for the Auckland mayoralty, saying she’s waiting to hear some ‘genuine vision’. It is an irrefutable fact that the most exciting things to happen in the Auckland mayoralty race so far have been: first, the bizarro … Read more
Auckland’s housing issues won’t be solved by short term fixes to deep rooted problems. The government and Council needs to stop the blame game and start working together, says property expert Leonie Freeman. Faced with a crisis, we tend to focus on finding the silver bullet to deal to it. Usually without success, silver bullets … Read more
Achieving a better, fairer Auckland involves much more than just building affordable homes. Urbanist Jenny McArthur explains why liveability should be a key demand of the War for Auckland. As an academic specialising in infrastructure and urban growth, I’ve been delighted by how The Spinoff’s War for Auckland series has helped stimulate the public’s interest … Read more
A shock hero has risen up at the Unitary Plan hearings. Hayden Donnell spent the day watching the drama unfold. Today’s Unitary Plan hearing was held in a parallel universe. Up was down. Right was left. A group of elderly people were wearing warpaint – though it turned out they were environmental campaigners, not furious Boomers defending their land. There are … Read more
A thoroughly snackable summary of the late changes to Auckland’s doorstop rulebook being sought by the wonks at the Auckland Council The dizzying dramedy of the Unitary Plan has spun through one last plot twist before it lands in front of the ladies and gentlemen of the Auckland Council this morning. The council planning wonks have … Read more
Five months after the infuriating marathon Auckland Council meeting on ‘upzoning’ comes a massive moment for the future of the city and its critical Unitary Plan. Between the two events, housing, and Auckland housing especially, has completely dominated the political agenda Five months and two days, so the adage goes, is a long time in … Read more
We found the the evil goblin sabotaging Auckland’s future. It’s an adorable cat who lives in a bus stop in Northcote Point. Why is it so hard to make good things happen in Auckland? Every positive project proposed for the city seems to have to hack through a horde of perma-frowning objectors. Everyone from Mayor … Read more
SkyPath makes a huge amount of sense, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of angry old people complaining about it. Leroy Beckett of Generation Zero explains all the reasons our councillors should ignore the whinging and agree to back the project today. Last January over 11,000 people supported resource consent for SkyPath, a long-awaited walking and … Read more