We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Of all the streets I regularly drive on, Patteson Ave is the worst. Not for its condition or quality, but for the danger it puts you in by combining off-street parking, a hill, poor visibility and double yellow lines. I … Read more
Jacinda Ardern, Julie Anne Genter and Geoff Simmons meet to do battle at our special live-streamed debate this Wednesday at 7pm. Will they wave the white flag or fight on to the death? Why vote for Jacinda when you can choose Julie Anne? Or maybe that should be the other way round. Why vote for … Read more
The executive leaders of Auckland Transport are almost exclusively white males. Generation Zero’s Vonnie Veen-Grimes and Eden Williams explain why that needs to change. Often it feels like no matter the amount of passion and drive behind a cause, it is the faceless bureaucracy at the top that creates an impenetrable force preventing progress. The … Read more
A prominent Auckland property investor has told the NZ Herald that “being a landlord is like being at war”. Hayden Donnell tests his theory. Every day Peter Lewis wakes up, drives an unconscionable distance and begins scouring people’s houses for meth, dog droppings, and other “contraband”. The Auckland Property Investors Association vice-president made that surprise … Read more
In August, the Herald ran a crazily racist opinion piece where an unnamed real estate agent criticised Auckland for being “unwholesomely Chinese”. Guy Williams went in search of the truth about the story, and ended up being sucked down a rabbit hole filled with intrigue, recriminations, and Winston Peters. First published August 16, 2016 Holy … Read more
Graeme Lay bids a belated farewell to Auckland’s least glamorous but most useful shopping centre. It was one of the ugliest buildings in Auckland’s central business district, in a part of town where there was tough competition for that distinction. It was the building known as ‘Downtown’. Flanked by the HSBC and ZURICH towers, its … Read more
In The Great War for New Zealand, historian Vincent O’Malley tells the story of the Waikato War of the 1860s – how it set back Māori-Pākehā relations by generations and changed the course of New Zealand history for good. Here, in an original essay for The Spinoff, he explains how the war helped create modern … Read more
A conversation on the byelection result, politics and Asian communities, and whether Michael Wood’s big win points to a Labour resurgence, with two longtime Mt Roskill residents who happen also to be Tze Ming Mok’s parents Tze Ming Mok was born and raised in Mt Roskill by immigrant parents from Malaysia and Singapore. Her parents, … Read more
National list MP and Mt Roskill candidate Parmjeet Parmar wins Simon Wilson’s award for the most emotionally unintelligent politician of 2016 as he weighs up the contest in the byelection phoney war. Parmjeet Parmar made a constituent cry at an electorate meeting in a Mt Roskill school hall last Monday evening. It was a bit … Read more
Today marks the publication of the third issue of Bauer Media’s new Auckland commuter-focused free magazine, Paperboy. Catherine McGregor sat down with the magazine’s editor Jeremy Hansen to discuss urbanism, optimism and why he’s glad to be a cheerleader for the new Auckland. The Spinoff: Free commuter magazines are a completely new model for Bauer, … 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
There’s a revolution underway. Deep within the Auckland Viaduct lurks the beginnings of our own tiny Silicon Valley. At GridAKL, more than 50 startups, in industries as diverse as medicine, robotics and augmented reality, are running the entrepreneurial gauntlet looking to build a high-growth business – or at least get a second funding round. In On the … Read more
Right on the heels of the Unitary Plan, the Auckland Transport Alignment Project report is published tomorrow, and it, too, is absolutely critical for the city. Transport Blog guru-in-chief Matt Lowrie explains what ATAP is all about and why it matters. Even before Len Brown was elected mayor in 2010 on the back of promises … Read more
Did the Canadian experiment work? It is far too early to tell, and anybody claiming otherwise may be trying to sell you something, writes Eric Crampton There’s a reasonable consensus that not building enough houses, apartments, or terraced housing is at the root of Auckland’s lack-of-homes problem. And there’s further reasonable consensus that that’s primarily … Read more
Trains! Expressways! Parking! The Greens’ transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter and Transport Blog super-genius Matt Lowrie join us in the pod. Plus: we get David Farrier on the phone to apologise for last week’s debacle Unless they stay in their new-build medium density housing and never venture out, the rapidly growing Auckland population is going … Read more
It’s more Dilapidated Valley than Silicon Valley, but at the bottom of a hill beneath TV3 in Eden Terrace lies a brand new, hi-tech facility bringing together dudes, nerds and the hopes of a city and government’s innovation plan. Tim Murphy was at the opening of Grid/Akl – Uptown. If you want cut-through in your … Read more
Polling expertise from David Farrar and insightful chats on the mayoral race, the council budget and tensions between the government and Super City. All that and more on the latest War for Auckland podcast. Joining marine commandos Toby Manhire and Hayden Donnell in the fourth War for Auckland podcast are the Auckland Central MP and … Read more
The Spinoff/SSI survey reveals the extraordinary impact of housing crisis on residents of New Zealand’s biggest city – and the extent to which Aucklanders blame foreign speculation. There is a housing crisis in Auckland, and it has already bitten hard across the city, according to the latest results from polling conducted by SSI for the Spinoff … Read more
To launch the new Figure.NZ feature on the Spinoff, here’s how New Zealand’s biggest city has increased in population, and how it is projected to increase further. To completely disabuse readers of any impression that the Spinoff is Auckland-centric and fixated on the city’s growth, we’ve chosen for the inaugural installment of our new collaboration … Read more
a special longform feature brought you by The Spinoff and DB Breweries Rose Hoare speaks to chefs, architects, critics and hospitality identities to evaluate the state of the art in eating and drinking – without once using the word ‘foodie’. Even trends are getting trendier Let’s address the elephant in the room right away: kale has peaked. … Read more
The Unitary Plan debate is long and complex. Even the councillors sometimes look like they’re wishing for death. But it’s incredibly important. Thankfully, Niko Elsen of Generation Zero has put together a list of the reasons why the plan should pass, in GIF form. The final skirmish in the five-year Unitary Plan battle is underway … Read more
In the second scorching installment of the Spinoff’s War For Auckland podcast, we discuss the political responses to the revised Unitary Plan and take bets on whether the Auckland Council will vote it through The adorable old labrador we call the Unitary Plan moves closer to maturity on Wednesday this week as it arrives before … Read more
Thousands of ordinary homeowners in Auckland’s affluent suburbs are about to be torn from their historic homes, which will be forcibly demolished. That’s the impression you’d get from a string of stories published under a particular byline, at least. Take, for example, this morning’s scaremongering codswallop … In some of the wealthy suburbs of New … Read more
After being elected unopposed at the last election, councillors Dick Quax and Sharon Stewart finally have some opposition in Howick. Councillor Dick Quax and his ally Sharon Stewart were elected unopposed in the Howick ward last election. That’s a shame, because Quax is what would happen if you put skin and a moustache on an … Read more
Enough heeding a small group of angry residents, time to listen to the experts. That was the message yesterday at the launch of the pro-Unitary-Plan campaign group Coalition for More Homes, writes Tim Murphy. The rowdy hordes have had their say on the Unitary Plan. Now it’s time for the experts. So says the prosaically … Read more
Attempts to have Māori Statutory Board members excluded from the vote on the Unitary Plan called for a proper Mayor in the Chair. So up stepped Len Brown. Tim Murphy watches a critical chapter of council squabbling Have we just witnessed Len’s Last Stand? One day after the Unitary Plan landed back in the Auckland … Read more
New Zealand’s classiest economist, Shamubeel Eaqub, unleashes his first impressions on the Independent Hearings Panel review of the big rule-book for Auckland’s future. The War for Auckland is a Spinoff pop-up section devoted to the 2016 Unitary Plan and local elections. To support our journalism, click here.
The protracted and sometimes anguished birthing process for the Unitary Plan, the blueprint for Auckland’s future, passed a crucial milestone today. But you’d be forgiven for wondering what it all means. Here’s an attempt to explain, with some helpful pictures. First, a picture of a USB stick: What happened today? The Independent Hearings Panel recommendations … Read more
War?! We know, we know. But what else would you call the vastly differing visions for Auckland presented by Auckland 2040 and Generation Zero? We feel like the next few months will define this city’s future, and will thus cover the Unitary Plan and the subsequent election with a rare fury. Read on to hear our justification – … Read more