Platitudes, demolitions, and mis-information

by Karl Tiefenbacher

Having watched last week’s Long Term Plan meeting, I was left with hope. Hope that the crown Observer managed to stay awake through all the platitudes being dished out by the mayor and her councillors, long enough to hear the damage the Wellington City Council plans to inflict on us poor ratepayers.

The demolition of the Begonia House and the City to Sea Bridge have rightfully been met with outrage. I am strongly opposed to both demolitions and think the whole process has been manipulated to suit the outcome that WCC officers want – not what is best for our city.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Council backtrack on the Begonia House and claim that they have “listened to the ratepayers”, while pushing ahead with all the other contentious proposals. It’s happened so many times recently, it seems to be all part of the mayor’s Green Party playbook.

The reality is that we have seen so many maintenance and repair programs moved from pro-active to re-active so that they can siphon off funds for pet projects, leaving crumbling assets as all we have to look forward to.

The City to Sea Bridge confounds me.

Are there ANY reports that confirm it is a serious risk of collapse? If so, can we please see them and know the names of the individuals who have written them?

If every structure in our “earthquake prone” city was put to a “500 year event” resilience test, we would be left with a grass paddock with maybe one building standing.

However it’s things that I haven’t seen reported that bother me even more.

Councillor McNulty unwittingly revealed in the meeting how misinformed (and dysfunctional) the Council is when it comes to crucial decisions.

He berated the Government for not being flexible enough to allow the WCC to remove the cycleways from the Golden Mile project – something he acknowledged was a major issue for businesses and a severe design flaw- without risking losing NZTA funding.

Turns out correspondence from the Government had suggested they would be open to discussions, however Mayor Whanau later revealed she hadn’t bothered speaking to them (“Why would I?”) about it as she had no interest in changing the design. So the Mayor who should be looking at all options and working with her councillors and the Government on our behalf- no matter their colour – had effectively blocked any potential design improvements that other councillors may have approved … removal of cycleways, retention of bus stops etc.

On top of the Golden Mile spend, Wellington Water are going to reprioritize $30m to replace the pipes beneath it. A sound idea in principle – do it once etc – but one that requires more vulnerable pipe work elsewhere in the city to be delayed.

Councillor McNulty stated he would vote for the status quo on the Golden Mile plan as he didn’t want to risk losing a $15m part contribution from the government toward replacing “our pipes”.

Problem is according to other councillors there is NO government contribution to the pipework. Where does this misinformation come from and how did it affect the voting?

It was also revealed that the “public transport benefit” attached to the Golden Mile project funding was minimal. Despite the council constantly claiming this to be one of the main project drivers. (So yes, it is just a damn expensive, unneeded and unwanted cycleway project).

The plan for the ridiculous Courtenay Place cycleway is for it to continue along Dixon Street and then down Victoria Street. Removing traffic from Dixon Street and removing a traffic lane in Victoria Street.

The Secondary Bus corridor will remove one lane of traffic in each direction along Jervois Quay and Wakefield Street. The extra traffic from Courtenay Place plus this lane reduction will create havoc. (This one’s not new but I do not think people realize it’s part of the Golden Mile scenario).

There is still an intention to pedestrianize upper Cuba Street. Mentioned three times during the meeting.

Now this one’s close to my heart.

I was brought up just off Webb Street (200m away), went to Te Aro School and now have a store in upper Cuba Street. I know this area well.

We have had signs up in our store windows protesting against a proposal to remove 20 of the 25 car parks on the street (and we also have over 2300 signatures from customers who are similarly opposed). I had intended to take these signs down because I thought as the WCC don’t have any money and I hadn’t heard any noise about it for months that it was no longer on the table. More fool me. They are no longer looking at just removing the majority of car parks – it’s now full pedestrianization!

Seems losing more than $250,000 a year in parking revenue is not an issue for our cash-strapped council as they can always put up the rates. Looks like this is another project that will go to consultation once it has already been decided.

I now hope the Observer is good at what he does. If so the council will not see out their term.

Karl Tiefenbacher is a Wellington businessman who started Kaffee Eis in Oriental Bay and has over the last 20 years grown it into a well loved business. Karl ran for council in the 2022 Local Government election and again in the Lambton Ward by-election in January 2023. He has spent his entire life in Wellington and believes council decisions should be logical, sensible and affordable and in the best interest of Wellingtonians.