Because it’s been a busy month or so!

A bunch of stuff about sad or underutilised spaces…

• Courtenay Place businesses plan a New Years street festival to reinvigorate the jaded party strip (see also other plans)
• Reading Cinema site for sale, (and ICYMI, an intriguing series of tweets from a Reading investor).
• Similarly, moves to tackle Johnsonville Mall
• Amora hotel reinvigoration awaiting the “jacking up” of the St James car park building  

Some weird (and some wonderful) transport stuff

• Wellington’s lack of an agreed circulation plan (*cough cough) saw Thorndon Quay host a tussle between intentions to make a better “people street” vs better “movement-focussed arterial” (ultimately resolved for “arterial”) 
• Weird political opportunism manifests again in street treatments, with some leaders generically hating on raised-table zebra crossings, coat-tailing on the mana of emergency services  
• A helpful breakdown behind who’s fixing Wellingtons leaks
• Surprising (good) public transport patronage for July despite the government-driven 10% fare increase: up 3.4% on 2019 pre-covid Julys     
• Court finds that council staff only providing councillors with one (preferred) option for a project isn’t OK, even when that one seems to be the standout  

Bits and bobs

• WCC launches new design competition for a physical separator for cycleways – with lots of helpful webinars for those interested
• We should expect fewer cruise ships this summer, thanks to global geopolitics and not being desperate
• A Wairarapa iwi kicks off an amazing affordable-healthy homes initiative – with a live Pledgeme
• A new bridge at Whakawhirinaki – Silverstream will carry water to the rest of the region 
• Temporary traffic management gets the Wayne Brown treatment in Auckland, and moves are made (will other towns copy?)
• Big potential to reshape and enable the humble granny / granddad flat, pending government decision on consenting rules – have your say (closes 12 August)

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