Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Golden Mile

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  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    Has it changed much in the last 11-12 years? When I last visited AKL for the Armageddon Expo maybe around 2007, I didn’t feel all that threatened come night time

    I should have pointed out that that article was from Sunday Nov 12, 2000.
    It has no byline, I can understand why.
    It’s certainly less threatening than it was back then. Gosh, back then you could have been severely jostled occasionally.
    It is actually quite a vibrant world class city street, until about 11, then Burger Fuel closes and everybody goes home.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Will de Cleene,

    Queen St has never been the same since they moved The White Lady. They took a chainsaw to owner operators and installed chain stores. And every time I go to Newmarket, I see a cheap set to guerilla film a Stepford Wives remake.

    Raumati • Since Jul 2011 • 107 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    It strikes me that the "texture" (for want of a better word) of suburbs and districts isn't something that's in the gift of local council planners. That's probably a good thing.

    Cuba St is the way it is because all the mainstream shopping migrated to the Lambton Quay area, and the resulting harder-to-let property attracted interesting shops and businesses. No council ever decided it was time to create an "artistic quarter".

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    I work in Albert St, so spend a bit of time in Queen St during business hours. The impression I get is that the change in retail focus and size is partly in response to the domiciliary demographic in the CBD; lots of food compared to when I was at Auckland Uni 25 years ago.

    I like what is happening down towards the waterfront, it has an affable zeitgeist.

    To me, Newmarket has always had a gentrified feel, the kind of place you go to purchase a really special wedding gift (The Poi Room, I’m looking at you), or some other high end retail item. I’ve never understood how Queen St could be realistically compared to this.

    I am also interested to see how things change after we install the CBD rail loop. A station at Aotea Square will do wonders for local retail, methinks.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Waugh,

    Whoops... I'd like to correct my earlier post.
    That'd be $1k sqm not $10k.
    Sorry.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 98 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,

    A station at Aotea Square will do wonders for local retail, methinks.

    And Transportblog obliges with a post about exactly that station, including some illustrations. Coverage catchment looks useful.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    I spend a lot of time in Newmarket - it too has small retail micro-shops - it has a mix of micro shops, high-end retail, malls, appliance outlet stores and cinema - it is more mixed than high end.

    Queen Street is a more fun than it used to be – to me the real enjoyment is found in everything in and around it going from Quay Street all the way up to the Asian Restaurants in Upper Queen Street and then along K Road – the proximity of the water front, the parks, the Library and the Art Gallery.

    What is currently makes the inner Auckland experience better is the change to the bus service with the three Link Bus services.

    The nature and fabric of Auckland is that is more mixed retail than high end – I don’t mind it if parts of “Onehunga” and “Otahuhu” style shopping experience come more to the fore in the central Auckland and this includes Queen Street.
    Cnr Brewer is quotes as saying "It completely runs counter to the mayor's vision of creating a world class city centre."

    Visitors coming to Auckland and having a great experience could well include sampling diversity in Queen Street that reflects the diversity that is Auckland.
    The phrase “World class city centre” is part of the meaningless cheer leader type bollocks that Len Browne tends to bang on about – it translates to “We” need to spend your money on X, Y & Z and raise rates so be aware that you (the bulk of the ratepayers/tax payers) although funding the things X, Y & Z will basically be excluded from the access to any utility that may arise from “our” vision.

    The vision/planning thing needs to provide the greatest amount of “UTILITY” to the broader base of people that make up Auckland and allows visitors to the Auckland City to experience us as we are.

    I can’t see that the Conference centre at Sky City is of much benefit to anyone except Sky City and its “friends of influence”. If they want a conference centre anywhere sort out the tank farm and do something cool.

    I also just can't see Cr Brewer or Nightmare Browne getting on a bus and having any serious fun in Auckland City - so they miss out – I can live with that – but I have concerns about both of these guys making calls on our future, the direction of Auckland.

    A more mixed and diverse experience in the Queen Street Area is my preference along with less cheer leading corporate bollocks.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Cuba St is the way it is because all the mainstream shopping migrated to the Lambton Quay area, and the resulting harder-to-let property attracted interesting shops and businesses. No council ever decided it was time to create an “artistic quarter”.

    The council did plan a motorway through the area, and that kinda hammered rents down. So while they didn't decide to create an artistic quarter, they kinda did play a large part in it happening.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to DexterX,

    The phrase “World class city centre” is part of the meaningless cheer leader type bollocks that Len Browne tends to bang on about.

    The way to change an area is to allow and encourage interesting things to happen, good bars and cafés, studio space, workshops for artisans, places for people to meet and just enjoy life. These things cannot be mandated by Councils and Counsellors.
    There was no “plan” for Ponsonby, it just became a popular place because you could rent space in old buildings at cheap rates, people did stuff, the place just thrived on the buzz and then the “Yuppies” took over, the new middle class needs to show how “Trendy” it was.
    The same principal applied in the “Gentrification” of West Palm Beach only there it was driven by clever developers who had seen how it works naturally.

    There used to be cheap space down town that got a new life as studio space and apartments for the first new city dwellers, I saw some great warehouse apartments that cost nothing but the sweat of an imaginative brow. In it’s wisdom the Council decided to do something for the Americas Cup and that screwed it forever.

    Maybe the Council should stick to it’s core function and look after the peoples city and it’s people.
    It used to work well when the Council was the local Corporation, a big employer and the supplier of essential local services and amenities.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    The way to change an area is to allow and encourage interesting things to happen

    Council has a key role in allowing and encouraging. By law it must balance the interests of various parties including residents, businesses, future citizens and the sustainability of the natural and built environments we all depend upon. The private sector has a woeful record at that, which kind of argues against a free market 'solution'.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,

    A station at Aotea Square will do wonders for local retail, methinks.

    Let's hope it would work better than the seriously depressing square that's attached to the Newmarket Station.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    I really don't know what they were thinking there

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha,

    let's be clear where the responsibility lies.

    Sasha: I'll hold successive Councils (and the owners) fully responsible for the state of the Saint James. Sorry if "please break with tradition and learn something from history" was atypically obscure on the subject because the damn place has been derelict for almost five years -- and there were concerns about safety, code compliance and the condition of a listed heritage building long before that.

    I'm sorry, but does nobody remember the state The Civic was in when it was handed over to the Auckland City Council, and how close it came to being demolished?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Sasha

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Councils (and the owners)

    seems fair. only viable deal on the table however was the one that the govt said no to.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Some of you won't have seen the post since I updated it with a link to a bigger version of the original plan.

    It's really worth a look. Although I'm glad the name New Ulster didn't catch on.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg, in reply to Russell Brown,

    a bigger version of the original plan

    Wow. Imagine skateboarding from the Circus down to Queen St along Victoria St. That's a good 30 metre drop.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    Wow. Imagine skateboarding from the Circus down to Queen St along Victoria St. That's a good 30 metre drop.

    Seems to me this has the fountain in Albert Park at the centre of everything. Do you think they knew it was on a hill? Looks like a flat earth plan drawn from a dirigible.

    Pretty, but somewhat impractical I would have thought.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Sacha,

    I really don't know what they were thinking ther

    Build a ghetto and wait for the inevitable?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha,

    only viable deal on the table however was the one that the govt said no to.

    OK, Sacha, we'll blame the Government for every thing up to and including the wicked bad cramps I've been having lately. But it seems for years Auckland City's only "viable" solution for the St James has been repeated long-term cranial-rectal insertion. Do what you've always done, get what you've always got -- which in this case is fuck all with a side of zilch-drizzled nada.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It's really worth a look. Although I'm glad the name New Ulster didn't catch on.

    Interesting how of the four "quadrants" shown there, Waterloo Quadrant actually came to be, though in a rather compromised shape.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Although, to be fair to the Council, it can take surreal amounts of time, money and brute persistence to take on property owners whose approach to maintenance is "malign neglect". If I was being entirely cynical, it isn't entirely without precedent for owners to run down listed buildings (and crying too poor to catch up on maintenance deferred for decades) until demolition is the only option left. Also helps if you have local government which, for all kinds of reasons from outright corruption to simple indifference, aren't disposed to enforce their own rules.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I'm not sure if this will work but this is an overlay of Google maps over the old plan of Auckland. I used Gimp, it may work with photoshop.
    The Google image is a transparent overlay and you should be able to adjust that.
    Fingers crossed...
    ETA
    Crossed fingers are not up to expectations...
    As you were.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,

    CBD rail loop

    Link, please, not loop. It's not needed so that trains can go in circles.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Crossed fingers are not up to expectations...
    As you were.

    Keep trying, I'd be fascinated to see it.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

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