For Friday Faceoff this week Nick Mills is joined in the studio by former Wellington City Councillor Tim Brown and entrepreneur JD Trask.

Our panel get heated from the start as Nick heard a senior official at the Wellington City Council commutes to Wellington from Auckland.

Is this acceptable for a high paid, infrastructure position? Does it matter what city they live in? 

Then an issue raised in our Business Panel earlier this week brought up Wellington's lack of international flights. What effects are our panel seeing themselves and what paths do they want? 

Brown, who was on the board of Wellington Airport said he'd be surprised if there weren't new airlines coming here "before the end of next year".

The panel then faceoff over confidence in Tiaki Wai. They question Tiaki Wai's plans, costing, and if anything has changed since Wellington Water? 

Trask and Brown go hard on the Zoo asking council for $13 million for lion enclosure upgrades, and pose the question - should Wellington even have a zoo?

Plus was the PSA strike strictly political, and the panel share their hots and nots.

LISTEN ABOVE

For Friday Faceoff this week Nick Mills is joined in the studio by former Wellington City Councillor Tim Brown and entrepreneur JD Trask.
Our panel get heated from the start as Nick heard a senior official at the Wellington City Council commutes to Wellington from Auckland.
Is this acceptable for a high paid, infrastructure position? Does it matter what city they live in?&nbsp;
Then an issue raised in <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/wellington/wellington-mornings-with-nick-mills/audio/business-panel-hayley-horan-and-mark-oldershaw-on-creating-a-buzz-around-wellington/">our Business Panel</a> earlier this week brought up Wellington's lack of international flights. What effects are our panel seeing themselves and what paths do they want?&nbsp;
Brown, who was on the board of Wellington Airport said he'd be surprised if there weren't new airlines coming here "before the end of next year".
The panel then faceoff over confidence in Tiaki Wai. They question Tiaki Wai's plans, costing, and if anything has changed since Wellington Water?&nbsp;
Trask and Brown go hard on the Zoo asking council for $13 million for lion enclosure upgrades, and pose the question - should Wellington even have a zoo?
Plus was the PSA strike strictly political, and the panel share their hots and nots.
LISTEN ABOVE

Wellingtonians now have the chance to discuss the issues of the day one-on-one with proud local Nick Mills and have a forum to share their ideas, passions and outrages on a daily basis.

You don't find many people more passionate about the capital than Nick, and he comes to Wellington Mornings after decades of success as the man behind some of the city's leading hospitality and entertainment offerings - Spruce Goose, Hummingbird and the Wellington Saints basketball team just to name a few.

Nick's proud of his city but also knows much can be improved on to make Wellington an even better place, and brings an honest, edgy, fun and engaging show to Wellingtonians each weekday from 9 'til midday.

Wellingtonians now have the chance to discuss the issues of the day one-on-one with proud local Nick Mills and have a forum to share their ideas, passions and outrages on a daily basis. You don't find many people more passionate about the capital than Nick, and he comes to Wellington Mornings after decades of success as the man behind some of the city's leading hospitality and entertainment offerings - Spruce Goose, Hummingbird and the Wellington Saints basketball team just to name a few. Nick's proud of his city but also knows much can be improved on to make Wellington an even better place, and brings an honest, edgy, fun and engaging show to Wellingtonians each weekday from 9 'til midday.

Wellingtonians now have the chance to discuss the issues of the day one-on-one with proud local Nick Mills and have a forum to share their ideas, passions and outrages on a daily basis.

Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills

Friday Faceoff with Tim Brown and JD Trask: Should Wellington City Council senior officials be required to live in the region?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/37a0df7e-325f-4992-88a7-b4c20009cd7c/transcript

EDITORIAL: 

I saw this story on TV about a week ago, last week, a Kiwi bloke called Simon McCartney. 

He's 65 years old, he moved to London to be closer to his grandkids, struggled to find work. 

65, moved to London, struggled to find work. 

Oh, I wonder how, why? 

And eventually he thought, right, I'm going to try something completely different. 

Now he drives a big red double-decker bus. 

What a job. 

He drives across London Bridge, looks across to the Tower Bridge, sees St. Paul's Cathedral, and on diversions he goes past Picadilly Circus, Parliament, the London Eye and Leicester Square. 

How about that for an office at 65 years old? 

Then, yesterday I had coffee with a business acquaintance. He's from Auckland, but he's in Wellingtonian. 

Went to TawaCollege, not with me, a lot younger than me. 

Mid 50s, has a successful business doing well.

He sits there telling me, I'm moving, selling up and moving. 

I said, selling the business? 

"No, I'm keeping the business, but selling my home.”

“I live in Auckland on the North Shore and I'm going to the Gold Coast.”

He said he'll keep his business going here. 

He can fly back four or five times a year, can do everything by Zoom or everything by phone. 

That's the modern world. 

But he's had enough of New Zealand. 

He reckons the Gold Coast will give him a better lifestyle. 

And that got me thinking about Wellington because I hear it consistently now. 

Rates, water bills, insurance, cost of doing business, cost of our council, cost of owning a home, the cost of absolutely everything.

Wellington is becoming a very expensive city to live in. 

And then you look around and ask, is Wellington actually heading in the right direction? 

I love Wellington. 

I've invested my whole life in the city. 

My family's here, my business is here, my work is here. 

But actually, when I got into bed, because when you get into bed, and I was reading about someone the other day that was saying that thought when you hop into bed is kind of like the end of your day, it should be really your happy place and your happy thoughts. 

And I thought to myself last night, could I get to an age where, right, enough is enough, I'm off. 

Melbourne, absolutely. 

I'd love to live in the outskirts of Melbourne. 

Not in the expensive part, but in the outskirts where I could afford. 

Gold Coast, you know, the weather is so damn good there. 

It feels so exciting there. 

London, maybe, you know, a bit more expensive. 

You'd have to have a little bit more money, but a place in London?

France, a little village way out in the ultimate of nowhere. 

Good wine, good food. 

Now we're getting somewhere. 

And I know people that have done it. 

And it scares me because 20 years ago, you never heard of people doing that in their 50s, 60s or 70s. 

That's it, I'm going, taking off. 

And maybe the new OE isn't at 21, but maybe it’s at 61. 

If money wasn't the issue, where would you go? 

Would you leave Wellington or would you stay right here? 

And despite everything that Wellington throws at us, would you, could you ever simply pack up, sell up and move out? 

LISTEN ABOVE

Nick Mills: Could you ever leave Wellington later in life?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/b5b2b2d8-3b49-4e4e-b02c-b4c50011518d/transcript

EDITORIAL:

I want to start this morning with something that I genuinely cannot understand,  the more I think about it the more it frustrates me, and the more I look at it the more I don’t understand it. 

The Harbour Quays bus corridor.  

Think about that. An eleven million dollar price tag. 

History will tell us that everything we’ve seen done in this part of the world, when you start with a price of eleven million dollars, you know it’s not going to end anything under that – and could be double that. 

We’re talking about bus lanes down Customhouse Quay, Jervois Quay, Cable Street and Wakefield Street — taking road space away from general traffic to create a public transport corridor through the outskirts of the CBD in Wellington. 

And I think it is nuts. 

We do not need it. 

This thing was conceived when Wellington was planning for substantial population growth, more commuters pouring into the CBD and enormous growth in public transport. 

But circumstances have changed. 

The Golden Mile project that it was supposed to complement has stopped.  

The wider transport plan isn't settled.  

The SH1 changes aren't settled.  

And serious questions are now being asked - whether the population and passenger growth originally anticipated is actually going happen. 

Yet we're still marching ahead with the solution. 

Why? 

Because we've already spent money planning it? 

That’s not a good enough excuse. 

That is possibly the worst reason imaginable to spend another dollar. 

And anyone who actually drives along Jervois Quay, Wakefield St, Customhouse Quay and Cable Street at busy times knows exactly what happens when you start removing general traffic capacity. 

Remember when we put those drainage systems down Wakefield St and what happened then.  

Where do the cars go? 

They don't magically disappear. 

You create a thing called congestion. 

And here's another thing. 

We have tried for decades to convince Wellingtonians that the waterfront side of the city is somehow an extension of the Golden Mile. 

Now a lot of us will remember the old Harbour City Centre. 

Remember when that was conceived and built, at great fanfare? 

It was going to be the massive city shopping centre. 

It was supposed to be fantastic. 

It even had a McDonalds in it! 

Well it closed very quickly. 

Getting people across several lanes of traffic, particularly on a cold, wet, windy Wellington day, was never particularly attractive. 

Now we're apparently going to do it with bus passengers  and tell them somehow: Don't worry — you can walk across to the Golden Mile. 

Seriously? 

With horizontal Wellington rain? The wind? The cold weather? 

And we're spending $11 million to do it, when we don’t need it! 

Greater Wellington has endorsed it. Wellington City Council gets its turn on Thursday. 

I desperately hope councillors have the courage to say: 

No don’t do it, we don’t need it right now. 

Forget what was predicted two years ago. 

Look at Wellington today. 

Do we need it? 

Does it stack up? 

And is removing road capacity from one of the busiest routes through our CBD really going to make Wellington better, quicker? 

I think you know my answer to that. 

Because from where I'm sitting, this has all the ingredients of another Wellington transport cock-up. A massive cock-up 

Eleven million dollars.

Remember I said it first here - they say eleven million dollars. 

We don’t want to pay eleven million dollars to create another problem that’s not really there and could possibly make it a hell of a lot worse. 

LISTEN ABOVE

EDITORIAL:
I want to start this morning with something that I genuinely cannot understand, &nbsp;the more I think about it the more it frustrates me, and the more I look at it the more I don’t understand it.&nbsp;
The Harbour Quays bus corridor. &nbsp;
Think about that. An eleven million dollar price tag.&nbsp;
History will tell us that everything we’ve seen done in this part of the world, when you start with a price of eleven million dollars, you know it’s not going to end anything under that – and could be double that.&nbsp;
We’re talking about bus lanes down Customhouse Quay, Jervois Quay, Cable Street and Wakefield Street — taking road space away from general traffic to create a public transport corridor through the outskirts of the CBD in Wellington.&nbsp;
And I think it is nuts.&nbsp;
We do not need it.&nbsp;
This thing was conceived when Wellington was planning for substantial population growth, more commuters pouring into the CBD and enormous growth in public transport.&nbsp;
But circumstances have changed.&nbsp;
The Golden Mile project that it was supposed to complement has stopped. &nbsp;
The wider transport plan isn't settled. &nbsp;
The SH1 changes aren't settled. &nbsp;
And serious questions are now being asked - whether the population and passenger growth originally anticipated is actually going happen.&nbsp;
Yet we're still marching ahead with the solution.&nbsp;
Why?&nbsp;
Because we've already spent money planning it?&nbsp;
That’s not a good enough excuse.&nbsp;
That is possibly the worst reason imaginable to spend another dollar.&nbsp;
And anyone who actually drives along Jervois Quay, Wakefield St, Customhouse Quay and Cable Street at busy times knows exactly what happens when you start removing general traffic capacity.&nbsp;
Remember when we put those drainage systems down Wakefield St and what happened then. &nbsp;
Where do the cars go?&nbsp;
They don't magically disappear.&nbsp;
You create a thing called congestion.&nbsp;
And here's another thing.&nbsp;
We have tried for decades to convince Wellingtonians that the waterfront side of the city is somehow an extension of the Golden Mile.&nbsp;
Now a lot of us will remember the old Harbour City Centre.&nbsp;
Remember when that was conceived and built, at great fanfare?&nbsp;
It was going to be the massive city shopping centre.&nbsp;
It was supposed to be fantastic.&nbsp;
It even had a McDonalds in it!&nbsp;
Well it closed very quickly.&nbsp;
Getting people across several lanes of traffic, particularly on a cold, wet, windy Wellington day, was never particularly attractive.&nbsp;
Now we're apparently going to do it with bus passengers &nbsp;and tell them somehow: Don't worry — you can walk across to the Golden Mile.&nbsp;
Seriously?&nbsp;
With horizontal Wellington rain? The wind? The cold weather?&nbsp;
And we're spending $11 million to do it, when we don’t need it!&nbsp;
Greater Wellington has endorsed it. Wellington City Council gets its turn on Thursday.&nbsp;
I desperately hope councillors have the courage to say:&nbsp;
No don’t do it, we don’t need it right now.&nbsp;
Forget what was predicted two years ago.&nbsp;
Look at Wellington today.&nbsp;
Do we need it?&nbsp;
Does it stack up?&nbsp;
And is removing road capacity from one of the busiest routes through our CBD really going to make Wellington better, quicker?&nbsp;
I think you know my answer to that.&nbsp;
Because from where I'm sitting, this has all the ingredients of another Wellington transport cock-up. A massive cock-up&nbsp;
Eleven million dollars.
Remember I said it first here - they say eleven million dollars.&nbsp;
We don’t want to pay eleven million dollars to create another problem that’s not really there and could possibly make it a hell of a lot worse.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Nick Mills: Is a bus lane on Harbour Quays really the best option for Wellington?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/332d148b-1867-4e1c-baf3-b4c5000abe9a/transcript

Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Simon Woolf joined Nick on the show this morning and shared his concerns for the Harbour Quays bus lane proposal.

The proposal, which entails moving certain routes away from Lambton Quay and Willis Street to the waterfront Quays passed the Regional Council vote, and moves to a Wellington City Council vote this week.

Councillor Woolf said this is the next in line of many failures from our council, "we need amalgamation".

He said there are other possibilities that haven't been considered, like moving the bus lanes to Featherston St.

LISTEN ABOVE

Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Simon Woolf joined Nick on the show this morning and shared his concerns for the Harbour Quays bus lane proposal.
The proposal, which entails moving certain routes away from Lambton Quay and Willis Street to the waterfront Quays passed the Regional Council vote, and moves to a Wellington City Council vote this week.
Councillor Woolf said this is the next in line of many failures from our council, "we need amalgamation".
He said there are other possibilities that haven't been considered, like moving the bus lanes to Featherston St.
LISTEN ABOVE

Regional Councillor Simon Woolf doesn't want another "I told you so" moment with the proposed Harbour Quays bus lane

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2676d653-e1c1-44f1-a687-b4c50003bc35/transcript

Friday Faceoff with Tim Brown and JD Trask: Should Wellington City Council senior officials be required to live in the region?

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