The Future of the Waterfront is Paramount
This election is really about a battle for the waterfront
- for your waterfront, for our waterfront.
It is the final battle
The Ritchie Waterfront Moratorium on New Buildings
It is your last chance to choose wisely. In three years time it will be too late. The waterfront will be a construction site with buildings on open space.
I am therefore proposing a Waterfront Moratorium on all new buildings on the Waterfront for the next three years ( except where there is an existing legal agreement).
You thought Variation 17 was bad enough. This is much worse - a construction site for many years, and then a wall of buildings.
Did you know that this is the Prendergast Plan for the waterfront.
That's why I am calling for a moratorium on all new buildings on the waterfront for the next three years. I want you, the public to enjoy the waterfront and to have a real say in its future.
Wellington's bejewelled harbour is the City's outstanding feature and one of the nation's outstanding features. The harbour provides a stunning and beautiful setting for our city, the Capital, with the hills behind, the suburbs, the city buildings, and finally the waterfront at sea level. All of these form a natural amphitheatre.
The lure of the harbour in all its moods is magical and timeless. Access to the water is about supporting a healthy Wellington for future generations, while understanding and acknowledging the past. The waterfront is not just our finest natural asset - it tells our story as a city.
This is a priceless asset for all present and future generations of Wellingtonians and New Zealanders.
We are the guardians
Use your vote wisely. It is truly your last chance to get it right.
Other Waterfront Matters
Hilton
This mayoral election is about the Hilton Hotel in the heart of the waterfront, on a site most special to Wellingtonians and New Zealanders.
I am opposed to the Hilton Hotel on the Outer T. Kerry Prendergast supports it. Thousands of Wellingtonians are angry with the proposal to put a Hilton Hotel being on Queens Wharf, on the Outer "T', blocking views, generating traffic, dominating, out of scale and inappropriate.
This is the heart of Queens Wharf, of the waterfront, of the Capital of the Country. It is a special part of our maritime and City heritage on our coast.
The Hilton Hotel is before the Environment court at present, and I, encouraged by you, am fighting to preserve this place for you and your children's enjoyment.
It was always intended (The Framework 2001) that there be a competition "to explore options for the outer-T". That is what should happen next.
Sports on the Waterfront: The health of our City
This mayoral election is about 'A Home for Sports' on the waterfront.
The people of Wellington have been making 130,000 visits a year to the Waterfront to play indoor sport in Wellington City Counci l- owned facilities. Over 2,000 people play indoor sport on the waterfront each week. Not only do they play sport, they also contribute financially, through their fees, to the operators and to Wellington City Council.
If the Hilton goes ahead, these people will immediately be displaced and have nowhere to go.
With the imminent demise of sheds 1 and 6, the waterfront is set to lose one of its major anchor attractions.
A healthy waterfront means a healthy city - a paramount priority of mine both as the future mayor and a Health board member. There is a real danger that Wellington will lose one of its biggest recreation sites and one of the District's major weapons for fighting poor health, obesity and work stress.
I am therefore proposing that on Site 10, next to the Meridian Building, we investigate an indoor/outdoor Sports centre - instead of the planned office tower right on the edge of the water blocking our heritage buildings. This sports centre would be unique - replicating in a way a Pacific island building with a roof and open walls and astro turf (or similar) on the ground. It would mirror the maritime aspect of the waterfront and the sails that are on Queens Wharf. It's just an idea, but it would be a solution, and an elegant one.
Let me know what you think of this.
Waterfront Company: Management of the waterfront
For years I have called for the Waterfront Company to be wound up.
It has done an appalling job.
It is mandated to manage and implement the plan for the waterfront. One of the main tasks is to keep traffic off the waterfront and to ensure that the promenade is a shared pathway to accommodate a range of non-motorised uses including strolling, cycling, roller-skating, scooters, pushchairs and wheelchairs.
And to keep people, including small children, safe from vehicles while they enjoy their activities.
It has ignored this requirement.
It has allowed vehicles onto the waterfront in many places.
It has failed in this and other ways. It has failed to manage its finances in accordance with its brief and has called on the ratepayers many times to fill its coffers through poor management.
It is time for a change
It is time that the Waterfront and its management were returned to the democratic oversight and management directly by Wellington City Council and, through its elected representative, by the people of Wellington. People need to know what is going on at the Waterfront.