Love this City: Return of the Rainbow Warrior, the downtown revival, stadiums and golf

NZ Herald

a day ago

A commemorative dawn ceremony on the aft deck of the ship was held on Thursday morning.
Sharon Aroha Hawke spoke of the inspirational work of Greenpeace and the long connection her iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has had with climate activism and 'the struggle for a nuclear-free, decolonised, independent Pacific'. Her father, the late Joe Hawke, was among the iwi representatives on the boat shortly before the attack.
Greenpeace International's programme director, Carmen Gravatt, talked about the impact of the bombing. The crew and the wider movement weren't defeated, she said. 'They turned grief into resistance and despair into determination. That bombing blew wind into our sails.'
She added, 'Fear didn't work then and it won't work now. Courage is contagious.' A wreath thrown from the Rainbow Warrior at the dawn ceremony this week to mark the 40th anniversary of the bombing of the original Greenpeace ship. Photo / Michael Craig
The Herald has a new podcast on the bombing, Rainbow Warrior: A Forgotten History, created by Noelle McCarthy and John Daniell. McCarthy talked on Herald Now this week about the bombing and the things they discovered making the podcast.
The original ship was moored at Marsden Wharf when it was bombed, but the new Rainbow Warrior is a kilometre to the west, at Halsey Wharf behind the Events Centre. Greenpeace is hosting free public tours this weekend and next. The rhythms of the city Murray Crane outside his shop on High St.
Upmarket menswear retailer Murray Crane has signed a 25-year lease to keep his Crane Brothers shop in High St. It's a major commitment from a leading retail business in the central city, and last month he was featured in a revealing story in the Herald explaining why he was staying.
Crane Brothers has been in High St since 1999, in a ground-floor location in the celebrated Hotel DeBrett building. Crane said that location was critical to his business plan for the next 25 years.
He believes the central city is filling up again: the 'tide is turning reasonably slowly, but it is turning. All the numbers seem to be pointing in the right direction, which is great.'
In High St, he said, 'tenancies are being refilled and leases signed and people are looking for space, so it feels like we're definitely on the front foot'.
Right place, then. Next, he said there is still 'a genuine appetite for experiential, local retail', focused on 'quality, craft and care'.
Decoded, that means they look after you in the shop: they make you feel special.
Elsewhere, Crane has said it's always upsetting when retailers close. They're 'frustrated that 'no one is buying', while customers are equally frustrated by the lack of service and products they want'. He believes the department store Smith & Caughey didn't close because of customer problems with parking and roadworks, but because it failed to move with the times and keep its customer service levels high.
It's a close fit with an op-ed in the Herald just a day later, written by the City Vision candidate for the Waitematā and Gulf ward on council, Patrick Reynolds.
This was notable because Crane is not a natural ally of City Vision, which combines the efforts of Labour, the Greens and others in Auckland's central wards. They're rather more fond of pedestrianised streets than he is.
But this was business and urbanism overlapping in their thinking. As Reynolds noted, 'There are 15,000 more jobs in the city centre now than in 2019 and GDP is 24% higher, which is faster growth than elsewhere in the city. Work patterns have changed; coming into the office is less of regular event and more shoppers and diners are staying in the new traffic-calmed and upgraded downtown. Patrick Reynolds, standing for Auckland Council in the Waitematā and Gulf ward.
'Now that people don't have to come in to work so often, cities have to actively draw them in. The successful 21st-century city is not shaped around the twice-daily commute of office workers. Instead, it is a magnetic hive of action and interest, with unique arts and events, compelling shopping experiences, great little parks, laneways and places both vibrant and calm.'
Crane's commitment to his High St location points to this: High St runs north and south from Freyberg Square, a well-designed public space that serves as an amphitheatre not just for events but for people to gather informally all through the day.
To see the real meaning a city centre 'not shaped around the twice-daily commute', check out downtown Auckland on the weekends. That's when the shops are likely to be at their busiest, especially if there's an event at the waterfront or in Aotea Square.
'Only stagnant cities are unchanging,' Reynolds wrote. 'Great ones reshape with the times. Even Paris, with surely the world's most complete city centre, is radically transforming its streets to increase appeal.' More bike lanes is just one part of it. African Market celebrations in Freyberg Square in 2023. Photo / Brett Phibbs
As for Auckland and the changes being introduced by the City Rail Link, he said, 'Not since the Harbour Bridge opened 65 years ago has Auckland undergone a transformation this powerful.'
Reynolds thinks we should 'beware of wistful harking back to last century, when Auckland had a fraction of today's population and patterns were so different. Those outdated musings are as relevant now as a rotary dial-up phone.'
Crane might add that there's a trick to it. His store celebrates tradition and old, established values. But it moves with the times to do so.
'The way we deliver [customer service] has evolved. We've embraced technology and digital integration, but the fundamentals haven't shifted. We still vacuum and polish the brass every morning, clean the windows every week. That consistency, that discipline, is part of our rhythm.'
And just up the way in Freyberg Square, there's a different rhythm in play: the kids are making TikTok dance videos. It's a living inner city. Football stadium flip-flop Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray were part of the consortium backing the proposed Auckland Arena at Western Springs. Photo / Supplied
Aucklanders Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams, and American billionaires Bill Foley and Bennett Rosenthal, have pulled the plug on their bid to build a boutique 'Auckland Arena' stadium for the Auckland Football Club, which they part-own, at Western Springs. This raises so many questions.
Who are these people? One minute this wealthy consortium is after a 99-year lease for a facility they will build, promote and operate, which signifies a certain depth of public-spirited commitment to the city. Next thing we know, it's yeah nah, can't be bothered (or in their words, 'unique challenges' and 'extended timelines and complexities'.) Bill Foley was part of the group wanting to develop Auckland Arena at Western Springs. Photo / Photosport
A spokesperson for the Auckland Arena bid told the Herald the timing of the withdrawal was not linked to the successful application by Mowbray-Williams to build a helipad at their Westmere home.
Approval of the helipad was announced on June 30, two days before the consortium told the council they were abandoning the stadium plan.
One element of the stadium flip-flop is that the council engaged with the Auckland Arena proposal in good faith. After extensive analysis it became the preferred option of the council agency Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, but the effort Tātaki put in has turned out to be a considerable waste of their time and our money.
And what's really going on? Western Springs is the home of the Ponsonby Rugby Club, which Ali Williams used to play for, but his Auckland Arena plan had no room for rugby.
What possessed the former All Black to want to build a stadium that would leave his old club without a base?
Why does Auckland FC want to walk away from its wildly popular and successful share-deal with the Warriors at Mt Smart? Why not just develop that stadium?
And what happened to the 2023 dream of Bill Foley, the football club's principal investor, to build a waterfront stadium? That's the central question, if you ask me.
If Foley has decided that getting a lease on public land at Western Springs is too fraught, could he lease or buy something privately? Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei owns most of the land around the Spark Arena and has its own long-term proposal for the waterfront, released in 2019.
I asked the iwi's Ngarimu Blair if there were any plans for an Auckland FC venue on its land and he said: 'First I've heard of it.'
I have no problem with sports clubs building themselves a stadium. It's their money. Private owners of sports clubs do it on private land all the time, although rarely in this country.
I do think it makes planning sense for any rectangular ground to be available to all sporting codes that need such a ground. It was always odd the Auckland Arena proposal couldn't accommodate Ponsonby rugby.
But it's hard for me to shake the suspicion that public interest is low on some people's priorities. A walk in the Waitakere Ranges The Zig Zag track in Titirangi. Photo / Auckland Council
The Zig Zag Track is open again, following the ravages of the 2023 storms, connecting Titirangi once more with the beach below.
'We're really pleased to see much-loved tracks like Zig Zag opening again,' says Ken Turner, chair of the council's parks committee. 'It's a sign of the steady progress being made across the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park to get things back to normal after the extreme weather events of 2023.'
There's more to come. 'Our communities have been patient, and it's great to be able to share the news that more tracks are on the way, with Smyth Ridge, Kuataika and Zion Hill all set to reopen in the coming months.'
Zig Zag Track has been upgraded to improve drainage, stabilise the path and protect the surrounding ngahere.
Local iwi Te Kawerau a Maki has been closely involved in the work. 'We support the reopening of these tracks in a way that safeguards the health of the whenua and kauri,' said Edward Ashby of Te Kawerau Iwi Tiaki Trust.
'This land carries deep cultural significance, and we appreciate the partnership approach with Auckland Council to managing its future,' says Mr Ashby.
'Restoring tracks like Zig Zag isn't as simple as clearing a path,' says the council's manager of regional parks, Scott De Silva. 'Our contractors and rangers work around steep terrain, mature native trees and ongoing flood damage — all while protecting the sensitive ecology of the area. It's careful, complex work, and I'm proud of what the team has achieved to reconnect this local accessway.'
Smyth Ridge Track and Kuatiaka Track, which connect Anawhata Beach Track to Long Road track, and Zion Hill track in Karekare, have been closed since 2017 to help prevent the spread of kauri dieback. All will reopen this year.
The council reminds anyone walking in the Waitākere bush that cleaning stations are available on the tracks. The council's Our Auckland website has more information on openings and closures. There is always more stadium news Richard Dellabarca's stadium proposal for Wynyard Point, with surrounding development, which was not supported by the council.
Richard Dellabarca, the man behind the failed attempt to build a stadium at Wynyard Point and a test cricket venue on Victoria Park, has had some things to say about the now-withdrawn Auckland Arena plan.
'Building yet another stadium on that site makes no sense to me and runs contrary to every report on the stadium network [that] council have ever commissioned,' he told me recently.
He cited the reports of 2019, 2021 and 2023 that all recommended rationalising our stadium network, not adding to the number.
And he quoted council executive Max Hardy, who told a recent council meeting that the existing stadiums would require $150m of ratepayer money over the next 10 years, just to maintain the network.
Dellabarca released more concept images for both his stadium proposals earlier this year. 'I still believe the proposal for Victoria Park would be outstanding for cricket and Auckland,' he said. Especially if it was part of 'an entertainment precinct anchored by an iconic stadium 500m away'. Victoria Park test cricket stadium proposal.
'We would love to replace the Events Centre, formally Team NZ home, with a modern museum to create a cultural district with the ASB Waterfront Theatre and Maritime Museum adjacent. Imagine the vibrancy these three developments together would bring to the city and waterfront.'
And there's another proposal for a museum on Wynyard Point also before council at the moment: more on that soon. Rate caps and the climate crisis Finance Minister Nicola Willis with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: If rates are capped, what happens to flood resilience work? Photo / Mark Mitchell
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has other Cabinet ministers thinking about a cap on rates. She's called for councils to 'stick to the basics'.
Who doesn't agree councils should rein in wasteful spending? But getting agreement on what the basics are? That's much harder.
It's easy to say, as Willis did, that it's 'the rubbish, the roads, the pipes, the basics'. But isn't it also playing fields, libraries and other community services and facilities?
What about water infrastructure? The Government is reforming the way water is managed, but councils will still have a big role to play upgrading water services and keeping them fit for purpose. Catching up on decades of underspending on water is one of the principal reasons many councils are introducing high rates rises now.
And then there's climate resilience. In Auckland, as in much of the country, the biggest natural-world hazard is flooding. Councils can't ignore it: the Government requires them to take steps to minimise the risk. It does this through its funding mechanisms, in which Government funds are allocated on the basis that councils also contribute.
Auckland Council's Making Space for Water plan is a good model for this. In the Wairau Valley and Milford, for example, the council will convert part of the park now used by the Takapuna Golf Club to wetlands, which will double as a flood-detention sink (more on that below). The Government will pay for 62% of the work, provided the council pays the rest.
An independent reference group set up by the Ministry for the Environment has recommended phasing out taxpayer-funded buy-outs for flood and storm damage, but this is absurd.
For one thing, as Victoria University's emeritus professor Jonathan Boston has said, it's 'morally bankrupt'. We elect governments to exercise a duty of care, not abandon citizens in crisis.
For another, it's politically naive. When disaster strikes we always hold our elected representatives responsible for the response, whether they like it or not. Flooding in Wairau Valley on Auckland's North Shore. Photo / Jonathon Edward Powell
Which is why climate action to prevent disaster is so important. As the weather gets wilder, we're going to rely all the more on those flood basins, sea walls, managed retreat programmes, tree plantings and all the other ways to manage the climate crisis.
Councils should get back to basics? Climate action is the new basics.
And as the floods keep coming, councils that cap their rates too low will find themselves in serious trouble.
I spoke about this last week with the council's chief executive, Phil Wilson. He said two big debates are coming up next year as the council goes through the months-long process of updating its long-term plan, which includes a 10-year budget. This happens every three years, after a council election.
The first will be over how much to spend on Making Space for Water. There are already more demands on that programme than the current budget can meet. But the work is urgent.
The other will be over transport investment. 'In particular,' Wilson said, 'where and how should money be spent to make the most of our investment in the City Rail Link?'
Auckland Council has a $10 billion budget and of course there are ways it could spend money more efficiently. The council knows this: it has an ongoing cost-cutting programme that sliced $66m from its budgeted spending last year, diverting the savings back into other areas. That saved the equivalent of a 3% rates rise.
But as Mayor Wayne Brown and most councillors have consistently shown with their budget votes, they also know that artificial cost cutting now will bite them – and us – later on. Golf and floods: Another round in the Takapuna saga When the floods come: Artist's impression of the new wetland proposed by Healthy Waters on the land currently occupied by the Takapuna Golf Course, showing it in a flooded state. Image / Auckland Council
Although the council is proceeding with its plan to build a flood-detention wetland on the site of the Takapuna Golf Course, does it mean the end of golf on that site?
It doesn't have to. The golf club is on a month-by-month lease, which will end soon, so the park can close for redevelopment.
But after they build the wetland, about half the site will again become available for recreational purposes. It will be up to the Kaipātiki Local Board, sometime after the council elections in October, to decide what it wants to do with it.
The board is expected to consult widely. It will also have to find development money.
But there's a golfing body waiting in the wings. The Golf Warehouse wants to build a state-of-the-art nine-hole course and driving range, and seems prepared to pay for the development.
I talked to company boss Eric Faesenkloet this week and he said he's frustrated by the whole process. He said he's found it hard to get local board or other council people to talk to him, and he objects to the narrative that it's 'golf or something else'.
His proposal, he believes, would satisfy most casual users of a public course like Takapuna.
You'd certainly think it would make Ryan Fox happy. The professional golfer is in favour of keeping the whole Takapuna course because, he told RNZ, it's great for beginners and family excursions. That is, golfers who don't need 18 holes.
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