Thanks to mayoral candidate Al Mansell for taking the time to answer our questions too.
1. You have 30 seconds to convince someone to come to Wellington. What’s your pitch?
If they don’t know how grouse Wellington, is, maybe they’re not the sort of people we want. Pay more attention.
2. How do you think traffic flow to the hospital and airport could be improved?
Make the buses and trains free. Extend the Johnsonville line through Newtown to the Airport.
3. Where do you stand on the issue of opening up government data?
Government communication, and legislation, needs to be in plain english. That’s the biggest obstacle to openness.
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facilities?
Introduce composting scheme for inner-city businesses. Promote communal resources, to reduce resource use.
5. What is your policy on street alcoholics?
Support a wet house in the city. We don’t need liquor bans; police already have powers to arrest people if they are being offensive/violent.
6. Do you support pedestrianisation of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not?
Yes. Move the buses to Jervois Quay. Use human/electric three-wheelers to link to the bus routes and to car parks.
7. What’s the last local market you went to? What did you buy?
Willis st market- peanut brittle. It’s my one weakness. Well, that, and methamphetamine.
8. Describe your bicycle, or your favourite bus route?
A red giant. Stolen from Wakefield st while I was dangling off the supreme court. I will find it, and I will have my revenge.
Yay, we have our first response! Thanks to Celia Wade-Brown for her answers to our questions.
1. You have 30 seconds to convince someone to come to Wellington. What’s your pitch?
Wild nature close to cosmopolitan centre! Kayak with dolphins, buy eco-fashion, eat fresh seafood, drink Fairtrade coffee and see brilliant exhibitions and inspiring theatre.
2. How do you think traffic flow to the hospital and airport could be improved?
Light rail (modern trams), flexible office hours, travel plan for hospital day shift, safer cycling, bus priority lanes, tradespeople parking permits, downtown airport check-in.
3. Where do you stand on the issue of opening up government data?
Share GIS layers between Councils, DoC, NIWA and make public. Most Council decisions and data must be open while also respecting individual privacy.
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facilities?
Recycling wheeli-bins for plastic, paper and tins. Green bins for glass. More NZ recycling. Home compost bins, Bokashi for apartments and Kai2Compost for cafes.
5. What is your policy on street alcoholics?
Support wet house, DHB investment in treatment facilities. Look at root causes for people feeling despair, violence and alienation. Limited liquor ban not city-wide.
6. Do you support pedestrianisation of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not?
Public transport essential for workers and shoppers. Car-free peak hour bus priority then light rail. Bikes, pedestrians, street trees coexisting with good public transport.
Now that we have a definitive list of mayoral candidates, we thought it was time we send them some of the questions we’d crowdsourced over Twitter ages ago. So I just sent out this list of questions. We’ll print replies verbatim, cutting off answers at 25 words for the sake of brevity as they come in.
1. You have 30 seconds to convince someone to come to Wellington. What’s your pitch?
2. How do you think traffic flow to the hospital and airport could be improved?
3. Where do you stand on the issue of opening up government data?
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facilities?
5. What is your policy on street alcoholics?
6. Do you support pedestrianisation of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not?
7. What’s the last local market you went to? What did you buy?
8. Describe your bicycle, or your favourite bus route?
9. When did you last use the library, a community centre, or a council-run sports facility?
10. Would you welcome a central government driven "super-city" amalgamation of local authorities? If not, why not?
11. Do you think the council has a role in fostering community websites? If so, how?
12. Where do you stand on water privitisation, and why?
13. What city overseas inspires your vision for Wellington? How?
14. Is the concept of democratic representation important to you? How so?
15. What do you think about commuunity gardens on public land?
Sometime last week I took my sister to lunch at Foxglove. We both started with the caramelised onion soup in a cob bowl with gruyere cheese and white truffle, which was less liquid than we expected, but it was delicious. Just look at it:
It was pretty filling just by itself, so I was anticipating a small portion for my main. Instead, I got two glorious bits of beer battered market fish with green pea gribiche (which is pretty much just tartar sauce) AND then they brought out fries and salad to go with it. Yum!
My sister, meanwhile, had confit chicken leg with crayfish ravioli and mushroom cream.
What I tried of it was tasty, with a surprise citrus zing. Our Magrain Sav was delicious as well, full size portions served in full size glasses (take note, Finc!). Service was great, until we tried to pay, and were left floundering for about ten minutes while we were also waiting for our coffees to go, because lunch had taken about an hour and twenty minutes. Others have complained that the ferns by the door are smelly, but we were on the other side of the restaurant so we didn’t notice. Based on the quality of the food, and the generous servings of it, I would definitely return to Foxglove, as long as I had plenty of time to spare.
Once again, we are leaving it waaaaaaay late to let you know about an upcoming event. In this case, it’s the Capital Fetish Ball:
Wellington’s very own fetish ball will be a feast of flesh and fantasy. Expect wild performances, sassy spectacles, and Las Vegas grade entertainment.
Costumes are a must, so we suggest checking out Wildilocks at 225 Cuba Street to get yourself a corset or something similar…
On Monday night my sister and I went to our first Wellington on a Plate event – the way sold-out (they added a couple more sessions even) Cupcakes and Cocktails at Martha’s Pantry. Given that neither of us is a slouch in the kitchen or bar, we weren’t sure how much we’d actually learn from the event, but since cupcakes and cocktails are two of our favourite things, we thought we’d give it a go. And when we walked in the door and saw that the McKenzie brothers were doing the mixing, we knew we were in safe hands.
I figure I’ll do this post basically just a series of cupcake porn photos. You don’t mind, do you? Good.
This was what was waiting for each of us at the tables – sandwiches to nibble on, cupcakes, icing and the cupcake recipe. We were also given Winter Pimms Punch to drink.
We had a couple of demonstrations about different ways to pipe, and were let loose on our own cocktails.
You can see here that we had varying techniques and levels of success with that.
Then, before too much icing could accidently end up in our mouths, Justin McKenzie, wearing one blue glove that was kind of creepy let us in on the magic formula for cocktails: two parts strong, one part sweet, one part sour. It’s so simple, I wasted all that money in Hooch and Hawthorne and Cuckoo for nothing!
For my first Wellington on a Plate meal deal, I decided to go to Finc, with the delightful company of a friend I’d just seen killed twice on Saturday night. People have differing opinions about Finc, but for myself, I’ve always found it great in the evenings and very average at lunchtimes. For pork belly, I would take the plunge.
Normally around this time our lovely Sue would be getting all rapturous about the Downtown Community Ministry‘s Annual Book Fair, but since she’s rather busy, let me just tell you that the fair is happening again this weekend (August 21 & 22) at the TSB Arena, with doors will open from 9am to 4pm each day.
If you like books, you should go along, because prices start at $2. Not enough of a spiel for you? Well what Sue said last year should do!
As my first taste of Burger Wellington, I decided to check out The Greenman because I had errands in the area, and their offering sounded quite delicious:
Whiskey and Maple Lamb Burger
Local lamb patty with lettuce, tomato and pineapple salsa on a shawarma bun, served with fries
So y’all asked for more food reviews with pics, so today I am going to do short reviews of the following places:
I hope you don’t mind that I’ve put them all in one post.