A new survey published by Mercer Human Resource Consulting rates Wellington as the 12th best city to live in, based on the quality of living offered to residents. Auckland comes in a very respectable 5th, with the rest of the top 12 filled out by Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bern, Sydney and Copenhagen.
American cities don’t get a show-in until Honolulu gets them off the mark at 27th (much to the delight of the Canadian press, who aren’t shy about pointing out their southern neighbours lower placings).
Can’t say the presence of Dusseldorf and Bern in the top 10 fills us with a great deal of confidence in the accuracy of the survey, though.
The little side street at the Taranaki Street end of Courtenay Place has been due for big changes for a while, and now it all looks like it’s finally happening. In June, work will start on closing the street and turning it into a pocket park: more details will be released by the council in a couple of weeks. Also, the long-abandoned toilet block which has been the subject of various suggestions over the years (including, hilariously, wetarium and sexual health museum), will undergo a more predictable but nonetheless welcome transformation. Ian “Ferg” Ferguson will convert it into a wine bar by doubling the underground space, lining the walls with wine racks and adding an outdoor drinking area on the roof. This work will also start in June and is expected to open by Christmas under the name “Wine Cellar” (WC for short, of course). If only the walls could speak!
But the first change that we’ll see here is the opening of the first downtown Wellington branch of Burger Fuel. That explains the loud drooling noises emanating from Wellingtonista towers. There’s no official word on the opening date, but construction work looks well advanced, so I’d guess that it’s just a few weeks away. Mmm, booze, burgers and a sunny park: that’s got to be better than a turning lane and a handful of car parks.
Tom over at WellUrban has done a fantastic bit of demographic and geographic analysis to find just how all you unattached women (there’s a man drought, didn’t you know?), can increase your odds of bumping into Mr Right around Wellington. Top spots: Te Aro, Lambton Quay, and, potentially North Miramar (although, as Tom points out, […]
Yes, just like Bob the Builder and Winston Peters, the Wellington City Council is asking the question: Can we fix it? And apparently, the answer is “yes we can”. The Council has recently introduced a Fix It page to their (already excellent) website, where you can let the Council now of any problems in your […]