Posts by Josh Petyt
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I've been out of the country since late 2011 so I'm not really up to speed with the whole Red Zone issue but I'm surprised to hear that engineers haven't been cautiously promising some kind of fix for those that don't want to connect to utilities as someone mentioned earlier. I was under the impression that you could build on virtually anything as long as you're willing to drive piles deep enough (5, 10 ,15 , 20 metres or more?)
Anyway, Hebe's proposal sounds much nicer. I'm sure it can't offer all the answers but the example of Milnethorpe in Golden Bay may be of some use. In my lifetime of forty years it has gone from scrub to wonderful forest. Purists don't like it because Dick Nicholls (who undertook the work almost single handedly) used fast growing eucalypts but the natives are coming along nicely now. If anyone is in the area, check it out.
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Envirologue: 1080, "eco-terrorism" and agendas, in reply to David Haywood,
My thoughts exactly when I heard about this on the radio.
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Hard News: To defame and deflect, in reply to Alfie,
Are you sure that's parody and not paraphrasing?
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The Basin saga certainly felt like pulling teeth. Like you I'm very reluctant to relax and expect that the current status will stay quo.
Are you sure the dentists in NZ are not just calling themselves 'Dr' as some kind of affectation? They are surgeons aren't they?
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Hard News: When the fast track seems a…, in reply to richard,
I've always wondered at that. Do you think it has anything to do with the spanish word for teacher being 'profesor'? (Unlikely I guess when you consider the general disregard they have for Mexico. I read somewhere that the spelling for marijuana gained a 'j' in place of an 'h' to make it look more 'Mexican'.)
I note also that Americans call dentists (and I assume all surgeons) 'Doctor' whereas we follow the Brits with 'Mr'.
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I've never watched Indian TV but 'bobble heads' (thanks, I wasn't really aware of the term) are really common here in Japan. Perhaps this is par for the course in India and as such the main audience(s) are conditioned to them. They're usually connected to little animated bodies on Japanese TV (and rarely stop moving) so at least we can be thankful for small mercies eh?
I haven't watched a Cricket World Cup for a few years. What's the deal with Danny Morrison?
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Replace a few keywords to move the story south and change references to 'pōhutukawa' to 'flyover' and you'd have a story about the crap Wellington has been having with the Basin Reserve.
The traffic engineering KPI of ‘minutes saved’ on a journey is in most cases unbelievably stupid. Sure it makes sense when you’re building a new mountain pass or a tunnel but through a city that is meant to be lived in it is almost always going to be a horrible compromise. There is a presumption that when you get into your vehicle that the roads ahead of you should get you to your destination as quickly and safely as possible. This sounds fine on the face of it but it effectively ignores the impact your action has on all the people that you will encounter or affect along your journey. I think we need to debate this priority for roading in any developed area.
The issue of remodelling city centres for roads largely doesn't happen in Europe where the majority simply accept that driving there is slow. They are forced to choose between the utility of a personal vehicle or the speed and savings of public transport, cycling or walking. In Japan the roads are slow. There are no roundabouts and probably three times as many sets of traffic lights as they need. Traffic on regular roads is slow and rarely exceeds 60 (the upper speed limit is 50 with virtually no exceptions, _everyone_ speeds). The result is frustrating start/stop driving. As with Europe people are forced to choose between the utility and cost of driving or the speed and savings of public transport. For most population areas public transport won a long time ago and now they have excellent public transport (which increases the attractiveness creating a positive feedback loop, something I fear our decision makers usually ignore).
In short what I’m suggesting is that maybe we shouldn’t promise short fast trips through our urban areas. Perhaps those that choose to drive should do so in the full knowledge that it will be slow and that they may have to wait a couple of minutes or more for a pedestrian light to end on say Queen Street, K Road, Courtenay Place or Oriental Parade. With GPS, pre-planned routes and networked devices we could even have scheduled or demand driven motor access through certain areas designated as walking/cycling/living(!) zones that are otherwise closed.
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Hard News: Word of the Year 2014: #dirtypolitics, in reply to Kim Wilson,
Ha ha. I thought your were going to say getting the snail into the chicken was easy but not so the chicken into the the goose.
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to Sacha,
We didn't. Grant McDougall suggested it back on page 2.
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Me too, but I fear we suffer from wishful thinking.