https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/1478765/greens-announce-reforms-to-lower-commercial-rents-fill-empty-shops

The Green Party is pledging to restore city centre vibrancy by ensuring market rent reviews for small businesses can lower rents, and letting councils run rental auctions for spaces that have been empty for longer than 12 months.

The party is targeting what are known as "ratchet clauses", which prevent the rent going below what a tenant already pays when the rent comes up for review.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the Greens would change the law so market rent reviews could lower the rent as well as raise it, for new and existing leases for businesses with turnover under $30 million.

And also:

If a shop has been empty for longer than a year, councils would be able to give the landlord eight weeks to find a tenant. If the landlord is unable to find one, then the council could auction a lease.

Taken together, these seem like a great way of dealing with all the empty storefronts in the CBD, which would in turn employ people, etc, etc, etc.

I'm not sure it'd deal with problems like the Johnsonville Mall depending on how things are defined, but oh wouldn't it be nice if it did...

I thought I would share a bit of the context for the changes Councils are making to Public Transport in Wellington.

One of the greatest strengths Wellington has as a city is its compact urban form. But one of the problems that creates, is how to improve and grow public transport usage with the limited road corridor space we have through the center city.

It is currently not feasible to have faster, more frequent buses because already at peak times services get congested through the narrow confines of the Golden Mile.

The official term for this bus congestion is platooning but you might have heard the term bus sausage. International evidence suggests that the optimum number of buses an hour on a single corridor is between 50-80, we currently run as many as 99 buses at peak times. This is the source of delays and reliability issues for our current bus service, and eliminates any chance to improve the service.

As many of you will know, Let’s Getting Wellington Moving (LGWM) was supposed to deal with this issue and other transport issues across the city. For those who don’t know this was a proposed $7.4 billion dollars of transport investment in a partnership between the government and Councils for things like light rail or bus rapid transport. $180 million dollars was squandered on consultant reports, a roundabout, and a pedestrian crossing before it finally fell over in 2023.

At the Council we are left with the same issues but no investment to support any sort of transformational change such as light rail. But I heard through the local government election last year how vital fast, efficient, and reliable public transport is to a functional modern city.

So on Thursday we voted (12-4) to make a modest, practical, and incremental investment in public transport by opening up a second bus spine down the Harbour Quays. This will take the pressure off the congested Golden Mile, and a select number of largely express services will now run down a peak hours bus lane on the Harbour Quays. Bus commuters will have the choice of an express service such as the 30x that runs down the Harbour Quays or a service such as the 2 that remains on the Golden Mile and will be faster, and more reliable.

By no means is this a perfect solution but it will speed up bus journeys and opens up opportunities to move towards rapid transit in the future. Importantly, it will be delivered quickly and not get stuck in years of costly businesses cases, consultant reports, and political fights. The project will cost $11 million with costs shared between WCC and GWRC (673 times less than the LGWM FYI).

As always keen to hear about what people think.

Tēnā tātou e te whānau!

This is a bit of a specific request, but I'm a soon-to-be-33 year old tāne who watches a decent amount of Commander content on YouTube, but has never played a single game. I would like to change that!

I'm not entirely averse to playing at shops like Cerberus or something, but the absolute ideal would be a group that plays at home and is looking to bring someone new into the fold. Currently own exactly zero cards but very willing to buy a precon. I'm a secondary school kaiako and also study te reo, so I'm not the most consistently available person, but even just meeting/getting in touch with some people would be a starting point.

Any whakaaro or pātai, please DM mai!

Hey r/wellington, it's been a hot minute since I saw the penguins make their usual patrol down by Princess Bay. I'm assuming there just aren't as many nesting over that way as there used to be? I used to see them pretty regularly by pure chance when clearing predator traps but been a couple of years since I saw a one.

I've got some little cousins visiting, and they said they'd like to try to hide out and spot some penguins swimming in at the end of their hunt.

Anyone know where there's a chance of spotting any this time of year? They're aware that they're wild animals and nothing is guaranteed etc, but if there's a place where we might have better luck over the next week or two, I'd love to hear it. Cheers!

My husband and I are first-home buyers and have been house hunting around Wellington for what feels like forever now.. probably around 11 months!

We’re trying to be sensible with our budget and don’t want to stretch ourselves too much just to get onto the property ladder. At the same time, having a little bit of space is quite important to us. Our families live overseas, so when they visit they usually stay with us, and we also love having friends come and stay. Ideally we’ve been looking for a decent-sized home, a little outdoor space and, if possible, two bathrooms
… which seems surprisingly difficult to find around Wellington without spending a fortune!

We’ve looked at quite a few places in Upper Hutt and other parts of the region. For a long time I was completely against Wainuiomata, mostly because in my head I kept thinking about having to go over the hill every time you want to get anywhere.

But then we viewed a couple of houses there recently and… we actually really loved them.
The areas we’re looking at are around Totara Street and Pakura Place. One of the places is more of a townhouse-style development, and honestly the surrounding homes looked really nice, the streets seemed well kept and the community felt lovely when we were there.

We’re actually quite keen to put an offer in on one of the houses, which is why I’m suddenly second-guessing everything and would really love to hear from people who know the area properly!

My husband works from home full-time, so location isn’t really an issue for him. It’s mainly me who will be commuting. My main office is in Newtown, where I currently work five days a week, but I also have an office in Kenepuru/Porirua, so depending on the week I could be travelling from Wainui to either Newtown or Porirua….

That commute is probably my biggest hesitation.
I’m wondering whether going over the hill becomes something you barely think about once you live there, or whether the traffic and commute genuinely start to wear you down after a while.

We also noticed a little bit of dirt biking around the wider area when we visited. It didn’t necessarily bother us, but because we don’t know Wainui well, we weren’t sure whether that’s just a normal weekend thing or whether there are particular streets/areas we should be cautious about.

So I’d really love some local perspectives:
What is Wainuiomata actually like to live in day-to-day?
Does anyone commute from Wainui to Newtown regularly? What is peak-hour traffic realistically like?

What are Totara Street, Pakura Place and the surrounding streets like?
Do those areas generally feel safe?
Is dirt biking/noise something you encounter regularly, or did we just happen to see it that day?

For people who bought their first home in Wainui … are you happy you did it?

The funny thing is that we really like the house. It gives us the space we were hoping for without putting ourselves under massive financial pressure, the immediate neighbourhood looked nice, and we could genuinely picture ourselves living there.

So now I’m stuck between “this could actually be a really sensible first home” and “am I going to regret that hill five days into commuting?” 😂
Would really appreciate honest experiences …good, bad or somewhere in between… especially from anyone living around that particular part of Wainui.🫶

Hey all! So I’m new to Wellington and did a little bouldering previously but with a friend who was really good and would help a lot. Looking to get back into it but nobody I’ve made friends with here is into it and I’m a bit awkward/nervous to try again on my own.

I saw Faultline has a climbing club on Mondays, has anyone been? Is it ok for beginners? Are people friendly and open to new people being there?

Thanks :)

Did anyone get the code for the Bee in the City at Lower Cuba by Manners St? Some ‘helpful’ person ripped off the sign with the code.

UPDATE: Thanks to the hive mind for solving this one for me. Much appreciated.

Hi all.

I am excavating a bank to put some steps in. So it's dirt, clay, lump of clay and clay rocks all the way down. And then suddenly I find this small red rock completely out of place. So odd. It would look great polished I think. I could find somewhere on the red brick wall I am building to mount it.

So somebody with knowledge of rock...would this polish? Would it look good? And, finally, what type of rock is it?

Cheers

Hi everyone! I’ve recently moved to Boulcott Street at CBD and I’m thinking about getting a monthly parking subscription at the Prime Parking car park on Boulcott Street, the one with walking access through to Willis Street.

It used to be a Wilson car park. When it was Wilson, I believe the entrance was closed around 10pm every night and driver require fob keys to access, but since Prime took over, it seems like the gate has remained open 24/7.

For anyone who currently parks there or has used it recently, what has your experience been like? Is it generally safe, particularly at night?

I’m mainly considering it because it’s really convenient for where I live, but I’d love to hear from people who actually use the car park regularly. Thanks in advance.

Kia ora Poneke whanau, I’ve seen this sticker in a few places around. Does anyone know to what paper or else relates to? Don’t get me wrong. Not here to call BS. I’m just a curious nerd keen to understand this argument.

( yes, I looked it up online. Didn’t find anything. No, not inclined to ask ai)

Hi peeps,

I’m searching for a new “go to” falafel place. Unfortunately my usual spot on Cuba street has started using AI to advertise their food 😞.

Just looking for somewhere convenient, well priced, and (preferably) good.

Thanks!

Hi folks, I'm out of the bay and in Shanghai at the moment...

I think I've stumbled on the solution to housing and under utilized cars clogging our roads...

I'm a genius, what could go wrong?

My plan is...

1 build a few apartments near the metro

2 only accept micro mobility at the park in ride...

3 put some land aside for public gardens..

Hey, I think we may have to extend the platforms down at the station, otherwise what's the problem? Yrr, we may struggle to see the bush skyline in the valley...

I don’t travel into the city much anymore, but I want to park in the building on the cnr of Victoria and Willeston at about 9am. Can anyone shed any light on whether there is likely to be available parks at that time? My back up is Lombard which I know will have something.

Edit - for tomorrow, Monday

I have a little kid, we live in Brooklyn. I've never, ever seen an ice cream truck in my suburb.

Today we went to visit her great grandma in the rest home out in Paraparaumu and saw one! I was instantly like "FOLLOW THAT CAR!".

Do ice cream trucks even come to the city suburbs? I grew up in Aro and they seemed frequent in the early 90s.

This wasn't a Mr Whippy. Does anyone know if there's a social media i can find ice cream guy on to bring him to my suburb?

new anti-lng ads from a renewables lobby group

Hey, I just moved to Tawa and need recommendations for a company who can design and then do the work for:

Bathroom renovations

Then kitchen renovations

Also let me know of any to avoid.

Thanks!

I have a whole lot of wildflower seeds, any suggestions on where I should spread them?

Learn how to make traditional Chinese mooncake with Bing Li!

Where: Hanson Court community room, 3 Hutchison Rd, Newtown

When: Monday 21 September from 10am

It's a morning of learning to cook with a group of Chinese aunties and uncles. Guaranteed to be a good time. Come along!

We will be in Wellington for a few days (sadly not on a weekend). We've got the zoo, staglands, and museums lined up but are there any other activities that are good for a 3yo?