* Big delays are expected in the Auckland CBD on Friday morning due to a section of Victoria St West still being closed.
* The busy road, between Nelson St and Hobson St, closed afternoon when a panel fell from an apartment building.
* Auckland Transport is advising people to consider using alternative modes of transport into the CBD.
* The weather will be slightly better than yesterday, with only occasional showers forecasted, mainly in the afternoon.
Meh! So what? It is still going to take me just 10 minutes to get to work, rain or shine. Looking outside it looks a bit ok… I’m not going to get damp on my ride today.
A couple of years ago, I’d have been interested in these kinds of blockages. When there is any blockage in the CBD or motorways, then Auckland crawls to a halt. Not just where the problem is, but back along roads 10s of kilometres away.
This is a direct result of piss poor decisions made by central and local government as a direct result of stupid short sighted dipshits – like Mike Hosking and his ancestral shock jocks more interested in their ratings than reality.
But I cycle to work every day down the Grafton cycleway. It means that instead of taking between 15 and 45 minutes, it now takes 9-10 minutes. I pass over the people sitting in stalled or slow cars on the expensive motorway as I travel on cheap cycleways.
Look at a Mike’s recent rant about bike paths. Mike is apparently a technophobe too ignorant to add a link (here is).
There is not a lot to understand when it comes to the cycleway, it’s peddled (no pun intended) by zealots who are driven by ideology.
They operate on the “build it and they will come” scenario, except they have built it, and we didn’t come. When it all becomes obvious it doesn’t work it leads to anger frustration and upset for the rest of us who feel duped — hence the bikelash.
Ah no. It is mostly ‘peddled’ by cyclists and ex-cyclists who have been forced off the roads by fuckwit drivers who (apparently like Mike) who seem to be intent on trying to kill them.
I used to cycle to school in Auckland when I was a kid. Many years ago I had to give up and confined my cycling to the open road in the country. These days there are few parents who allow their kids to ride to school. It is too dangerous because of the cars. Instead they drive them to school – in the rush hours.
The number of cars on the road has increased dramatically in the last 50 years. The cars have gotten far larger. And of course the population has gotten far larger in Auckland.
It is a rare household today that doesn’t have the same number of vehicles as the number of adults with licenses. This is why the berms are illegally filled with parked cars and Wilsons parking taking in money hand over fist.
What hasn’t increased in proportion to the population and vehicles is the available land and road space. It never will. Land is simply too valuable to keep getting covered by bitumen for space hogging cars carrying a single person.
The same conservatives who will whine about the small amounts of room taken up with foot paths and bike paths, are also exactly the same whinging arseholes who don’t want to pay for expensive roads in cities. This isn’t hard to determine. All you have to do is to look at the expenditures on urban roads compared to the conservative nature of governments.
For instance it was no coincidence that roads planned by National’s “Roads of National Significance” were largely planted in the countryside. But the great dearth of building urban roads in Auckland coincides with National’s proxy Citizens and Ratepayers controlling councils in the urban area.
Now look at what was actually said in the article Mike Hosking was referring to.
The team observed that opposition to bike lanes often erupted only when lanes were being built, when planners and bike lane supporters had assumed the job was done.
“The level of opposition encountered can genuinely take people by surprise, and it’s tapping into an underlying concern about change.”
From their interviews, they found strong support among the cycling community for new lanes, largely for safety reasons.
Yeah, that is right. Despite the large amounts of public notification, planning, meetings budget allocations and all of the other bullshit that slows down the actual creation of cycle lanes – the whining only ever seems to start when they get built. That is because whingers like Mike Hosking simply aren’t interested in their community or the actual hard jakka that is required to maintain society. Like other hard line conservatives like Mike, they are often unproductive parasites who are only interested in their own convenience.
Somehow they appear to find it strange that other ratepayers would like to have safe places to cycle.
And Mike, our court fool, was a simple liar when he said :-
Last time I wrote about this questions had been raised about estimates for some Auckland cycleways and the reality when it was actually measured seemed to bear little resemblance to what they’d forecast by way of usage.
Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links).
The basic problem was that the raisers of the question apparently couldn’t read estimates, and in particular the time column. They were saying that the expected user numbers in a decade should be expected to happen immediately after opening. It is hard to take this kind of twaddle seriously.
The reality is that growth in cycling along bike paths is growing rapidly. It is also measurable because there are automatic counters on most of the paths. Greater Auckland blog periodically does posts on them. Generally most cycle ways start growing in users a few years after they’re constructed and then grow in percentage double digits year on year.
What is noticeable is what happens when the final connections in the bike paths are connected up. An April GA post looked the North Western cycle way.
Perhaps the most impressive, given it’s not coming off as low of a base as others and the constant growth it’s seen over the last few years, remains the NW Cycleway at Kingsland which is almost certainly benefiting from recent addition of the Ian Mckinnon Cycleway. To give a sense of scale for the increase, back in March-2011 just 11k were recorded at this location for the whole month. This March 40k were and this meant that during the month the 30-day rolling average peak at just under 1,400 bikes a day.
That is a lot of people off the roads using the space of a footpath. You can see the recent year on year growth. And I’m certainly noticing the increased numbers of cyclists where I intersect on the last part of the NW cycle way – especially at the terminating lights.
People like this person who has done about 7000 kms commuting and dropping the kid off.
It’s been a year since I’ve started biking to work, and this is a summary of my thoughts and observations. I work in Newmarket and live in Te Atatu Peninsula. My one way trip is about 17.5km and it takes me about 35-40 mins. I cycle every workday.
Mostly they have cycle ways but..
I’ve only had a few experiences with being squeezed against the curb (generally buses along Park Rd) or really close passes, but it never feels quite safe to be on the road. I ride quite defensively – and when I don’t feel it’s safe to overtake me, I take the lane. I have been shouted at a few times, but I haven’t encountered other intentionally threatening behaviours.
Generally motorists and parked cars aren’t intentionally dangerous. They’re just careless and need to be segregated from other more vulnerable rate payers who aren’t interested in taking up enormous areas of roadways.
I’m a bit worried about this myself. Later in the year, work is moving to a different location and I’m going to have to ride on roads and semi-segregated lanes. But coincidentally, my preparatory new hi visibility helmet arrived this morning while I was writing this post….
In the meantime, I feel sympathy for those parked on the roads this morning. I’m heading off for my 10 minute commute with a lit up helmet.
Updated with a few editorial cleanups after I got to work. Helmet works great, turning signals and all. Not sure how well the automatic braking system operates. How am I going to be able to test it?
Isn't Hosking the one who wants all public transport canned? So everyone can enjoy the pleasure of driving themselves to work and observing all the others 'driving' to work? And parking, um, where?
I must get a bell on my bike to warn pedestrians on shared footpaths.
In London some footpaths are dual use and they work OK but dedicated bike lanes are better. Some Underground Stations have huge bike stands outside the door. So go the support for a NZ massive trend towards biking. And with a flash helmet like that even Mike could not deny seeing you as he tries to accidentally run you down.
Compulsory Ferraris I say. Lacking the 'excellence' and 'personal responsibility' to afford one? Then die in a ditch loser! Roads are for winners (like Mike).
And another great way of unclogging the roads would be if everyone worked less. Didn't some guy back in the '70's say we would all be working 10-hour weeks by now due to technology? Clearly Toffler was extraordinarily naive about the nature of capitalism – or believed that technology somehow transcended the economic system within which it was deployed.
I had to go to Ponsonby after work yesterday afternoon rather than straight home to Mt Eden, so I jumped on an InnerLink in Queens St and got caught in the almighty traffic shit-fight in Nelson/Victoria Streets. While I was sitting on the bus (like forever) watching the cyclists flying along the Nelson Street cycle way and wondering what the hell was going on it crossed my mind that of course my normal commute home i.e. train from Britomart to Kingsland station would have been completely immune to the chaos on the roads.
Hosking is the most selfish, self centred and ill-tempered "journo" in the country. I haven't read any of his contributions for years but feedback suggests he's worse than ever.
Look at his most recent tantrum over the demise of plastic bags. He doesn't give a damm about the awful consequences. All he's interested in is his own personal inconvenience. The rest of us get on with finding alternatives but no… he's too precious. He has to bellow his annoyance to all and sundry. In short, he's a narcissist.
What's the bet he complained that he should be behind the pay wall too cos he's NZ's premium current affairs expert.
Yet Hosking gets listened to muchly. What does that say about a large number of NZs who must find him agreeable in his constant bad-tempered argument. I think people who listen to him need to think for themselves, they might find they can become problem solvers instead of joining his followers who are all constipated, curmudgeonly cyclops.
TalkBack radio outlets like ZB and radio live are based on opinionators agitating and pitching memes. Their advertisers don't want the independent thinkers.
Heard a piece in a cab from the mediawanks stable that would've had them seeing the authorities if broadcast in Oz.
Wilfully inaccurate to manufacture consent with hand picked callers aligned. Immigration dogwhistling.
Dedicated cycleways are OK but in Christchurch they all have curbs so people with mobility issues are effectively shut out of every area that has a cycle path. People with walkers have to use the precious energy walking out of their way to find a gap as do people in wheelchairs. To be honest the town planners have not taken into account the ageing population and the fact that in 10 years time the cycle ways should have been constructed to accommodate mobility scooters and wheelchairs as there will be more people using these than bikes.
Ye Lucy so true. Nelson has a big number of retirees but their needs are overlooked in the rush to get modern, and help non-car users. We need to make it easier to get public transport, and have a toll system that starts to lessen car use for a start. And shared pathways need to have median fences. It has taken ages and tons of crashes for authorities to finally stop blaming individuals for not driving perfectly, and usually once they are up the crashes go way down.
That the authorities are allowed to introduce fast moving mechanical devices on footpaths, in a city with many old people and where Green Prescriptions advise people to walk more for good health and a relief from stress. The ability to do so has at the same time been jeopardised by thoughtless she'll-be-right planning; just a repeat of the bone-headed approach of not bothering to ensure suitable and safe lanes appropriate for users.
Ironic that Hoskin's rant today is about centralising the health system and bemoaning that different regions set their own policy.
Not that I don't think centralisation isn't necessary but it's odd to see him and Farrar champion the practise while railing against it so hard in other areas of social policy – education, for instance.
LOL. I've often wondered how I'd react to him if he turned up in the audience. Possibly walk off and refuse to entertain him. Possibly bend over for the cheque…
I think the size of the check is the determinate factor. We all dance for the organ grinder, but his is a particularly pernicious piece.
Absolutely. I'm gonna recycle your beard joke on furry folk in the audience (passing cloud). Bloody good line. Impromptu, yours?
Heres one for the greenies.
Speaking of #metoo. Pandas are a pack of wife beaters. That's why they're not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet and running water, ambient music, years to figure it out. Whadda ya got? Two black eyes, no babies.
That having been said, where there are no cycle lanes cycling still has the issue with either being squished by heavy machinery, or squishing people who are just walking along. That's just a fact of putting thousands of people together: someone will screw up and hit someone else. The trouble with cyclists is that if one is a jerk and acts like a hazard, there's no reggo to report.
An interesting idea someone floated was to abandon "vehicle", "pedestrian" and "cycle" designations and run the same lanes as speed criteria: <10kph, 10-30kph, 30+kph. That would deal to new tech (e.g. scooters, "It") as well as keep everyone safe because speeder just flip into the next lane to avoid slower people.
Would need wider roads and pavements to get the lanes and need to put a rego on the walkers as well.. But personally I'd prefer fully separated lanes with a barrier. It is a whole lot safer for everyone.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes, especially around the university. Apparently it makes talking to each other much easier when you are doing it 5 kids wide. But most pedestrians are pretty good about using the lanes, just as I am pretty good about how I use pedestrian pavements.
The only injury I have had so far was from my own inattention. Was crossing the off-ramp on Newton road just down the hill from home one very rainy night. Was watching for cars, and missed a runner coming down the hill. Spotted him out of the side of my eye as I started to cross from a standing start, jerked, and slid the front wheel out from under me. Belted my right knee on the road.
Nearest to a serious accident that I have had was some munter on Don McKinnon drive on the old cycle/walkway. After dusk one friday night, on a blind corner, without turning his car lights on, he'd backed almost all the way across the cycleway from his parked position to try to get on to the road. I came down the hill on the bike at about 20km watching out for walkers in the cycle lane (the usual problem) and didn't have lot of time to react to a car lunging out backwards into my path. I think that the driver was rather startled as I started to scream at him. He certainly reversed direction and went out the correct way pretty damn fast.
But it is a continual issue, especially at my age. Nothing heals particularly fast any more.
I’ve seen some cyclists doing some pretty appalling things as well. Mostly going across pedestrians crossing with the lights against them. Frigging dangerous.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes…
I got a broken bone in my hand out of that one – too old to be doing emergency stops when I come round a corner and find the path completely blocked by pedestrians 5-abreast.
Scares the hell out of me. These days I slow down before corners and try to contain my temper with gaggles of young 'adults' trying to kill themselves.
In my general accumulation of safety equipment, I've ordered a programmable battery powered horn so I can give a good raspberry (or whatever else I want to plug in) as the 'horn' sound. I was thinking about programming the noise of a old diesel land rover and programming it to turn on loudly just before known blind corners..
I'll be heading out more on to the road – I wonder what volume I can get off it. See if I can penetrate the thickness between me and car drivers…
Pedestrians like that piss me off, too, but I've never thought something like "holy fuck I would have been flying if that prick had been two inches to the left, I swear his caot brushed the hairs on the back of my hand" about pedestrians.
Look at the Mess he has got Auckland into! I think we are all hoping he doesn't go over the edge in St Helliers. There are enough dead fish there already.
He has been hopping in and out of gentlemens pockets for years. And knows nothing of real life. He goes under the famous Blanket of ZB. It's time they washed and rinsed that smelly Blanket out.
You do realise a lot of people don't live a 10 minute bike ride from their work and have to live fricken miles away to afford a place and there are no trains or buses?
Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field.
I was right on.
The only thing that was irritating was the leaky building crap and the changes to the legislation requiring cavity wall when repairs were made to a monolithic wall. I also made sure that where I brought was properly inspected by the council – so the C&R arseholes would up paying for the repairs despite their stupid inspector privatisation.
I'd have also preferred to have a bit more area. But I couldn't find an apartment at the time with a larger floor area and a high ceiling.
But when the traffic got to be a pain, I shifted to public transport for a while. Then I stopped taking jobs that were more than a 10 minute commute. I could do it because of forethought.
Conservatives suck at forward thinking… Hosking is just a prime example.
What were the estimates for the usage of cycling lanes prior to them being built?
And what is the usage now? You appear to know the numbers. Why not provide the people who don't remember ever having seen them? Not everyone reads the Herald you know, and I presume they were published there. Then we could have someone who follows the approach recommended in this post.
"Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links)."
Will dig them out when I have time – maybe after I fix search.
However they were written up at Greater Auckland blog when Hosking went inane. Look there I’d you want them sooner. They specialise in that type of data.
I don’t think that I have ever seen them the herald. They aren’t very good on detail (or links) and perhaps you should request Hosking should do that… After all he is paid for it I am not.
"Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field."
Sorry LP – but "Auckland" is no-longer just "CBD" (did you miss the Dame Bazley dissonance ?)
Just what is your "work" ? – if "the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field." – is at the end of all the motorways ?
The majority of Aucklanders do not live or work in the CBD – have no need to commute to the CBD – and from what I can see, significant CBD employers are contracting headcount. (Skycity excluded)
Auckland CBD is a minion in the future of AUCKLAND.
You appear to have not read the comment carefully without introducing your biases
The highest concentration in the country of programming jobs of the type I prefer (essentially ones who build software doe export) are within 5km of where I live.
All of the transport routes for Auckland isthmus converge here.
Also relevant in 1997 was that this was one of the few places in the country you could get good comms.
It was a case of live in near the transport or work offshore. I chose here in the city fringe (why would I live in the CBD? It has always sucked in there for any kind of transport).
And I anticipated that the short sighted dumbarse conservatives couldn't run Auckland properly…
From where I live I could get to Albany, and Manakau and much of the west within 20 minutes by car in 1998. All that has happened since then was that my limits have contracted because the traffic got worse. Now on average at rush hours it takes 30 minutes to get to Penrose or over the bridge. But I still have the highest choice of employers within 20 minutes. Now with bike lanes, 20 minutes gets me most of the way to the parts of west Auckland nowhere south or north (no bike lanes). But most places in the city fringe and every where in the CBD. I also get excellent comms.
Still max choices for a programmer.
Your comment is just nuts… Try reading mine for a change.
Yes – I do read and respect your ascriptions – you are rarely infallible in reason. I just wish to emphasise the trend of irrelevance of location in contemporary commerce.
Getting somewhere quickly is a virtue of diminishing value – hospitals and good curries excluded.
I used to think that as well – 20 years ago. I'm glad now that I was cautious about moving to Glenorchy and coding from there (the lack of decent comms was finally the deciding factor).
20 years ago I was programming education simulations running on US servers targeted mostly at US customers. So I started working from home and running a team of programmers remotely. Worked well. Still does – my partner is slowly building a business that does a lot of content and QA based on the same thing. She works with people scattered everywhere – quite a few in New York for some reason.
I still do those. I just got off a wee R&D project where I was working with a team that was mostly in Austin Texas, others in aussie, and a couple of us in Auckland. Daily standups via webex. That was mostly code for androids and providing sources for generic data analytics.
But these days I work mostly by writing code for specialised vertical market bespoke hardware – it is more fun. That means I need to be at or very close to mechanical, electronics, system, firmware, testing and god knows what other kind of engineers all the time when I'm on those projects.
I need to have someone who can actually measure the voltage on a line. Someone who can find and fix a crimped rs485 line. Someone who can test the actual power on a power amp. Looks that the frequencies actually being transmitted. Or solder a wire into a PCB to get around a flaw in a prototype board.
Similarly I need to be around those bods because they need to get me to look at what they're seeing. They need me to immediately fix the blocker that they just showed me. It is a VERY collaborative process.
Sure I could probably do the project managers and project engineers and other programmers remotely. But it is a hell of a lot faster when we get a few relevant people in a room together. The easiest way to do that is to have them in the same location. Similarly the suppliers of prototype gear. Sure we can do a lot from overseas with PCBs etc. But hell – we test production, assembly and QA processes here before shipping them elsewhere. We have what is essentially a prototype manufacturing plant to do it.
I write export code. Most of which is about making sure that it works, and increasingly that is causing R&D and bespoke concentrations rather than dispersal. This isn't hard to see – it is why you're seeing the bigger cities getting even bigger.
This is the 3rd of of 5 firms of this kind that I have done the last decade and a bit. It isn’t hard to find work of this export kind in Auckland. But I’ve lived in Hamilton, Dunedin, Wellington in NZ, and it wasn’t and still isn’t possible in any of those. You can find a couple of firms, but that is it. A paucity of opportunity. There are more in ChCh, but half of the people I know of there are actually working for Auckland firms (including my line boss). They move there for the housing prices and spend a lot of time in Auckland hotels.
So for many things you can do everything from anywhere. But not everything, and especially not over decades, and also the really high value things that I like to work on.
Yep – a few Albany / East Tamaki / Constellation initiatives fit your brief in AUCKLAND. RS485 hardwired issues are often mitigated in the field by ZigBee adoption – those old differential gambits have no place in delivering to a contemporary GPIO dependent environment – too much sporadic E out there.
Which R&D concentrations are specifically in Auckland ?
It would be weird to restrict your residential locale apropos the odd escalated issue – but it is fair to seek reason. I live outside the CBD fringe – but coastal, the echo of surf resonates.
I have now realised that CBD proximity is not critical – so much is Rosedale and Rosebank.
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Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
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It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
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New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
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New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
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Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
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Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
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The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
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In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Urban flooding is a major problem in the global south. In west and central Africa, more than 4 million people were affected by flooding in 2024. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Just as voting has begun in this year’s federal election, the Coalition has released its long-awaited defence policy platform. The main focus, as expected, is a boost in defence spending to 3% of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Hicks, Lecturer in Law, The University of Melbourne Roberto La Rosa/Shutterstock Snipers in helicopters have shot more than 700 koalas in the Budj Bim National Park in western Victoria in recent weeks. It’s believed to be the first time koalas ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriele Gratton, Professor of Politics and Economics and ARC Future Fellow, UNSW Sydney Pundits and political scientists like to repeat that we live in an age of political polarisation. But if you sat through the second debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University The death of Pope Francis this week marks the end of a historic papacy and the beginning of a significant transition for the Catholic Church. As the faithful around the world mourn his passing, ...
A recent survey, carried out by PPTA Te Wehengarua, of establishing and overseas trained secondary teachers found that 90% of respondents agreed that mentoring had helped their development. ...
Other Honours recipients include country singer Suzanne Prentice, most capped All Black Samuel Whitelock, and Māori language educator and academic Professor Rawinia Higgins. ...
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The conclave explained, a cinematic knowledge shortcut and very scientific musings about a possible curse. Gather round atheists, agnostics, apathetes, anyone who hasn’t seen Conclave and all who have successfully rinsed their religious education from their memories.Pope Francis, the first pope from Latin America, the first from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Knight, Associate Professor, Transdisciplinary School, University of Technology Sydney A low relief sculpture depicting Plato and Aristotle arguing adorning the external wall of Florence Cathedral.Krikkiat/Shutterstock Disagreement and uncertainty are common features of everyday life. They’re also common and expected features ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alfie Chadwick, PhD Candidate, Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Australia’s climate and energy wars are at the forefront of the federal election campaign as the major parties outline vastly different plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle soaring ...
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Isn't Hosking the one who wants all public transport canned? So everyone can enjoy the pleasure of driving themselves to work and observing all the others 'driving' to work? And parking, um, where?
I must get a bell on my bike to warn pedestrians on shared footpaths.
In London some footpaths are dual use and they work OK but dedicated bike lanes are better. Some Underground Stations have huge bike stands outside the door. So go the support for a NZ massive trend towards biking. And with a flash helmet like that even Mike could not deny seeing you as he tries to accidentally run you down.
Compulsory Ferraris I say. Lacking the 'excellence' and 'personal responsibility' to afford one? Then die in a ditch loser! Roads are for winners (like Mike).
And another great way of unclogging the roads would be if everyone worked less. Didn't some guy back in the '70's say we would all be working 10-hour weeks by now due to technology? Clearly Toffler was extraordinarily naive about the nature of capitalism – or believed that technology somehow transcended the economic system within which it was deployed.
I had to go to Ponsonby after work yesterday afternoon rather than straight home to Mt Eden, so I jumped on an InnerLink in Queens St and got caught in the almighty traffic shit-fight in Nelson/Victoria Streets. While I was sitting on the bus (like forever) watching the cyclists flying along the Nelson Street cycle way and wondering what the hell was going on it crossed my mind that of course my normal commute home i.e. train from Britomart to Kingsland station would have been completely immune to the chaos on the roads.
Hosking is the most selfish, self centred and ill-tempered "journo" in the country. I haven't read any of his contributions for years but feedback suggests he's worse than ever.
Look at his most recent tantrum over the demise of plastic bags. He doesn't give a damm about the awful consequences. All he's interested in is his own personal inconvenience. The rest of us get on with finding alternatives but no… he's too precious. He has to bellow his annoyance to all and sundry. In short, he's a narcissist.
What's the bet he complained that he should be behind the pay wall too cos he's NZ's premium current affairs expert.
Yet Hosking gets listened to muchly. What does that say about a large number of NZs who must find him agreeable in his constant bad-tempered argument. I think people who listen to him need to think for themselves, they might find they can become problem solvers instead of joining his followers who are all constipated, curmudgeonly cyclops.
TalkBack radio outlets like ZB and radio live are based on opinionators agitating and pitching memes. Their advertisers don't want the independent thinkers.
Heard a piece in a cab from the mediawanks stable that would've had them seeing the authorities if broadcast in Oz.
Wilfully inaccurate to manufacture consent with hand picked callers aligned. Immigration dogwhistling.
Hosking is an "Opinionist" rather than a Journalist. I don't know if he has any qualifications in anything other than kissing up to the NACTs.
Hosking has clearly forgotten that the undisputed champion of cycle ways was his hero-John Key.
Dedicated cycleways are OK but in Christchurch they all have curbs so people with mobility issues are effectively shut out of every area that has a cycle path. People with walkers have to use the precious energy walking out of their way to find a gap as do people in wheelchairs. To be honest the town planners have not taken into account the ageing population and the fact that in 10 years time the cycle ways should have been constructed to accommodate mobility scooters and wheelchairs as there will be more people using these than bikes.
Ye Lucy so true. Nelson has a big number of retirees but their needs are overlooked in the rush to get modern, and help non-car users. We need to make it easier to get public transport, and have a toll system that starts to lessen car use for a start. And shared pathways need to have median fences. It has taken ages and tons of crashes for authorities to finally stop blaming individuals for not driving perfectly, and usually once they are up the crashes go way down.
That the authorities are allowed to introduce fast moving mechanical devices on footpaths, in a city with many old people and where Green Prescriptions advise people to walk more for good health and a relief from stress. The ability to do so has at the same time been jeopardised by thoughtless she'll-be-right planning; just a repeat of the bone-headed approach of not bothering to ensure suitable and safe lanes appropriate for users.
Ironic that Hoskin's rant today is about centralising the health system and bemoaning that different regions set their own policy.
Not that I don't think centralisation isn't necessary but it's odd to see him and Farrar champion the practise while railing against it so hard in other areas of social policy – education, for instance.
Hosking? HOLD MY F*#%IN' BEER!
LOL. I've often wondered how I'd react to him if he turned up in the audience. Possibly walk off and refuse to entertain him. Possibly bend over for the cheque…
I think the size of the check is the determinate factor. We all dance for the organ grinder, but his is a particularly pernicious piece.
Now I'm curious Bleep. What sort of audience?
Comedy. You'd be surprised who turns up at times. I've had a hiatus but back at it now.
You're joking!
Recycling is in.
New material from old material?
Absolutely. I'm gonna recycle your beard joke on furry folk in the audience (passing cloud). Bloody good line. Impromptu, yours?
Heres one for the greenies.
Speaking of #metoo. Pandas are a pack of wife beaters. That's why they're not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet and running water, ambient music, years to figure it out. Whadda ya got? Two black eyes, no babies.
Hosking's a cock.
That having been said, where there are no cycle lanes cycling still has the issue with either being squished by heavy machinery, or squishing people who are just walking along. That's just a fact of putting thousands of people together: someone will screw up and hit someone else. The trouble with cyclists is that if one is a jerk and acts like a hazard, there's no reggo to report.
An interesting idea someone floated was to abandon "vehicle", "pedestrian" and "cycle" designations and run the same lanes as speed criteria: <10kph, 10-30kph, 30+kph. That would deal to new tech (e.g. scooters, "It") as well as keep everyone safe because speeder just flip into the next lane to avoid slower people.
Would need wider roads and pavements to get the lanes and need to put a rego on the walkers as well.. But personally I'd prefer fully separated lanes with a barrier. It is a whole lot safer for everyone.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes, especially around the university. Apparently it makes talking to each other much easier when you are doing it 5 kids wide. But most pedestrians are pretty good about using the lanes, just as I am pretty good about how I use pedestrian pavements.
The only injury I have had so far was from my own inattention. Was crossing the off-ramp on Newton road just down the hill from home one very rainy night. Was watching for cars, and missed a runner coming down the hill. Spotted him out of the side of my eye as I started to cross from a standing start, jerked, and slid the front wheel out from under me. Belted my right knee on the road.
Nearest to a serious accident that I have had was some munter on Don McKinnon drive on the old cycle/walkway. After dusk one friday night, on a blind corner, without turning his car lights on, he'd backed almost all the way across the cycleway from his parked position to try to get on to the road. I came down the hill on the bike at about 20km watching out for walkers in the cycle lane (the usual problem) and didn't have lot of time to react to a car lunging out backwards into my path. I think that the driver was rather startled as I started to scream at him. He certainly reversed direction and went out the correct way pretty damn fast.
But it is a continual issue, especially at my age. Nothing heals particularly fast any more.
I’ve seen some cyclists doing some pretty appalling things as well. Mostly going across pedestrians crossing with the lights against them. Frigging dangerous.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes…
I got a broken bone in my hand out of that one – too old to be doing emergency stops when I come round a corner and find the path completely blocked by pedestrians 5-abreast.
Scares the hell out of me. These days I slow down before corners and try to contain my temper with gaggles of young 'adults' trying to kill themselves.
In my general accumulation of safety equipment, I've ordered a programmable battery powered horn so I can give a good raspberry (or whatever else I want to plug in) as the 'horn' sound. I was thinking about programming the noise of a old diesel land rover and programming it to turn on loudly just before known blind corners..
I'll be heading out more on to the road – I wonder what volume I can get off it. See if I can penetrate the thickness between me and car drivers…
Pedestrians like that piss me off, too, but I've never thought something like "holy fuck I would have been flying if that prick had been two inches to the left, I swear his caot brushed the hairs on the back of my hand" about pedestrians.
Crikey – I thought Mr Hoskin was a Mr Fixit.
Look at the Mess he has got Auckland into! I think we are all hoping he doesn't go over the edge in St Helliers. There are enough dead fish there already.
He has been hopping in and out of gentlemens pockets for years. And knows nothing of real life. He goes under the famous Blanket of ZB. It's time they washed and rinsed that smelly Blanket out.
Nailed it, thankyou for calling out this muppet.
His article on marijuana legalization is almost as narrow minded and short sighted as this self centered opinion on cycleways.
Just out of interest
You do realise a lot of people don't live a 10 minute bike ride from their work and have to live fricken miles away to afford a place and there are no trains or buses?
Who's faults that?
Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field.
I was right on.
The only thing that was irritating was the leaky building crap and the changes to the legislation requiring cavity wall when repairs were made to a monolithic wall. I also made sure that where I brought was properly inspected by the council – so the C&R arseholes would up paying for the repairs despite their stupid inspector privatisation.
I'd have also preferred to have a bit more area. But I couldn't find an apartment at the time with a larger floor area and a high ceiling.
But when the traffic got to be a pain, I shifted to public transport for a while. Then I stopped taking jobs that were more than a 10 minute commute. I could do it because of forethought.
Conservatives suck at forward thinking… Hosking is just a prime example.
What were the estimates for the usage of cycling lanes prior to them being built?
And what is the usage now? You appear to know the numbers. Why not provide the people who don't remember ever having seen them? Not everyone reads the Herald you know, and I presume they were published there. Then we could have someone who follows the approach recommended in this post.
"Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links)."
Will dig them out when I have time – maybe after I fix search.
However they were written up at Greater Auckland blog when Hosking went inane. Look there I’d you want them sooner. They specialise in that type of data.
I don’t think that I have ever seen them the herald. They aren’t very good on detail (or links) and perhaps you should request Hosking should do that… After all he is paid for it I am not.
Updated: a two minute search
directly on the topic
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/11/13/the-heralds-latest-cycling-smear/
locations for data.
https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/resources/cycling-facts-figures/
this one is just amusing
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12159988
and so is this
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/15-11-2018/if-you-think-cycleways-are-financially-disastrous-wait-till-you-hear-about-roads/
LP – why are you so CBD centric ?
"Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field."
Sorry LP – but "Auckland" is no-longer just "CBD" (did you miss the Dame Bazley dissonance ?)
Just what is your "work" ? – if "the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field." – is at the end of all the motorways ?
The majority of Aucklanders do not live or work in the CBD – have no need to commute to the CBD – and from what I can see, significant CBD employers are contracting headcount. (Skycity excluded)
Auckland CBD is a minion in the future of AUCKLAND.
You appear to have not read the comment carefully without introducing your biases
The highest concentration in the country of programming jobs of the type I prefer (essentially ones who build software doe export) are within 5km of where I live.
All of the transport routes for Auckland isthmus converge here.
Also relevant in 1997 was that this was one of the few places in the country you could get good comms.
It was a case of live in near the transport or work offshore. I chose here in the city fringe (why would I live in the CBD? It has always sucked in there for any kind of transport).
And I anticipated that the short sighted dumbarse conservatives couldn't run Auckland properly…
From where I live I could get to Albany, and Manakau and much of the west within 20 minutes by car in 1998. All that has happened since then was that my limits have contracted because the traffic got worse. Now on average at rush hours it takes 30 minutes to get to Penrose or over the bridge. But I still have the highest choice of employers within 20 minutes. Now with bike lanes, 20 minutes gets me most of the way to the parts of west Auckland nowhere south or north (no bike lanes). But most places in the city fringe and every where in the CBD. I also get excellent comms.
Still max choices for a programmer.
Your comment is just nuts… Try reading mine for a change.
Lynn
Yes – I do read and respect your ascriptions – you are rarely infallible in reason. I just wish to emphasise the trend of irrelevance of location in contemporary commerce.
Getting somewhere quickly is a virtue of diminishing value – hospitals and good curries excluded.
I used to think that as well – 20 years ago. I'm glad now that I was cautious about moving to Glenorchy and coding from there (the lack of decent comms was finally the deciding factor).
20 years ago I was programming education simulations running on US servers targeted mostly at US customers. So I started working from home and running a team of programmers remotely. Worked well. Still does – my partner is slowly building a business that does a lot of content and QA based on the same thing. She works with people scattered everywhere – quite a few in New York for some reason.
I still do those. I just got off a wee R&D project where I was working with a team that was mostly in Austin Texas, others in aussie, and a couple of us in Auckland. Daily standups via webex. That was mostly code for androids and providing sources for generic data analytics.
But these days I work mostly by writing code for specialised vertical market bespoke hardware – it is more fun. That means I need to be at or very close to mechanical, electronics, system, firmware, testing and god knows what other kind of engineers all the time when I'm on those projects.
I need to have someone who can actually measure the voltage on a line. Someone who can find and fix a crimped rs485 line. Someone who can test the actual power on a power amp. Looks that the frequencies actually being transmitted. Or solder a wire into a PCB to get around a flaw in a prototype board.
Similarly I need to be around those bods because they need to get me to look at what they're seeing. They need me to immediately fix the blocker that they just showed me. It is a VERY collaborative process.
Sure I could probably do the project managers and project engineers and other programmers remotely. But it is a hell of a lot faster when we get a few relevant people in a room together. The easiest way to do that is to have them in the same location. Similarly the suppliers of prototype gear. Sure we can do a lot from overseas with PCBs etc. But hell – we test production, assembly and QA processes here before shipping them elsewhere. We have what is essentially a prototype manufacturing plant to do it.
I write export code. Most of which is about making sure that it works, and increasingly that is causing R&D and bespoke concentrations rather than dispersal. This isn't hard to see – it is why you're seeing the bigger cities getting even bigger.
This is the 3rd of of 5 firms of this kind that I have done the last decade and a bit. It isn’t hard to find work of this export kind in Auckland. But I’ve lived in Hamilton, Dunedin, Wellington in NZ, and it wasn’t and still isn’t possible in any of those. You can find a couple of firms, but that is it. A paucity of opportunity. There are more in ChCh, but half of the people I know of there are actually working for Auckland firms (including my line boss). They move there for the housing prices and spend a lot of time in Auckland hotels.
So for many things you can do everything from anywhere. But not everything, and especially not over decades, and also the really high value things that I like to work on.
Yep – a few Albany / East Tamaki / Constellation initiatives fit your brief in AUCKLAND. RS485 hardwired issues are often mitigated in the field by ZigBee adoption – those old differential gambits have no place in delivering to a contemporary GPIO dependent environment – too much sporadic E out there.
Which R&D concentrations are specifically in Auckland ?
It would be weird to restrict your residential locale apropos the odd escalated issue – but it is fair to seek reason. I live outside the CBD fringe – but coastal, the echo of surf resonates.
I have now realised that CBD proximity is not critical – so much is Rosedale and Rosebank.
What language is that? What bubble are you from?