Nick Mills: Can the Golden Mile review now

EDITORIAL: Let’s be honest now — when is enough actually enough in this city?  How long have Wellingtonians been listening to the words “Let’s Get Wellington Moving”?   Seven years? Eight years? Longer? The project was officially launched back in 2017.   Nearly a decade ago. Nearly a decade of workshops, consultations, artist impressions, reviews, counter-reviews, delays, blowouts, political infighting and endless promise for us.  And what do we actually have to show for it?  Seriously — what do we have to show for it?  Because I walk through the start of the so-called Golden Mile redevelopment near the Embassy Theatre almost every day, and if you told a visitor from out of town that millions of dollars had already been spent there, they would laugh at you.   They’d say, “Where? How? A few plants? Some shifted paving? A slightly rearranged pedestrian area? A cycleway?”  That’s the transformational city-shaping project we’ve been arguing about for the best part of a decade?  Meanwhile the city struggles.  Retailers are struggling. Businesses are struggling. People are worried about rates. Roading’s a mess. Water infrastructure is collapsing.  Construction costs have exploded.  The council can barely afford what it already has on its plate.  And now we’re spending another FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS on another review.  Another review.  Not fixing anything. Not building anything. Not deciding anything. Just another group of people sitting around discussing whether previous groups of people were right or wrong.  I’m with Andrew Little on this one.   At some point politicians have to actually make political decisions. If you were elected to lead, then damn well lead.   Stop outsourcing every difficult decision to panels, consultants, independent reviews and strategic assessments.  The original Golden Mile budget was in 2020 was $78 million. Then it became $160 million. Now it’s sitting around $220 million. And even Andrew Little is saying the council simply cannot afford another $60 million blowout.  Hello! You wouldn’t need a degree to work that one out.  So here’s the simple question: If we can’t afford it, why are we pretending we can?  Because what’s happened in Wellington is death by consultation.  Death by process. Death by indecision. We have become a city addicted to talking about things instead of actually doing them.  And here’s the worst part — this uncertainty has hung over central Wellington businesses for years. Years.   People trying to invest, lease buildings, open restaurants, run cafés, survive construction disruptions, they want to employ staff — all while the city keeps changing the plan every six months.  Enough.  Either do the project properly, fully funded, with certainty and timelines — or pull the plug and let us move on with our lives.  And now. Not in 6 months' time – now.  But this endless middle ground of reviews, pauses, re-scopes and consultant reports is draining the life, confidence and energy out of Wellington. Forget it  Nearly a decade in, Wellingtonians deserve an answer and now.  Not another workshop, not another panel.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.