Nick Mills: Golden Mile works must be paused until Wellington votes

OPINION The Golden Mile. Three words that terrify business owners on Lambton Quay, Willis Street and Courtenay Place. You know the plan. Removing cars from those three streets, pedestrianising the roads and installing bus lanes only. Parking will be gone too. It started off with Let's Get Wellington Moving. Then that was scrapped. But Wellington mayor Tory Whanau promised to make sure it still went ahead. She secured the money from the coalition government and made it something of a legacy project. But recently the council had gone silent on the plan. We learnt no contracts had been signed and there were certainly no shovels in the ground. But ysterday the media were called into Wellington City Council offices for a top-secret meeting to reveal the latest plans. And it turns out there’s not much to report. First of all, contracts for the whole project still haven’t been signed. The only contract signed is for the corner intersection of Courtney Place, Kent Terrace and Cambridge Terrace. Spades in the ground by April we're told, and it’ll take 8 months to complete... for one intersection. Move over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Wellington has Tory's corner. But that's it. No other contracts. No idea when work on the rest of the Golden Mile will start. For what is the Mayor's legacy project and something very important to her, she’s moving extremely slowly on getting it done. Not that it worries her. "I think this is the happiest I've felt since the election," she told Newstalk ZB yesterday. Then there’s the cost. The entire project is forecast to cost $116 million - but the council would not say yesterday the breakdown for the Courtenay Place section, citing commercial sensitivity. Then you’ve got support for businesses, or lack thereof. There will be none. Then there’s the Mayor's comments about leases. She met with her mayoral business group this week to discuss the possibility of renting out empty spaces month by month to allow for pop up stores. The council owns none of those properties, so how do they decide what goes on with them? What landlord wants a lease for month-by-month? But being very serious here, I've always felt the improvement of Courtenay Place is imperative for our city to move forward. But the timing couldn't possibly be worse. We've got a multimillion-dollar development at Reading Cinema about to take place, we have businesses struggling from three or four years of the toughest economic climate most can remember. And we're going to destroy Courtenay Place before we rebuild it. You just have to look at Thorndon Quay to know how damaging this will be. There’s only one solution to all of this in my eyes. Stop and wait. Wellingtonians need to have their say. We have to hold on til the next election before we do anything. Whether Tory wins the mayoralty again can be a referendum on the Golden Mile. If Wellington wants it, she’ll be back in. If not, scrap the whole damn thing.  And if you get back in Tory - fill your boots, build your field of dreams. Your golden mile. But that's if you wins the election - and only if. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.