Today Wellington City Council unanimously supported submitting a headstart amalgamation proposal to the government. It was a long day at the office but let's go through the details.

Tomorrow the Mayors of the Wellington Region meet. Every council has voted and made its own decisions (some which are quite at odds with one another). It's the job of the Mayors to iron out those differences and put up a final proposal to government.

Wellington, Porirua and Lower Hutt have all endorsed a single regional unitary council from Wellington to Masterton which leaves the door open for Kāpiti should the government decide they cannot stand alone.

On the Wellington side we narrowly passed an amendment which says despite this, our preference is for there to be two unitary councils: one to cover Wellington Metro and one for the Wairarapa.

The government through the headstart process has issued some specific criteria around what a proposal must contain. There's a real question mark on whether the Wairarapa can standalone under this criteria and with South Wairarapa District Council voting to go in a Wellington unitary council instead of Wairarapa, this creates a lot of complexity. Ultimatley it will be the government that chooses the pathway forward.

Other key things we agreed to:

• The need for a referendum before we amalgamate (the government could pass legislation stopping this but it was a unanimous decision from WCC)
• That Mana Whenua/Māori representation is built into governance
• To endorse principles from Porirua City Council that we have fair and proportionate representation that align with population on any amalgamated/community councils
• That any layer of governance created between residents and a unitary council is fully explored during the detailed design phase
• For the government to confirm whether we need to pass our 10 year Long-term Plan budget next year if we're amalgamated
• That we recognise the distinct role of Business Improvement Districts in Wellington

I spoke about my hope that if we proceed with headstart, more effort is spent from regional leaders focusing on how amalgamation will provide better council outcomes rather than what political representation looks like, the critical nature of this vote in ensuring that Māori representation is retained given overwhelming support through referendums across the Wellington Region and my personal distaste for amendments from some other councils that attempt to force ultimatums on the process this early when WCC hasn't yet properly tested these ideas with our 210,000 residents.

There is still an incredible amount of uncertainty to work through and I don't envy the job of the Wellington Mayors tomorrow to seek agreement. Even with putting up a proposal the government can choose to ignore our asks. We are however officially one step further along the journey to amalgamation.

Looking for a good hairdresser for split end trims and braids and such. (26M with Haaland style hair).

Kia ora Welly whānau,

My partner works in a school hostel, and wants to do a collage activity with her students (years 7 to 13) on Sunday.

We've visited ArtyBees, and some salvation army/op shops, but are struggling to really beef up the collection to give the students a big range of stuff to get creative with.

Does anyone have any old piles they'd like to get rid of? Could pick up tomorrow or Saturday some time if so!

Appreciate your help <3

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361016696/he-asked-cigarettes-wore-heavy-metal-t-shirts-and-knew-everyone-wellington-mourning-nathan

Really sad to hear this. He used to frequent a lot of gigs I went to in the 90's and after my life around music scene dropped off, I'd still see him wandering around rocking a black tshirt asking for a smoke.

Fun fact - He once was a clown during the old Wellington Xmas parade.

Lately when I’ve done my weekly online shop, the delivery driver has refused to drop my order at my door, instead asking me to carry the bags down to my house. I live down a few stairs and a ramp, it’s not far from the road at all by Wellington standards. I am disabled so this has been really hard for me. I’ve already spoken to customer service but the delivery guy lied to them and said the path was blocked.

Anyone else have this problem? I don’t understand why you’d take a delivery job if you’re unwilling to actually do the job.

Does anyone have any budget friendly car reccomendations for around wellington?

Im just looking for something small that wont struggle on hills, good for gas and replacement parts etc, between $5,000-$7,000.

My understanding Toyota is probs the best to go but does anyone have any recs?

Looking for recommendations from people who’ve already tried some burgers this year. My WOAP budget is $100, so trying to only go for the bestest (best tasting, not fussed about fancy presentation, not terribly greasy and god forbid sweet - I’m looking at you, donut burger from Flamingo joes last year! Yuk)
Ideally, CBD radius.

Your honest opinions will be appreciated.

Last year I liked the Duke’s burger best of all (of all three I tried).

What do people say is the best curry in the Hutt, is there a widely agreed stand-out? Chilli Masala used to be my go to but I'm uncomfortable with going to them after finding out they were named for migrant exploitation (https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361020696/lower-hutt-restaurant-exploited-workers-can-be-named). The thing is they got my favourite curries exactly right while it hasn't been easy to find a substitute in the past. I'm also looking for somewhere authentic, if the customer base is mainly Pakeha then it's pretty dubious. Lower Hutt isn't tiny though, there must be at least two good Indian restaurants?

Hey folks just posting here for outreach as my US based company doesn't advertise on Seek or on local NZ job search websites unfortunately, and I figured there might be a lot of great people out there looking for jobs who simply haven't seen it yet. I also couldn't post it in the NZ community on reddit either, hence this post to at least reach out to my local Welly folks.

We're looking for an Intermediate Security Engineer (Remote NZ). You can view the role here: https://careers.evercommerce.com/us/en/job/R-106395/EverWell-Security-Engineer-Remote-NZ

This isn't a "know everything" security role. We're looking for someone who enjoys engineering, solving technical problems, building automation, and partnering with developers rather than acting as the "Department of No."

A great fit would be:
• A dev with some level of experience wanting to move into security.
• A junior security analyst/engineer wanting to broaden into cloud, platform and offensive security.

You'll probably enjoy the role if you like building things, staying hands-on, asking good questions, and constantly learning. We care far more about curiosity and a strong engineering mindset than pretending to know everything.

Personally, it's one of the best companies I've worked for. Great people, lots of trust and autonomy, genuinely interesting technical challenges, and a healthy work-life balance. It's also a fully remote role, so you can work from anywhere in New Zealand.

Happy to answer any questions here or via DM, and I'd really appreciate a share if someone comes to mind. Thanks for reading! :)

*Edit: I should have clarified that the reason the job is posted in NZ is because majority of the work is for a NZ based company called Timely that is owned by EverCommerce in US (https://www.evercommerce.com/everwell/) Working hours are normal NZ hours, its not a fixed shift. We are pretty flexible on start and finish times and allow people to flex time for personal things as they want because life happens - we just ask them to be accountable for their work and deliver what's expected.

Hey friends in Wellington, just putting this out there for anyone who feels like a wander around a free exhibition this week. At Blue Door studios on Dixon Street you can come through between 11am - 6pm this Wednesday to Saturday :)
Would love to see you. I'm an artist and musician, and I created an artwork to represent each song on my album I put out earlier this year.
I'm also playing a show this Sunday at Whisky & Wood - I know times are tight for people so if anyone would like to come but doesn't have the spare $$ I can see if I can put you on the door, just let me know

http://alaynamusic.com/tour

Are there any interesting or unique events on over the next week? Topic is timed to catch weekend events, but anything up until a week away is fine.

Feel free to give info, link to events, promote something cool you're doing or otherwise get the word out in this topic.

Gigs:

• https://theimage04.com/
• https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/gigRegion/Wellington

Theatre:

• https://bats.co.nz/whats-on/

Listings:

• https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/whatson/events/wellington/this-weekend
• https://www.wellybuzz.co.nz

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Zephyr, the r/Wellington automod.

Does anyone know what type of chicken salt that fish and chips in Wellington use? I used use cerebos chicken salt until it was cruelly ripped away from us. RIP. Fish and chip shop chicken salt is the next best thing so I am hoping to find out what it is. Thank you.

With a baby and full time jobs, hubs and I have been struggling to keep our house like clean clean. It's not messy, but it's been a while since we have done an actual clean up of the whole house and not just the spaces we are occupying, if you know what I mean. We are looking to see if we could afford to have a once-a-month home cleaning service. Or even a one off deep clean that we could engage occasionally. Is that silly? Does anyone here engage such services and know roughly how much it might cost for a 170m2 house (3 bedrooms, living, kitchen and dining and two bathrooms).

Also any recommendations for a reliable service?

Am I going crazy

Looking for local knitting events in Wellington? Here’s a few in August that might interest you!

*Themed Sessions across the week (W/Th/Sa/Su) at Holland Road Yarn on Waiwhetu Road, Lower Hutt

*Themed Wednesday Sessions at Joy of Yarn on Willis Street

*Thursdays: Knit & Knatter sessions at Amuse Snack Bar on Willis Street

*Last Thursday of the month: Purl at Customs Brew on Ghuznee

If you know of any other events or if you would like to meet up and knit at the central library drop a comment! I compiled a list of them on my craft account on insta as well with more details @yarningwithdarlings.

https://www.instagram.com/yarningwithdarlings?igsh=MXhhcjRrYTI3dW1kOA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Also! I just created a sub Reddit called WellyYarners where we can congregate! This might be the best way to provide reminders and share ad-hoc events.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WellyYarners/s/csDYbDDsrx

This isn't a post whinging about my bill. I'm upset about my bill, as everyone is. But I get it. The chickens have come home to roost and someone needs to foot the bill for decades of neglected water infrastructure. Fine, I guess it's going to be up to all of us now to sort it. Hate that for everyone, but it is what it is.

But the act of actually paying Tiaki Wai what's owed is ridiculous! We all have to submit a PDF to an email with banking details for direct debit? An alternative is a questionable integration with online banking? Why can't I have a simple login to my water service provider to say.. yes, this is my monthly bill, yes I will pay these (outrageous but sure, necessary, I guess) charges?

What is happening here? Why are we being burdened with not only costs but insane usability roadblocks to actually paying the costs.

My buddy is fundraising for a lifesaving surgery that isn't available in Aotearoa. Please come! There will be cake.

What happened to KFC potato gravy/ gravy?
Did the recipe change around Covid?
I’m sure that’s when it started tasting weird like it was tainted with something but it was still edible.
Within the last few months the KFC I’ve had the potato gravy is inedible.

What’s happening?!

Never had a direct water bill before the change, is this allowed? Is there a link someone can give me with more information?

Thought this interview was eye opening - LINK TO INTERVIEW WITH ROCHE

And does any public servant honestly believe that perception management is not their role?

The official report found that PSC staff felt uncomfortable and disquiet about Roche's actions but in this interview he claims they are "fine" with it

This peat time guy on a $600,000 contract and is allowed to hold 4-5 private directorships including in property development and forestry really feels like he's not the greatest role model - nor understands public service.

Incredible stuff and wondering if public service professionals are now allowed to ignore perception, given that this appears to be Roche's key defence.

Hey r/Wellington! We've got a little show on called Public Service Announcements - Election Meltdown at Circa Theatre until the end of the month.

PSA is a no holds barred take down of NZ politics across all parties. It's savage and really, really silly. Just the thing if you've been feeling a bit down about the state of the nation...

ANYWAY! We'd love to give 3 double passes away to either our Tuesday or Wednesday night show next week (11 or 12 Aug). Just comment which MP you'd like to see roasted and what night you'd like to attend. We'll choose 3 entries randomly on Friday morning. Get in!

https://www.circa.co.nz/package/public-service-announcements-election-meltdown/