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Hello fellow Welingtonians We are Wellington College Environment Prefects, and would like to bring to your attention the
following. On November 22nd Wellington city council will vote to
lease a third of our civic square to a developer for 150 years. The developer will have the right to construct a 40m
(ten story) building. The developer will have the right to build between
our newly earthquake strengthened four story library and our three story new town hall. Construction is starting early 2025. The developer will also lease the city libraries
underground parking, which is under the square. The city council will have
the right to rent “some” spaces back for the library. Our civic square is known as Te
Ngākau, or the heart. It is the heart of our city, and the land
surrounding it is the property of the city. This land, owned by our government, belongs to all
of us. It would be a disgrace to sell off part of our city's heart and
corrupt it for the sake of short term monetary
gain. The city is leasing away our
land and not giving us a say in how it should be used. The city council will give the developer permission
to build either a hotel, office, or apartment building. We believe that any name that appears above such a
building will force our civic square to become an “insert logo here” plaza. On November 22nd the city council will vote
on three options, please see the options.
Every option includes the leasing of the site in our
civic square to the developer in order to build a ten story building. We believe that this is similar to
stating, “ You have three options of ice cream but all of them are
chocolate ” We are asking for a different flavor: a city park. When the idea of creating more green space was
proposed, the city council pointed out that the ten story
building would have a garden on its roof (please see the options above),
implying that a roof garden was an adequate substitute for ground level green
space. We think that this is
preposterous. The city council also stated that they needed the ten story building for the new town hall, because
unfortunately the upgrade did not include the adequate bathrooms required
under the new code for the auditorium to be used. The civic square does not need a ten
story building for the town hall to have more bathrooms. They could easily build a connection to the Michael
Fowler Centre, and its restrooms could be shared with the town halls
auditorium. Since they are knocking down the sea bridge, (which
is directly behind town hall), they could even construct bathrooms there to
facilitate the Town Hall, also accessible for users of the civic square and
the lagoon. We believe it’s silly to say that we need a ten story building to provide bathrooms for town hall,
which was suggested by wellington city council. We have included a list of all the WCC Council
Members and Mayor in links below. https://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/about-the-council/mayor-and-councillors/councillors We ask you to click on a link for your district’s
city WCC Council Members, and ask the Council
Members to pause the vote on November 22nd 2024, or any vote. By pausing the vote, we will stop the
developer from being able to construct the new building in early 2025. We also asks that the WCC
Council Members put this to a vote at the next public election, asking all
Wellingtonians: would they rather have grass and native flora between the
library and town hall, instead of a ten story building? The civic square belongs to all Wellingtonians, and
we feel it shouldn’t be sold to a developer for 150 years, or any amount of
time. We understand the prospect of
getting 35 million for the lease is irresistible in a time when Wellington is
in the red. This decision feels as if
it’s done in the back room, Wellingtonians do not do this to each other, we
deserve transparency when it comes to our Te Ngākau.
As
our city grows, we need a bigger square for people to gather. Our
civic square should be a place for Wellingtonians to gather for graduations, protests,
picnics, live music, and to read a book in the sun. That's what a capital city’s central park
should look like.
Speaking
on behalf of the youth of Wellington, this is an opportunity to make a great
Civic Centre with open space, grass and trees.
Lets get rid of the big carpet of astroturf and get the
real thing. Te Ngākau is already too
small for the needs of our capital city, it needs to be larger, not
smaller. Just picture the civic square surrounded by
beautiful 1920’s architecture, like the City Gallery, the restored Town Hall,
and the Dominion Building, along with the Lido Building and our upgraded city
library. We have a chance to build an architectural square held together with
a green park, and call it our Civic Centre. We believe that a ten
story glass box will overshadow these beautiful buildings by towering
over them. Has the Wellington City Council done an evaluation
of the environmental impact of having a 10-story building in that
location? How will it affect the wind
forces in the square during a north-westerly (the predominant direction of
the winds)? How will this building impact the sunlight for the area throughout the
day? If such a report has been done
and is available, is it accessible for viewing by the public? We hope you agree that the future of our civic
square should be voted on by all Wellingtonians. Do we want a new building, or do we want a
new park, as the new heart of our city? We must stop this developer who will start
construction in early 2025. Please get involved. We ask for help from all Wellingtonians, Environment
prefects from other schools, and especially The Wellington College Old Boys
Association. We need help in forming a petition to ask for a
referendum to have a park in the Civic Square, in the next election. We are not sure how to do this, or if this
is possible. What is the procedure so
that the decision of our Civic Square is given to the citizens to decide if
they want a 10-story building, or more open public space? We need help finding an architect, who could help us
put our visions of grass, trees, native birds, places to sit etc on paper. For example, an area in the square that is similar to the terraces that are going into the
lagoon. Perhaps one of the terraces
large enough for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) to play in the
square during the fireworks or other musical acts during the summer. We need help to find a printer to make signs that we
could put in storefronts or front yards, that ask for the heart of our city
to be green with nature and people, not a 10 story
buildings. Our email is: help.us@saveourcivicsquare.org Together, we believe, we can do this. Thank you for looking at our website. Ansh Arya Wellington College Environment Prefects a.arya@saveourcivicsquare.org Y Bjors Wellington College Environment Prefects y.bjors@saveourcivicsquare.org © 2024 Wellington College Environment
Prefects. All Rights Reserved |
