Assessment of "bypass" alternative welcome

From: Stephanie Cook, Alliance Party Local Government spokesperson and Wellington City Counciller

Wellington City Counciller Stephanie Cook is delighted that Transfund is insisting on an adequate assessment of alternatives to the proposed "inner-city bypass".

The so-called bypass, which is strongly opposed by local residents, would carve through unique heritage areas and a vibrant local community at the cost of $30 million. In contrast, the expected benefits are negligible.

The November report from Transit's Independent Advisory Panel to Review Major Projects admits that travel time savings will be "not large", and that the project "cannot stand in isolation". However, the essential "related" initiatives that they describe, such as better resourcing of public transport, do not require the bypass!

The alternative option, optimising the existing road network, would be far less destructive and much cheaper. The savings could instead provide invaluable additional funding to more worthwhile endeavors to improve transportation in the capital, as listed by the Advisory Panel. A serious investigation of this option is long overdue.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>