With the big District Plan vote a little over two weeks away, here's an update of what's been happening.
First of all, a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to this campaign. We cannot thank you enough and every donation - big or small - has helped our impact. Keep being awesome.
What's been happening? Our goal has been to raise public awareness of the District Plan and our asks. I'd say we've already thoroughly achieved that. Check out our regular updates on our website, which has had 5000 views in the last 30 days.
So far the District Plan and the baffling conclusions of the Independent Hearing Panel (IHP) have had significant coverage in The Post, Spinoff, NZHerald, BusinessDesk, ZB, the Kākā and RNZ. Our campaign launch got profiled in the The Post, and our amazing spokespeople Elena, Theo, Jesse and Luke have been tirelessly giving comment to media left, right and centre. It's been op-ed galore with Eleanor in the Post and the Spinoff, Elena in the Spinoff. Myself and Luke spoke at Urban Nerds at Waitoa Bar on Victoria Street on 13 February, which was packed with people keen to hear about the campaign. Check out the write up here. Eleanor and I spoke on the NZ Initiative's podcast with Eric Crampton about the IHP's recommendations. You might have also seen our billstickers across Wellington City encouraging people to tell their city councillors to say yes to more housing at the big vote. What's coming up? Momentum is high and we want to keep it up in early March.
Public meeting to protect Wellington's future
We’re convening an urgent public meeting in response to the Independent Hearing Panel’s recommendations for Wellington’s District Plan. 6 March, 6.30pm-8.30pm, at the Sustainability Trust on Forresters Lane. This is a free event, but please RSVP via Eventbrite as the venue has limited capacity.
Walk home with us!
The IHP says we don’t need to zone for more housing in Newtown because Wellington is an “amphitheatre” and that it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home... Let’s prove them wrong. We’re walking to Newtown on Monday March 11th to call for more homes, affordable rentals, and a truly liveable city - join us! Facebook event here. We’ll leave Civic Square at 5:30pm, ending with drinks and socialising in Newtown.
What are we spending donations on?
You can see our budget on our page. So far we've spend your generous donations on billstickers, and hosting our website. The rest will go to social media outreach, event hire and printing posters and stickers.
