Kent Lundberg

Gas prices up by around 50% today.

A painful reminder that relying on imported fossil fuels is a risky strategy.

This didn’t age well.

An increase in townhouse development in these suburbs has contributed to the price drops, but the analysis also shows a downward trend in the value of homes built before Covid.

This one weird trick. Allowing townhouses in central areas has crushed house price growth in Auckland. www.oneroof.co.nz/news/the-20-...

How to get people excited about transit "It will literally be your best selling t-shirt, it will get you so much PR, and if anyone interprets this inappropriately that's a them problem"

I wrote about the one actually great thing that happened this week

I think those were imagined as letting George Court residents out that way. I doubt that is the plan anymore

Light rail revival? Scrapped Auckland corridor 'a problem worth solving' The Transport Minister says the public transport corridor from the city centre to the airport, previously intended to be a light rail line, needs to be worked on.

Legend @connorsharp.bsky.social keeping the OG light rail project alive. www.1news.co.nz/2026/02/28/l...

Dawn blessing / opening of the new traffic filtered streets around the new train station. ✨✨

Is Mount Victoria tunnel 'all go', or still under consideration? The Transport Minister says holding off on a second Mount Victoria tunnel is something under consideration, but the Finance Minister insists the project is "all go".

How does Willis commit to the Wellington tunnels AND balance the books? Seems to be painting herself into a corner. 🍿 www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Important. Chunk up the projects in stages matching the political terms (and budgets).

Auckland “light rail” missed this wildly.

Govt:
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell says the country is in a "perpetual cycle of response and recovery", with 25 local states of emergency declared in the past two years.

Also Govt:
Here’s a list of unfundable fantasy roading projects that we will waste 3 years on

I don’t know how many people join Bluesky each day, but my sense is that more & more people are discovering the outstanding community/conversation here (best on social media) about better cities. I still think STARTER PACKS are a superpower. I’ve made many, but here’s my first again. Please share.

Why not spend $2.7b on solar & batteries instead? Govt to pay up to $180m/year or $2.7b over 15 years to lease LNG re-gasification plant, paid for by $15-$30 'levy' per household per year. That $2.7b would build four Benmore Dams worth of electricity

FYI I’ve opened this up for full public reading, listening & sharing after requests from paying subscribers. Their support allows me to do this kind of public interest journalism on Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate & poverty in public. #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/why-not-sp...

Please do!

It’s private. And expensive since the shareholders get the profits but companies don’t invest in supply.

Sounds like our rigged system.

We have that option too. We need more investment (incentives) in solar/battery tho.

EECA flexible electricity report Moving more electricity use off-peak could save the country up to $3 billion and transform the energy system in the process, according to new research from EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Aut...

Moving more electricity use off-peak could save the country up to $3 billion and transform the energy system in the process.

The study found New Zealand could, through fully exploiting modern technologies, lower electricity use at the busiest times by up to 25%.

www.eeca.govt.nz/about/news-a...

UPDATE: The Democrat won the latest batch of roughly 6,000 votes, continuing to dominate in the count.

The Election Day vote is bluer than the early vote day so far.

With 55K votes in, Rehmet is up 57% to 43%.

This is a 30% swing since 2024 for now.

NZ

Grey Lynn use a bus challenge.

This piece on road pricing is not super helpful. Yes, PT needs to improve but most of the drivers heading to the city centre clogging up the network are from close-in where PT is very good. www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2026...

Insurer temporarily halts new policies in Westport due to flood risk The decision will be the first of many as the full force of climate change arrives, a researcher says.

Yikes. The insurance industry doesn’t care about your views on climate change. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

The 309 and 311 buses are pretty poor units. Hope the swap improves things.

Haha

This: “I propose we promote a simple rule for these uncertain times: Those who saw the danger coming should be listened to, those who dismissed us should be dismissed.”

Yeah, I know. I’m just saying that I can see a scenario where police are used to suppress voting, not stop it. Voting is already compromised

Just saying that I’m not just watching TV and what not, I’m an American and I know what’s happening in California for example. Weird comment

I was in LA a couple months ago and there were a lot of people not going out.

Yeah I live in NZ.

People are already afraid to leave the house. And it would only require a police SUV with tinted windows circling around voting locations.