GUYS. GUYS. I NEVER THOUGHT I'D HAVE TO MAKE THIS VIDEO ABOUT TAWA'S EV CHARGERS
Wellington City Council installs four fast chargers in a gravel lay-by no vehicle has ever visited. Barry Hoskins issues a full statement to his community.
Guys. Guys. I never thought I'd have to make this video. deep breath. Four EV chargers have been installed on a gravel patch off Main Road in Tawa. No car has ever parked there. Not once. Not even in 1974, when you could park anywhere without a bloke in hi-vis writing you up.
And look, before I get into it — to my community, I am so sorry. I know a lot of you came to me for answers about the chargers. I've been doing the work. I've been sitting with it. I drove past on Tuesday and sat with it in the Corolla for about forty minutes.
The chargers, installed by Wellington City Council at a cost described as "commercially sensitive but honestly not that bad", face a stand of gorse and a drainage ditch. Local resident Coralie Whitmarsh, who has lived on Main Road since the pier at Petone still had the good tearooms, said she watched the contractors arrive in three utes and leave in a fourth. "They didn't even look at the ground. One of them asked me where the nearest pie was. I told him Tawa. He seemed surprised he was in it."
A council spokesperson confirmed the chargers were part of a "forward-facing network resilience initiative" and that the site was selected using "data". Pressed on which data, the spokesperson said the consultant had left the firm and taken the spreadsheet with him. Asked whether any car could physically reach the chargers, given the kerb, the ditch, and the gorse, the spokesperson said access was "a phase two consideration".
And this is the part where I have to be honest with you. pause. I'm growing as a person. I used to get angry about this stuff. Used to write letters, back when you could post one for thirty cents. Now I try to hold space for the council. I try to understand that the muppets who signed this off are also on a journey. It's not my place to call them a pack of wankers. That's not the Barry I want to be anymore.
The chargers were switched on at 4pm Wednesday. As of Friday, usage stood at zero kilowatt-hours. A possum was reportedly seen investigating cable four. Links below for my new course on accountability.
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Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
What a joke!
WorriedInWainui
@Trev_Hornby Mate, it’s not just a joke—it’s a bloody piss-take. Who's running the show? Possums?
BettyTheBeekeeper
The bloody council's at it again. Spending rates on nonsense projects and making decisions based on a spreadsheet that nobody can find. This lot wouldn't know a Tawa from a Toa, mate. I've seen better planning in primary school projects.
EcoAdvocate33
@BettyTheBeekeeper Oh come off it, Betty. You always find something to whinge about. It's a forward-thinking initiative for a reason!
Garry_from_Grenada
Didn't they teach the council about kerbs and cars in Driving 101?
GrumpyOldGlen
Back in my day, we had proper post boxes and parking was free. Now all we get are chargers we can't even use, hidden behind gorse! It's all rooted.
MarjorieMiller
I reckon they just stuck a pin on a map. Who even goes to that gravel patch? The road is a maze of blunders!
ConcernedKiwi
Honestly, they might as well power a picnic spot for the gorse. Ignition isn’t the climate priority we'd hoped for.
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