One point (and the only one I have seen in my few brief visits) of difference in St Lukes would be massage. It has brought the world of chinese massage out in the open, where one isn't afraid to explore.

the massage areas have arrived…

They are now thinking about taking the bus lanes out of Sydenham, in Chch, as they are killing what few businesses that the earthquake didn't ruin – gee, just like everyone said, when they first put them in....

Strangely more apposite after the fact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6f5rfuVzrI

From Answers.com
Which is the smallest mall in the world?
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The smallest mall in the world would be in Tokyo, China.

Right next to Kino-Kun-Nan Bookshop.

But it's veeery difficult to find. On account of it's size.

The first upgrade I remember was when they added the Big Fresh. The most recent was the cinemas over the food court, but…

I don't think they were still wiggling hypnotically by the time I first went there – but the store did have a Country singer crooning from the top of a straw-strewn stack…

It was a Big Fresh. Can't remember whether the St Lukes store had the Big Fresh trademark creepy animatronic fruits and vegetables, though.

I'm not 100% sure on timing but definitely…

That's touchingly naive about how transport planning works, or the constraints of the current nationally-legislated bus funding and contracting arrangements.

Oh yes, there was cake and other classic teashop sweet things up there. I think from memory we took the elevator from Farmers up past the family photographers’ studio and there it was.

In my experience, most shoppers I see are typically carrying very little, except, of course, those coming out of the supermarket.

Sure, and those people can surely face the 500m walk to the major transport corridors on either side, or 800m to the train, if they don't live near the…

You may be juding by today's traffic volumes, Ben, but the only way the roads around there won't be gridlocked with a bigger mall is to remove…

Indeed. Your mention of coffee did make me remember that semi-secret teashop above Farmers, though.

Is there now a 'time-out' function, or did I just push the wrong button?

It was a continuation of my experiences with St Lukes since the 90s,…

Plus they turned off the waterfall towards the end, the bastards.

Also, I don't regard J-Ville as Wellington. I know it has the same council (and it's the J-Villites and Tawans who elect all the crap…

Wellington City Council is supporting the $100 million-plus development of Johnsonville Shopping Centre despite a warning from Kirkcaldie & Stains that it will rip the heart from the city’s Golden Mile…

…Mr Milford confirmed that Johnsonville Shopping Centre management…

Really? That strikes me as pretty weird because Kirk's entire brand is very high end retail not being a cornerstone tenant in…

Ben, basically your argument is that the mall is easy cos you can drive there, they have lots of nice carparks and there aren't nasty "random obstacles" around the place.

I don't have any argument, per se, just some observations about St Luke's which are positive along with other ones…

I'm pretty sure they were trying to get Kirk's as their premier leaseholder, but they wouldn't leave the city, or couldn't get a good enough deal, or something.

Does no one else question why and when people started seeing shopping as a hobby? It drives me MAD. And yes, I did mean to shout.

I'm trying to thing of what levels of gentle coaxing, strong discouragement, or physical restraint are appropriate with our three to indicate that mall…

Granted -…

East-West, Ben, or West-East?

St. Lukes became noticably less crowded when the…

I can't select text to quote on the iPad, which does my head in ...

Probably same bug.

Might not help, but apparently Google Site has a similar problem, which they traced back to Safari for iPad/iPhone, rather than iOS.

It's not surprising that it is easy to get to in a car, placed as it is near a motorway…

I have experienced the jams you refer to, but they're not jammed. The traffic moves at a slow but steady pace, and even a kilometer from St Lukes still…

*Punctuation limited by inability to edit on iPhone. Is it still just me?

Some odd behaviour in iOS is being looked into. I can't select text to quote on the iPad, which does my head in ...

Hopefully they might actually have a shop that sells music again. I'm not optimistic, but I don't really blame the mall for that.

One of the things that bugs me about the jams that can extend a kilometre back to the other side of the New North Road lights is…

Maybe, but I'm still struggling to imagine what additional retail they could possibly add to enhance my existence

Hopefully they might actually have a shop that sells music again. I'm not optimistic, but I don't really blame the mall for that.

Otherwise, I don't know. I got back a couple…

A shopping mall which most planners would agree is in entirely located in the wrong place. St Lukes is where it is because of short-sighted decisions in the past – so why would we want to go and compound those mistakes.

Much the same could be asked of Auckland City…

What I meant is that your calculation of overall suckiness has to subtract off the good of having a lot more retail available to you at an easy walk.

Maybe, but I'm still struggling to imagine what additional retail they could possibly add to enhance my existence, given that IAF…

I am a local, I use the mall, and it still sucks. Is that allowed?

What I meant is that your calculation of overall suckiness has to subtract off the good of having a lot more retail available to you at an easy walk. If you don't use the mall,…

The main people this sucks for are locals*
*Edit: Locals who don't use the mall, that is.

I am a local, I use the mall, and it still sucks. Is that allowed?

Apart from the traffic, which is one of those perennial, and never solvable, problems, what does a super…

His objections to the mall are objections to all malls.

True, but compared with other big ones like Sylvia Park and Albany the traffic issues will be exceptional and completely predictable. Albany also lacks established residential neighbourhoods right alongside, though I wonder what noise Sylvia Park's neighbours made during hearings?

What is clear about this is that the people of St Lukes – Mt Albert are the victim of a cynical political manoeuvre by the former Auckland…

I used to live in Grove Rd, and every year around Christmas we'd be awake until the wee small hours as carloads of shoppers would park their cars outside our house, slamming doors to walk to the mall for the midnight sales, only to return…

Boosting public transport is an answer to that. The cbd rail loop allows more…

The tragedy, Graham, is that you are beaten for farce by the planning commissioners who waved this ludicrous plan through

To be fair to the commissioners, they didn't feel they had a choice thanks to a previous (and I believe non-notified) District Plan change that designated St Lukes as a…

Run it all the way to MoTaT!

And you could jump on the Zoo-m Tram to Meola creek, and you're practically in Chatswood. Flying fox to Kauri Point to finish it off.

especially when the roads are clogged to the point of standstill

Certainly seems like a problem with my cunning plan

Solution: Expand the mall all the way down to Morningside Station.

Vade retro satana…

Although I suspect residents of those perpetually leaky railside apartments would be delighted just to be under cover.

and it's easy enough to run that shuttle bus in a loop I guess..

Surely it won't be that easy... especially when the roads are clogged to the point of standstill.

Solution: Expand the mall all the way down to Morningside Station. A simple and cost effective solution to our…

They could put a tram down it. Works in Christchurch

I doubt there'd be much of a tourist market for scenic Morningside :)

what about a high speed monorail?

Call it a hunch but I suspect a minibus might be simpler.

Also, visiting St Lukes…

But hey, that might impinge on profits.

Farmers free bus? However, when the mall is fully operational, there is every likelihood that walking the length of Morningside Drive would be faster than taking a bus. Unless they widen it. Which seems almost inevitable. They could put a tram down it.…

So local body wish lists for $2.3b CBD rail tunnels on top of all this need to be fully tested; and someone else besides taxpayers (and international moneylenders) will have to put…

“just a little acknowledgment of them coming out for such an important meeting to discuss how this development will be taking over their neighbourhood”.

Or "I've got more money than you have sense."

Oh, right, this is satire. If only.

ETA: What Russell said about traffic. It's so beyond a…

My only hope is it'll ghost-town in a matter of months due to traffic, and we can turn it into an aquarium or something

... skate park, planetarium, children's museum, skating rink, indoor velodrome, dance hall, gymnasium...

;)

St Lukes would remain "a vehicle-oriented centre for two principal reasons: it is clearly not as well served by public transport as other large centres

— so, it's broken because it's broken, and we're not going to fix it because we're not going to fix it...?!

Did Mike Hosking write…

When this thing is done, traffic will be a fully-fledged debacle.

Totally. I live in Morningside, and I avoid driving past St Lukes, the traffic is a nightmare.

And their solution ? To turn Aroha Ave into a major through road. It's a quiet residential road with a lot of…

Traffic was an issue because St Lukes would remain "a vehicle-oriented centre for two principal reasons: it is clearly not as well served by public transport as other large centres such…