What can the council actually do to boost cafes and bars during an economic downturn?

The largest employer in Wellington, the New Zealand government, wants its employees to stop working from home. Public service minister Nicola Willis cited productivity concerns, especially for younger professionals who miss out on valuable face-to-face time by not coming into the office. “That’s even before we consider the effects for the CBD retailers, restaurants and cafes,” she said in a statement. The announcement came after several high-profile Wellington hospitality businesses closed, highlighting concerns from the industry. 

A strong hospitality scene is essential not just for its economic impact but for the vibrancy and personality of the city itself. It’s also the city’s largest source of working-class jobs, especially for students and young people. Requiring people to work from the office will provide a boost to cafes and pubs in the short term, but requiring a captive market of customers by government decree isn’t a good way to fundamentally address the economic challenges of the city centre. 

It all comes down to choice. You can’t force someone to spend money in a city any more than you can force someone to live there. Most experienced public servants in Wellington are highly qualified and can find work anywhere they want or need. Treating them like a captured market is short-sighted; the most valuable and in-demand workers are the ones with the greatest ability to leave. They aren’t pawns who exist to sustain mediocre bakeries.

There isn’t much the council can do to change the global economic conditions affecting Wellington and all other cities. Things will turn around eventually, but it could take a while. The District Plan changes will help by allowing more people to live in and near the city centre, but that isn’t a quick fix. The Golden Mile redevelopment will be a big boost for the area (even if many business owners don’t believe it), but construction will take at least two years and involve staged steps. 

Apart from rounding up every public servant and shoving them into a Mojo, what can the city council and government do to quickly and affordably give the hospitality sector a boost? Here are a few levers that could be pulled. 

• More lights. Better street lighting is the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to developing a city’s nighttime economy. Brighter streets reduce crime and, more importantly, make people feel safer, which means they’re more likely to walk around spending money. The council could upgrade its street lights in key areas and consider subsidies and incentives to encourage businesses to install lights on their awnings. 
• Pedestrian-friendly street designs. Wider footpaths, trees and places to sit keep people in town longer and increase retail spending. The new boardwalk and parklets on Dixon Street were a quick and cheap upgrade that has made the street the place to be on a sunny weekend day. For businesses, it’s a cheap way to expand their number of seats and tables. Wellington City Council recently voted to expand the number of parklets in the city from 14 to 50.
• Legalise street food. Food vendors on the footpath are enormously popular at CubaDupa but illegal every other day of the year. Food trucks are only allowed to trade in limited permitted zones. Wellington’s tight restrictions on street vendors can be traced back to a racist clampdown on Chinese fruit hawkers in 1908 and has stuck around as a protectionist measure to reduce competition for restaurants. Is that approach still needed? When you go to a major city in Asia, it’s not the chain bakery you come back raving about, it’s the exciting and confusing piece of fried meat on a stick that you bought from the side of the road. 
• Rates rebates for theatres and music venues. In New York, theatres are exempt from city taxes. The New York City Council recognises that the additional spending generated by theatres is more than the revenue it would gain from taxing them. Toronto recently introduced a permanent tax break on music venues. Wellington prides itself on its cultural scene but could do more to support venues. 

• District licensing reform. Bar owners constantly complain about the cost of doing business in Wellington. Nick Mills’ Newstalk ZB show is about 50% news and 50% bemoaning how hard it is to own a pub. Any bar or nightclub open past 2pm pays $4,700 in licensing fees per year, and that figure jumps to $7,500 after just one enforcement. That cost is on top of all the staff time and legal fees required to be approved by the council’s District Licensing Committee. The council spends $1.2 million a year on alcohol licensing, including $350,000 just on the functions of the committee itself. Strict licensing is well-intended to reduce harm, but lumping additional costs on businesses makes it harder for businesses to turn a profit and reduces the range of options for customers. Maybe if the licensing requirements were relaxed, that money could be reinvested in safety initiatives.
• A Courtenay Place party zone. If the council really wanted to rip the tape away, it could create a legally distinct zone around the Courtenay Precinct with different bylaws that make it easy to get permission for parades, fairs, live performers, street art and other fun things. It could be an opportunity for constructive co-governance with mana whenua; Courtenay Place was built along the south wall of Te Aro Pā. 
• Lift the liquor ban. New Orleans, a city not much larger than Wellington, developed Bourbon Street into one of the world’s great nightlife destinations in large part because people can drink on the street. Bars sell cocktails-to-go in plastic cups, which helps to create a festival-like atmosphere. Given New Zealand’s track record with alcohol, this is probably a bad idea and would almost certainly end in disaster. But still, it’s an option that is available. I have a great memory of walking through Prague on Christmas Day with a €5 cup of mulled wine, and I’d love to be able to recreate it here.