Best place on the North Shore or by the Auckland Museum for a gluten free and vegetarian lunch?

I love my job, and I'd love to keep doing it. You've got till Saturday October 11th, midday to get your vote into a ballot box and make sure your city is represented by people who love to represent you.

Something for the dog-owners of Hamilton who also like SCIENCE! Or maybe your boyfriend if he's a golden retriever.

My kingdom for any article about "speed humps" to mention that hitting anyone or anything going 50km/hr has an 80-90% chance of killing them, but going 30km/hr is only 10%

Also, if keen on something more in depth - I wrote something earlier this week: open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...

Oh it's not just a local problem... That makes me feel better? Sort of

Last real Council meeting of the term - Mayor Southgate via Zoom speaking to her final Chair's report as Mayor, but Deputy Mayor tells her she's on mute. Cr Wilson says loudly in the chamber "that's fine actually" Crs Taylor and Macindoe giggling next to Cr Wilson at the quip.

Look, did a bunch of us organise to have a pro Māori wards billboard on the same sign Hobson’s Pledge put their bullshit? Absolutely. Did we all put our names to it cause we're community leaders staunch in our position? Absolutely.

A short trip over to Hamilton East involved reporting bike lane obstructions and then I watched a car nearly smash into a bus. Siiiigh.

I appreciate this reporting so much, but man I wish everywhere else in the country got as much focus as Wellington. We desperately need more funding for local reporting - because it's happening everywhere but because it's not reported on, people can't see it.

But I love all the birds. They're all my birds of the year.

Came up with this radical idea today - what if I take my pain meds (anti inflams) AND rested at the same time Instead of one or the other 👀

If you're sick of this government and this absolute race baiting bullshit and attacks on Māori across the board - vote in your local election and vote to keep Māori wards. Your council is ONLY having a referendum because this government is forcing them to. How embarrassing if they all get kept.

So interesting that Kirk’s death is a freeze peach issue but women in public life asking to not get rape threats for existing isn’t. Some intellectual consistency would be a thing.

We can't do buses this time cause regional council banned election ads on them (why won't they take my money...) so instead bus shelter ads are the next best thing! Proud to have installed a record number of new shelters this term and proud to have my face on some now 🚍✨

"How's the election going" It's definitely the most violent and aggressive election I've been in, and it's my third "so you don't think you'll be re-elected???" I can be running a great campaign, having great conversations, have lot of support, and even be re-elected - and still face violence

My perpetual hobby horse is that it is A Problem that a private company runs almost all local elections, esp when something goes wrong. Something has gone wrong here. What are the lines of public accountability? Who is responsible? Do we hold the company to account or the Council for hiring them?

At my first open-invite meet the candidates event tonight and I'm actually so worried about the state of our democracy. Apparently it's fine to just outright obscure what your policies are and lie to voters about things you've supported. Absolutely wild behaviour.

Sometimes I forget I don't talk about my Fucked Up™️ childhood that much anymore.

As a kid who spent 6ish years in the family court system, who had a restraining order against one parent for a period of time, and there were absolutely fears of him doing a Tom Phillips - there's a lot of hot takes floating round atm not centering those kids

And in case you'd like to knit a VOTE hat of your own, I've got it up on Ravelry or on my website! www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib... vote.louisehutt.com

Togs, togs, togs Togs, togs, togs ...undies #NewZealandValues

A few little snaps from the exhibition - I talked about how 200 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to vote, let alone be elected to city council, how we value "women's work" (both in the age of pay equity being cancelled and crafts as art), and how many women fought to be able to vote

Spoke at a rally organised by Living Streets and Bike Waikato today - and spoke about the death threats I've got for believing cyclists and pedestrians shouldn't be killed on our roads, and complaints to auditor general for being a founding member of Bike Waikato and elected (🤷‍♀️)

I have a lot of individually portioned cream cheese (laughing cow) that I foolishly took home thinking I'd have recipes for - but I really don't. Have been putting it on toast and tonight in a pasta sauce. Any other suggestions?

So typo had 50% off their giant garlic pillows... So now I have a giant garlic pillow 🧄

Tonight I went to the most creative and positive local government election event I have ever experienced. Louise Hutt, standing for re-election in Hamilton, exhibited her democracy knitting, and it is glorious. And she supports removing library overdue fines! @saycheeselouise.bsky.social

This is tonight! It'd be great to see you there!

I actually don't know how any rational person exists in local government without anxiety meds. Or at least I couldn't.

And the thing that gets me most? I am FURIOUS about this. I'm so angry I feel like I'm vibrating. And yet, I didn't yell at staff. I didn't yell at other elected members. But other EMs have, for far smaller things.

Just had the most ridiculous transport meeting Elected members decide at the 11th hour that they want to reject the staff recommendation and instead write their own 20 minute adjournment wasn't enough but we needed to move the meeting on, so instead elected members left the chamber - losing quorum

Sigh. More misinformation floating around For the local election: Voting papers will start arriving from Sept 9th - start. arriving. from. If your papers don't arrive, you need to contact Council and ask where you can pick them up from - in Hamilton, that's our libraries or the council building

I had an experience last night, at a candidate event and I'd talked about some of the threats and harassment myself and others had faced on council. A woman came up to me afterwards and said, what you're described is abuse and it's not okay. And it was just such a profound moment.

It's very disappointing when I reach out to a friend for help with some messaging or how to speak to community values or to run something by them and they turn around a go "well ChatGPT says..." Why tf do I care about what's been regurgitated from the stolen garbage pile of the internet?

Late to the party, but this is a masterclass in troll murder - as "sorry, who are you" is both a deadly burn AND highlights the point of "we are not in community, you have not done the work to be in community with me, so why tf should I listen to you" 🔥🚒

Just had a really top notch dinner - perfectly toasted white bread, 50% cheese, 50% baked beans (but BEANS not watery sauce), well buttered, toasted in the cast iron pan

The plastic ones vs the knitted one ✨

Did Hamilton City Council approve a draft safety bylaw that enables a $20,000 fine for lying on a park bench or showering in a fountain? Yuppppp Read write up about the full shenanigans here 👇 www.facebook.com/100064511089...

🇵🇸Wheel-thrown, hand-painted watermelon mugs made in a community pottery studio in Tāmaki Makaurau. 100% of proceeds will go to Welcome Back Fashion's mutual aid fund, sending aid to families in Gaza. 🍉Comment on this post for information on how to choose your mugs and shipping/pick up options.

I just cleaned the house and now everything is slightly less bad. Better living.

A list of good things that happened this week: People have been really nice about my exhibition and seem earnestly excited about it The labels I ordered for the exhibition are in the post and I should get them well before next Friday

Today I watched a fellow councillor aggressively call out individuals, turn debate into ad hominems, and then when called out that his statements about debt were incorrect, outright lie in the chamber and claim he made statements he didn't - and demand the person who corrected him apologise

Anyone have a great poem recommendation about Technology and humanity? How social issues won't be resolved by technology?

Hamilton! City! Of the! Future!

What's extra difficult is when you're a candidate funded by regular people going through a cost of living crisis - the donations dry up I raised $13,000 in 2019 - this year I've run three times the events and only made $4,000 It's a $40,000 spend limit for my ward and ppl will be spending that

If you love democracy, crafts, or just want to support a young, progressive city councillor - please come along to my exhibition on the 5th. 6pm, the Nancy Caiger Gallery inside the Meteor Theatre, Hamilton NZ.

We're on like Donkey Kong 😎🧶✨

Hello my name is Louise and today I realised I got 20,000 flyers printed TWICE AS BIG as I thought I'd ordered

Hey Hamiltonians 👋 Tomorrow (Sunday) I've got another board game fundraiser - 4pm, Pukete Neighbourhood House, $25pp We've got games, snacks, and if you're nice I might play Just Dance Now with you

Unlocked a new achievement today - was I shouted at and told I was a bitch today by a driver because I'm a city councillor ...or just because I was a pedestrian? Hard to know