We often pop into Millers on Cross Street just behind Auckland's Karangahape Road for a coffee. Anyone who has had a double flat white there will know that it's damn close to being the finest cup in town and the coffee roasting machine doing it's thing in the background merely enhances the experience. Standing outside the other day, I looked up to see the fab new iron-clad building which is nearing completion and then looked left and saw the we.ar store looking smart and spunky next door and then it occurred to me that this little piece of back alley development was exactly what has been missing from the Auckland sidewalk. Sure we have Little High Street and other enclaves around the place but nothing that qualifies as a bonafide back alley like the ones that pepper the inner city of Melbourne. The Victorian govt decided years back to turn many of these alleys into desirable places and these days the alleys are an integral part of the soul of that city. Poynton Terrace, Galatos Street, East Street and several others around K Rd also have potential as retail/cafe/boutique thoroughfares and that dirty old K Rd carpark would surely be better served as a market aka Paddy's in Sydney. Of course this is all wishful thinking as the words "town planning" and "Auckland" have rarely existed in the same hemisphere.
