History for Jerzy Merino

You're exaggerating there. Even off peak, Wellington to Heretaunga Station (where the CIS is) is 38 mins on the train. If Metlink put on direct trains  it would be more like half an hour. As for saying lower hutt has the population yeah its bigger than upper hutt but its close. More of lower hutt population is a closer to upper hutt than it is to Wellington. And on weekends when games would be and there's a lot less traffic on the motorway the cbd to upper hutt is only half an hour tops anyway. Like I said too, porirua and Kapiti could be connected with an improved Haywards Rd too. One of the things I've learnt from shifting out here is that people who don't live here think it's way farther away from Wellington than it is

As for the nothing to do here argument, Upper Hutt is gentrifying hard and more and more restaurants and pubs will come. Building a small stadium would fit with the councils plan to bring more people out here and that will help drive development. 

Genuine question though - seeing as Petone Rec is a no go, where else would you have it? Fraser Park and Hutt Park have both been suggested. Hutt Park might be alright, although it's miles away from trains. Fraser Park has been suggested but is just in the middle of suburban housing with absolutely nothing to do anywhere nearby. It's also at the northern end of Lower Hutt so you're arguments about upper hutt apply just as much . Neither of those is an obviously better option than Upper Hutt. Porirua or Kapiti just flips the problem around. I don't think there's any viable locations closer to Wellington city