Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Getting dressed for the party

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  • Islander, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Tautoko, e Jackie- because it does get worse-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Parker, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Yeah it annoys me too Jackie especially the criticism secondary teachers got last year for taking industrial action around exam time when the rearranged terms this year are going to play havoc with exam preparation yet nobodys jumped on their high horse about that.

    Napier • Since Nov 2008 • 232 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    And which is why they'll fund the extension of that cycleway through Spaghetti Junction down to Wellesley St, all on land owned by them, which is what they are planning to do next. Good on them.

    That's confirmed now? Huzzah!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    Wearing elected rep hat:

    Relocated my ass, my old flat got completely bowled.. :-(

    I was made to understand that the two houses that were on the land that now forms Wairepo / Swamp Walk were relocated, rather than bowled.

    That’s confirmed now? Huzzah!

    Yes, more or less. That is if Joyce doesn't find out about it and decide that the money is needed more for his holiday highway.

    Doffing said hat...

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    That is if Joyce doesn't find out about it and decide that the money is needed more for his holiday highway.

    Yes,good luck with that unless perhaps the cycleway is widened so it can take trucks.

    And no, the signalled service slashing is not to pay for "new spending" in health and educaton - that's the most basic annual top-up to keep pace with inflation and population changes.

    The economy was already in the toilet before the Christchurch quake, which is just a convenient opportunity for some disaster capitalism. Things may have gone quiet on the asset sales front but that won't last long.

    Also noteworthy that the massive ETS subsidies to polluters and top-skewed tax cuts (which could pay for the Christchurch hit on their own if reversed) are not on the table - lest our pathetic government of yesterday's men is forced to admit that its ideology is wearing no clothes, just like the 90s when they pulled the same shit. Wake up voters. And grow a pair, opposition parties.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB, in reply to recordari,

    3 Mill seems like a lot to pay?

    Two houses were removed from an area where the next door neighbors have capital values of 720 and 740 thousand dollars (courtesy auckland city's own website, I guessed 29 walters and 8 sandrignham were close enough?)... so there's half the budget blown before you've moved a house or turned a sod...

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Gosh you people are mean to us Northlanders. I live in Whangarei and have to travel to Auckland quite often, initially for cancer treatment. Through the main street of Wellsford, through the busy lights at Warkworth, through the notorious Dome Valley and eventually onto the toll road at Puhoi where the driving is easy. On the road around me I see trucks: logging trucks and milk trucks and huge trucks containing God know what. Surely they're contributing to the economy? Or would you rather we had our own economy up here separated from the rest of the country. Sob.

    Now, I'd rather the contents of those trucks were transferred to trains. that's not going to happen anytime soon so please can we have our "holiday highway".

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Tony Parker,

    Exactly, Tony. God forbid the teachers dick the country around, but the Gummint can dick us around as much as they like, because, well, we DIDN"T ELECT THEM.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Cecelia,

    Surely they're contributing to the economy?

    Not as much as the new highway will cost. Its benefit-cost ratio is less than 1 - and that is assuming an oil price of about $25 per barrrel, which realistically we will never see again thanks to peak oil. The number of cars on the road will steadily reduce anyway, freeing up space for those delivery vehicles. Lack of viable rail might become a problem.

    An alternative package of road improvements for the stretch around Warkworth and the Dome has been costed at less than a tenth of Joyce's pet project and able to start immediately, saving another 50 lives in the meantime.

    This has all been covered on previous threads. It's not some sort of conspiracy against Northland, just that the business case does not stack up. Some of the other big motorways the government is attached to do make more sense. The holiday highway aint one of them.

    Fixing up Northland's rail link would also cost less - and be far more future-proof when oil prices double and more.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    Wearing ER hat...

    3 Mill seems like a lot to pay?

    Two houses were removed from an area where the next door neighbors have capital values of 720 and 740 thousand dollars (courtesy auckland city’s own website, I guessed 29 walters and 8 sandrignham were close enough?)… so there’s half the budget blown before you’ve moved a house or turned a sod…

    The beauty of large organisations is that pots of money are very flexible and moveable. The total amount of road works in the area (extending beyond Sandringham works package) was $26m, so presumably removing houses came out of this budget.

    Council also paid to move three villas back some metres to create a wider Sandringham Rd. The workmanship done on restoring those houses will be top notch and will be a bargin to whoever buys them.

    Doffing said hat...

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Cecelia,

    The Holiday Highway isn't about kicking Northland in the balls. It's about the power of the trucking lobby, its governmental connections and how it astroturfs its way out of meeting its fair share of the bill. Rod Oram had some thorough analysis of the issue last year.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    The workmanship done on restoring

    Whaat they restored them as well as moved them ?
    Can you tell me what style the kitchen and bathroom were done in?
    And I take it you mean after the RWC they will be a bargain.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey, in reply to andin,

    Yes, they restored them after moving them. Just look at the stone fence bordering the street. Top notch stuff. Not a full restore mind, just rewiring, gibbing, etc I understand.

    The kitchen and bathroom were done in corporate style - you know, bright lights, soap dispenser, big roll of toilet paper, the ubiquitious dish drawer and signs telling people to "Freakin' clean up after yourselves already" and "Would you leave a mess like this at home?" and "The fridge will be cleaned out regardless on Mondays".

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    The kitchen and bathroom were done in corporate style

    With staff? ;-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    The kitchen and bathroom were done in corporate style – you know, bright lights, soap dispenser, big roll of toilet paper

    No toilet paper in my kitchen! Does this mean I'm a peasant?

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey, in reply to Russell Brown,

    They went retro and got in Gliding In style staff. With walk shorts, beige knitted socks and cardies. And attitude to match.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • MikeE, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    Wearing your elected rep hat, you might want to fact check, two buildings were bowled for a pathway (next door to the school), the rest were moved.

    My old place was one of the bowled ones... kinda makes all the work we did on the garden, fencing etc as tenants pointless eh

    Washington DC • Since Nov 2006 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey, in reply to MikeE,

    Thanks for that - I will, wearing my ER hat...

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    bright lights, soap dispenser, big roll of toilet paper, the ubiquitious dish drawer and signs telling people to “Freakin’ clean up after yourselves already”

    Sounds like a mix of student flat/ industrial chic

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    Thanks for the interesting responses from you and Sacha re the "holiday highway". I accept what you say and hate to think of Auckland expanding well beyond its present boundaries.

    Nevertheless, the term "holiday highway" seems unnecessarily emotive from my Northland pov.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Cecelia,

    Cheers. If the folly went much further North than the gateway to the Parnell second home zone, it may have earned a different name.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    That sounds expensive - surely all the signalling must have had to be made two-way

    Signalling had to be upgraded ahead of electrification, so they took the opportunity to install bi-di signalling systems right through to Britomart. I don't think it was particularly more expensive to do so as part of a required upgrade, and now that the capability is there I believe it can be pushed out to other parts of the network with moderate ease.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Cecelia,

    Nevertheless, the term “holiday highway” seems unnecessarily emotive from my Northland pov.

    Maybe so, but it's rather apt when the current PM has a holiday home at Omaha and the "congestion problem" that the highway is supposed to "fix" only occurs on a handful of days a year directly related to people going on vacation.

    For less than the cost of Joyce's wet-dream, the road could have full median barriers and edge barriers installed, some realignments of the worst sections, and the northern rail line upgraded to a standard that would make it an attractive alternative to road freight. It would also be possible to complete the road works within three years and probably the rail work within five, as opposed to at least 10 years before the section of highway to Warkworth is completed and over 15 until it reaches Wellsford.

    If you really care about a safe trip south, push for the quick, cheap, effective option rather than the monument to men who think that the price of petrol is irrelevant to how people travel (tell that to the passengers on the standing-room-only train I caught home tonight. So packed that the train manager didn't even try to clip tickets!) and thus the only transport option worth consideration is moar roads!

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    speaking personally... it's called a holiday highway cause not only Key but Joyce also has a holiday home at Omaha, or somewhere near there. Joyce needs the motorway so he can get to his bach faster.

    The Campaign for Better Transport analysed the problem and found that you could solve the issue as Mr Poole notes:

    For less than the cost of Joyce’s wet-dream, the road could have full median barriers and edge barriers installed, some realignments of the worst sections, and the northern rail line upgraded to a standard that would make it an attractive alternative to road freight. It would also be possible to complete the road works within three years and probably the rail work within five, as opposed to at least 10 years before the section of highway to Warkworth is completed and over 15 until it reaches Wellsford.

    It's called Operation Lifesaver.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    It’s called Operation Lifesaver.

    Quite. Couldn't remember what it was called, just the rough details.

    Also, Cecelia, if you're really worried about Northland's economy, what's going to happen to the domestic tourist market in five years' time when petrol is likely to be nearer $3/L if the only convenient way to get there is by road? Puford makes no sense from any angle, unless you really do view it as a "Holiday Highway". On every other measure, it's a waste of time and money.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

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