Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: After Len

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Nov 2015 08:46:08 +1300

The usual suspects...
The Herald generates a lot of hot air this morning about Len's impending Paris World Climate Change trip...

Kathy Fryer

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 21:42:05 +1300

Albany had $12 million set aside before the amalgamation to the Super City, the swimming complex has been planned for decades. It was almost swallowed up when Len Brown was looking for looking for ways to reduce community spending. This pool has been hard fought for in Albany.

Sacha

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:39:02 +1300

Orsman had a deservedly shite reputation in the old Ak City Council. Never a kind word, etc.

John McCormick

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 17:22:33 +1300

I worked in the transport section of the old Auckland City Council when there was a "scandal" about procurement of contracts. A council manager went to a Christmas party given by the incumbent contractor. His job was to manage this contract so he spent all his time working with them.…

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 15:55:23 +1300

It didn’t help that the Herald’s “Super City reporter”, Bernard Orsman, has pursued what seems like a personal vendetta against Brown.

Seems? I really don't think Orsman and The Herald's obsession with holding Len Brown personally responsible for everything from heavy rain to traffic jams could have any more obvious.…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 06:23:15 +1300

the crater good...
the Unitary Plan had bigger plans for ‘Manhattanisation’
Project Manhattan was it?
As I recall that ended with a bang...

nzlemming

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 00:17:03 +1300

It's threads like these that make me glad I only lived in Auckland for 2 years and that was 25 years ago...

Kumara Republic

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 12:23:39 +1300

If Auckland is becoming a city based around public transport nodes why is the Unitary Plan releasing so much rural land for urbanisation on the edge of the city?

I suspect in large part because of pressure from Krum, Quax, Brewer et al. Before then, the Unitary Plan had bigger…

Morepork

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 12:01:03 +1300

There's heaps of underutilised land along the railway tracks and stations in West Auckland. The whole land shortage thing is a complete mystery to me as I drive past massive empty lots next to the Sunnyvale Station covered in gorse. Glen Eden waste of space carpark which had plans to…

James Littlewood*

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 11:16:12 +1300

I would guess: political expediency. And economic reality.

Becoming = more than it was.

Questioner

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 11:06:15 +1300

If Auckland is becoming a city based around public transport nodes why is the Unitary Plan releasing so much rural land for urbanisation on the edge of the city?

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 01:18:24 +1300

I'll take your word Russell and excuse me if I sound somewhat reactionary.

Andre

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 23:29:36 +1300

Our biggest problem is actually what to do with the sewage and waste we create and the reality of 10,000 year schedules for when she'll be right again. As modelled initially in 1976 or something.

Moz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:42:25 +1300

The brownfields housng development is based around the train-and-bus station, on the Western Line.

It doesn't take a lot in many cases. The Sydney light rail is a joke, but it's really making a difference along the corridor it's on. If it was done properly it'd be amazing, but even…

Moz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:40:42 +1300

I never appreciated how well served New Zealand is with public libaries, at least in cities, until I shifted to Melbourne for a few years.

This. A lot. The magnificent Sydney Public Library rivals the Richmond Public Library for size and the Tapawera Community Library for service. I wish I…

Russell Brown

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:38:14 +1300

OK Julie, I know what you’re saying but the chances of Auckland becoming a city based around public transport nodes is rather pie in the sky don’t you think? And if this really were the great vision, what is happening in terms of mid- to high-density development happening in the…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:24:38 +1300

Housing has fallen into the too hard basket. There is no political will in this country to do a damned thing about affordability anywhere, let alone in Auckland. It’s pretty much out of control. I’m not surprised, because it’s got so bad that no half measures are going to have…

Jim Cathcart

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 21:33:20 +1300

OK Julie, I know what you're saying but the chances of Auckland becoming a city based around public transport nodes is rather pie in the sky don't you think? And if this really were the great vision, what is happening in terms of mid- to high-density development happening in the…

Julie Fairey

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:56:31 +1300

Transport and housing are linked. If you put your housing near the centres people need to travel to for work, education, play, shopping etc, that has a huge impact on the need to own a car in particular. And if people don't need to own a car to get around…

Julie Fairey

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:53:52 +1300

Exactly right, and the Dominion Road Project is the best current example of that.

It was all set to go, construction on the parallel cycle routes underway (and now complete) when it became apparent that there simply would not be enough room in the CBD to park all the buses…

Julie Fairey

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:43:18 +1300

You'll be pleased to know it has been, from presentations I've been at around the station redevelopments for the CRL in particular.

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:32:05 +1300

Housing has fallen into the too hard basket. There is no political will in this country to do a damned thing about affordability anywhere, let alone in Auckland. It's pretty much out of control. I'm not surprised, because it's got so bad that no half measures are going to have…

Jim Cathcart

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 18:04:03 +1300

Doesn't Auckland need to prioritize housing before trains, public pools, and petty political battles between the red and blue corners? Or perhaps people have internalized that the little stuff is all that they can really hope to change. It doesn't really show much vision, spunk or ambition for either the…

Swan

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 16:15:56 +1300

"Your Rosedale plant means squat for rates, because it’s paid for by metered water"

Also on this. Wastewater was included in rates pre amalgamation on the shore so maybe get your facts straight.

Do you think Watercare will be able to fund CI and NI out of meter charges?? I…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:58:04 +1300

It’s also not entirely clear that “proportionality” is a particularly coherent concept in a not-very-partisan environment like the Auckland council.

Yes, without strong parties, PR isn't really necessary.

Keir Leslie

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:37:48 +1300

STV would create very large wards in Auckland, which would tend to favour the rich and infamous.

It’s also not entirely clear that “proportionality” is a particularly coherent concept in a not-very-partisan environment like the Auckland council.

And you can’t compare L/R on the council now with L/R if the…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:31:54 +1300

More trips around the region – the focus on the cbd is a red herring.

Well, it's not the whole picture anyway. It's surely the most popular final destination by an order of magnitude. But I see what you mean. Yes, the CRL also makes other trips that aren't to…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:20:04 +1300

Isn’t the right-wing council an artefact of FPP wards?

Not sure. FPP is certainly an artifact. But I'm just not convinced it's a good idea to chuck out popularly elected mayors with that bathwater.

Questioner

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:24:07 +1300

Stat’s NZ’s official population growth figures have exceeded their High projections for many decades in Auckland.

It is true that at times Auckland’s population growth as a whole has exceeded the Stats high population projections and at other times it hasn’t. How is this relevant to the projections the Council…

Swan

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:59:41 +1300

Yes the token amounts it costs to keep Motat etc going is fairly immaterial compared to wastewater. As for regional parks these were funded by the ARC which all areas paid into equally. I think your idea that the NS was a bludger is misinformed and inflammatory frankly.

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:43:20 +1300

Matthew, what regional infrastructure did the North Shore not contribute to?

I said facilities, not infrastructure. Y'all paid the least you could get away with towards things like the Zoo, Motat, the museum, Westpac helicopter, regional parks, etc etc. You were the region's bludger. You hold up NSCC's water treatment…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:30:46 +1300

A question: does NZ First align with any of the Auckland non-parties, or do they stay away from local body elections?

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:29:38 +1300

Len Brown got 47% of the votes last time. With MMP, if the 164,000 people who voted for him went (e.g) with Labour/Green, then that would probably have give him a majority of councillors, given that most of the trailing candidates were vaguely left.

Isn't the right-wing council an artefact…

Sacha

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:23:45 +1300

More trips per hour into the city will be possible than before.

More trips around the region – the focus on the cbd is a red herring. This single project doubles the capacity of the whole network. Combined with new bus routes that focus on rail hubs around the region,…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:12:25 +1300

If that turned out a right-winger, it would be because people voted for them

True enough. But if the council has a left wing mayor and the rest stacked right, that is also because people voted for them. I'm not against a better system for electing the rest of the…

Swan

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:03:57 +1300

Russell, the purpose of a business case is to determine whether a project is go or no go. The government has committed to a business case and funding, one assumes, subject to the results of the business case. The designation was driven by the council, and the construction is only…

Swan

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:01:40 +1300

Matthew, what regional infrastructure did the North Shore not contribute to? The NS has sorted out its CSO's well in advance of the Isthmus (the bill for which is in the billions), and built extra capacity in its wastewater system that is now being snapped up by the rest of…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:01:31 +1300

"Getting cars off roads" doesn't seem like the best way to sell the CRL, since it might not happen. What will happen is increased capacity. More trips per hour into the city will be possible than before. How long the trips take is still dependent on how many trips people…

Sacha

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:57:51 +1300

Goff is from the right of Labour. Not very left at all, hence picking up Nat party supporters.

Sacha

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:56:19 +1300

assumed a much higher growth rate of population and employment in Auckland's CBD than has been the case historically.

And this myth has been answered before as well. Stat's NZ's official population growth figures have exceeded their High projections for many decades in Auckland. We can see the effect of…

Sacha

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:53:57 +1300

foolish of me to misunderstand

You still sound like you could do with reading material at that link. It answers questions/issues you are raising.

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:49:32 +1300

The only reason why centre-left runners (Brown / Goff) are in front for Auckland mayor is that the right is split and has nobody sane lined up for the job. If Nicki Kaye ran, they might have a chance, but I guess she wants a career in national politics.

That…

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:30:53 +1300

one is the potential to get a lot more cars off the jam packed roads, and the other is to reduce the number of trucks.

And the trains largely run on electricity. If as a nation we embrace 100% renewable, sustainable electricity generation....we may stave off AGW a little longer.…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:20:14 +1300

Nationally, we don’t elect a president and a parliament of FPP MPs who might or might not have confidence in that president.

Which is both a good and a bad thing. It means that the most powerful person and the most powerful party are aligned, giving far more power to…

Morepork

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:13:12 +1300

@ William Blake. Well exactly. The whole obsession with weeds is created by the local boards because they hold the contracts for weeding. So there budget lines have doubled as have their salaries. Check the mid-eskdale stream enhancement project on the north shore and the weedbags given to all the…

Questioner

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:00:31 +1300

Which projections? The City Centre Future Access Study which reached this conclusion assumed a much higher growth rate of population and employment in Auckland's CBD than has been the case historically. It also assumed that the CBD will grow faster in the future than Auckland as a whole. In the…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:45:17 +1300

A few full trains doesn’t justify building the CRL. There may be more cost efficient ways of transporting these people. Rail has a much higher level of subsidy than bus travel, but it’s unclear why it’s deserving of this high level of subsidy.

The CRL is about allowing the billion-ish…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:35:52 +1300

So what do the rest of you think about introducing the Single Transferable Vote for Auckland City local elections?

The sooner the better.

Angela Hart

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:30:41 +1300

The issue in Auckland is that the projections suggest there won’t be enough room for buses unless we improve urban rail capacity.

gridlock!

william blake

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:28:33 +1300

Yes Sacha , foolish of me to misunderstand the inproved ability of all those inner city folk to come out West and do some weeding.

Tom, balkanisation?, I see it as celebrating the different culture, geography, flora, fauna, etc of each part of the region, even micro climates.

If Neil…

Questioner

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:41:02 +1300

I think this post highlights the difficulties inherent in transport project evaluation. Transport project evaluation requires you to make assumptions about the future and what benefits to include and how to count them. Wider Economic Benefits (WEB) are especially tricky as they're triggered by people's responses to the improvement in…

Russell Brown

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:40:56 +1300

In my view there are two reasons rail is deserving, one is the potential to get a lot more cars off the jam packed roads

The issue in Auckland is that the projections suggest there won't be enough room for buses unless we improve urban rail capacity.

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:13:31 +1300

Even better, MMP and an indirectly elected mayor.

Nationally, we don't elect a president and a parliament of FPP MPs who might or might not have confidence in that president.

MMP is a fair voting system that represents all groups and ideas. With MMP in Auckland, you'd have a council…

Angela Hart

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:06:37 +1300

There may be more cost efficient ways of transporting these people. Rail has a much higher level of subsidy than bus travel, but it’s unclear why it’s deserving of this high level of subsidy.

In my view there are two reasons rail is deserving, one is the potential to get…

Russell Brown

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:02:08 +1300

I couldnt find the original press release but that is the summary from the MOT. So we havent had the definitive business case yet.

I was focusing more on the commitment to government providing “its share of funding for a construction start in 2020”. It doesn’t say “subject to a…

James Littlewood*

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:00:24 +1300

I’m surprised no one has suggested taxing or rating this value uplift.

It would be anyway, wouldn't it, through the existing rate & valuation process? Or do you mean it hasn't been factored into the analysis/PR?

Questioner

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 09:54:43 +1300

A few full trains doesn't justify building the CRL. There may be more cost efficient ways of transporting these people. Rail has a much higher level of subsidy than bus travel, but it's unclear why it's deserving of this high level of subsidy.
The Council is doing more than prepatory…

Swan

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 09:45:35 +1300

"On 28 June 2013, the Prime Minister announced the government is committed to a joint
business case for the City Rail Link in 2017 and providing its share of funding for a
construction start in 2020"

http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Rail/akl-city-rail-link-briefing-redacted.pdf

I couldnt find the original press release but that is the summary from…

Craig Young

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 09:44:06 +1300

So what do the rest of you think about introducing the Single Transferable Vote for Auckland City local elections?

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 09:10:33 +1300

Leaving aside the large rates increases on the shore
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah. Our old council was the regional bludger and didn’t invest in local infrastructure, and now it’s caught up with us. Boo hoo!

Your rates have gone up significantly for two reasons:
1) your property values have seen some of the…

Angela Hart

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 09:07:11 +1300

His council seamlessly kept the lights on, the trains (more-or-less) on time and ran all the other myriad services without the public noticing the changes. That normality is a mighty achievement.

yup, I'll be sorry to see Len go because he has kept things going and he has got us…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 08:57:17 +1300

Yes both local and national government have studied [the City Rail Link], but they came up with different answers in terms of whether net benefits were positive or not.

No, they both decided it was of significant positive benefit, if evaluated using the same criteria as used for roads. The…

Tom Semmens

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 08:43:46 +1300

As some of the posts here demonstrate, the Balkanised thinking of so many Aucklanders is going to take longer than one mayor and two terms to overcome. People who mourn Waitakere city or the North Shore or the ARC need to understand they were eventually anachronisms, small town solutions to…

Russell Brown

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 08:34:21 +1300

When the central government announced support of the CRL, they said they would undertake a joint business case with the council in 2017. That indeed has not happened yet, and accordingly council is jumping the gun spending so much money in advance of it.

Not quite. [[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893094|The government confirmed two years…

Sacha

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:48:08 +1300

Has someone complained to the Auditor-General about all that yet?

Morepork

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 06:46:26 +1300

@ Swan and Sacha / Educate yourselves. West pays millions for “environmental programmes" yet the environmental programmes on the council website earlier this year were described as North Shore only. Did Upper Harbour pay for the Mid Eskdale stream enhancement project which has it’s own thomas and civil contracting staff,…

Sacha

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 23:54:19 +1300

inner city train set

CRL's leading beneficiary is the West. Please educate yourself at http://transportblog.co.nz/our-analysis/city-rail-link/

william blake

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:39:14 +1300

Russell "Auckland is a better place than it was five years ago."

Shaun " and things got better not worse after amalgamation. "

Examples please.

The Waitakere Local Board is going cap in hand for $30,000 to assist with community development for weed control. Verge maintenance once professional is now…

Swan

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:37:36 +1300

Questioner is both right and not right. Yes both local and national government have studied it, but they came up with different answers in terms of whether net benefits were positive or not. When the central government announced support of the CRL, they said they would undertake a joint business…

Swan

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:32:29 +1300

Everyone built their own pools by and large. The fact the west has so few pools is because they built so few pools. Amalgamation only happened five years ago. As for the west subsidising the north shore, give me a break. Leaving aside the large rates increases on the shore,…

Sacha

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 21:12:19 +1300

My understanding is that no business case has been done for it yet

Who told you that? CRL has been extensively investigated by local and national agencies.The problem has never been a lack of evidence, just of ideological conviction.

Jim Cathcart

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 20:47:25 +1300

Auckland still remains one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in terms of house prices to income. What has Auckland Council implemented or achieved to alleviate this? Or is it one of those situations that "can't be helped"? Shouldn't this be the priority of a mayor…

Morepork

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 20:16:14 +1300

Google council pools and they show recreation facilities by area. They've amended it since complaints were published. They've now got 9 council owned recreation facilities including pools on the Shore. Including a new one about to be built in albany. 2 pools in the west. Again. They've amended it to…

Susan Snowdon

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:57:31 +1300

Ten pools on the North Shore? Where are they all? Other than Glenfield, Takapuna, Highbury and the Millenium? Just curious, I'm a swimmer.

Questioner

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:17:22 +1300

The article appears to tacitly accept that the Council is spending wisely. The biggest project is the City Rail Link which the Council is commencing construction of next year. My understanding is that no business case has been done for it yet. It seems odd to be starting construction before…

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:14:45 +1300

Having any more right-wing councillors (like Ralston) will shift the focus back to ‘keeping rates down’ (regardless of the truth) as it has been for decades under C&R. We are stuck paying for many years to come for the catch-up on the water/sewer network maintenance they decided could be put off…

Morepork

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:13:36 +1300

@George. On the economic budget there are about 5 breakdowns of local board budgets, Pools and Recreation centre is a key measure. And council decided to make them free. So the imbalance is significant. I don't mind having more rates if we get more service. But if west have one…

Sacha

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:22:23 +1300

how well served New Zealand is with public libaries

Andrew Carnegie can take some credit.

Sacha

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:19:22 +1300

Important to remember that the Mayor may have been granted more powers than other councils but he only gets a casting vote when it comes down to it.

Having any more right-wing councillors (like Ralston) will shift the focus back to 'keeping rates down' (regardless of the truth) as it…

izogi

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 17:29:16 +1300

people want their pools and libraries (both around $10m plus operation)

On that, I never appreciated how well served New Zealand is with public libaries, at least in cities, until I shifted to Melbourne for a few years. There at least, public libraries are disjointed between a swathe of municipalities.…

BenWilson

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:52:39 +1300

Can someone near to Phil Goff get him to promise free pools across the city?

I'd find it hard to believe, even if he did promise it, especially coming from him.

Glenn Pearce

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:39:58 +1300

Asset backing is a poor measure of Council debt.

Most council Assets have little market value and those that do have a commercial value are income generating to help lower the debt.

George Darroch

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:28:17 +1300

I've said it before; people want their pools and libraries (both around $10m plus operation) and they care about these much more than $50-100m roading upgrades.

Can someone near to Phil Goff get him to promise free pools across the city? People would go wild for it.

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:19:56 +1300

Or of less than 20% of their assets (I found the number: http://www.localcouncils.govt.nz/lgip.nsf/wpg_url/Profiles-Councils-Auckland-Council-F2

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:52:18 +1300

That is incorrect, “per ratepayer” figures refer to per “Rating Unit” which is basically 1 Certificate of Title so all Housing NZ would not count as 1 Ratepayer as you suggest.

I stand corrected!

Glenn Pearce

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:48:32 +1300

There is, for instance, one ratepayer for all the rates-attracting properties owned by Housing New Zealand in Auckland.

That is incorrect, "per ratepayer" figures refer to per "Rating Unit" which is basically 1 Certificate of Title so all Housing NZ would not count as 1 Ratepayer as you suggest.

Matthew Poole

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:55:20 +1300

Debt out of control

As Bernard Hickey has said on RNZ more than once, most households would be thrilled to have a mortgage of only double income.

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:24:16 +1300

Did anyone hear Bill Ralston on RNZ this morning? “Debt out of control"…"some one needs to step in…"…"rates, rates, rates.” What utter bullshit.

There is nothing out of control. Ralston’s “most indebted ratepayers in the country” claim refers to the Taxpayers’ Union’s ropey “per ratepayer” number. It’s not about counting…

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:20:17 +1300

It doesn’t help civic discourse when a major media outlet’s local govt specialist reporter either does not grasp or is willing to misrepresent who determined the structures.

That was such a weird thing to write. The structures – with the exception of the Maori statutory board (which had to wait…

Mark Graham

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:40:45 +1300

Did anyone hear Bill Ralston on RNZ this morning? "Debt out of control"..."some one needs to step in..."..."rates, rates, rates." What utter bullshit. But if he keeps repeating it, he'll likely win because even though Auckland's rates are amongst the lowest in the country, who wants to pay more? Even…

Morepork

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:29:35 +1300

Lack of pools and recreation centres,in the west particularly in our poorest areas. I think there are 2 public pools/ recreation centres in the west, and 10 on the shore and 14 in the south, as well South's brand new performance arts centre. We have got 1 new arts centre…

Matthew Poole

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:23:36 +1300

But one thing strikes me as odd: Len's council equalised rates before equalising services. This seems to undermine the logic of amalgamation.

What Russell said. The law – Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010 – only provided for a three-year window to normalise rates across Megatropolis, opening 1/7/2012 and…

Wildo

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:18:58 +1300

You take that back about Rick Moranis

Howard Edwards

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:10:38 +1300

But a majority of the council itself rejected stunt amendments from Cameron Brewer to freeze staff costs, ...

By the way, has anybody ever seen Cameron Brewer and Rick Moranis in the same room together?

Sacha

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:01:04 +1300

(Orsman writes this morning that Brown "began with a strong mandate, put the structures in place for the Super City ..

It doesn't help civic discourse when a major media outlet's local govt specialist reporter either does not grasp or is willing to misrepresent who determined the structures. He has…

kris_b

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:45:45 +1300

We pay separately for our rubbish, we have to separate paper from plastic and glass, and we don't get the inorganic collection.

Sure, you pay for your rubbish bags. But in areas with wheelie bins, we pay a higher waste charge on our rates for it. Home on Te Atatu…

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:27:20 +1300

But one thing strikes me as odd: Len's council equalised rates before equalising services. This seems to undermine the logic of amalgamation.

I believe they were required by central government to introduce a unified rating system within three years. Hence the pain.

Glenda

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:17:19 +1300

Oh don't forget pools....There is a great Mt Albert Aquatic Centre...not far from the Baldwin Train station...

Glenda

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:14:46 +1300

Slowly those assets are being sold...not the big ones but the little ones...some should be sold like tiny slivers of land Council did not know they had. But some are really important for intensification to work...such as land that will become small parks in the future...and Local Boards are fighting…

Julie Fairey

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:05:05 +1300

The timeframe on equalising rates was set in the legislation. Many local boards requested Council to go back to Govt to get another year or two to smooth the transition but the indication from central govt was dim at best so that wasn't pursued.

James Littlewood*

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:54:03 +1300

I agree Auckland's better and also still improving. And the CCOs might be instrumental: fresh mandates and all that.

But one thing strikes me as odd: Len's council equalised rates before equalising services. This seems to undermine the logic of amalgamation.

So, out west, our rates went down, but we…

John Holley

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:40:04 +1300

The FTE count may be lower, but you need the "fire alarm" count, which is how many people leave the building in an evacuation. The consultant/contractor/temp count is quite high I understand.

Wildo

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:38:19 +1300

The council was essentially set up to sell Auckland's assets, until that happens this govt isn't interested in helping Auckland in the slightest.

Angela Hart

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:30:09 +1300

I only hope the next incumbent has the ability to follow through on the infrastructure vision that Brown has been able to establish.

yup, that's crucial

Shaun Lott

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:25:57 +1300

Is Len Brown Auckland's Bill Clinton?

But seriously... People need to fairly appropriate blame for rates rises to the intransigence of central government to allow other forms of raising local revenue. We pay rates in Rodney as well as Waitakere, and things got better not worse after amalgamation. I only…

linger

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:21:19 +1300

Herald ’s view distorting Len’s:
no news there!

Public Address

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:21:19 +1300

Discussion from blog post.