Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
It might also be constructive to note relations between local and central government, function or no, aren’t a one-way street.
True dat. But can I recommend you listen to Todd Niall's Insight report? He's a very level-headed journalist and he found that constructive engagement is currently running almost entirely in one direction. He couldn't even get an interview with a minister.
And then there's the Land Transport Amendment Bill, which will soon make Aucklanders the only people in the country who are not allowed to have their regional transport strategy determined by their elected representatives.
The hostility is bewildering.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to SteveL,
(what can you do now vs what is allowed under the UP – that kind of thing).
This is such an important dimension. It’s where deliberate misinformation is filling the vacuum.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Jim Welch,
Our primary school newsletter has turned into an outlet for uninformed ranting against the DUP (the biggest complaint is that with increased housing density will come the need for more schools and they are not “on the plan"–as if it is the council’s role to make decisions on building new schools, and as if this should be done even before the people have arrived!).
I think infrastructure issues are very important -- school capacity in Point Chev is a major concern. But much of that is outside the council's remit. We actually need central government to stop its hostility towards Auckland Council and engage with its responsibilities here.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Graham Dunster,
For we Grey Lynn residents the issue is the incredibly arbitrary new zoning. There has been no notice taken of geographical realities (cliffs, unstable ground, springs etc) and part of the existing roads around Elgin and Dickens Streets and Grey Lynn Park is completely wrong, quite bizarre. If there was consultation by the Council before the DAUP publication we missed it. The fear is that these issues could be widespread and how will we know?
Isn't that consultation exactly what's been happening, though? They've released a draft plan (which draws on existing district plans) for feedback -- it has to start somewhere.
Parts of the plan for Grey Lynn seem a little arbitrary to me -- why is Hakanoa single-housing when Francis Street is Mixed Housing? Otoh, a friend who lives in a very old house at the top of Elgin Street called the council's hotline and came away reassured about the street's heritage status.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Graham Dunster,
Not so. If you are zoned as MH demolition does not have to be notified.
Thank you for pointing that out; I’ve amended the post. As things stand, resource consents would be required, but not notified. The council has indicated that that it will consider a move to automatic notification, in response to feedback.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
And I had a quick check – I did it so you don’t have to – of the profile of yet another vocal UP opponent and Pavletichian ultra-suburbanist, Andrew Atkin aka ”1 part in 125” on the Granny Web. He likes the Daily Mail on FB, and his blog posts suggest he’s a Theodore Dalrymple-level misanthrope who favours big-stick population control and thinks 1984 is a training manual. If it wasn’t so deadly serious it’d be farcical.
I didn't have the time or energy to get to the population-control nuttery, which is surprisingly widespread and really very out-there.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Andre,
The vitriol spewed forth from rich elderley residents in the following weeks’ letters to the editor, capped off by a piece of unadulterated rubbish from Grey Power.
That's a very odd argument. The Unitary Plan is bad because old people pay rates? And young people should take more of the rates burden "on their own shoulders" -- how exactly, if they're shut out of the housing market?
And ...
Those rates paid for sports fields, schools and universities that make Auckland a wonderful city for young people, Mr Rayner says.
Er, wut? Sports fields, yes. I'm pretty sure the government pays for schools and universities.
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Glenn Pearce,
I don’t think that is correct. I think you still need a resource consent, it’s just that it’s at the discretion of the council officers. It’s the non-notified nature that’s really what people have issue with.
Correct: I’ll add the word “notified”. But my understanding remains that this isn't something introduced by the Unitary Plan.
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Ah. Auckland Transport blog has also published a debunking of the same email.
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Auckland Transport blog has published its submission for the feedback phase, which includes a list of things the authors believe need amending. Interesting read.