Posts by George Darroch
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Andrea, snap.
It's a pity Joshua is on holiday in the US right now, I know he'd be a great addition to this conversation.
Edit: James, bingo.
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Auckland actually has a fairly decent population density, more so than a lot of other Australian cities that have invested in rail, either recently (Perth) or a long time ago (Sydney, Melbourne). Again, I thank Joshua Arbury for doing this work.
Auckland's density is thanks to the relatively decent lot sizes, and the 1990s implementation of the metropolitan urban limit. The MUL meant lots of infill housing. Unfortunately, not enough medium density zoning occured, in part due to the negligence of local councils. The supercity in principle will be much better able to address these issues. If the "let it sprall" lot had their way, Auckland would probably now stretch from Pokeno to Wellsford.
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. But spending $xbillions on a useless rail loop to nowhere means sacrificing some of these things (and I'd bet a considerable sum it won't be affecting the entertainment budget).
Well, claiming it to be useless is the first problem. Assuming people are to get around Auckland (not unreasonable, surely), they need a way of doing so. Currently the roads are overused, and the capacity of the rail network is severely constrained. Britomart is already almost at capacity - 18 trains an hour. If the tunnel is built, that expands to between 36 and 60 an hour depending on how it is done. Hopefully we don't get the slightly "cheaper" option that gives us just 15-20 years more capacity.
That allows us to expand all other parts of the network. Auckland is growing towards 2 million, whether you like it or not. The only question here is whether it is 2 million car dependent choked Aucklanders, or 2 million with a decent transport mix and the ability to get around their city with ease.
I suspect your dislike is towards the people who work in and use the CBD, rather than rail itself. Do you oppose the new line extension to Manukau City?
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Things are getting better.
Toot! Onehunga gets its first train since 1973. Via AKT blog.
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Many of the parents at our kindergarten choose for their children to go to one of the 3 schools in Mangere Bridge, and just as many choose for their kids to go all the way to Onehunga, instead of going to any of the local Mangere schools. Elitism is alive and well, wherever you go.
I felt really bad for deserting Mangere College and choosing Onehunga High - but decades of problems shovelled onto the local school weren't going to be fixed by me, unfortunately. I did spend a year and a bit in the early 90s at the wonderful Koru Primary, which was an example of how to get things right in a poor neighbourhood.
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The kinds of adjustment NIWA have done are completely transparent, and not remotely controversial, to anyone with even a basic knowledge of statistics. When challenged to explain themselves they have done, and they've also released long term records from places that have not been moved and have no urban effects - Raoul Island, anyone? These show the same trends quite clearly.
Needless to say, the C"S"C and their new front-project have lied openly about adjustments.
I'm actually most pissed off about NIWA, who fired Salinger for having the cheek to discuss science with the media unfiltered through their PR officers. But the C"S"C come a close second.
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Off topic, but I'm going to post it anyway - Jay Rosen blogs a strategy for framing citizens' agendas around elections.
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How about we just make simpler. Those wot has money are middle class, those wot has none are lower, and filthy rich scum are upper class. If you manage to fit in with any of these groups in spite of your income, good for you.
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God I hope not..it was the only glimmer of radio hope when I was back in NZ last month. Aside from a show here and there, the rest was either dire or such low power that you could only get it on a small strip of Ponsonsby Rd.
What happened?
I don't mean literally. The masthead will still be there, in some form.
I have every fear that the integrity of RNZ will be lost in the changes - that it will be shoehorned into management and content structures that are superficially compatible, but end up sucking the life out of it. I do admit my last comment was a touch dramatic, but as Ben points out, what confidence should we have?
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Laughed!! I fell off my chair. Boom Boom.
Bloody lip shooters.
....He could have made a special trip to NZ you know....
I got a laugh out of this too.
So, I currently make coffee in my teapot. I couldn't be bothered shelling out for another glass plunger, especially since I'm about to move some distance by airplane again. The results are decent, if the water is about 90C and it's left to steep for about 2 minutes. I'm not a fan of stovetop brewers, since I believe that coffee should never reach boiling point, at least not if you want to bring out the flavour.
Where does this leave me on the class scale?