Month: June 2013

Unitary Plan Coverage Running Hot Again

·

Feedback Closed yet the Commentary runs Hot

 

There must be a report due out (which there is) in regards to the Unitary Plan looking at five (now six) different Chrome tabs I have open at the moment in regards to media coverage. The MSM coverage is pretty wide-ranging from support of the UP to some impending changes towards The Clunker as well. Some of the more “interesting” pieces I will look at an individual level later on today and tomorrow.

But first some links into the chatter today around the draft Unitary Plan:

There is also a segment from Morning Report on how kiwi’s might be needing to let go of the 1/4 acre dream as well and be more pragmatic as Auckland grows

Quite the reading for your start of the week…

 

 

Follow Up to The Block and The Unitary Plan Article

· 2 Comments ·

An Acknowledgement

 

Yesterday I wrote what could be deemed a very heavy broadside commentary piece against a North Shore Local Board member and her comments in the Herald on Sunday in regards to The Block.

The said commentary can be found here: The Block, The Unitary Plan And What?

I have acknowledged feedback that the commentary in the said post is the equivalent of taking a nuke to cracking a walnut open rather than being more “tactful” in response to the comments made in the particular Herald article yesterday. Using the nuke approach has caused upset on the North Shore and again I have acknowledged this as such.

I could write a whole spiel on errors from yesterday but that would be inconsiderate. Needless to say there were errors yesterday and errors I picked up on as well. But with the errors there are ways of handling them including using a nuke. That particular option was not the best option given

My indiscretion from yesterday has been noted and will follow-up with more appropriate responses next time such an article from the MSM comes to light.

In saying that our old buddy Orsman has written a piece on the Unitary Plan…

Time for a look 😀

 

Council Submission on the Housing Accord

·

What Council thought on the Housing Accord

 

I am no fan of the Much-Ado-About-Nothing (aka the Housing) Accord as it short cuts the Rural Urban Boundary processes we are going through right now, and it also impinges on Council Sovereignty. I have made mention of this last month while the Unitary Plan was open for the first round of discussion.

Auckland Council, some Local Boards and the Independent Maori Statutory Board have written draft submissions on the Accord which is due to go before Select Committee in Wellington.

I am still reading the submission Council has written myself and will comment on it on Monday. In the mean time some light reading for you and if you are inclined leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The Submission (Starting page 7) to the Housing Accord

 

Unitary Plan Update

·

Over 20,000 pieces of feedback?

Judging by the Auckland Council‘s release there was 20,200 individual pieces of feedback to the first round of “consultation” for the Unitary Plan.

From Auckland Council

Thanks for your feedback

Published: Tuesday 04 June 2013
Mayor Len Brown with some of the written feedback on the draft Auckland Unitary Plan.
 Mayor Len Brown with some of the written feedback on the draft Auckland Unitary Plan.
(Wonder where my one got put at 104 pages)

More than 20,200 Aucklanders have had their say on the draft Auckland Unitary Plan– the new planning rulebook that will help shape Auckland.

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says the level of interest during the 11-week informal public engagement period, which finished on 31 May, was phenomenal.

“Developing a plan that covers all eight previous council areas is a mammoth task and we are taking on board the feedback from our communities to ensure we get the best plan possible,” she says.

“It has been fantastic to see so many Aucklanders taking part in the engagement and sharing their ideas as we plan for the next 30 years of Auckland’s development.”

To ensure communities understand the proposed changes, local boards held around 250 events across the region, including drop-in sessions, meetings in libraries and community centres, and community walks.

  • About 14,000 Aucklanders attended these events.
  • Auckland Council also sought the opinions of Auckland’s young people – via a youth video competition.
    • The competition was won by ‘The Future’, produced by four Orewa College students.
    • View the five finalist videos.

 

Aucklanders involvement

  • 20,200 pieces of individual feedback received
  • 14,000 people attended events
  • More than 88,000 people visited www.shapeauckland.co.nz
  • More than 15,000 people tried the housing simulator.

Next steps

Feedback will be considered in the development of the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan, which is due to be notified later this year.

On notification, the public will have a statutory right to make submissions and be heard by a hearings panel.

More information will be available at www.shapeauckland.co.nz and in future editions of OurAuckland.

———-

Of note the following developments have either occurred or being heard in the wind somewhere (but something to keep an eye on)

  • An independent review is under way with the recent 11-week feedback process. The review will be presented to the Auckland Plan Committee (“Wart n all”) at its conclusion
  • Caught in the wind that the current stacking of feedback is 60:40 “against” the Unitary Plan. HOWEVER and this is a big point here, the definition of “against” is wide open for interpretation. If I support the basic concepts of the UP but wrote 104 pages on how to clean it up through some large-scale alternatives, does that make me “against” the Unitary Plan. I think the better way in looking at it if the 60:40 point can be substantiated is that 60% are looking for some whole-scale changes to aspects of the UP rather than minor (which is where the 40% would go). In those regards then yes I would fit in there especially with the Special Character Zones and Manukau as the Second CBD of Auckland

 

But, lets wait and see where things go with the UP and the review currently underway

 

Message to Governor General

·

For the Integrity of the Parliament and the Citizens of NZ

 

To the Governor General of New Zealand
Representing our Sovereign and Head of State – Queen Elizabeth the Second.

For the integrity of the New Zealand House of Representatives, the citizens of New Zealand, and to allowed continued confidence of the Queen to our Parliament where there can be possibly none right now, I ask that you dissolve the current Parliament and order fresh elections in six weeks.

While leaks do happen from and within our Parliament and the State apparatus, leaks that come from the Government Communication Security Bureau that was had concerns to 88 New Zealand citizens being spied upon without their knowledge by the GCSB is a very serious situation.

For a Minister of the Crown (that operates in the name of the Queen) to leak such serious information where our citizens are affected is beyond reprehension. Beyond reprehension as it damages the very integrity of being a Minister of the Crown (operating in the name of the Queen) who we trust with our confidence in such sensitive matters like the GCSB affair. The breach by now former Minister Peter Dunne damages the confidence of the citizens towards the state apparatus and the Executive Wing of our Parliament – the highest authority in our land (as it can effectively over rule our courts). For Peter Dunne to remain as an MP in this parliament after such a reprehensible breach in my opinion brings the House now into disrepute.

Thus I would call on the Governor General to dissolve this Parliament and seek a fresh election. This fresh election would allow a new mandate and Parliament to occur. This would also allow the nation to put behind a very sorry mess that has occurred. To not call for a fresh mandate belittles our faith in the Parliament and would cause loss of confidence from the Sovereign against the Parliament as well.

——

Of note in that message above I have noticed a small number of National Party members through social media effectively lashing out and acting like near sycophants in this matter. The questions are quite simple:

  • How did Peters claim a scalp but you can not claim his
  • Can you blame for 5.4% of the population for voting NZ First. This is a democracy not an autocracy or plutocracy just because someone voted the way you did not want them too
  • Does that artillery piece with the phrase “aim to the far left John” do the Party any favours or does your behaviour also bring the party into disrepute with no only members but the wider public. There is a difference between Satire and disturbed behaviour, that photo being the latter of the two especially on a serious day like this
  • And what would you have done to Dunne with him so implicated in the report on leaking security information that had concerns in regards to 88 citizens being spied on unknowingly. Probably nothing so long as you get to stay in power…

——

This message was written as a concerned citizen seeing Parliament being effectively brought into disrepute and upsetting the governance of this country. Honesty and Transparency should be held at the utmost. Lets start afresh and get on with the job as the people want.

Money for a Church but No Money for a Death Trap

· 5 Comments ·

Council’s Funding Priorities Wrong Again

 

I noticed this morning (well actually yesterday) that the Council Strategy and Finance Committee approved on a vote of 10-6 to give $3m of our ratepayer’s money to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell so it can get an “upgrade.”

This is while Auckland Transport struggles to find $27m for a grade separation of the Walters Road rail crossing in Takanini and most likely the same amount for grade separating the Morningside Drive rail crossing that nearly killed a woman in a wheelchair earlier this year.

So would the councillors like to explain their logic in supporting $3m to the second biggest church in NZ (the biggest being the Catholic Church) that is exempt from most of our tax and human rights laws yet not give money to a death trap that nearly killed someone in Morningside where they had a human right for authorities to maintain a public crossing in such a way that the accident should have never happened.

And yes I know the crossing has Kiwi Rail responsibility to it as well but it is a shared responsibility with Auckland Transport thus Auckland Council. After the incident at Morningside, the council should have either stumped up the cash entirely or loaned Kiwi Rail a proportion of the money needed to remove the that death trap through a grade separation. But no it goes through the bureaucracy again and again and again and won’t be done for at least five years.

Yet at a drop of the hat Council approves money for a church (where we are meant to exercise absolute separation from Church and State) on the grounds of community facilities needs. Umm if it is for community facilities how about than dumping the money to Local Boards so they can maintain their own community facilities if the money won’t be going elsewhere.

Shame on the every single councillor who voted in giving money for the church while we have a live death trap still floating around (and a few more entering the category as we move to electrification and more frequent trains).

Shows where some have their priorities that need some readjusting in this upcoming election.

 

Auckland Transport Inducing Fare Evasion

· 3 Comments ·

AT causing induced Fare Evasion on its own accord?

 

We have heard much about Auckland Transport cracking down on Fare Evasion on our rail system, with Veolia Ticket Inspectors hard out on the trail trying to enforce what can be only described as a hopeless situation. Hopeless because in my opinion Auckland Transport is inducing actual Fare Evasion due to it’s beyond lacklustre technical support systems for both AT-HOP and the Rail Ticket Machines.

How?

This example in Papatoetoe today which I hear (the example) is quite common through feedback via Facebook and emails.

I caught the train from Papatoetoe and headed in to Britomart, repeating the exercise for the trip home. I have an AT-HOP card so I tag on and off and will top up either at home or a rail ticket machine if possible.

While waiting for the train at Papatoetoe I noticed people could not use any cash (even correct change) to get a paper ticket to head into town. The machine had no change and the coin slot was jammed meaning unless you had EFTPOS like I did (I topped up on the machine) you were pretty well stuffed in getting a ticket.

If you were getting off at Britomart or Newmarket you could still pay your fare, get off anywhere else and hello no ticket – a freebie for you.

So I sent a tweet to Auckland Transport alerting them to the machine basically down:

@AklTransport Rail ticket machine @ papatoetoe not accepting cash at all even correct change

That was sent about 10:10am today

I get back to Papatoetoe around 3:15pm today and the machine was still with no change and not taking coins. And no reply from AT either…

 

Come on Auckland Transport – where is your support services to keep these machines fully functional so good citizens can get their tickets? FIVE HOURS and no technician when the support for an “urgent” problem such as this is meant to be TWO HOURS in turn around (getting it fixed)!

Knowing my luck and I should go check it tomorrow the machine will still be down at 9:30am tomorrow morning after the morning peak!

So fare evasion? Yep – induced by Auckland Transport rather than the rail patrons themselves due to lack tech support services on the rail ticket machines. 

Do people out there know of any other rail ticket machines constantly down and if so how long before they are back up again.

Leave your comments below (AT do keep an eye on this)…