Month: April 2014

Latest from Civil Defence

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Updates from Civil Defence

As of 2:45pm from Civil Defence and Auckland Council

Road users urged to take caution

Although weather conditions have improved Auckland Civil Defence is asking drivers to take extra care on the roads with localised thunderstorms and rain expected between 3pm and 7pm.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is urging people to travel during daylight hours if they are going away for Easter. Slips and debris may be common on roads which will be dangerous at night.

Flooding along Tamaki Drive and in eastern bays communities has subsided with outgoing tides.  Tamaki Drive has been reopened and Civil Defence and other council staff are assessing the damage to approximately eleven properties which were impacted by the flooding.

Localised power outages are still affecting the region. As of 2pm approximately 17,000 properties were still affected.

NZ Fire Service has responded to approximately 340 weather-related calls across Auckland.

High tide is forecast for 9.12pm tonight.  The flooding that occurred at Tamaki Drive and in eastern bay communities this morning was due to very strong northeast winds driving the sea onshore.  Wind conditions are easing in Auckland this afternoon and no flooding is expected at high tide tonight.

Contractors and emergency services continue work to clear fallen trees and other debris.

Auckland Civil Defence is monitoring the weather situation and advises people to keep up to date with severe weather warnings and forecasts from MetService.

  • People should stay off the roads if possible.
  • Power and phone services may be disrupted.  We recommend you have a torch and a battery-powered radio so you can listen to weather alerts.

 

On the road drivers are urged to exercise caution:

  • Headlights on.
  • Drive to the conditions.
  • Keep a safe distance from the car in front.

 

For more information:

To keep updated, follow Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management on Facebook and Twitter @AucklandCDEM.

If you have a smartphone, please download the Auckland Civil Defence app to receive instant updates. Go to www.aucklandcivildefence.org.nz/Alerting/Get-the-Applications.

To keep up to date with outages, download Vector’s Outage Manager App from iTunes or Google Play. Go to http://www.vector.co.nz/outages. To download Counties Power’s App, go tohttp://www.countiespower.co.nz/.

 

Visit www.getthru.govt.nz for detailed information on what to do, before, during and after a storm.

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As of this morning from Civil Defence and Auckland Council

Flooding, debris and power cuts as storm hits

 

Auckland Civil Defence reminds Aucklanders to stay up-to-date with weather forecasts as severe weather impacts the region.
Extensive flooding has been reported on Tamaki Drive. Auckland Transport has closed the road from the Strand to Kohimarama Road. NZ Police and Fire Service are responding to flooding.
High tide was at 8.42am and tides are expected to ease over the next few hours.
Localised power outages, flooding and fallen trees continue to be reported around the region. Rainfall is expected to become more intense this morning. Wind gusts of 128 km/hr have been recorded.
The Auckland Emergency Coordination Centre is responding to incidents and scaling up staff to facilitate the response.
Auckland Civil Defence is monitoring the weather situation and advises people to keep up to date with severe weather warnings and forecasts from MetService.

” People should stay off the roads if possible.
” Power and phone services may be disrupted. We recommend you have a torch and a battery-powered radio so you can listen to weather alerts.

On the road drivers are urged to exercise caution:
” Headlights on.
” Drive to the conditions.
” Keep a safe distance from the car in front.

For more information:
To keep updated, follow Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management on Facebook and Twitter @AucklandCDEM.
If you have a smartphone, please download the Auckland Civil Defence app to receive instant updates. Go towww.aucklandcivildefence.org.nz/Alerting/Get-the-Applications.

Visit www.getthru.govt.nz for detailed information on what to do, before, during and after a storm.

—-ends—-

More as it comes

Stay safe out there folks and keep listening to updates from Civil Defence please. 

Auckland Transport Update

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Latest from AT while Auckland rides through the weather

 

As of 12:15pm from AT

TRANSPORT UPDATE

All of Tamaki Drive has reopened except for Kohimarama between Averill Ave and Selwyn Ave where a local detour is in place. This section is expected to reopen around 2pm.

 

 

As of 11:20am from AT

AUCKLAND TRANSPORT UPDATE

Update on Tamaki Drive

Auckland Transport is working to re-open Tamaki Drive after this morning’s flooding.

The part of the road Ngapipi Road to Selwyn Ave will open shortly, followed by section from The Strand to Ngapipi.

All going well the remaining area Selwyn Ave to Averill Ave will re-open at around 2pm.

 

 

 

From Auckland Transport as of 10:30am

Bad weather disrupting roads and buses, trains not affected

This morning’s bad weather has closed some roads and is affecting bus services in Auckland.

This is the latest information:

“Tamaki Dr

  • Road closed between The Strand and Kohimarama Rd
  • All bus services detouring via Shore Rd/Kepa Rd
  • Major delays – Shore Rd currently bumper to bumper

” Remuera Rd – Greenlane/Ladies Mile Intersection

  • Traffic lights out at these intersections
  • Major delays in the area
  • Affects all Remuera Rd bus services

” Whangaparoa – By Marellen Dr

  • Partial road closure due to fallen trees

” Pt Chevalier – Selwyn Village

  • Road closure affecting 007 bus services

 

” Quay St – Lower Albert to Lower Queen St

  • Partial road closure but most buses remaining on route
  • City LINK from Wynyard Quarter detouring via Customs St
  • Some traffic getting funnelled into Britomart causing delays

” Meadowbank – Harapaki Rd – ROAD NOW OPEN

General delays apply to the entire bus network due to severe congestion on most arterial roads.

All train services are operating as per normal.

 

 

More updates as they come through

Stay safe out there folks and keep listening to updates from Civil Defence please. 

Has the Public Lost Interest in the Council?

· 1 Comment ·

Numbers suggest not

 

I noted yesterday that Councillor Cameron Brewer (surprise – surprise) released an “opinion” on the public losing interest with Auckland Council. The actual question is ‘has the public actually lost interest?’ I would say no and even Radio new Zealand’s Todd Niall would say no in his written correspondence earlier this week.

 

Lets take a look at what Councillor Brewer is saying this time.

From Voxy:

Opinion: Public lose interest in Auckland Council

Wednesday, 16 April, 2014 – 14:40

By Cameron Brewer, Auckland Councillor

The second term Auckland Council is proving to be an interesting one and very different to the inaugural 2010 – 2013 Governing Body.

We are currently going through a budget round to lock in where council’s $3b expenditure is directed for the forthcoming 2014/15 financial year.

This year we had fewer than 2,000 written submissions from the public on our Draft Annual Plan with only a few dozen turning up to speak to their submissions. The Mayor takes this as a vote of confidence in the council, but I take a different view.

My view is that the public interest in this council is at an all-time low because Aucklanders are increasingly of the view that this term is a bit of a lost cause, a bit of a political basket case. The Mayor has hung on to his political career but has lost a lot of political capital. Whatever your view on that, this is bad for Auckland.

….

Todd Niall and myself have already commented on the low Annual Plan submission count and why it was that low. You can see my own commentary behind to low submission count (which includes extract’s from Todd’s analysis) here: “Todd Niall Hits the Budget Nail on its Head.”

From that commentary piece:

To be honest I can see why both the Annual Plan submission count is very low and how most submissions were pertaining to local rather than regional issues. For the low submission count the Annual Plan submissions were called for during the final weeks of the massive Unitary Plan submission period. With limited time and resources available a conscious call might have been made on which of the two submissions you would pick to get done. Is it the Annual Plan or is it the Unitary Plan? I made such a conscious decision and chose the Unitary Plan over the Annual Plan to dedicate my submission time to – so as a result no submission from me on the Annual Plan this round.

What also factored into not doing an Annual Plan submission this round was the knowledge knowing the 2015-2025 Long Term Plan (the main Council budget document) is coming up for debate soon. Something again Todd Niall points out…

…

Maybe that’s why Aucklanders have turned out in such low numbers to have their say on this year’s annual plan. They know that far bigger debates lie ahead.

…

Source: https://voakl.net/2014/04/15/todd-niall-hits-the-budget-nail-on-its-head/

Again I would say that is why the submission count is low not because we have lost interest but rather we had the Unitary Plan at the same time as well as knowing those bigger more important debates ahead (like the Long Term Plan).

The Unitary Plan submission count (at 8,900 as of the beginning of the month) I would say is a testimony to Auckland paying interest into what Council is doing. Of course we have the next Unitary Plan submission round late next month where anyone can submit on the points previously made (so no new material). Also if you are like me you are taking a break between all these big submission and consultation periods unless you want to burn yourself out from it all.

 

Continuing from Voxy

The lack of interest and coverage shows that the public and media have effectively given up on this term, with 2016 set to be a watershed election.

One thing’s for sure the third term will be just as different again with a new Mayor and many new councillors after a whole new public mandate and direction sought and secured.

….

Be very careful what you wish for Councillor. I can assure you the public and media (both Main Stream, and Social) have certainly not given up on this term. That said I do believe and agree that the third term will be quite different with new Councillors including a possible replacement for Orakei Ward too 😉 .

 

Finally:

In the meantime all councillors are committed to making a difference. For me it means keeping the Mayor accountable and focusing on the likes of fighting for lower rates increases and pushing for more sustainable debt levels. I will also continue to advocate for regional funding for projects in the Orakei ward area.

….

Groan…

Local Boards I thought would be the best advocates for getting funding for projects in their local area while ward Councillors are meant to be focusing on the big picture regional stuff. Or did Cameron not read this: Slow News Day. We Have the Bigger Picture to Focus On

 

Oh well I suppose the above was expected from Councillor Brewer.

In the mean time this storm outside is causing enough havoc as is – although I still have mains power in Papakura for now

 

Stay safe out there folks and keep listening to updates from Civil Defence please. 

 

Continued Efficiency Savings at the Council

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More Efficiency Savings

 

From Auckland Council:

Amalgamation benefits boost council savings

 

Improved economies of scale from the amalgamation of the eight local authorities have helped Auckland Council maintain services at reduced cost, says a council report on efficiency savings.

Average rates increases have reduced year on year from previously anticipated rises while capital works are nearly double that of the former councils.

Annual operating savings to June 2013 were $131million and are budgeted to be $188million by June 2018.

Savings have come from benefits including:

  • simpler and better information technology
  • better purchasing and tendering processes
  • bringing more work in-house to reduce reliance on external resources
  • reducing the number of office buildings occupied.

 

“The benefits of amalgamation become more evident with each year,” said Councillor Penny Webster, chair of the Finance and Performance Committee.

“We’re running a ruler over everything we do as we manage ratepayers money.  That’s what is expected of us and we are delivering savings while pressing ahead with projects that will make the city a .better place for residents to live in, enjoy, and prosper,” she said.

—-Ends—

 

You can read both the Finance and Performance Committee Agenda, and Addendum Agenda (which contains the motions on disposing of the Civic Building mentioned here: Future Uncertain for Civic Building)