Stop picking on Industry – unless you want a bankrupted City
As Auckland prepared to “debate” the Port of Auckland Question (see graphic below on the Auckland Development Committee resolving the Port Future Study) a wider concern has popped up. That concern is around our industrial complexes in which Port of Auckland is one of them (the others include: Southdown-Onehunga, Wiri, Airport, Highbrook and East Tamaki) and people seemingly not understanding the implications around them.
This is from Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse’s Facebook Thread around the Port question last week:
[Note: names have been removed and thread edited for relevance]
Another Auckland Development committee today. I am very pleased with the early start on the Port future study, we will be handing over to our wider stakeholders and community connected to the port to help set up a representative group to guide the process; this is the way I really love to work and am glad to be able to encourage this approach in our Council. Time for us to genuinely engage our community and wrangle this thorny challenge…..we have a year to fully investigate the future of our port from all angles. Bit of a slow start but we are catching up with our community and with all recommendations being passed unanimously today, we are in a better space as a council to move forward.
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Ben Ross Very well done indeed Penny for handling the thorny issue today.
Yep the Scoping aspect for the eventual study is under way and will be reported back next month to the Committee.From there I suppose it comes out of Council’s hands and into ours (stakeholders, community etc) as well as the academic research to present all options to us to talk on.I suppose I could say welcome to the world of a Geographer (for which I am one) and often the very wide-ranging and complex issues we deal with on a daily basis Penny -
Penny Hulse Must admit Ben I am pretty chuffed that councillors agreed to a real community development approach here…….been quietly working on this for a while now so hoping we have the courage to keep the faith a genuinely allow community to steer the process. Big move for some of our elected members who don’t really want to relax their grip on it all.
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XYZ: Hope you are looking at a plan to move the freight port away from the CBD. Cruise ships are ok but the cars & containers should be elsewhere.
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ABC: Why??
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DEF: Visual pollution *rolls eyes*
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ABC: I actually think the Port should move to Henderson or Massey where its ‘out of the Way’ then we can build a nice shopping/dining precinct and some cool apartments..
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ABC: But it is so out of place in the CBD..Apparently Ports are like Rubbish Tips/Prisons/motorways/speedways/golf courses/etc…and what do they actually do..
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Ben Ross Resource Management Act wont allow the Port to be moved anywhere else in Auckland. Moving it outside of Auckland will just bung State Highways 1 and 2, and further congest the rail lines as well.
Why are people so hot under the collar about industry on a very small proportion of waterfront. The Port tours each year are solidly booked out which suggests people have quite an attachment to a working industrial port
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DEF: Exactly!
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XYZ: Just seems out of place to me if we are going to be in the ‘worlds most liveably city’. Parks, playgrounds, bike trails, walking, sporting facilities, tourist attractions all seem a better fit to me.
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Ben Ross They are just part of a City. Industry is also part of a living City and contributes to the World’s Most Liveable City – in through generating economic output for people to enjoy our City
Beauty one could say is in the eye of the beholder and some
just like having a working port – a working industrial engine on part of our WaterfrontYou can not just bung industry and the port out of site because it isn’t “sexy,” they are economic generators and more so than any tourist attraction could give.
Our rules manage noise and pollutants generated from the Port .
Also Cruise Ships are more harmful to the environment than ironically a cargo ship owing to having 2,000 people in a very small spot all generating trash and sewerage, as well as big diesel engines belching out smoke even while in port.
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Linda Cooper Worlds most liveable cities also have thriving economies. Over $12billion dollars injected into Auckland and thousands of jobs by port. There is a way to have a balanced approach to this dilemma rather than an all or nothing approach.
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Penny Hulse Again Ben you make sense. This process is not and should not be a back door “lets move the port” the issues around this need to be fully canvassed and openly discussed. We need to genuinely understand the relationship between this important part of our economy (50 000 containers in and out of Rosebank peninsula alone supporting our local businesses and jobs) and the long term needs of our city AND the relationship of this area to our city and our wonderful harbour. Lets get rid of the shouting and politics and celebrate the fact that we have an exceedingly efficient port that will return around $60 million to our rate payers this year……we must ALSO however look at the relationship of any future decisions on our city and our harbour and rebuild trust in the managment at ALL levels. This will take calm heads and wise minds, this is why a genuinely stakeholder driven process is so important.
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Andy Cawston Vancouver — The Actual World’s Most Liveable City — has a significant port facility on BOTH sides of its harbor. Plus HUGE grain elevators. Plus a cruise ship terminal. Plus a vibrant waterfront that includes not one but TWO convention centers. The harbor is about the same size as Auckland’s.
While I would love to see the Port moved somewhere else in Auckland, it won’t be going anywhere soon. And it shouldn’t. There is plenty of room, if only Aucklanders would get over their ridiculous NIMBY attitudes.
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ABC: Has anyone done the maths on not having a commercial Port on the Waterfront[where else would it be]..I’m not a Mathematician, and generally not that smart, but a City without a port sounds like an expensive Livable City to me….Probably a more Socially aware management structure might be the story , but folk talking about moving it is just bollocks!!! and should be handled in a scathing manner!!
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Industry might not be considered sexy by some but if the Anniversary Weekend Port Tours are anything to go, it can also draw out the City in droves curious at a working industrial waterfront right next to Downtown Auckland. So yes beauty is in the eye of the beholder on that aspect.
But as Councillor Linda Cooper, Deputy Mayor Hulse and myself pointed out industry (which includes Port of Auckland) is the economic generator that makes Auckland the Most Liveable City. Without that generator Auckland would be rather struggling trying to afford things like Ludo’s Shared Streets in the City Centre, the maintenance of Queen’s Wharf to drink your take-away-latte, or even big projects like the City Rail Link and small projects like a contributing to the cost of your Town Centre upgrade.
In short Industry makes the money while Commercial arguably spends it. Industry also gives us products we enjoy as consumers whether it is made here in Auckland or imported via the logistics firms and the Port. Industry is also a key foundation to especially out big cities like Auckland with modern cities often founded on trade routes and/or industrial complexes/resource points.
The point being our industrial complexes including the Port are intricate and woven into our City if not Regional fabric. One can simply not shunt them out of sight because they are not as sexy as that latte at the end of Queen’s Wharf. Our rules regulate the effects of industry (as well as every other activity) so we do not put ourselves in the same spot China has done.
So please stop demonising our industrial complexes. Without them you would not have the nice things you enjoy in the World’s Most Liveable City!
Talking Southern Auckland 
ABC:”I actually think the Port should move to Henderson or Massey where its ‘out of the Way’ then we can build a nice shopping/dining precinct and some cool apartments..
ABC: But it is so out of place in the CBD..Apparently Ports are like Rubbish ”
Great Article Ben and you are on the money about the importance of industry and economy in Auckland. The gap between rich and poor continues to grow as arrogant entitled TWITS like ABC continue to believe West Auckland is a dumping ground for Aucklands issues including “PORTS” which he thinks are like rubbish, or mega building centres which Inner City hipsters shop at but don’t want ruining there nice inner city neighborhoods (GRey Lynn Residents Ass.) . While ABC’s plan there designer mixed housing, cafes and boutique apartments .
First of all ABC Henderson is rather landlocked unless you are planning on sticking a cruise ship up a stream.
Second having the port out West would be a huge asset and we’re aware that people need jobs and an economy to thrive. We work for a living.
Third and most important, West Auckland is not a dumping ground. We deserve an Auckland of complete communities. Where each area shoulders it’s responsibilities and each suburb has access to the same resources and assets . Not just a few suburbs cherry picking the good bits. And sucking up all the funding.
Perhaps that is the essence of the housing crisis. Not the distance to the city but the growing gap between the have and haven not suburbs worsened by the Council’s spending priorities. The “Economic Budget” for street scaping has been cut to $0 in my neighbouring West Auckland suburb AGAIN this financial year. The effect. Long term economic decline run down,shops poverty.