Universally Panned? Well you know when Social Liberals, Neo Liberals and even Classic Liberals start panning National’s new housing policy from yesterday National might have a wee problem. … Continue reading National’s Housing Policy – Universally Panned?
If Labour with the Greens form the next Government Labour announced today that it would – if in power start the Auckland Congestion Free Network, something the Greens … Continue reading Congestion Free Network is a “Go” [update]
Interesting story and fate for one of Nelson’s founding fathers who was in the end killed by a feared Maori Chief. Prior to his death this founding father would be part of the Royal Navy force that captured Washington DC and razed the White House in 1814
The destruction of the White House is a scene most commonly associated with fictional alien invasions or terrorist plots on the big screen, but today marks two hundred years since an enemy force marched on Washington and set fire to the famous residence. This is the relatively unknown yet remarkable story of how one of the junior officers in the force that torched the White House went on to become the founding father of one of New Zealand’s earliest settlements and ultimately met his fate during a skirmish with one of the most revered and feared of all Māori chiefs – Te Rauparaha.
Arthur Wakefield was only ten years old when he joined the Royal Navy in May 1810. The British had enjoyed naval supremacy since their famous victory at Trafalgar, less than five years earlier, but the fate of Europe was still uncertain with Napoleon’s armies waging war across…
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The Opening Addresses and some commentary I was listening to the All Blacks giving the Wallabies a methodical thumping last night at Eden Park on the radio. Radio commentary … Continue reading Election 2014 [updated]
And on the discussion? Three major items in the open session and one in the closed session that caught my attention. First of all the Agendas Open Session … Continue reading Auckland Transport August 2014 Board Meeting
New City Rail Link Open Days In light of the changes to the City Rail Link that including the dropping of the Newton Station and changes to Mt Eden … Continue reading City Rail Link Open Days
2nd September it meets to discuss “out of scope” Unitary Plan submissions Talking Auckland will cover the proceedings of the Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel from time to time. … Continue reading First Unitary Plan Pre Hearing to Get Under-Way
I am keeping an eye on the central Elections seeming they dominate my Twitter feed as is at the moment. For me I am keeping a close eye on the “Government (or Economy) is heading in the right direction” numbers as they can give an insight to more deeper down feelings of the electorate.
Put it this way while some consider that particular aspect to the realm of Political Junkie or Wankery status, no government has survived rather long when that Right Direction number hits below 50 and sits that way for a sustained period.
For National’s sake that 7 point drop in that particular aspect better be the last…
The latest Roy Morgan poll has just been released. The polling window runs from 4 August to 17 August, meaning that been a quarter and a third of the polling was done following the release of Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics book. We’ll need to wait for further polling before the real impact of the book and its fallout can be seen.
The results of the Roy Morgan will undoubtedly be somewhat of a disappointment for Labour and the Greens. National is up 2% to 48%, while on the left, Labour drops 2.5% to 27.5%, and the Greens drop 0.5% to 11.5%. That’s a 9% gap between National and a Labour/Greens bloc.
The big mover of the minor parties is NZ First, up 1.5% to 6.5%. That’s the highest they’ve been in the Roy Morgan since September 2013, and it’s the party’s second highest poll result this year from any of…
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Stuarts #41 tip on a Better Auckland 41: What if we planned a more urban future for every sub- urban shopping mall? pic.twitter.com/YMlpAZHlNr — Stuart (@HoughtonSd) August 19, 2014 The … Continue reading What If: We Transformed our Mall-Centric Centres Into Something more Urban? [Updated]
Stuart in his 100 Days Project (for Auckland) put up a thought provoke project that Auckland should consider.
It was:
An enlargement of that picture:
Depending how you answer that question (Auckland? Connected Communities or (isolated) villages) is how you would react to wider schemes such as the Auckland Plan and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.
In short those “villages” won’t lose their “feel” if they are interconnected with each other. In fact I would argue as a Geographer those villages rather than being isolated snow-globes would benefit highly from being interconnected with everyone else in Auckland. Put it this way we are seeing some villages stagnating if not dying right now. Being interconnected would go a long way in turning that around. It would also be helpful if Council was a bit more proactive outside the City Centre than it currently is. That said I have seen the 10 Spatial Priorities Plan from the draft Long Term Plan 2015-2025 discussions I think that warrants a sit down and flesh this out some more.
Mean time I see Luke has gotten his Walking in Manukau post published up on Transport Blog. Will be a very interesting read as TB don’t often come down to the South.
