Category: Politics

The Politics behind the issue or of the day

Mayor Len Brown Settles

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$40,000 of $250,000 cost to be paid by the mayor.

 

Two releases on the Len Brown Saga today.

From Auckland Council itself:

Negotiated payment from Mayor towards cost of EY report
Following publication of the EY report last year, Auckland Council’s Governing Body agreed that a group of councillors comprising Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse, Christine Fletcher, George Wood, Dick Quax and Penny Webster would hold confidential discussions with the Mayor to agree a financial contribution from him towards the final cost of the report.

Speaking on behalf of the group of councillors, Christine Fletcher, Chair of the CEO Review Committee said today:

“Following discussions with the Mayor through Chief Executive Stephen Town, there has been a full and final agreement that he will make a contribution of $40,000 towards the final cost of the EY report. This is in addition to the Mayor meeting his own legal costs of $20,000.

“In the interests of open process and the public interest, we are releasing these numbers.”

Auckland Council Chief Executive Stephen Town confirmed the cost of the EY report and legal work was approximately $250,000.

—ends—

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1402/S00157/negotiated-payment-from-mayor-towards-cost-of-ey-report.htm

 

And from the Office of the Mayor:

Mayoral media statement on EY report costs

Mayor Len Brown says:

“I have agreed to make this payment out of respect to my fellow Councillors and to acknowledge the upset this issue has caused. I continue to be totally focussed on the issues that matter to Aucklanders.” “I do not intend to make any further comment on this matter.”

—ends—

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1402/S00158/mayoral-media-statement-on-ey-report-costs.htm

Well if nothing else it was a very short statement.

 

Rest I will leave over to you. If you do comment please remember The Rules for commenting.

 

Berms – The Final Mow

· 1 Comment ·

Time for People’s Choice

Isthmus Conservatives Continue to Disappoint

 

Bernard Orsman of the NZ Herald picked up on two Auckland Council elected representatives “rebelling” against Auckland Transport rules and converting berms into something more “green.”

From the NZ Herald

Berms: Politicians say it with flowers

By Bernard Orsman 6:17 AM Wednesday Feb 5, 2014

Pippa Coom says bees and butterflies love her planted berm. Photo / Richard Robinson

Pippa Coom says bees and butterflies love her planted berm. Photo / Richard Robinson

 

Two Auckland Council politicians are flouting council rules by planting flower beds on their berms.

Councillor Cathy Casey and Waitemata Local Board member Pippa Coom are proud of their flower beds, with Dr Casey saying it was easier to maintain flowers than mow a berm against a wall at her Mt Albert home.

Ms Coom said not everyone wanted verges to be mowed and her planted berm in Grey Lynn was about having a diverse landscape.

The bees and butterflies loved it and it gave her a chance to talk to neighbours, she said.

Auckland Transport could help out, she said, by setting guidelines about what could be planted.

A council debate on the berm issue yesterday also heard of cases of people planting flax and corn on berms.

Defiance of the rules angered councillor Denise Krum, who said the approach of planting corn, flax and flowers and politicians’ behaviour sent a message to residents that anything goes.

“The whole thing is a dog’s breakfast,” Ms Krum said.

…

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11196784

Good on Pippa Coom and Councillor Casey for greening their little slice of the City up and converting the berm outside their property into something more friendly to nature (and appeasing to the eye). Also good to see Auckland Transport will not hound people down who do convert the berms over into a community garden as mentioned below:

Later, Auckland Transport communications manager Sharon Hunter said no action was taken against people who planted flowers and other plants on their berms. They would only be asked to remove plants that grew high, obscured a street sign or became a hazard.

 

The real pity I have those is what Councillor Denise Krum (a member of the National Party which believes in Individual Freedom, Choice and Responsibility) said in the article. Rather than help the Local Boards, residents and Auckland Transport set up some basic guidelines on what can be planted, the responsibility and maintenance onus, and the knowledge that contractors can dig up the berm at any time to access utilities; Councillor Krum goes all Nanny State on us and would pretty much dictate what Auckland residents can not do – in greening up their city as a potential solution to the “berm issue” (the other being kicking it to Local Boards and Local Boards via targeted rates having their own contractors mowing their berms).

 

North America and the EU nations often run community garden schemes in cities to often great success. Not only is the respective city more “green” and friendly to wildlife (like bees) but social issues decrease as communities feel involved in something that is tangible. That is they take pride in their work and feel more connected with the city fabric rather than being isolated out. This can be seen as a win for the physical environment and win for the social environment. Another win could be the tourism element as tourists see a greening and varied cityscape from these “community” berms.

Or as Campbell Live pointed out when on tour with the Mayor, convert a few berms to either off street parking or cycle-ways.

Either way there are solutions and I believe it is time to hand this one to the City citizenry and the Local Boards. Especially as a “review” of the berm policy pushed for by some of the Isthmus Councillors was defeated 15-7 (68%) in Council yesterday. With those super-majority numbers I do not expect to see this issue of berms come back up again for the rest of the term of Council – outside of kicking it back to the Local Boards and some basic guidelines for those who wish to convert their berm into a garden.

 

Berms Issue Back

· 1 Comment ·

And the Solution is oh so Simple!

 

Councillor Cameron Brewer made an off-hand remark to New Zealand Herald’s Bernard Orsman about how the special one-off Auckland International Airport Dividend of $101 million should be used to restore berm mowing to areas of the Isthmus that had it before the Super City came into existence.

From The Aucklander – Division of the NZ Herald

Council returns to mowing berms in Auckland

By Bernard Orsman  6:49 AM Monday Feb 3, 2014

Residents who can’t cut the grass, or refuse to, will get a trim but contractors can wait until it is 20cm high.

…

Orakei councillor Cameron Brewer said he planned an amendment for the proper reinstatement of berm mowing, which could be funded from a special $101 million dividend from Auckland Airport, or internal savings.

…

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/aucklander/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503378&objectid=11195808

 

It is one of the few times condemnation from both the Centre Left and Right were rather swift against Councillor Brewer for mentioned that a dividend would be used for a OPEX rather than CAPEX line (Opex means Operational Budget for Day to Day running of the Council, CAPEX is your Capital Expenditure – that is investment into things like infrastructure).

That $101 million would be best set for infrastructure like say some cycle ways, the St Johns Station, maybe the Manukau South Rail Link and some grade separation of our dangerous rail crossings, perhaps some storm-water infrastructure or paying down some debt which actually is not a bad suggestion from Councillor George Wood.

But to pay for OPEX expenses like berms for a few on the Isthmus? I think not.

 

Look the solution is dead simple for the berm situation.

I recommend that the issue be sent to the Local Boards for their final decision. That is if the respective Local Board would like berm mowing for their residential areas then they would have the chance to:

  • Pass a targeted rate for the service as two Local Boards did for universal free-swimming pools (rather than the Auckland-wide policy of free for under-16’s)
  • Have the opportunity to tender the service out to either:
    • Auckland Council’s Park Services main contractor
    • Auckland Transport’s berm contractor
    • Local private sector contractor

If I was to say the Papakura Local Board and was going to charge a targeted rate for berm mowing for the area I would tender the service out to a local firm in the area (if possible). This means a local business with local area knowledge has the chance of providing a service to the community of Papakura and providing employment to the local area. More local employment means more spending and more investment in the area. I call that a Win-win-win-major win if this was able to occur.

So lets kick this issue of berm mowing to the goal line once and for all and hand it over to the Local Boards to decide rather than the main Governing Body.

As for the Isthmus and their berms I found this rather telling from a comment on Cameron Brewer’s public Facebook remark on the issue (note Cameron did not write this comment but a ratepayer of Auckland did):

We drove to the airport back in October and went through Gillies Ave and Manukau Rd. Those who had not mown their berms in the upmarket area should be ashamed of themselves. The neighbours would be really annoyed with them. As we drove through the not so affluent area all the berms were mowed nice and tidily (bar one that had construction activity in the adjacent section). I would be mowing the neighbour’s unmown berm myself because it affects your own place. And most of the houses bedside the umown berms had lovely tidy mown lawns.

 

And I can vouch for that the numerous times I have travelled through the Isthmus. That said the commenter and myself are not painting our affluent areas all with the same tar brush as there are some who do mow their berms and look after them. What was telling though was where however, most of the issues were coming from on the Isthmus. Also at the same time there are those on the Isthmus who have converted their berms to gardens of different varieties. This should be encouraged rather than punished as it does add spice and “colour” to Auckland.

 

Mayor Len Brown on upcoming Transport Projects

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Generation Zero Got a Mention

And

The Roads are Staying

 

I caught on Twitter that Mayor Len Brown was doing an interview with Radio Live over the lunch break. It is a very long interview covering an array of topics but the one that caught my attention the most was on transport.

We know three things:

  1. 2015-2025 Integrated Transport Program comes out for submissions later this year
  2. We have a current $15 billion funding gap for the 2012-2022 ITP owing to the massive road-fest in that program
  3. Generation Zero along with Transport Blog are strongly advocating for the Congestion Free Network which as they claim costs less than the current ITP and actually gets Auckland moving (the current ITP won’t)

 

Cue this piece from Radio Live today (http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Audio.aspx) which made think “oh boy.” To get the piece go to that Radio Live audio link, select Monday 20th January, then select the 12:30pm line on the scrolling menu, wait until 4:04 mark where the Mayor talks about Generation Zero and the ITP.

It would appear from that snippet that Generation Zero and Transport Blog are going to be facing an interesting debate when it comes to the 2015-2025 Integrated Transport Program. The Mayor does support some aspects of what Generation Zero and Transport Blog are pushing like the City Rail Link. But when it comes to the motorways and roading side of the ITP (subsequently leading to the funding issue) this is where sparks could fly. In short the Mayor has said the roading projects remain and (this was a stretch) that Generation Zero had taken any new roading project off the table. The Mayor went on further saying this was not tenable and effectively even with all the public and active transport investment, that mode usage would only move from 10% current to approximately 15% – leaving 85% by car. Also remember the population is growing to volume also on both modes increases as well.

The Radio Live portal:

Radio Live

 

It seems rather underwhelming what the Mayor said when it came to transport investment. I wonder if the Councillors have other ideas and could force a change of tact with the ITP? Will have to wait and see I suppose, but least we know what we are up against.