Heavy Auckland Plan Committee Agenda

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Going to be a long and contentious day

 

August 13 is going to be a very long and contentious day in Town Hall starting at 10am sharp.

While the agenda is not as long as the Transport Committee agenda’s (and that is only due to the Auckland Transport monthly report from its respective Board being added) it does stand at 200 odd pages long and has five heavy items in there. They being:

  1. Unitary Plan Update
  2. Port Zone decision
  3. Lot 59 (The Manukau Bus Interchange opposite the MIT being built in Manukau)
  4. Mill Road/Redoubt Road Corridor
  5. Iwi Management Plan

 

You can see the main agenda and the addendum agenda below

 

The Main Agenda

 

The Addendum Agenda including the Unitary Plan and Port of Auckland

 

Of course I will be in attendance at that Committee meeting and Tweeting live as the updates and moves occur. Also an update on the Congestion Free Network should also arrive on Tuesday (the 13th as well).

 

As I said in the beginning, it will be a long and contentious day as the heavy stuff progresses through.

 

 

And Back From Vaction

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All Rested and Ready to Go

 

And we are back from out short mid-winter break in Tauranga and Rotorua – back to the grind that is Auckland.

Although both Bekka and I do have a “day off” tomorrow it will be spent preparing for a hectic week next week.

August 13 will be the busy day as the Auckland Plan Committee meets to note further interim directions on the Unitary Plan which this round has some meaty stuff in it. That meaty stuff also includes Port of Auckland which has cropped back up as it pushes on with expansion plans at its current Waterfront site.

You can see part of the Agenda HERE – although the Unitary Plan material has not be released yet. Once it has been done so I will upload that material into Scribd and into Talking Auckland.

 

Pretty much Action Stations next week. Always seems to be when one returns from a holiday.

 

Related articles

 

Retraction and Apologies

· 4 Comments ·

When Wrong – One Apologies Promptly

 

I caught the update to the train incident that was reported in the NZ Herald on Monday and subsequent reaction in Talking Auckland soon afterwards.

This is the update from Stuff:

Rail operator backtracks for mum

 

After Transdev and Auckland Transport viewed Colour CCTV footage there was more to the saga than meets the eye originally when reported from the black and white CCTV footage at Takanini Station.

As a result of this update and the respective Talking Auckland Post on Monday (now fully retracted) I do offer a full and utter apology to Ms Johnson and her children.

In light of the issue, further measures will be put into place to make sure this kind of incident does not occur again at Talking Auckland. In saying that there is always a risk when doing “second-hand” reporting from a Main Stream Media source into a blog post. However, utmost professionalism will occur when running commentary on such emotive issues.

 

In saying this I need not remind Auckland that the rail network is a very dangerous place and can kill. The case of the dad running to the train as it was departing from Ranui Station last year resulting in the accident and eventual death as he slipped from the platform, underneath the train and was effectively run over in front of his family and other passengers is that STARK reminder of what happens when something can go so utterly wrong.

So please in light of all of this: Please be at the platform 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train with your ticket ready or AT-HOP card tagged on.

 

As for Te Mahia Station – lobbying continues for it to be fully closed!

 

 

Vacation

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Will be back Friday

 

Rebekka and I are taking our annual mid-winter short vacation. Destination: Tauranga, Rotorua and possibly Taupo.

 

During this time commentary will be at a minimum although I will be keeping a proceedings on Wednesday’s Transport Committee where ATB and Gen Zero are presenting on their Congestion Free Network. As with the response from the Mayor’s Office on the CFN, still waiting.

 

In saying this myself and TotaRim will still be in contact through usual means if one has any enquiries.

 

Will be seeing you all on Friday – so no err burning the city down while I am away 😉

-Ben-

Emotions Should Never Get In The Way – of Professionalism

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Always Act Professional

 

This morning readers would have seen the post “Daft Behaviour – On a Train” which went under a couple of edits from the original post.

The main edit was to tone the language down back to a more professional level are an deeply charged and emotive original post on the matter at hand.

In light of this I would like to raise a couple of points:

  • This blog is a conversation blog and runs commentary on Auckland and issues abroad. That means opinions and ideas are presented here. Yes facts and “truths” are also stated in the blog but, they are backed up by best available research and facts available and will be mentioned so accordingly (including referencing). It also means I can edit a previously written post if the circumstances change to the original post. However, a note is always mentioned that I have undertaken an edit in a post.
  • Emotions should never get in the way of professionalism – which there arguably is with blogs and blogs linked back to businesses. Today readers would have seen a more human and emotive response to an issue that should have not happened (endangering lives on the rail network). There is time for emotion and time for professionalism and emotion got the better of me at first in that post.

 

We are all human here and yep it is the old case of think before rattling off especially in the social medial realms. One notes all this and will be more cautious when an emotive issue comes back up again

Ben

Owner – Talking Auckland

Here We Go Again with Port of Auckland

· 1 Comment ·

Round Two

With Port Expansions

 

This is a case of here we go again with Port of Auckland and its more modest expansion plans at its Waterfront site.

Seems Bernard Orsman has a new (well old) topic to go latch onto until August 13 – when the Auckland Plan Committee meets again.

The Herald is planning to run a “series” on the latest plans for expansion at the Waitemata site. Talking Auckland though will not be running any commentary on the latest rounds from POAL and its expansion proposals.

The reason being that I have originally covered matters relating to the Port expansion plans earlier (check the Waterfront Auckland Waterfront Index at the top of the page) as well as that there is no new material to comment on until Part Two of the review is conducted (if it ever will be). Orsman did handily outline the two parts to the review for easy reference:

From the NZ Herald

Port push into harbour set to be part of Auckland plan

By Bernard Orsman @BernardOrsman

5:30 AM Monday Aug 5, 2013

Expansion plan reviews – what’s involved

Stage 1
* A technical study by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the current and future freight demand and supply for the three upper North Island ports, Auckland, Tauranga and Northland.

It found:
* The upper North Island needs all its ports to meet strong growth, and the best way to meet future demand is to grow the ports.
* Ports of Auckland is likely to face capacity constraints before Tauranga and Northland.
* Losing the 3ha of land at Captain Cook and Marsden wharves would make matters worse.
* Further reclamation needed over the next 30 years, but less than previously thought.

Stage 2
* To inform the long-term strategic planning choices for the Auckland waterfront.

To consider:
* Different configurations and alternative locations for Ports of Auckland.
* Economic costs and benefits of various options.
* Alignment with current transport strategies, plans and programmes.
* Legal and other barriers to various options.
* Auckland Council engaging with communities with an interest in port development about the results of the work.

—ends—

 

August 13 folks – it is open to the public and I will be there running the commentary live as it happens.

Taking a look at Three Mayoral Candidates

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They are vying for your vote after all

 

With social media full of campaigning updates, and TEDx Talks currently being held in the CBD as I write this (well yesterday) I thought I might give another glance at three of our mayoral candidates vying for our vote: incumbent Mayor Len Brown, the Rev. Usefili Unasa, and  John Palino.

After a quick search through the Main Stream Media I note things have gone rather silent since both Len and John launched their campaigns around mid July. I have noted the respect candidate’s websites and Palino dropping a bit into Scoop that the MSM have not picked up on…

Lets take a look a screen shot of Brown and Palino’s respective websites (note I run a 27″ widescreen)

Len Brown

Browns internet front page

 

 

Palino

Palinos webpage front

 

 

You can visit the two’s respective sites by clicking on the links above for your viewing pleasure.

While I have not discovered a website for Rev Unasa yet but I had dug up this little nugget from All About Auckland that runs interviews and feeds on Auckland Council affairs. You Tube is where All About Auckland (run by Kane Glass) is uploading videos on Council affairs can be found here http://www.youtube.com/user/aboutakl/about

 

So the question I leave to readers, rather than have me frame the commentary or put words in people’s mouths is what do you think? More to the point what are your issues for the elections in October (by postal ballot).

Leave your comments below in the comment box. Note to first time commenters, your comments are held in moderation until I approve them. Once your first comment is approved then you are free to comment in real-time – until I revoke that privilege (usually because you broke a rule of the site).

 

While my mind is at it I also ask a tougher question. 2016 – the next round of Local Elections. It is known a campaign for a Council (or even Central Government) seat starts at the previous campaign and must be sustained for the term of the upcoming Council before we hit the polls again in three years time (from now). So what would you be not only looking for in the 2013-2016 term of Council, but for those vying in 2016.

It is a more cryptic or thought-provoking way into looking at the long-term towards the City as a whole.

 

The comment box is open below

 

Updates, Holiday, and C&R Playing Same Old Again

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Will Be Away Next Week

 

I will be away next week from August 6 to the 10th in Tauranga on a nice mid year winter break. Looking at Council and Auckland Transport business next week there is nothing particularly heavy happening apart from the Transport Committee on the Wednesday. You can see my commentary on the upcoming meeting in the Transport Committee to Discuss Rail Patronage post.

In saying that and thanks (or a curse) to the Digital Age I will still be keeping an eye on things in Auckland if anything does crop up.

 

Act Honestly

Speaking of things cropping up it seems the Centre Right, more to the point C&R are back to their old politicking tricks again as the campaign draws on towards October.

I was aware there was the second and final Unitary Plan Mapping Workshop yesterday with the Councillors and the Local Boards. Looking at social media feeds at the timetable it was running from 9am until 1:45 with lunch about 12:10pm. And from the final remarks it seemed the workshop went well although I did pick up a comment on the planners being a tad hesitant on some proposed changes – it happens.

What caught my attention though was on Facebook was three Communities and Resident (C&R) incumbents (one councillor and two Local Board members) having a photo op and stating it was for preparation for the campaign. Out of curiosity I questioned Nigel Turnball the incumbent C&R Local Board member who planning to run alongside incumbent C&R Councillor Chris Fletcher for the Albert-Eden Ward seat (effectively trying to tip out Councillor Dr Cathy Casey) why they were not at the Unitary Plan Mapping Workshop.

I was told by Nigel that this was early morning session and that they did show up to the workshop yesterday. That was fine and I would have left it at that. However, literally by coincidence at the same time on Twitter I had Nigel’s Local Board counterpart’s mention that “they” (our photo op people) did not show up until lunch time (if that) and that the maps went away either then or not long after.

So I questioned Nigel again for clarification and I was told their photo op session was the day previous. A photo of a Unitary Plan map with pencil drawings was soon posted later. Now I would have left the whole affair at that and gone on to the next subject matter at hand at the time. But, when one gets alerted that your comments were deleted the suspicion alarms go up automatically. Sure enough the comment thread with my line of questions was removed. I would also suspect that the map photo would have come from the first Unitary Plan Mapping workshop rather than the second one if the maps were put away yesterday at the time they said they were.

Where am I going with this? C&R up to their old tricks again rather than being accountable as they keep harping to the Centre Left about.

What will get me at maximum suspicion automatically and very quickly is not the fact the comment line with the question line was deleted – although that does get suspicions up but, the fact that person strong in the “faith” and makes it publicly known either deleted or allowed someone to delete the questions rather than allowing the thread to stay put and others being the judge themselves.

Unfortunately I did not get a screenshot of the thread (although there were witnesses that saw my line of questioning) as I believed I would have no reason to do so – if the said person was acting with integrity. Obviously someone there was not and now the thread is gone.

My suspicions now? That these people who are critics of the Unitary Plan and rather vocal on it decided that a photo op was more important than working with their Local Board counterparts, their other Councillor, and the Planners in trying to get the maps more reflective of community feedback.

I have blasted Councillors Brewer and Coney for grandstanding at Auckland Plan Committee meetings on the Unitary Plan, and I let rip into Councillor Walker after his performance at the last committee while not at workshops.

I should be letting rip into these three Centre Right representatives for not being at a very critical mapping workshop. The last workshop where they can make changes to the maps before they come back out to the public in the formal notification process starting later this year.

Unacceptable from all three of them indeed and will not earn favourable light from this end any time soon.

There is a moral of the story here. Tell the truth for starters when questioned and don’t go deleting the comment thread on Facebook while one is paying attention as one was. Now one believes someone did have something to hide and was being dishonest about it. Otherwise the thread would have remained and most likely the person being a tad more truthful than what there were being in the first place.

It also does them no good when I am already naturally suspicious of the Centre Right and Right Wing and they go and decide to pull that stunt off. And it does not do anything better when I am also naturally suspicious of those who are more “conservative” in the Christian or Catholic faith and such person commits a rather shady act in the political realm.

 

I suppose those who are running for an elected position in Council can take the above as a warning. Act dishonestly and no favours will be earned in a hurry from here.

 

The voters are watching