More than seventy people crowded Ponsonby Central’s Sapphire Room earlier this month to support Bill Ralston’s launch of his campaign for the Waitemata and Gulf ward on the Auckland Council.
He was standing to be a councillor because, he said, regardless of who is Mayor, there needs to be a solid majority of the right people on council, making the right decisions and steering the city in the right direction.
Taking Council to task for its handling of the Unitary Plan he said he was not opposed to intensification. “Along main arterial routes, around transport hubs, in the inner city CBD, in Wynyard Quarter on the waterfront and around the ten designated town centres in Auckland. But when you want to rip the guts out of quiet residential streets, the answer is no.”
Bill Ralston was highly critical of Council’s big rate increases and over spending, pushing for the downsizing of council staff that now numbers more than 11,500.
Advocating the Port of Auckland should be shifted elsewhere over the next couple of decades, he said, “Give us our beautiful harbour back so we can all enjoy it.”
Getting a warm response from the crowd he said Auckland needs three things from its next Council, accountability to the people, tight control of council finances and clear thinking.