With the stroke of a pen and a handful of well crafted letters (reprinted everywhere) our new Mayor Wayne Brown ends the era of the ‘out of control’ council organisations.
His missives forced interim Chief Executive Mark Lambert (AT) to offer up this mea culpa; “We agree with the mayor that a new approach is needed to better understand the needs and expectations of our communities and how we, our decisions and the work we do, impacts on people’s daily lives.”
I wonder if this public show of remorse will include personal apologies for the appalling treatment of brave citizens who challenged Auckland Transport’s flawed ideology from day one?
Will the Local Government Minister apologise for all the letters of concern she ignored? Will the Police reconsider their position and stand alongside citizens when governance goes awry? Will the PM continue to support the greenwash that allows mature street trees to be felled and concrete bike barriers to be laid?
Today I am deeply thankful to the people who voted for Wayne Brown to take the helm, for those who worked to reinstall Mike Lee in Waitematā, and those who voted for Sarah Trotman, Allan Matson, Greg Moyle and Gene Sage to represent them. Our expectation of their good governance is high.
I am grateful to the good folk of Occupy Garnet Rd [est. 2017] for standing up to protect the street trees and footpaths of their heritage suburb because their actions over the last 5 years may have saved our city $45 million that would have been spent on a gold plated cycleway.
Thank you to the people who shared the issues on social media when mainstream news outlets dismissed our concerns, to those who wrote letters to the editor, lodged Official Information Act requests and others who set up and sustained occupations across the city.
My thanks also goes out to those who gathered petition signatures, raised funds, made posters, provided legal help and contributed thousands of dollars to fight Auckland Council in the Environment Court when we tried to save the Western Springs Native Forest. To my sister activist Soala, whose bravery, compassion and dedication inspired me to never give up despite the mounting obstacles. Finally there is a glimmer of hope, the people have been listened to.
The late Penny Bright and I warned that the Super City was nothing more then a corporate take over of Tamaki Makaurau’s many resources. My deepest wish is that from now on common sense will prevail in serving the greater good.
I have high hopes for the notion of the servant leader; entrusted to make good decisions based on fact not ideology.
The future of our city is in our hands. Democracy is not just about voting once every 3 years, it’s about becoming involved in what you care about – the natural environment, heritage, transport, Te Tiriti, intensification, homelessness – the issues are many.
My final wish is that no one ever has to stand on a bulldozer holding protest signs to stop the council running amuck. (Lisa Prager, community advocate)
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