What a refreshing, if concerning, slap of reality to read Mayor Wayne Brown, Mike Lee, Gael Baldock, and Lisa Prager's articles.
They are all a breath of fresh air after so many years of political bloviating, submission processes that felt like a waste of time, and a local board that often felt like an arm of the council rather than a voice of the community.
While our mayor has come under vitriolic attack, it is delightful to have someone who is not a professional petty politician, reassuring and giving a sense of control, while saying nothing. I am impressed to read he actually biked the proposed Great North Road bike route and can speak on practical options.
In the past, it has felt that these projects have been designed from Google Maps, without any consideration for the realities and options.
It is reassuring to have Mike Lee back representing us. Mike is a seasoned, experienced Auckland politician who has not relied on the council and specialists to provide information but rather does his own investigative work.
He is one of those rare politicians who can give a well-considered contextual summary of the issues, independent of idealist ideologies for people like me to understand. Having captured the core issue, he then suggests a way forward that best serves the community.
Apart from the cost of $18,000 per metre for a Great North bike lane, we all know that in the decade it will take to finish such a project, the final price will be $30,000 plus per metre.
I can give you insight into how that works. I know a specialist labourer, honest and hardworking who was subcontracted by a subcontractor of the actual contractor (you get the picture) for one of our major AT projects. What shocked me was that he was quietly told by managers to 'slow down’.
This happened on three occasions, he told me. So he did that and joked about how he slowed down and fluffed about. Work that out - if you excuse the pun. It's the kind of dynamic that helps you understand how a 3.45km twin-rail tunnel can cost $5.493 billion with no end date.
In terms of simple math, that is over a billion dollars per km. As there are 1,000 metres in a km, it is indicating over a million dollars per metre.
And it continues with council ratepayers over the barrel to big corporations and their PR and technical bluster. The work started in October 2015 when many were working in the city and others felt safe in the central city after dark.
How things will have changed in the decade it will take to complete it.
As with the America's cup predictions, don't believe everything these projects are sold on. Mike, we so need you!
I am a cyclist and regular bus rider myself and fully and depressingly aware of global warming. What I resent are the industries and careers that develop around such issues, which suck resources without achieving outcomes.
Chlöe Swarbrick pushes against radical budget changes, yet doesn't offer specifics or smart thinking on how the council can offer services within the reality of its resources. Rather, she promotes more borrowing.
My house rates, with water rates, are now in the vicinity of $7,000 a year. With the regional fuel tax, I can add even more to that. Chlöe, please don't compare council to a private company.
We are not shareholders, but ratepayers and citizens of a city, and it is not okay to play the corporate game of rolling credit downgrades and endless hikes of rates. Rather, it feels like corporations are rolling the people, who pay a price that is relentlessly moving to ‘unaffordable’.
Russell Hoban, Ponsonby
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PUBLISHED 5 MAY 2023