Ponsonby, St Mary’s Bay, Grey Lynn and Westmere, once known as the Western Bays, now called Waitematā, has been my home since I was a teenager in the late 1970s when I walked my Huntaway dog round the hood.
The villas in various states of decay were all different colours then, speaking of a shared time and space, made by craftsmen with handsaws and planes. My father, an engineer, taught me how to use those tools in his workshop, so I appreciated the balance, harmony and beauty in the streets.
I walked wide-eyed past the hippy houses blasting out Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell as sandalwood incense mingled with marijuana in the air. On I went up round the corner past the Tongan Church where the congregation raised the rafters with hymns.
When I left home at 17 years of age, I rented a small workers cottage in Norfolk Street, where famous artists brawled on the front lawn and musicians whiled away afternoons jamming together in front of the open fire. My love for Tamaki runs deep, which explains why I care about how it is governed.
In 2007, just as the global economic crisis hit our shores, my partner and I started Garnet Station in an old Westmere bungalow.
It was a cafe come kitchen shop come campaign office as I was running for mayor against John Banks - an eye opening experience! Over the next 17 years the business grew and grew into a 7day/5 nights a week machine, pumping out coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The success of the Pizzeria and Tiny Theatre led us to restructure from a café into a sophisticated local bar with a launch date of March 26, 2020, the first day of lockdown.
We never had that big opening party, and like most others the reassessment of life became the main focus, especially as the arts hit a hiatus, staff couldn’t afford accommodation near by, customer habits changed, our parents aged and the price of living sky rocketed.
So we changed our business model to suit our changing world.
Us humans know we need to change in order to live with nature and not continue to rail against her, to cover her in concrete and think we’ve conquered her.
There is a strong theme in science that plants have secrets we need to learn, just because they are silent does not mean they are dumb. Living in harmony with nature is something indigenous cultures have more experience doing. I’d just like to see more balance in how our not so super city approaches its problems.
More people than ever before made a submission on the Auckland Annual Plan, the groundswell is happening. People are speaking out more and more, challenging authority.
The tolerance for council created congestion is over, but the real challenge is to stop the idiotic ideological works still in the pipeline. With the resignation of Auckland Council CEO Jim Stabback there is a real opportunity for innovative, cooperative, lateral leadership.
Our elected members only have so much say. The true power in our local government lies with the non-elected officers.
It is these folk that Mayor Wayne Brown needs to take in hand, demanding change at Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku (the property arm of council) and the Ports to name a few.
Despite the media’s attempts to constantly scapegoat the mayor and blame him for most things, I am totally comfortable with the way he has taken command and requested all Council Controlled Organisations listen to the clear voice of the public demanding more imaginative and cost effective solutions.
Currently the energy of change permeates everyone’s existence and it’s frequently not easy. There is a sense of climate change panic, a sense that capitalism is the problem, a troubled air about just how much we all have to change in order to survive and thrive.
We can do it, but it requires us all to question our actions and contemplate deeply the meaning and purpose of being here. (Lisa Prager, Westmere)
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PUBLISHED 5 MAY 2023