Something snapped in me this month. Surveying the mess of cones and concrete in Westmere Village and Meola Road turned my sadness and depression to uncontrollable rage.
I spontaneously stormed down to the Local Board meeting held in the Edwardian council chambers in the old town hall on Queen Street. I walked quickly, broke into a run and stumbled. I was worried I’d be late and miss Public Forum, that slim three minutes per person when the public can speak their truth to the elected members. No advanced warning needed, no explanation required, just fill in a simple form on the spot and say your piece.
As I entered the old chamber, an elegant room with stained glass windows and a vaulting ceiling, oak panelled and smelling of leather, I thought about the history of this space. A room that has seen more than we will ever know. Where big decisions were once made, like electrifying the city, ripping up the tram tracks in the 1950s and deciding not to have light rail in the 1970s. All that’s left of the Queen’s portrait is the scar on the wall where it once hung. It was a rowdy room in the 2000s when Penny Bright and the Water Pressure Group forced the council to reinvest $22 million back into the water supply instead of syphoning it off for vanity projects.
I swept into this room expecting to see the same four people sitting like ducks in a row witnessing the proceedings as a matter of formality. Instead, an army of 40-odd Aucklanders old and young filled the public seats, all looking glum. I stood, arms crossed, leaning against the entrance door suppressing my rising rage and wondering what was this crowd here for. A council officer offered me a seat. I did not feel like sitting, a passive spectator to the crumbling of our town. One after the other the entire group stood to plead for the Olympic pool in Newmarket not be closed down.
The Waitematā Local Board chair Genevieve Sage was nervous, fumbling with her papers, misreading the agenda, mumbling an apology then recovering her equilibrium. I met her stare and held it, reluctantly she called me to speak.
I sat and like a real rookie forgot to turn the microphone on. Anger made my blood boil and my heart was thumping. I am a seasoned council speaker but this time my message was harsh. I let them have both barrels that Dean Kimpton CEO of Auckland Transport had executed a Corporate Coup D’état upon Tamaki. I explained how Kimpton had seized executive power with the support of Auckland Council’s executive branch and co-opted the majority of unelected Auckland Transport Board members to approve his actions. Many elected councillors and the Mayor himself have demanded Auckland Transport come to heel, but no one has been able to stop Kimpton from disregarding public opposition.
By accepting fake and flawed consultation documents, massaged reports, inept designs and inflated budgets, the board of Auckland Transport has become complicit in a major fraud. The evidence is clear with mega congestion, retail shops abandoned, hospitality closures, with not a whiff of concern from the transport buffoons.
Only an intervention at the Parliamentary level will stop this. Will there be a politician brave enough to act and demand a fast track change to the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 Part 4 Transport management for Auckland?
Finally, have you seen the Entrust billboards with the shiny faces entreating you to vote for them? The Entrust Board is a private trust established in 1993 to act in the ‘interests’ of over 365,000 households and businesses. If you are considering voting for Pippa Coom and Patrick Reynolds then please resist the temptation. These are the same people that worked hand in hand with Auckland Transport to congest the city, terrified of free flowing roads, aiding and abetting the international global infrastructure conglomerate to suck out every cent of our available public funds. Voting is via postal vote from 10 to 25 October.
Lisa Prager, Community Advocate
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