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Civil disobedience in West Lynn - Auckland Transport behaviour questioned once again

The first was proper consultation by Auckland Transport (AT). AT have their idea of consultation, but it is grossly inadequate. Ponsonby News asked 18 businesses in West Lynn how they rated AT consultation - 16 said poor, one said adequate, one said not sure.

Asked if AT listened to submitters comments all 18 said no, nine said they never do.

Locals said submissions were rebuffed, changes asked for were ignored without discussion.

The second thing that should have happened was that the totality of changes required on Richmond Road should have been discussed and planned at the same time as cycleways were being installed. Better public transport options, resident parking permits, with discussion about suitable footpath design, crossings, safety issues.

AT may or may not, have had all these things in mind but it kept them to itself.

And thirdly, AT should have organised the time schedule of work in consultation with locals. People had no idea how long orange cones would run their lives. Businesses have suffered huge losses, and some may not recover. Now we have a seriously disgruntled community, and AT must take the major blame.

Business owners showed me around last month. They pointed out badly designed footpath spaces, where a new drain doesn’t drain when it rains and sand bags have already had to be used. They showed me yellow strips to assist the poorly sighted, which run downhill and are dangerous when slippery. One woman in
a wheelchair crossed the road and almost smashed into the window of a cafe. Another business owner reported cars running over corner outcrops on Sackville Street, supposedly designed to slow traffic coming onto Richmond Road safely for passing cyclists.

Patience with the arrogance of AT is running out, and the Waitemata Local Board and the Auckland Council (which is meant to control AT) are now copping flack.

If our city is now being run by faceless bureaucrats, who jack up their salaries with impunity, and ignore ratepayers concerns, and elected board members and councillors have no say, democracy is fast going down the tubes.

I know that our councillor Mike Lee cares, and is as frustrated as most of us. Pippa Coom and her board care too, but all Auckland’s elected representatives including Mayor Goff, are just toothless dinosaurs, overseeing the last vestiges of representative democracy.
(JOHN ELLIOTT)

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