Hard News: A. B. B.
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That said, Alex Swney would be my pick for mayor, all things being equal. But it looks like he can't do any more than make it easier for Banks right now.
Is this the time to mention STV - a voting system specifically designed for the "anyone but" voter
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I've been more than a bit depressed about Auckland ever since the waterfront stadium debacle. One more missed opportunity to make the most of what we have.
Looking around at the potential Mayoral candidates I'd be quite prepared for Clark to rule by executive fiat from Wellington. No doubt she’ll be off to the UN when her current employment expires but we could sure do with someone intelligent who can get things done.
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There was a good Chris Knox cartoon in the Listener when Banks was first voted mayor, saying that Auckland got the mayor it deserves; it'll be interesting to see what he comes up with should he get re-elected.
It'd be unfortunate if Banks does get re-elected through vote-splitting more than any actual strong genuine support for him.
Thank god we here in Dunedin don't have to worry about a Christain conservative or a nutbar Christian conservative being mayor (I'll let you decide who is who...).
Incumbent mayor Peter Chin, a Chinese lawyer, is going to hose in. He, of course, replaced an India woman (Sukhi Turner). Beat that for open-mindedness and respect for other cultures, the rest of NZ!!
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It'd be unfortunate if Banks does get re-elected through vote-splitting more than any actual strong genuine support for him.
As I recall, last time he got in with the support of 18% of registered voters.
He subsequently declared that he had been endorsed by the "vast majority" of Aucklanders ...
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"Beat that for open-mindedness and respect for other cultures, the rest of NZ!!"
I thought Masterton had with Georgina Byers, but a heart warming fact that democracy can work & people are judged for who they are & what they can do.
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Thank god we here in Dunedin don't have to worry about a Christain conservative or a nutbar Christian conservative being mayor (I'll let you decide who is who...).
Would you be more satisfied with a nutbar atheist liberal? I'm more worried about the diverse sack of lightly toasted cashews that make this decision:
Auckland City Council has agreed to pay $30 million toward the $190 million needed to upgrade Eden Park for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
One day, someone is going to come up with a landmark work of political psychology explaining why mentioning the word 'rugby' to a Kiwi politician causes severe brain damage.
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Beat that for open-mindedness and respect for other cultures, the rest of NZ!!
A round of deserved applause for Dunedin, yes you've done well.
But first prize still goes to Carterton, who voted in Georgina Beyer
This made her the world's first transsexual mayor.
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Bea,
It's nice to hear about other places doing well. I've read the entire thread waiting for someone to put in a plug for the management of Hamilton ...
Hamilton really does have itself together. Makes it a nice place to live. The council has an attitude of getting on with it and is good at letting you know what the "it" is – all very business like really. Nice mix of returning and new opportunities to vote for.
I don't have all the behind the scenes chatter that a lot of you seem to have for the Auckland debate but I do know that the people who live here generally feel good; perhaps they've all had their wallets returned after a day at Raglan?
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Thank god we here in Dunedin don't have to worry about a Christain conservative or a nutbar Christian conservative being mayor (I'll let you decide who is who...).
Would you be more satisfied with a nutbar atheist liberal?
I've no qualms about a mayor's religious leanings and yes, I would prefer a liberal to a conservative. But most importantly, I'd prefer a level-headed person than a nutbar.
Peter Chin is a middle-of-the-road conservative, but he's not a nutbar like Banks and has been a good mayor, so I'll be happy if he's re-elected.
The point I was trying to make overall is that Auckland haven't got much of a choice, personality-wise, between the two leading candidates, have they?
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The point I was trying to make overall is that Auckland haven't got much of a choice, personality-wise, between the two leading candidates, have they?
Preaching to the amen corner there, Grant. :) All I want is sheer competence, perhaps even some familiarity with reality and principles that come out the same way twice - and by that criteria neither Banks nor Hubbard are even approximately in the vicinity of a credible choice.
And I don't think being a 'conservative' or a 'Christian' (even of the more, shall we say, evangelical variety that gives me the shits) is the real problem. I just don't believe a word either man says, and I think there's ample evidence they lack judgment, solid knowledge of local government or even an ability to play nice with other children.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm beginning to suspect the only reality check is if turnout keeps falling until even the dimmest bulbs realize that low quality candidates and poor decision-making is going to be rewarded with an essentially meaningless mandate.
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The thing that pissed me off the most about the last Banks-CitRats Council, is they decided to sell the Auckland Airport shares. So, in accordance with law, they had to consult with the ratepayers. Only 1.5% supported selling the shares. So, now that they had legally consulted, they ignored the result and sold the shares anyway !
That, to my mind, is a criminal act.
It made a mockery of the consultation laws, and reveals the consultation to be a huge waste of time and money, and little more than a PR exercise.
(All the council employees were mightily pissed off too. And afterwards there was a huge drop off in responses to consultation requests)
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He can be a bit of a dick. But I seriously think that any comparison with Banks is way off the mark. I think Hubbard is good-hearted. Banks is just a creep.
It's kind of sad, but if Hubbard is naive and somewhat related to Goofy, then he at least can learn, and there's a possibility of getting better. Banks has learnt about as much as he's ever going to learn in life, and the best he's ever going to be is a dishonest scumbag.
Y'know, from what we can tell down here.
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It made a mockery of the consultation laws, and reveals the consultation to be a huge waste of time and money, and little more than a PR exercise.
Some of us have been saying that for years... but I don't see why you're so shocked. When I was living in Wellington - younger and less jaded - I'd drop iinto Select Committee hearings reasonably frequently. Hear some remarkably thoughtful and well-considered submissions... and wonder why anyone bothered. Perhaps it's human nature, but the best way to be heard is to tell someone what they want to hear.
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Harrumph ... the CitRat leaflet just arrived in the mail. It's ridiculous.
Claims:
-- That the Auckland Regional Council "is trying to enforce a new maximum rule for car parking spaces on new builds," which will force commuters to to park "outside our houses. We will fight being the CBD'S NEW CARPARK."
- A bogus comparison of the "(lack of) streetscape design" of the Three Lamps shops with an open plaza in ... "provencial" [sic] Whakatane.
- A repeat of the canard about the 11pm curfew outside Ponsonby restaurants, which was, one more time, a CitRat measure opposed by City Vision
- "**Will the Great North Road ridge become the future slums of Auckland?**" From the party that approved chicken-coop apartments all over the CBD? Which now claims to be "pushing for the same controls now in force in the CBD"? The ones that the current __council put in place? Please ...
- "Herne Bay Shops are typical of the lack of thought (or money) council spends on our area. What improvemnets [sic] have we had to Jervois Road? The trees which locals have had to pay for ourselves." You mean __apart from the resurfacing of the whole road and most footpaths? The tree-planting was a community project. No one had to "pay".
- The Point Chev shops: yes, they could do with a freshen-up, so I'll grant them their demand for an urban renewal plan isn't unreasonable. I gather the Community Board has been discussing something of the kind anyway. And the arcade is actually improving anyway -- we have a deli!
- Westmere: "How do we head into 2010 and still have Cox's bay Creek and Meola Reef as polluted as they are?" Is this a joke? The amount of earthmoving, sealing-off and planting that's been done on Meola Reef in the past five years is amazing. What exactly is the plan for more? (And I'd note the person who has been driving this in the community is CV's Leigh Kennaway, not any of the people bitching in this flyer.)
On the back, there's a map headed "What's affecting your street?", which points to "Future apartment slums" in Grey Lynn, "The CBD's carpark" in Ponsonby, "Cox's Creek as the Western Bay sewer" and, um, "The design of the Arcade area" in Pt Chev. Underneath the map is the legend: "An uneasy pall hung over the city, when will the Rate Rises end?"
It's all silly enough to do away with any prospect of me even voting for the CitRat candidate I actually like, I'm afraid.
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Whoops all this talk of democracy & I found I'ld been kicked off the roll.
Any other slackers out there might want to check.
Any favour a Greater Auckland Council? -
which will force commuters to to park "outside out houses.
Wow.... where are we going to find an out-house to park next to? I havent seen one of them since my Grandma got an inside toilet back in the 80s...
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merc,
The first thing Banks did as Mayor as I recall was to build a covered garage in the council car park for his Bentley? Then weasel off a ticket for hooning in the harbour on his jet ski with kids in tow? Then get sued for a shonky honey products business deal?
Dude really walks the walk. -
I believe that Parnell wives voted Banks in two terms ago, several I know actually told me "Ooh, he's adopted Russian orphans. He must be lovely".
Can they be fooled again? Will they remember?
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The Point Chev shops: yes, they could do with a freshen-up, so I'll grant them their demand for an urban renewal plan isn't unreasonable. I gather the Community Board has been discussing something of the kind anyway. And the arcade is actually improving anyway -- we have a deli!
Yeah, it's a good idea for the C&R team to bitch about our arcade - it was built by Les Mills after all in the 1960's - and we all know which team on Council he batted with during his mayoralty!! But - it's all privately owned - Council doesn't have the right to go in an tell the owners what to do and how to do it... and isn't C&R rather hot on individual property rights?!?!
Westmere: "How do we head into 2010 and still have Cox's Bay Creek and Meola Reef as polluted as they are?" Is this a joke? The amount of earthmoving, sealing-off and planting that's been done on Meola Reef in the past five years is amazing. What exactly is the plan for more? (And I'd note the person who has been driving this in the community is CV's Leigh Kennaway, not any of the people bitching in this flyer.)
<I Blush> Actually William McCahon, Mark and Irene Johnson and a whole lot of other wonderful Point Chevalier people did an enormous amount of work before I ever turned up - but I've been happy to do my bit, and the City Vision team on the Board have been happy to both fund the planting, and to come down and take part....
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Wow.... where are we going to find an out-house to park next to?
Er. actually, that was my typo. Fixed now.
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Oh, and there is lots of related amusement now stacked up in OurTube:
http://publicaddress.net/system/forum,2,ourtube.sm
Nice.
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Craig wrote:
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm beginning to suspect the only reality check is if turnout keeps falling until even the dimmest bulbs realize that low quality candidates and poor decision-making is going to be rewarded with an essentially meaningless mandate.
Yeah. I got into a conversation with a taxi driver last time I was in Auckland - you know, like you do, got to do something to pass the time in the Auckland traffic...he started going on about the politicians in Wellington and how awful they all are - you know, as people do - and I suggested the dimwit/nutbar ratio in Parliament is nothing like as bad as he'd see if he popped along to his local council meeting.
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Still fuming about the way that the CitRat flier for my ward reads like a wingnut blog ...
Western Bays is supposed to be the heart of creative Auckland. Lots of clever people are reckoned to live here.
I'll vote City Vision, but I wish I at least had an option. Where's Action Western Bays when you need them?
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And in the seek and you shall find department the minutes of the council meetings recorded who voted for what, at least for the public portions of the council meetings.
There must be some gold in there.
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AKLs got little choice but you haven't got...
Kyle Chapman of the National Democrats (ex National Front)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_ChapmanWho wants to "... put the future of this city in the hands of those who know what it is like to suffer..."[p10 of Local Govt Elections].
He got 5th (midway - not last) in the privious mayoral race.
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