Fear not ! The rail "loop" will come to pass. The power of the Auckland vote will make this into an election issue in very short order. Politicians are craven creatures, and they will very quickly see the error of their ways.

Vancouver's light rail, called "Skytrain" uses a linear motor propulsion system. and travels above and below ground according to local needs.
The cars are driverless, and they can negotiate steep slopes, as they are not constrained by issues of steel on steel traction.

Auckland needs to work towards a similar system, which will eventually be affordable, designed to link the Airport to the North Shore by way of a central backbone.

Hopefully, the new "Supercity" will be allowed to retain some part of the local revenue stream. The central Government machine has until now,been able to have the final say on Aucklands planning needs.
An important part of that dream, is to provide a mature, credible leadership team.

Steve, you have hit the answer in one !. It is very important that our process continue to be transparent.
Remove the anomaly of having a single electorate member sweep in a clutch of hangers on, and by all means lower the threshold down a percentage point or so from 5%
We do not have a Senate or any form of curb on the powers of the Parliament, which makes us very vulnerable.
Those of us who are old enough to have experienced life under the control of a rampant executive can and must press as hard as possible for a continuation of our present system.
There is and always will be some waste, some exploitation of the system, but they are at least all out in the open, and it doesn't take very long for the democratic process to sort out the cheats.

Hmmm.. Inuendo ..
Something to do with Suppositorioes I think ?

We need to be vigilant here.
Political animals are likely to attempt to string cables in the air - we have far too many already .
We aspire to being a civilised first world society - so lets ensure that our employees in Wellington do their jobs properly..

Thank you for the elegant references to Mission Bay.
In the late 40's early 50's, my Dad lived there, right on the beach in the Bath House, where he had a single room.
He was responsible for keeping the reserve clean, he was allowed to rent out Canoes and Deck-chairs in the summer.
In the off season, he would take his dinghy out into the Rangototo channel, bring home his catch of Snapper, which he would clean and sell, right there on the beach.
Locals would keep an eye out for his boat, and be waiting for his bounty.
In my School holidays, I was detailed to bring in the canoes once their time was up - in a prevailing south-westerly breeze, sometimes from well out into the channel.
Lifejackets ? - are you kidding ?
simple, (probably dangerous), but oh such lovely days..