Auckland City Council’s commitment to democracy has seen its citizens respond in kind with nearly 2000 individual submissions to the city’s annual plan.

When submissions closed on the 2001/02 Draft Annual Plan on May 25, the Council had received 1934 individual submissions, along with several thousand from organised interest groups.

This compares to 473 individual submissions received last year.

In general, the Council appears to have broad support for its policies and service levels.

The chairperson of the Finance and Property Committee, Councillor Kay McKelvie, said it was heartening to see the increase in submissions on the previous year and that the submissions were, in the main, backing Council initiatives.

“The message to be taken from the submissions is that we’re doing OK, but there needs to be some fine-tuning in some of our activities,” said Councillor McKelvie.

She said submissions on the Council’s proposed transport programme received overwhelming support, while those on the indoor arena were evenly split.

Councillor McKelvie said there were numerous submissions from organised and single interest focus groups, including 2025 submissions from the Housing Lobby, 800 from Save Our Suburbs and various numbers from the Water Pressure Group, including 145 sent to the Prime Minister from Auckland City residents.

In addition, the Water Pressure Group sent in a number of submissions relating to the regional water review.

The Council today (Wednesday, June 6) began hearings on the submissions, which end on Monday, June 11, in the Council chamber at the Town Hall. Other hearings will be held in the community, at the Otahuhu Town Hall on Thursday, June 7 and at the Mt Albert War Memorial Hall on Monday, June 11.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

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