Auckland Region Rapid Transit Corridors Auckland Regional Council

Weekly Progress Report

29 June 2001 (last report: 15 June 2001)

Preferred network option to be decided this Friday 6 July

As part of the regionally agreed process for mode selection and network definition, Working Forum B, a five-hour workshop for councillors across the region, will be held this Friday 6 July.

Councillors will be presented with all of the work done over the past seven months by officers to evaluate the different network options against the list of evaluation criteria, alongside work relating to the costs of the different options.

The councillors’ aim is to reach an agreed preferred network option to recommend to their respective councils for formal adoption over the next month.

Also attending the Forum is a representative from Northland Regional Council, representatives from the funding agencies Infrastructure Auckland and Transfund, and representatives from Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd (the LATE set up to hold the rail assets).

Branding and Theming Competition – judges announced

Today councillors in the Passenger Transport Sub-Committee chose the judges for the branding and theming competition for the Auckland region’s public transport network.

The judging panel contains a balance of professional experts in marketing, design and architecture; experienced transport operators; and three councillors.

Award-winning marketer Barbara Chapman from the ASB, Designers Institute nominee David Bartlett and Auckland University Head of Architecture Tony van Raat join the Bus and Coach Association’s nominee Russell Turnbull from Stagecoach and Roger Gower, a former senior manager with Tranz Rail and a future director of Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd. The trio of councillors on the judging panel are: Manukau City councillor Barry Keon, North Shore City councillor Julia Parfitt and Auckland City councillor Catherine Harland. ARC Transport Committee chairman Les Paterson will be “ex officio” with ARC councillor Jack Henderson as his alternate.

The first job for the judges will be in late July, assessing the entries for the first phase of the competition and choosing five finalists to progress to the second, detailed stage.

A briefing for designers and architects interested in taking part in the competition was held on Wednesday, drawing a large group of 50 or so professionals, including representatives from some of the region’s top firms.

Entries for the first phase of the competition must be in by Friday 13 July. Information about the competition is on the ARC website, www.arc.govt.nz/about/transpt/trnspt.htm

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.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>