[Scoop note: Release with original formatting: MY_LITTLE_CHAT.pdf]

MY LITTLE CHAT

I have never been in politics before nor had the desire to be, what has driven me to go against the very core of my nature & be in the public eye & to spend thousands of dollars on this campaign is pure anger at the way we Aucklanders are being treated by Auckland Council in the way they are imposing the Auckland Unitary Plan upon us.

This is not democracy, this is autocracy, & Len Brown & his mates are running roughshod over us in the way they have not adequately consulted us concerning the AUP & the way the vast majority of their decisions concerning it are being made behind closed doors.

This is our city & these decisions they are making behind closed doors will have the biggest effect on Auckland since it was established, & yet we are not being included in that decision making process. They are virtually saying if you don’t like it then you can lump it, because with or without your approval we are going to make these decisions regardless.

They are treating us with contempt & disdain.

Even a pimp who does not even reside in Auckland has more sway with Auckland Council than rate paying Aucklanders, as you only have to take the example of the Chow Brothers who undermined the old Palace Hotel, not only did they not get taken to court & sued for millions, but they were rewarded for their misdeed with the right to build a 15 story brothel in its place.

That is a slap in the face to all Aucklanders, it just goes to show how weak-kneed Auckland Council is with wealthy pimps who don’t even live here, & yet they treat Auckland residents exactly the opposite, as they are treating us with utter contempt by the way they are walking roughshod over us.

Auckland Council & its planners have put intricate detail into the UP for all the different housing areas & their specifications, but where is all the intricate detail for all the additional schools, hospitals, & parks that will be required, where is all the intricate detail for all the extra water reticulation, sewerage & storm water requirements.

Watercare has admitted that it will not be able to cater for all the extra water infrastructure requirements in the UP, so if you have storm water problems now, that will be nothing to what it will be like in the future, as there will be a lot less permeable ground to soak up the runoff from all those hard surfaces.

What about all the road widening that will be required to cope with the additional traffic?

If you are having problems finding a parking space now, it will be nothing to what it will be like in the future, just ask residents in the inner city suburbs such as Parnell who have that problem now, as that will be something most suburbs will have to look forward to in the future.

If you think the magic city rail loop & the underground harbour crossing will resolve all our traffic problems, then you are living in dreamland, & what about the in-between years while those projects are under construction? Finding a parking space in Auckland suburbs could take as long as the trip.

There was a program on Campbell Live on Fri. 30 Aug. concerning all the problems I have just mentioned relating to lack of infrastructure planning relating to the AUP, & this is a precursor of what Auckland can expect if the AUP is implemented in its present form, as this scenario will play out all over Auckland.

The program related to Wilson Rd. in Glen Eden, where there are all single story houses in that particular street, & council has approved the building of a 5 story apartment complex with 28 two bedroom apartments which will allow for a maximum of 112 people to occupy all the apartments.

These apartments will be 63 sq m, when the minimum area is supposed to be 70 sq m.

They have allowed parking for one vehicle when the minimum car parking is supposed to be two cars.

How can you trust this council when they ignore their own rules?

So already this quiet street will now have parking & traffic problems, then we find out the immediate neighbours will have sunlight & privacy problems, & in one case one neighbour will only get 2 hours of sunlight a day, & the neighbour

on the other side who has a day care centre, they will have absolutely no privacy as the 5 story apartments will look straight down upon them.

Then if that is not enough they then find out that they are going to have stormwater problems as the stormwater & waste water is at full capacity even now, & during heavy rain they already get flooding, & now 18 of the apartments will be hooked up to that already overflowing stormwater system, while the other 10 apartments stormwater will go to storage tanks.

Welcome to the future Auckland, welcome to the beginning of Len’s folly, welcome to this insane Auckland Unitary Plan being instigated without the adequate infrastructure required to go with it. Welcome to Auckland Council even now breaking its own rules when it suits them to.

The AUP is crazy, it is stark raving madness, how can you intensify when you have not allowed for the infrastructure required to cope with that intensification. It is crass stupidity. It’s the same as building a house without building any foundations.

The surface street capacity to handle another million people just simply does not exist in Auckland.

The cost of infrastructure changes & public services needed to handle another million people will be much more expensive (& very disruptive) than if the services were laid on a clean slate.

Far from providing affordable housing it will drive the cost up even further & downgrade the quality of life for everyone.

So many economic studies have shown that the per capita costs of public services in cities escalates with population density, & in the process rates have to increase to cover those increased costs.

Do you want to live in a small flat that looks out on a wall of concrete?

Do you want your family living in a cramped apartment where having pets is not practical, or not allowed?

The Auckland Unitary Plan will have the same results for Auckland as the leaky home crisis has had for NZ, which has & is still costing billions of dollars, simply because simple basic things were overlooked by supposedly clever people, & that is exactly the same thing that will happen with this AUP if it is put into practice.

The AUP in its present form will destroy Auckland & in years to come it will be known as the monument to Len’s folly, & Aucklanders will be paying the price for his folly, not Len Brown.

Len tells us how he wants to make Auckland like Melbourne, or Hong Kong, or London, well how about asking us first if that is what we want, not just trying to impose it on us regardless, & if he is so keen on those cities, why doesn’t he just pack his bags & go & live there himself, rather than trying to impose it on us without our say so?

You have to ask, what’s the big rush to ram the AUP down our throats?

We have not been given any alternatives other than this AUP which will destroy the quality of life for many Aucklanders. What about satellite cities with rapid rail from them to Auckland, encouraging decentralisation, petitioning central govt to cut back on immigration until we have got Auckland’s housing crisis resolved or under control. We are bringing in over 40,000 new immigrants annually, most of them settling in Auckland, & yet there is a 30,000 housing shortage in Auckland. Council housing accord with Govt to build 39,000 houses in Auckland will not start until 3 years time, by that time we will be a lot worse off than we are now.

If this UP goes through Auckland will definitely not be the most liveable city in the world as Mayor Brown seems to like quoting ad nauseum, but it will certainly be one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, as the AUP is based on the Vancouver model, which is the second most expensive city in the world to live in. The only people who will benefit from the AUP are property investors, as Auckland will be a treasure trove to them.

Two examples of Auckland Council’s arrogant & dismissive behaviour towards Auckland residents & Local Boards (& there have been many, many more).

Panmure resident’s spokesperson Howard Sutton said that getting information out of Auckland Council was like getting blood out of a

stone, & it was written by planners for planners with no planning being done by people on the ground.

He gives an example of his residential property being zoned for primary retail frontage, but it is on the edge of a 10 metre cliff.

Desley Simpson, Chairperson Orakei Local Board said Auckland Council had given the board inaccurate & inadequate information regarding the AUP

I say this, vote for anyone, but don’t vote for any mayor or councillor who has or does approve of the AUP. How can you trust anyone who makes decisions about Auckland & doesn’t include you in those decisions that will affect you, & when they make these new rules, can you trust them to abide by them if it does not suit them to? How can you have any confidence in people who haven’t even planned for the infrastructure required to implement the UP? That’s just plain insanity.

THIS IS OUR CITY SO WE HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE A SAY IN ITS DIRECTION. DECISIONS BEING MADE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS ABOUT OUR CITY WITHOUT OUR INPUT IS NOT HAVING OUR SAY, & ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE DECISIONS WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON AUCKLAND SINCE IT WAS ESTABLISHED.

Let’s have a binding referendum on the AUP, let’s bring democracy back into the biggest decision that will affect Auckland since it was established, & let’s put other alternatives on the table as well as the AUP

© Scoop Media