Auckland “Bono” wants the tree back on One Tree Hill
Auckland “Bono” wants the tree back on One Tree Hill
(PR.co.nz) Auckland rocker Jamie Rowe wants a
tree planted on One Tree Hill and he’s willing to do it
himself. “I’d go and do it myself, but there have been
numerous attempts in the last 13 years and the council keep
removing them. They’ve been spending hard earned
ratepayers’ money removing something everyone wants. So
there is little point until the Council decides to keep
it.”
Rowe is the front man for Auckland U2 tribute
act Experience U2, and like the man he portrays in his show,
he’s passionate about political issues. “Its an
international embarrassment. Everytime I sing One Tree Hill
I think about it and it’s a joke. It’s a symbol of the
ineffectiveness of our central and local government
bureaucracies. We are told that the Council has agreed with
Ngati Whatua not to plant a tree until their treaty claims
were addressed. Ngati Whatua settled with the governernment
in 2011 and we’re still waiting.”
It was also
generally understood that Maori and Auckland Council could
not agree on the type of tree that should be planted.
However, that has been resolved for some time, with the
parties agreeing that it should be a native tree, and that
planting a grove of pohutakawa and totara would provide the
greatest chance of a native surviving.
“Frankly,
your average Kiwi doesn’t care what it is. A native would
be great, but for years it was two pines that were
originally planted as part of a screen to protect a native
planting, but the natives didn’t survive.” The first
pine was felled in 1960, the second in 2000, both as a
result of vandalism.
“Len Brown wants a
multi-million dollar rail system as his legacy. If he
sorted this out he would be remembered a lot longer as the
man who fixed One Tree Hill. I’ll even help him do
it.”
ends