Madness to get rid of green areas

Why is it New Zealand never learns from mistakes and repeats them? We should look at examples overseas before ploughing ahead with stupid projects, ie selling off park land, Mayor Goff.

In the 50s, when London was being rebuilt, they had a committee of which the Duke of Edinburgh was a member. He would not let the plan go ahead unless there were green areas (park lands) so that the public would have somewhere to relax away from the city. It was called the Green Belt.

He knew parks were a vital part of a community and had to be part of the plan. If you go to Melbourne they are building massive play and recreational areas with each subdivision. Auckland closes them down and sells them off. Idiots.

Regarding cellphone bans after work hours — brilliant. Employers don't leave you alone after work, they think they own you. Japan will tell you to steer well clear of this. After numerous work-related suicides, it has brought in regulations to stop companies pressuring staff to work all hours, mostly unpaid, with the fear of dismissal instilled in workers if they don't.

Admit it or not, that has been allowed to fester here due to the awful work laws (zero hour contracts) brought in by National, the corporates’ friend, and three jobs needed to pay the rent.

Tom O'Toole, Taumarunui.

Business sulks

There has been much tiresome reporting and analysis of that odd survey measuring something called business confidence. From this is extrapolated a great deal of doom and gloom, which is then fed to the nation via the media.

What is this fixation all about? What “business confidence” measures is weighted with political bias and selfinterest, a subjective interpretation of the state of the economy based on the historical response by business to Labour governments and their policies.

As many commentators point out, the latest low figure bears no relation to current economic indicators, and has been described as a massive sulk on the part of the business community. This would be funny except that the constant gloomy outlook becomes self-fulfilling and has a hugely negative effect on the country as a whole.

All parents know the best way to deal with a sulky child is to ignore it. I would suggest that this survey be abandoned forthwith and let's just get on with fixing the enormous social problems we are facing. M Rennie, Whakatane.

Red Hen balance

The Herald (28/06/18) argued that when Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were refused service at the Red Hen restaurant it was unacceptable as this occurred during her “private life”. It would have leant some balance to the opinion piece if they had come back to inform readers of the subsequent comments by Sanders when she met reporters the next day, Trump’s slanderous tweets, “Bikers for Trump” besieging the restaurant and locals saying they were afraid to discuss the matter for fear of repercussions.

The political dynamics in the US have undermined “polite” discourse and the Herald has naively been drawn into another of the Trump government’s distractors from the real issues of the moral dilemma that currently faces its citizens, whose rights and safety are being eroded with little recourse.

Mike Passmore, Thames.

Traffic concerns

Simon Wilson’s column on Friday included an artist’s impression of Dominion Rd. It shows a dedicated double tram track with no other bus lanes, vehicle lanes or bike lanes. Passenger tram stops project to the edge of the tracks, closing other lane options. How will the thousands of vehicles who currently use this road on a daily basis go about their legitimate business? A $3 billion whiteelephant catastrophe for Auckland ratepayers and residents, which won’t suit airport travellers either.

M S Cahill, Stanmore Bay.

Closed-doors deals

In discussing the sale of Auckland's assets, Phil Goff stated “We would stand condemned . . . if we didn't take advantage of getting rid of stuff the public don't want”. Phil, I don't recall being asked whether or not I want the stuff you are planning in getting rid off. I suggest that what the public really doesn't want is a dictatorial mayor orchestrating deals behind closed doors. Or a bloated, overstaffed, overpaid Auckland Council. In your pre-election campaign you promised 3-6 per cent savings in the council budget. Now is the time to stand and deliver.

Dave Murray, Grey Lynn.

Time to listen

A weekend article by Bernard Orsman starts off “For sale. Parks. Golf courses. Holiday parks. Marinas. Office buildings. Car parks. Contact Auckland Council for details” and goes on to explain that Auckland Council is embarking on a big selldown of Super City assets in its new 10-year budget with a sales target of $834 million, including a big chunk of $177m in the first year.

With the growing wave of opposition to this ongoing behaviour, Aucklanders are standing up and saying “Stop”. This council is so out of control, with the aid of their cohorts at Panuku, flogging off everything that is not nailed down, all in the name of progress. It is blatantly obvious that their sales pitch of “unlocking” various areas around Auckland is an inside code for “We are seriously in debt”.

The continuous public cry of foul from all four corners of Auckland, including many of the local boards, shows that this reckless disregard of public opinion needs to be dealt with quickly before every publicly owned asset is sold. The current council is destroying any decent legacy that we have been left by our forefathers, a legacy we are all seriously committed to keeping for future generations.

Mayor Phil Goff is quoted as saying “We would stand condemned by the public if we didn't take advantage of getting rid of stuff that the public don't want and need and replacing it with what the public do want and need”. The biggest problem is that they are all so busy telling us what we want and need, instead of listening to us tell them what we want and need. Gavin Sheehan, Milford.

More take, take, take

This an open letter to Mayor Goff and Auckland Council. Enough is enough! I have a letter from Watercare which informs me that my water and wastewater charges are increasing by 2.5 and 3.3 per cent respectively. Quote: “This is necessary to cover our increased service delivery costs and the need to invest in new and existing infrastructure.”

It also further down the letter says, “We do not receive any funding from Auckland Council or the Government.”

Ratepayers are not blessed with a bottomless pocket of wealth, so it is time for hands off. Budget for essentials like most households have to and leave the nice things to have a bit longer.

Patricia Guptill, Wattledowns.

Supermaxx winner

Your article in the Weekend Herald on the weekend crawl highlights the huge benefits of the Supermaxx proposal for Auckland's public transport. Its unlimited travel passes offering 30 days’ unlimited travel anywhere between Albany and Papakura for $70, $20 for 7 days, $5 for 1 day, and $2 for 2 hours would encourage people to get out of their cars and use public transport to maximise the value they receive from their pass. The 10-minute frequency of services on primary routes operating Monday to Saturday and “spider web” network enabling people to travel easily in any direction around Auckland would be game changers in reducing congestion if introduced. Counter-intuitively it also increases revenue and would save at $100 million per year in operating subsidies. It’s long past time Auckland Transport gave comprehensive answers as to why it has not been introduced.

Stephen Greenfield, Auckland Transport Consultancy.

Unitec views astray

We Aucklanders should be grateful to Simon Wilson for his regular, passionate and usually well-informed writing about architecture, urban design and city planning. But in his recent report from the Green Housing Summit he has let his enthusiasm for urbanism carry him astray. In suggesting that the Unitec redevelopment should emulate the Clichy-Batignolles in Paris he is repeating an old mistake of Auckland planners: blind copying of European urban models. That Auckland isn’t Paris, and that it has its own urbanism, should be obvious. But perhaps less obvious is that the Unitec campus differs from the Batignolles rail yards in almost every way: location, context, size, shape, topography and heritage features.

But the mistake of suggesting that the future “Wairaka Precinct” could feature the height, scale and density of ClichyBatignolles is more than just physical and cultural. It promotes an obsolete model of sustainability. It calls for a massive concentration of people and assets, and increased dependence on urban infrastructure at a time when we have lost the race against climate change.

The Unitec housing project should be about demonstrating moderation, decentralisation and self-sufficiency, not about overloading infrastructure and increasing exposure to the turmoil of the coming decades.

Dushko Bogunovich, Pt Chevalier.