Viewpoint Budgeting for resilience

I would like to begin by reassuring local residents that Auckland’s more rural areas have not been forgotten, especially those communities that are still responding to the devastating impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and recent weather events.

During my visits to flood-damaged areas including Dairy Flat, Riverhead, Puhoi, Wellsford, and Warkworth, I was impressed by the resilience and can-do attitude of local residents, and their coordinated efforts to help one another.

It gives me confidence that local boards in areas much like these can take charge in an emergency and organise a lot of things themselves, and that more responsibility and decision-making powers should sit closer to our communities.

As we make the transition from emergency response to the longer-term recovery, I have called for all local board chairs to put forward their top-five ideas for the Big Auckland Fix-Up. We’re looking for solutions that balance the immediate needs of local communities with the council’s need to achieve immediate cost savings.

The $295 million budget gap bequeathed to me is far from ideal, but I’m confident that we will get through this if we are clear about what matters most to all Aucklanders, and I strongly urge you to participate in the public consultation process ‘AK Have Your Say’ that is currently underway.

Given that many homes in Auckland’s Albany and Rodney wards were without water, power, and mobile coverage following Cyclone Gabrielle, it’s clear that emergency preparedness, infrastructure, and transport are key priorities.

Last week, the ward councillors and I instructed council staff to examine the longer-term impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle for all Aucklanders.

Auckland Council will carry out a ‘current state’ assessment to investigate the causes and impacts of recent weather events, such as flooding and landslides, and the implications for public policy and infrastructure settings.

While a ‘future state’ assessment will identify improvements across public policy and infrastructure settings, so the entire region and our local communities are more resilient to water-related hazards.

Reading Hibiscus Matters, it is immediately apparent that road closures (Puhoi) are an ongoing source of frustration for local residents. Some of you may be aware of my criticism of Auckland Transport for being urban-focused when at least half of our region is rural.

While we can’t necessarily speed-up the repair of flood-damaged roads, which often involves coordinated efforts across multiple agencies, we can try to build back better and work better together.

I am more determined than ever to deliver on the five key policies that made Aucklanders vote me in – stop wasteful spending, take control of council organisations, fix infrastructure, get transport moving faster, and make better use of our waterfront and environment.

One more week for intersection works

Several readers recently enquired when the roadworks around the intersection of East Coast Road and Hibiscus Coast Highway will be completed. A spokesperson for Auckland Transport says this work is being completed by a private developer. It includes stormwater, wastewater and roading upgrades. “This work is sometimes required by Auckland Council as part of the Resource Consent process to manage the impacts of private development on public assets such as roads and water services. As such, we don’t have insight into the day-to-day management of the works. However, we have been advised by the developer that the work will be completed by March 31,” the spokesperson says.

Beach fix needed

These photos of Ōrewa Beach were taken on February 15, the morning after Cyclone Gabrielle hit. They show what can be done to mitigate storm damage on Ōrewa Beach. As of writing this most of the remediation work Council did has already been washed away. What is abundantly clear is something major needs to be done to save Ōrewa Beach from storm event destruction. I have spoken to at least 20 people walking the beach and to a person agree that urgent and permanent action is required by Council. These local folk have watched the useless mitigation techniques applied by Council for over 50 years and have a wealth of local coastal knowledge. None has ever been asked for their views! We do not need any more expensive consultants reports, the pictures tell it all. What is needed is local input and hard and binding decisions made at Council then get on with the job of a permanent fix – but don’t forget to ask the locals.

Alastair Irving, Ōrewa (abridged)

Have your say on services

Now that Auckland Council has put its 2023/24 Operating Budget out for consultation, I hope citizens will positively look at retaining two very important aspects of community that have been essential elements over the years. Opening hours of our local libraries should not be reduced. I was a member of the Birkenhead City Council in the late 1980s when we led in opening our library on a Sunday. They had been previously closed and, in our opening, we gave more time for people to access the many features that a library brings. I am proud to say that a library is a place of comfort, learning and a gentle space to be in a world that appears to be becoming more and more frenetic. I also believe that Citizens Advice Bureaus should continue to be funded by council with help from central government. They advise people who need help and don’t know where to turn. Consider the many immigrants who find so many things confusing, citizens who find bureaucracy so daunting rely on the many volunteers who give their time freely to assist them in this complex world. Please consider these community services when you submit to the Auckland Budget.

Peter Burn, Gulf Harbour

Editor’s note: The Council’s 2023/24 budget is open for public submissions until next week – submissions must be in by 11pm on March 28. Info: akhaveyoursay.nz/budget

Learn from Tamaki Drive

Paul Klinac’s suggestion that the Ōrewa Reserve could become a dune system [HM March 6] defies recent and past erosion history due to the existing rock walls at each end creating an unnatural environment where tidal swirl produces a scouring action. The only dune system is toward the estuary which might be considered the council’s sand dump for beach restoration, and we all know where that happens! We also have witnessed the effect of wind driven sand onto the road and into neighbours’ properties. To suggest that a rock wall limits the amount of dry beach is true as is shown by all the areas currently protected by this system but this does not limit the use – after all, the beach only dries as the tide goes out. As a regular walker along the length of the beach and having past history in civil and environmental works I continually observe the changing nature of the beach and the guided and misguided approaches to tame it. We should reflect on Tamaki Drive or even Oriental Bay in Wellington, projects carried out by our forefathers when our leaders considered the long term rather than the next 12 months budget. They all have beach access as does Ōrewa Beach repeatedly along its length. The beach and reserve are separate but adjoining entities and should be treated this way. As an aside (and referencing the “Shifting Sands’ item), since when did private property out-value public lands?

Colin Selfe, Red Beach

Have amp, will travel

The recent Business Whangaparāoa meeting in Red Beach with Simon Bridges lacked a sound system but local board chair Gary Brown came to the rescue with an amp and microphone which he conveniently keeps in his car. “I like a politician who has an amp in his car,” Bridges said. “Makes me think of speaking on street corners”.

Red Beach artist Holly Aymes recently completed a mural under the Ōrewa South bridge. Holly is the indigenous arts representative for Te Herenga Waka o Ōrewa community marae. In 2021 she was commissioned by Auckland Council’s Recreational Services division, as part of their beautification projects, to design and paint the mural on underpass, in the hopes of reducing tagging. Covid-19 and weather delayed the project until the end of February. The mural, recently completed with the help of Holly’s friends and whānau, represents Ranginui and Papatūānuku through a series of tapatoru, or triangular patterns on the outsides of the bridge, while underneath stars Tāne-mahuta as a mokomoko (or gecko) pushing the two apart. There is also a nod to Tangaroa with a stingray and snapper flowing in and out of the estuary.

This structure, which was revealed at Stanmore Bay after recent erosion, has been a source of fun on social media with people photo-shopping various things into its interior – including Michael Jackson, and a cat!. Council’s heritage team say it is an old stormwater outlet with a metal grate that was fitted to stop debris accumulation.

March is late for a display of sunflowers like this, but Ben the gardener at Hibiscus Hospice in Red Beach keeps on sowing them – these were planted in December. One of Ben’s jobs is to keep up a supply of fresh flowers to be picked so hospice patients and staff can enjoy them.

Easter has filled the shelves that were previously short of eggs at Pak n Save Silverdale.