LISA PRAGER: STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

Holy moly, brace yourselves, the Waterfront arena debate is warming up again.

Chief sunken stadium proponent Michael Sage of law firm Simpson Grierson is very comfortable with the promise of $1.8b in private funds. Presumably he thinks there is no conflict of interest with his wife Genevieve Sage being chair of the Waitematā Local Board. Yeah right!

In May Ponsonby News, “Lessons From Our Future Self” Ms Sage compares Sydney (5m population) to Auckland (1.5m), asserting the waterfront is a “blank canvas on which to wow the world”. She is 100% behind a large format CBD entertainment/sports facility. However the ‘illuminated donut design’ is no Sydney Opera House.

Here is the list of those similarly excited about a fully enclosed facility. Known as the Auckland Waterfront Consortium (AWC) - Ernst & Young; Simpson Grierson; Jones Lang Lasalle; ENGEO; Peddle Thorp; Planning Focus; Phil O’Reilly Design; Rider Levett Bucknall; Buildmedia; The Property Strategists; as well as USA-based architecture firm HOK. Some real heavy hitters.

This stadium has previously caused controversy when Auckland’s ex-Mayor Phil Goff refused to give councillors full and open access to a $1m pre-feasibility report he commissioned on the arena in 2018. Paid for by the public and subject to an ombudsman complaint, the idea was sunk only to resurface now. Goff said at the time, he was concerned to maintain obligations to third parties, but isn’t that just a form of corporate welfare?

Why would you build such a monolith on reclaimed land in the midst of a climate crisis, subject to flooding, earthquakes and possible tsunami? How smart is it to put a stadium on one of the most congested and inaccessible locations on our slender isthmus?

What is the real reason that this consortium wants public permission and private funds to build a sunken stadium on the harbour’s edge? Clearly they want to make Eden Park redundant and turn it into a high density residential development for big profits using the new stadium as leverage.

Our local democracy has already been hijacked once this year, when Ms Sage crossed the floor, leaving her Citizen & Ratepayers ticket, to join City Vision on the day she was sworn in. This move secured her the Chair of Waitematā Local Boardand gave her the casting vote on every decision.

My observation at the monthly Local Board meetings is that Ms Sage is inept and incapable of managing a meeting. At the last public forum I attended in May, she shut down members of the public, ignored questions from councillors not aligned with her point of view, passed resolutions before counting votes and abruptly left the meeting because of public push back about her dictatorial style.

I was asked “ What do you think is the reason for the lack of engagement by the public with the local board?” My answer was simple “A crisis of trust.” People do not trust politicians who say one thing and do another. The local board seems incapable of making any decisions for itself like apologising for the Erebus debacle, calling a halt to the continued use of carcinogenic chemical street sprays, let alone demanding a fix for dangerous and badly maintained roads and footpaths.

I suspect some of our elected officials are suffering from ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.

A condition where hostages develop a psychological dependance on their captors. In this case the unelected council officers act like the captor, holding procedural power and historic knowledge over the board members. Perhaps a political warrant of fitness should be required of every candidate who enters into the local body arena!

Elected members are so indoctrinated through closed workshops, brimming with complex process and legal procedure, that when it comes to understanding community skirmishes, well it’s the official line all the way.

We should be able to expect more of our elected members than incompetence and lip service, especially when there are millions and billions of dollars at stake.

(LISA PRAGER)  PN Westmere

WAYNE BROWN: IMAGINE IF THE GREENS WERE ACTUALLY GREEN

At the time of writing, it is Volunteers' Day where we recognise all those Kiwis who volunteer and contribute to our communities.

Ideally, everyone should contribute some of their time as a volunteer to the many worthy causes from helping the local sports teams, aiding those with disabilities, cleaning up our environment or in some way giving back some time for others.

My pet cause is served through my position as a trustee of Sea Cleaners – a wonderful organisation started by enthusiast Hayden Smith when only in his twenties. Sea Cleaners basically just does what its name implies. Using volunteers, we collect huge volumes of rubbish from our streams and harbours.

Under Hayden’s relentless leadership, Sea Cleaners has grown to have several boats with skippers who handle teams of mostly young volunteers who enjoy a day out fishing tons of various types of rubbish kindly donated by lazy citizens biffing their plastic wrappings, bottles and all sorts of junk, including tyres and shopping trolleys, into our marine system. Sea Cleaners goes into schools to teach young Kiwis not to mimic their parents by throwing stuff away, but to actively clean up our streams.

The areas covered now extend beyond Auckland into other provinces and even as far as Hawaii. The recent floods showing drains blocked with plastic waste only highlights the horrid truth that plastic is so widespread that it is entering the food chain and the volumes of plastic in the sea is now by far the biggest oil based pollution, far out-sizing such well publicised oil spill disaster such as from Exxon Valdez.

So the Greens need to be hammering these green environmental issues and casting their influence across all levels of society, instead they seem to be ignoring the environment in favour of social engineering. They have become Green with envy, rather than Green for the environment.

I applaud the Green’s stand in various environmental issues but I am saddened by their change of focus. It is no wonder they are being called the Watermelon Party, green on the outside and bright red in the middle.

What with climate change, storm damage and plastic waste, who now is going to champion these issues which extend way beyond rich versus poor. We all need to get involved, so come on readers, volunteer, especially for environmental groups such as Sea Cleaners. We could do with more help so check our website and volunteer.

Climate change will cause disruption but won’t kill us but micro plastics getting into the food chain probably will.

www.seacleaners.com

(WAYNE BROWN)  PN Mayor of Auckland www.facebook.com/WayneBrown4Auckland

KEN RING: WEATHER BY THE MOON

Auckland weather diary, July 2023

July is expected to be wetter than average and with less sunshine.

The first and last weeks may be the wettest, with the second week being the driest, with highest barometric pressures. The third week is the most overcast with the lowest barometer readings. The best weekend for outdoor activities may be 8th/9th.

For fishermen, the highest tides are on 5th. The best fishing bite-times in the east are around dusk on 2nd-5th, and 17th-19th. Bite-chances are also good for noons of 9th11th and 25th-27th.

For gardeners, planting is best (waxing moon ascending) on 1st and 18th-29th; and pruning on 5th-15th (waning moon descending). For preserving and longer shelf-life, pick crops or flowers around the neap tides of 12th and 27th.

Allow 24-hour error for all forecasting. (KEN RING)  PN

For future weather for any date, and the 2023 NZ Weather Almanac, see www.predictweather.com