Month: March 2016
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Will Auckland become like Tokyo, and would that be a bad thing?
For the Easter Holidays I decided to visit Tokyo. This is the first time that I have been to Japan and while some of my preconceptions have been confirmed I have been pleasantly surprised by how well the city works. And as Auckland faces the problem of predicted significant growth rates for the next few decades…
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Who would solve a stormwater problem by cutting down large Kauri Trees
I am afraid the answer is Auckland Council. The evidence comes from recent incidents surrounding the property owned by Terry Chang in Hillcrest, North Shore. Council has planned storm water work in the area. They intend to enlarge the stream that runs down the back of Mr Chang’s property and this requires the removal of…
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The Mayor at the Pasifeka Festival
Yesterday I went along to Auckland’s Pasifeka festival. Len Brown was performing the Mayoral tour of each Island Nation village at 10 am and the call had gone out for elected people to go on his walkabout with him. The turnout by elected people was very poor. There were members of the Youth Council and the…
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Government plans RMA power grab
The Government is proposing sweeping changes to the Resource Management Act. They had planned for even more radical change but the support parties refused to commit so the proposal to weaken the goal of environmental protection by merging sections 5 and 6 of the RMA was removed. The currently proposed changes include one which would give the relevant Minister…