Len Brown - in the finest tradition of left wing BSers

[cyc]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11289002

Asked if he would keep his election promise of holding rates to no more than 2.5 per cent, Mr Brown said it was the preference of Aucklanders and councillors to maintain rates increases at a prudent level as possible.

"We will be looking to rates increases in and around 2.5 per cent...but we will also be taking the advice of our officers and I will be listening to the views of my political colleagues and the community

Either it was a promise or it wasn't. But what else can one expect of our fine, upstanding Mayor of Auckland?

[CCS]

Major cuts in Auckland Council's 10-year budget

The Auckland Council has released the first details of a new 10-year budget, which includes proposals for major service cuts to parks and community services and key transport projects.

The budget will require the council to slash up to $2.8 billion of new spending to hold rates at 2.5 per cent or $2 billion to hold rates at 3.5 per cent.

O cool. Glad I'm not a ratepayer... but then, I am a renter, and rent can always be increased.

Parks and community services will bear a big brunt of the cost-cutting with talks of reduced mowing of parks, weed control and garden maintenance; reduced hours at some libraries and fewer arts and culture festivals and events.

Inorganic rubbish collections could end and charges introduced for recycling services.

When free recycling collection started on the North Shore, they started charging for regular refuse at the same time. So it was an incentive to get people to recycle. You know, put glass in the regular rubbish and pay, or put it in the recycling bin for free.

If they charge for regular refuse as well as recycling, where's the incentive? Most people are lazy and need an incentive to be 'green'. What will happen is people will throw their recyclables in whatever bin they feel like.

Same will happen with inorganics. We already have people in my neighbourhood just dumping their shit on the grass berm any time of the year. Unless the council can figure out who is responsible, they usually just end up carting it away. So what will happen is people will dump their shit in parks and reserves and since the council is cutting maintenance, the grass and weeds will nicely hide the dumped inorganic refuse.

Mr Brown said Auckland could not afford everything.

The most prominent project in the budget is the $2.86 billion city rail link, which is still not fully funded and subject to work being carried out on alternative fundings sources, including tolls and congestion charges.

Hmmm... $2.8 billion... where have I heard that before...

The budget will require the council to slash up to $2.8 billion of new spending to hold rates at 2.5 per cent

So... even though the train set is unfunded, presumably it's still presented in the 10 year budget as a cost to the taxpayer at this point? So they could drop the rail link and not have to make cuts elsewhere? Is my understanding correct there?

Seems like Len Brown is really keen on the rail link being his legacy and everyone else can get fucked.

[Lightspeed]

Wayne Young is the only man I vote for in this town!

[Golden Teapot]

I like parks and I want them to be maintained. But if they're not I guess it won't be my family that particulalry suffers; we've a pretty big garden - enough space for say seventy suburban backyards and so plenty of space to give the kids the traditional kiwi upbringing.

By and large it will be the stupid people who have voted for brown twice that will be most affected here.There's nothing too much to complain about though since these folk are going to get exactly what they asked for.

[CCS]

Plan to rearrange Auckland's downtown wharves

A plan to rearrange Auckland's downtown wharves, including a new cruise ship terminal on Captain Cook wharf, is going to an Auckland Council committee on Thursday.

The development committee is being asked to endorse an option to extend the 260m Captain Cook wharf by 160m to accommodate a new generation of cruise ships up to 350m long.

The plan would free up Queens Wharf, currently used for cruise ships, for public use and allow for the redevelopment of the ferry basin.

Ferry patronage is forecast to increase by 50 per cent over the next 10 years.

The report says the plan would impact on Ports of Auckland, which uses Captain Cook wharf for motor vehicle imports.

It said this will require a 3ha harbour reclamation at the end of Bledisloe Wharf.

The council is expected to decide shortly if it will allow further reclamation of the harbour for port use in the Unitary Plan - a new planning rulebook for the Super City.

Sounds expensive. More bullshit on top of building a train set under the CBD and trams on top of the roads. Oh, and penis sculptures. Gotta build penis sculptures with public money and then pretend it's not a penis.