tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post9001945985438250026..comments2024-03-22T11:55:50.335+13:00Comments on Not PC: Who pays for Len Brown?Peter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-89818244414931051322010-11-10T12:09:05.787+13:002010-11-10T12:09:05.787+13:00As I look back over my shoulder to what is happeni...As I look back over my shoulder to what is happening in the city of my youth, I find it all a little hard to take in. That a member of a party which supposedly espouses minimal government should come up with this quasi state-within-a-state (for that is what Auckland now appears to be), is quite extraordinary. If I'm reading between the lines correctly, the Auckland "Super City" is now of such a size and thus the site of such a large proportion of NZ's population, wealth and economy that its mayor is essentially a <i>de facto</i> shadow prime minister. Hide must have lost his mind. <br /><br />Large bureaucracies are never efficient and the larger they are, the worse they become. Ditto for the larger the area and the more people they .......*cough*........<i>"serve"</i>. <br /><br />Another poster said Brown will get the blame for this. It's true that this wasn't his idea but I <i>know</i> he loves it. When all is said and done, Brown is a firm believer that the "gubmint" is in the end, the <i>solution</i>, whereas the sane belief is that it's the <i>problem</i>. Big government gives him a chance to indulge in his real passion; social engineering. This comes through in his "all things to all men" rhetoric. It's clear he's a firm believer in the idea that a valid function of government is to help us all to become "better" people (whatever that might mean) and to help us realize our "dreams".<br /><br />His grandiose plans for running railroad tracks all over and underneath Auckland will be an economic black hole which will swallow Auckland's ratepayers. I don't see that Auckland has the population <i>density</i> to make this work. Then again, maybe I'm out of touch. Has the attitude of Aucklanders to rail undergone a change? As a student at Auckland Uni in the '80s, I commuted by train every day and often luxuriated in the splendid isolation of my own personal carriage on the journey home in the evenings.........<br /><br />Good luck with that, Len.kiwiinamericahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03584836925358624544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-33087877559681355912010-11-02T17:59:55.430+13:002010-11-02T17:59:55.430+13:00Already I have noticed the Manukau Libraries websi...Already I have noticed the Manukau Libraries website has changed to a hopeless messed up Supercity website. Not a good sign of things to come.Pete Pnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-34143045712382902252010-11-02T17:37:23.855+13:002010-11-02T17:37:23.855+13:00The problem with the old council was not the compe...The problem with the old council was not the competition between the city councils but the ARC trying to be the master planner of everything.<br />This city is a monster.<br />The average Swiss commune is 2000 people.<br />There are 1300 municipalities in Paris alone, and there is a Mayor for every 350 people in France as a whole.<br />The average municipality in the US is 6,000 people.<br />Sydney and Melbourne have about 40 councils (shires) each from memory.<br />MOntreal de-amalgamated only two years after their amalgamation which was similar to Auckland although I think Auckland;s remains the largest ever.Owen McShanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10130002581563595646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-73947739125006287992010-11-02T15:57:36.164+13:002010-11-02T15:57:36.164+13:00And the blame for the failure of this morally and ...And the blame for the failure of this morally and intellectually bankrupt monstrosity will be laid at the feet of Len Brown by the Right. They are gearing up already.<br /><br />Yes - Hide and his enablers should be hung, drawn and quartered.Ruthnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-32214287450463969822010-11-02T12:35:19.907+13:002010-11-02T12:35:19.907+13:00@Zen Tiger:
I'm all for log-jams and "...@Zen Tiger: <br /><br />I'm all for log-jams and "lack of collaboration" for bureaucrats and central planners. The more barriers to them getting things done, the better.<br /><br />Instead, in Auckland, Rodney has removed the few structural barriers <br />that remained after Sandra Lee's 2002 Local Govt Act. <br /><br />"<i>The issue though is to continue with Rodney Hide's push to constrain Councils...</i>"<br /><br />What "push"? Do you live in some kind of alternative universe?<br /><br />Instead of overturning the "power of general competence" that Sandra Lee's new LG Act gave councils --- allowing them to do whatever they like, unless prohibited by law (while property owners are able to do only what this scum allows them) -- your hero spent his time and all his political capital setting up this super-sized monstrosity.<br /><br />He deserves to hang for it. At the very least, he might get the push--and deserves to.Peter Cresswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-10658679824907108162010-11-02T12:15:11.206+13:002010-11-02T12:15:11.206+13:00On the other hand, for Auckland to function as a c...On the other hand, for Auckland to function as a city, the lack of collaboration across 8 councils was also a pressing issue, and it also led to wastage and worse - no real progress.<br /><br />The Super City may not be the answer, but the Status Quo certainly wasn't either.<br /><br />Not that I disagree with your points about bureaucracy as such. The issue though is to continue with Rodney hides push to constrain Councils with hard and fast legislation to delivering only on "core services".ZenTigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07888629207437612884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-89048926283927883242010-11-02T11:19:09.161+13:002010-11-02T11:19:09.161+13:00Big surprise. Sandra Lee and Judith Tizard will b...Big surprise. Sandra Lee and Judith Tizard will be thrilled. A council in their image, and it happened because the Nats pushed it, and ACT voted for it.<br /><br />Labour-lite? or Labour Chili flavoured?Libertyscotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12741049550997300680noreply@blogger.com