Rodney Hide took all of ACT’s declining credibility and bet it on the losing horse of super-sizing Auckland council amalgamation—so bad a bet he had to leave the city, ashamed to show his face in front around the ratepayers he shat on. Yet he’s back this week, flogging that same dead horse, telling punters in the face of the abundant evidence to the contrary appearing in every spiralling rates demand they receive that “nothing has changed,” and at the same time that all the changes are “under the hood.”
Apparently service is better, infrastructure is better, bylaws are better, and now every new home has a pony. Sadly, there are nowhere near enough new homes. Partly because of the planners’ plans being written by Rodney’s super-sized and wholly unaccountable council planners…
Housing affordability measures are an excellent ‘test’ of how well local government is performing and coping with growth [points out Hugh Pavletich] …
Around the time of the Auckland Councils amalgamation, 3rd Qtr 2010 data ( 2011 7th Annual Demographia Housing Survey) shows that Auckland housing was then 6.4 times household earnings …
http://www.demographia.com/dhi2011.pdf
… and by the 3rd Qtr last year, as this year’s 11th Annual Demographia Housing Survey illustrates, Auckland housing had hit 8.2 times household earnings …
http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf
… with Auckland’s housing inflation exploding these past 12 months by 25.4% from a median price of $615,000 through to $771,000 … near 10 times annual household earnings.
What this means is that the young couple on say $100,000 a year could expect at the time of amalgamation to pay $640,000 to house themselves … but now it is close to a million dollars.
As commenters say in replies to the odious prick’s self-serving Herald puff-piece …
Rodney Hide sold the idea of super-sizing council as delivering smaller council, greater efficiencies and lower rates. Every promise has proved disastrously wrong. The myth-making continues: “We didn't just push eight councils together,” says Hide. “We disestablished eight councils and built a new one. Nothing like it has ever been attempted in Australia or New Zealand.”
Well, yes it had been tried before: in Brisbane. And in Adelaide. And just like Auckland’s council amalgamation, they were disasters.
And it had been tried before in New Zealand, by Michael Bassett, delivering the same result as this amalgamation: not disestablishing eight sets of councils and their staff, but building a whole new set of council parasites on top – with egos, power-trips and huge rates bills to match.
Hide has learned nothing and forgotten everything.
If he had simply remained as the perk-buster who turned poacher he could have simply remained just another political joke. That he instead had the power-trip that saddled us with Len Brown’s super-shitty super-sized council bills means he deserves only contempt.
I suggest you punch him next time you see him. Punch him hard.
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4 comments:
In fairness to Rodney, would things have been as bad if John Banks had been elected first mayor of the super city?
We can't really know the answer to that because of the influence of unelected officials on local government outcomes. But having said that I'm sure Banks would have done a far better job than Brown. Maybe we do get what we vote for.
Paranormal
Q: "...would things have been as bad if John Banks had been elected first mayor of the super city?"
A: Yes.
I am disappointed with Rodney as he claimed to be a libertarian but as soon as he became part of the gov't he then became a communist , turning the Auckland region into a central planed mini communist state. He was quick to forsake his libertarian principles . It seems he is now defending his communist city . That he can defend this monstrosity created by himself and the Key, English Gov't, run by wannabe tyrant L Brown makes the mind boggle.
Sad, there was a time when you could pull Rodney's leg, and he would laugh at himself; well maybe.
Down here in Christchurch, despairing of our Council, most of us have given up. The cost of the new Hereford street Council building was hidden in secret deals by Bob Parker et al, way back. But it was 80 million up front and a massive costly lease to Ngai Tahu. In Christchurch what Ngai Tahu wants Ngai Tahu gets.
Then Council, after the Earthquake, started waffling on about Sports stadiums, and Convention centres and Town halls. Each item was only about a thousand dollars to every rate payer [ 150,000 ratepayers ] There is nonsense written about the recovery here, and really this is a difficult place to live. Hugh Pavletich carries the banner but he seems a lone voice.
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