Auckland Super-City and the super mayor

Jafas are becoming desperate. Twinkle-toed Rodney Hide has determined we in Auckland are to become a Super-City, but we can’t find ourselves a super mayor.

Sure, we have some names on the nominations list. We have clowns from whom it is hard to raise a laugh. Another is a millionaire who wants to run the city by referendum. Just think: if he has no answers to a problem, what is he doing standing for Mayor? He would spend the city’s budget on referendums in the first six months.

And then there are the existing mayors of Auckland and Manukau who each believe they have the answers for the Super City. So let’s look at the former, first.

Auckland’s John Banks, in his second incarnation as Mayor, wants the top, second-most powerful job in the land. His ideas for Auckland have me worried. Just in one example, in his first term, he announced he was going to build a six-lane motorway from the CBD out through Hobson Bay, Orakei Basin, Glen Innes and Panmure, bridge the Tamaki River to Pakuranga and beyond, backed by the transport lobby which was determined to punch the final nail through Rail’s coffin. It involved the demolition of sixty odd houses, to the consternation of owners and occupiers. That there was much embarrassment and opposition concerned Banksie not one iota, but the next election saw him out before he could realise his dream. But after a spell on the beach, he was re-elected, claiming to be a softer version.

Now here’s a curious thing. The highway campaign was predicated on the need to keep traffic out of the CBD and to ease congestion on the existing eastern corridors. But traffic engineers are in general agreement that rail moves more people and goods more efficiently than cars, buses or trucks, in less time. And the proposed six lane expressway ran for up to ten kilometers alongside an existing two track railway line, reclaiming much of an iconic bay, before it reached the junction point from which it would need to diverge to cross the Tamaki River, a piece of railway alone that would save a fortune in roading

That building and maintaining railways services are more cost effective than roading has been affirmed by experienced engineers. And if the eastern areas of Manukau were deserving of additional service six years ago, how much more deserving are they now? If transport infrastructure is to be provided for Howick ward and beyond, John Banks is hovering hopefully for another crack at his dream.

The New Zealand Herald provides a traffic service to its readers: you ask a traffic-related- question, and the column will look for answers on a weekly basis. After the idea was first raised, three times I asked the column a question regarding research into the feasibility of providing a rail link to the CBD rather than the roading option, and three times I was ignored. The question was reasonable then and reasonable now.

And to horrify Jafas even more, John Banks has announced his intention to promote Auckland as the venue for some future Olympic Games. Auckland cannot afford this man as Super City mayor. But can Len Brown of Manukau be any better? We’ll have a look at him next blog.