Opinion from Dick Quax
The Government has every right to feel that the Auckland Council is being less than honest with the people of Auckland. The Mayor has been forced to admit that he got things terribly wrong when he claimed last month that there are 15,000 sections within the Auckland urban footprint on which housing construction can begin “right now”. Last October he put the number at 18,500. Read more »

News from TVNZ
Housing Minister Nick Smith has offered an olive branch to Auckland’s Mayor Len Brown after weeks of sniping over the super city’s Unitary Plan. Smith told deputy political editor Jessica Mutch on Q&A today that the government and council were not worlds apart in what they wanted to achieve to alleviate Auckland’s housing problem. Read more »

Opinion from Councillor Cameron Brewer
Following the revelation that the Mayor’s Office annual travel costs increased by 435% to $159,000, I am releasing the Auckland Council’s full travel costs for the first two years of the Super City – the total is $10,570,315. Read more »

by Len Brown, Mayor of Auckland
Today is a major milestone in Auckland’s journey to become the world’s most liveable city. This is where the rubber hits the road. Read more »

Opinion from David Thornton of No More Rates
Auckland ratepayers could have their property values radically changed under the Unitary Plan. Read more »

Opinion by Councillor Cameron Brewer
Reports that the board of Waterfront Auckland has suspended funding the Wynyard Quarter trams should come as no surprise. Read more »

Haka of appreciation for the penultimate performance of iChoose, performed by the boys of Kelston Boys High School – Friday 1 March

by Alastair Thompson
Yes it’s name is a bit like iPhone. And I think that is deliberate. It comes from the US via Norway, and has a Japanese producer from the International Committee of Artists for Peace – whose board members include Herbie Hancock, Patrick Duffy and Carlos Santana. Read more »

Opinion by Dr Gareth Morgan
My cat campaign may have got some people’s backs up, but it is attracting a growing level of support. Meanwhile the beleaguered SPCA, in the gun for its policy of supporting stray cats that wander and slaughter, is facing a revolution from within its own ranks. Read more »

Opinion by Tim Watkin in Pundit
Dear Auckland Transport, Veolia and all those others who make up the mish-mash of operators and overseers of Auckland trains. Read more »

Opinion by Councillor Cameron Brewer
Former Act leader and Minister of Local Government, Rodney Hide, did a great job amalgamating the eight former regional, city and district councils into one unitary authority, Auckland Council. The architecture has proven to be sound with no serious legislative changes mooted. However while the architecture of the Super City remains sound, benefits for ratepayers that should have been delivered have yet to be delivered by the local body politicians. Read more »

Opinion from David Thornton
Within the space of two days, the Auckland Council is taking on projects and facilities which will be underwritten by ratepayers and will almost certainly lead to higher rates or a reduction in council services. Read more »

Opinion by Councillor Cameron Brewer
Aucklanders have just two weeks to have their say on up to $30m of ratepayers’ money being spent on a whitewater rafting facility in Manukau, with public submissions to the Auckland Council’s 2013/14 Draft Annual Plan closing 4pm, Monday 25 February. Read more »

Opinion from Cameron Brewer
Mayor Len Brown’s promise of an integrated transport system for Auckland, including more ferry terminals, will be seriously stymied with 80 percent of the region’s 10-year public transport infrastructure budget set to be solely allocated to the City Rail Link. Read more »

Opinion by Dr Gareth Morgan
First let me say I do not hate cats. How people ever reached that conclusion is only for them to know. What I do not like however is the evidence of the damage that cats are doing to our native fauna. To Bob Kerridge and his fellow travellers I fully appreciate and respect your love for the domestic cat. That is not the issue and totally beside the point. Stray and feral cats originate from the domestic cat population so your constituency is responsible for that population as well. Read more »

Opinion from Bob Kerridge
Cats have been persecuted for Centuries by Popes (the work of the devil), Royalty (burned in sacks as a crowning sacrifice), and by the occasional zealots (think London and the great plague). This possibly explains the reason cats find it difficult to totally trust humans … and who can blame them ? Read more »

Opinion by Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer
Many on the Right will be disappointed the Local Government portfolio wasn’t given back to Nick Smith. It’s instead gone to 18th ranked minister Chris Tremain. Read more »

by Holly Walker MP
There are some really exciting concepts and opportunities for medium-density housing development in New Zealand if we can get political buy-in from national and local governments, and work with developers and designers to start thinking creatively about our housing needs. Read more »

Article by Councillor George Wood
The Auckland community now has a major opportunity to change the way alcohol outlets operate. The council has a huge programme of work to implement the new Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 during 2013. The act received Royal Assent on 18 December. Read more »

Press Release – Greenpeace New Zealand

The new Rainbow Warrior sailed into Auckland for the first time yesterday. She was welcomed by Ngati Whatua. The first Rainbow Warrior was bombed in the city’s harbour by French secret service agents in 1985. Read more »

Opinion by Tony Allen
“Destroy that community garden! It’s an affront to our dignity!.” One could surmise that these were the words from Housing New Zealand to Andrews Housemovers Limited, whose worker ripped down the fence at 16 Taniwha Street, Glenn Innes, on Tuesday morning in preparation for destroying a community garden planted by State tenants who last July had unsuccessfully opposed the removal, under police guard, of another State house from this same property by the same company in this poor working class district of Auckland. Read more »