Sunday reading 21 June 2015
Mark Kinver, “Active cities boost bottom lines“, BBC: Cities that actively promote physical activities enjoy an economic advantage, research has suggested.
It says areas designed for physical activities have increased retail activity and revenue, and lower healthcare and crime costs.
The report’s authors describe active cities as urban areas with easy access via cycling or walking to parks, schools and workplaces.…
6 Comments AWHC route protection moving ahead
I was recently sent a briefing from late May that the NZTA gave to the transport industry on the three large projects in Auckland that will be procuring work for. In all cases the work relates to designation and planning work and the projects are the Additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing (AWHC), the Northern Corridor works and the East-West link.…
Ports Ruling: Big Win for Civil Society
The High Court has agreed with incorporated society Urban Auckland that the Council and the Port company were in error when they decided they don’t need to consult Aucklanders to expand further into the harbour, here for the full judgement: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/auckland-council-loses-battle-over-port-2015061918?ref=video#axzz3dUz4yI8c…
The Devonport-Parnell Bridge
Digging around online the other day I came across an Auckland Council Archives webpage with a series of old plans and charts on early Auckland harbour bridge and tunnel concepts. I do recommend having a poke around for fans of this sort of thing.…
Productivity Commission report on Land for Housing
The Productivity Commission has released a draft report called Using Land for Housing which looks at options for how more land can be made available for development. At first blush that may sound like code for “open up lots of greenfield land for development” however the report appears to actually look at many of the issues in a holistic way giving a fairly balanced outcome.…
How the Mangere Inlet used to look
Yesterday Auckland Transport and the NZTA released their preferred route for the East-West link semi motorway. It consists primarily of a new road along the northern shore of the Mangere Inlet, something that has already been subject to a lot of change over the years.…
PINZ in the Auckland housing balloon?
I was a bit surprised to hear the Property Institute of New Zealand warn of an “apartment bubble” in Auckland earlier this week. I was even more surprised when I read their press release. The CEO, Ashley Church, is predicting a bubble as a response to 1) banks being likely to decrease their deposit thresholds on apartments from 20% to 15%, and 2) the Reserve Bank potentially bringing in “loan-to-income restrictions”, where mortgagees would then only be able to borrow X times their income.…
Making some quick and easy cycling improvements
I believe that as a city we should take every opportunity we have to retrofit the city with better and more inclusive infrastructure. That means any time we dig up a road for “an upgrade” or even when a road is resealed we need to be thinking about how we can add cycling infrastructure (this also applies to walking and PT infrastructure too).…
Supergold changes good
The government have confirmed the outcome of their review of the Supergold Card and the outcome appears quite good.
The changes are below. Lift the moratorium on new services entering the scheme from 1 September 2015, and apply criteria for new services
Cap Crown funding for the scheme at $28.129 million per year for the next five years, with annual Consumer Price Index adjustments to account for inflation
Replace individual fare reimbursements for councils with bulk funding
Cap Crown funding for exempt services at their current levels, adjusted for CPI
Allow tendering on the Waiheke Island route where there is competition
Require SuperGold Card holders to purchase smartcards, such as the AT HOP card, as smartcard ticketing systems become available.…
East-West preferred Option and more Consultation
Auckland Transport and the NZTA have just announced a new round of consultation for the East-West Link that ends up being pretty much identical to what was suggested by the business community in their four pages of paid advertorial last week.…
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