Auckland 2016 Election Lists
The deadline for the 2016 local body elections was yesterday and last night the Auckland Council released the list of confirmed candidates. The council say 447 candidates have put their hands up for the 170 positions available for Mayor, Councillor and Local Board member.…
7 Comments A wheely suitcase in Europe #1: Amsterdam to Annecy
In the next four weeks I will be travelling from Amsterdam to Lisbon, and back again, with my trusty wheely suitcase in tow.
If you’ve ever lived somewhere like Amsterdam, then you’ll know what I mean when I say that “winter is coming”.…
Unitary Plan Day 3
We are now onto Day 3 on the Unitary Plan process. On now is the last major topic which is zoning. This includes Rural Urban Boundary changes, including contentious areas like Okura. There are also ‘catch-all’ votes to accept the panel zoning in the South, West, North, Rodney and Central. …
Register to vote for local body elections
This is a quick reminder: Today is the registration deadline for the 2016 local body elections. If you’re unsure if you’re registered to vote, please hop onto the Electoral Commission website and check your registration. Have you enrolled to vote for Local Elections yet?…
Behind the scenes on the electric trains
Looking at the AT website the other day I noticed that some previously confidential board papers had now been published. One of those was an update on our new trains, diving in to some of the technical issues they’ve faced. They say there’s been a lot of positives from the project including that deliverables were met within the original time, cost plans and budget. …
Unitary Plan updates – Day 2
We are now onto day 2 of the marathon Auckland Council Governing Body meeting that is voting on the recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel on the Unitary Plan. The meeting is currently on a lunch break and will resume at 1.10pm.…
Repost: Why I’m optimistic New Zealand can solve its housing troubles
This is a repost of an article I wrote last December explaining why I’m optimistic about housing affordability in Auckland – and New Zealand’s ability to solve problems in general. I think my optimism has held up reasonably well. Since then, New Zealand’s conversation on housing affordability and urban planning has matured in some important ways – crystallising in the response to the Independent Hearings Panel’s recommendations on the Auckland Unitary Plan.…
The HOP Blacklist
Auckland Transport’s HOP card generally works pretty well for most people and is a vast improvement from what we had before with different ticketing systems for each mode/company. But almost 5 years on, it still has some amazingly annoying and very customer unfriendly bugs/features that they’ve never fixed.…
Unitary Plan debate live updates – end of Day 1
The Auckland Council starts debating the recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel on the Notified Unitary Plan this morning. This will be a standing blog post that collates the latest updates on the process. As this stage the debate is set down for 3 days, and the Auckland Council has a statutory deadline of the end of next week to notify their recommendations.…
LRT: The Seattle example
Auckland Transport have published a new version of their airport rail video, essentially stripping out the heavy rail parts while also adding a little bit more detail about the airport. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects is it shows a bit of how light rail would get through Onehunga.…
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