Will you bring democracy to Orewa and stop the ARC directive that we have to have high rise and end up looking like Surfers Paradise when 83% of the population of Orewa don't want it? The one we have now is difficult to sell, used by the DSW as its difficult to rent and turned the centre of Orewa into a shaded wind tunnel.
Julia
Candidate Answers
Candidate
Answer
Julia,
The way I see the new super City working is that the Local Boards will consult the residents for their ideas, suggestions and needs. The Local Boards will then make those ideas into policies and projects. So if the residents want to look at the way their area will develop in the future, they will be the ones deciding. They may have to plan ahead so there is room for development. We can\'t have Auckland just staying as it is, the population pressure will prevent that. But there is no reason why the residents will not be deciding from the \'grass roots\' up rather than top down.
Now the thing that can go wrong is that the Local Board that is elected are top down trained councillors that will not listen or consult or have signed up to party pledges of policy that will stop them acting on residents\' ideas. If you elect listeners then you need to insist they do consult and listen. As Mayor that is one of the policies I want to actively insist on and I have outlined that I would want to meet with the Local Boards starting in week two, till I have met with all of them to make this point.
If the Local Boards follow this procedure I think the super City will be fantastic. It will energise the residents and that will harness the largest resource we have in Auckland. We have never had a positive process before for involvement of residents. It will probably have some difficulties, like your outlined concern but we need to find the way to discuss these sort of problems to get an answer that satisfies everyone. Not easy but a great goal to have because of the outcome it can bring.
Hope that helps.
Hugh Chapman
Hi Julia,
I believe that local boards should make local decisions - they will be the people who are expected to best represent the residents in your area and should be the voice of the community. However they will be expected to show that they are in fact deciding in line with what the people want for their respective area.
Colin
Defintely agree with you Julia, last thing we need is out of place high rises,we already let some idiot(s) give consent to the present eye sore
