Aucklanders live in a beautiful city. Our environment includes two magnificent harbours, white and black sand beaches, ancient native forest and bush, and offshore islands that are both wildlife sanctuaries and natural playgrounds for Aucklanders.

Many of us are wake to the songs of tui and riorio (grey warblers) and are regularly visited by fantails, silver-eyes and even ruru (moreporks).

Sustaining this stunning environment, so future generations can enjoy it as much as we do, will be a crucial task for the new super city council.

Many people fear that sustainability means putting the environment before everything else, including people. But that’s not true – at its heart, sustainability is about sustaining people.

It’s about ensuring that all Aucklanders can enjoy the place we live in. It’s about ensuring our power won’t run out, and that we can afford to heat our houses. It’s about ensuring Aucklanders can travel between work, home and leisure without spending too much time or too much money. It’s about ensuring Auckland businesses don’t throw away hard-earned income on waste that gets poured down the drain or dumped in a landfill.

It’s about supporting the environment so that it supports all of us.

Young people, in particular, are telling me that they want to make sure they don’t harm Auckland’s environment just by going about their everyday lives – they want to sustain it so it continues to sustain them.

We have made some progress on this – for example, the recent news that Auckland is about to get an integrated public transport ticketing system means it will be easier to use public transport, cutting down on the number of polluting vehicles on our roads.

At Manukau, we’ve recently stepped in to support Enviroschools to compensate for a cut in government funding. This nationwide programme helps children learn how to incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives – and share those skills with the adults around them.

What else can the new super city council do? It can continue to make sure Aucklanders have as many transport choices as possible, including rail, buses, ferries, cycling and walking, so we don’t need our cars for every single trip. It can use council land to teach Aucklanders how to grow their own vegetables, so we can pick food straight from our gardens, rather than the supermarket shelves. It can make sure council buildings are heated efficiently and council processes minimise waste – not just helping the environment, but also helping to cut council costs.

The list goes on, but one thing is clear: the decisions the super city council makes about sustainability will have a lasting impact. Ensuring Auckland’s people and businesses continue to thrive and our children and grandchildren enjoy the same beautiful environment and quality of life for years to come must be a priority. Because that’s our future.

Music
Music and performance has featured largely on my calendar in recent weeks. After attending the 50th birthday celebrations of the Spotlight Theatre of Manukau Performing Arts, I was part of the 50th birthday celebration performance of Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow at Harlequin’s theatre for the Howick Opera Society. It was a great occasion. The show was a potpourri of popular selections the Society has featured over the last half century. It’s a great little theatre. Well done to Sue Rossitter and the team.

I also went along to an annual performance which featured schools supported by the Tironui Music Trust. These were Puhinui, Papatoetoe North, Papatoetoe West Primary schools and Kedgely and Papatoetoe Intermediate schools. The Trust has supported schools whose students are learning traditional musical instruments including clarinet, the violin, viola, flute, and trombone. Some 200 kids performed on a great day hosted by Puhinui School . There were plenty of mums and dads there which was brilliant to see.

Town planning
We are doing something which is potentially groundbreaking in terms of town planning with the Mangere town centre. Over many years we have carried out significant consultation and redesign projects with Old Papatoetoe, Mangere and Manurewa townships.

We are going through a significant change with Papatoetoe at the moment, following through a plan for reinvestment in the commercial sector as well as an opportunity for some intensive low level apartment development as a way of moving Old Papatoetoe forward commercially.

We are intending something similar at Mangere town centre and have recently carried out informal consultation on the draft Mangere Town Plan. One of the key changes proposed is a simplification of the planning process, which can be very long and protracted. The aim is to do all the consultation on proposals for the area upfront, so residents and developers can be certain about what type of development is allowed in Mangere. We want to see these changes in place before the Auckland Council is inaugurated in November next year.

This plan change would primarily allow more intensive development in and around the Mangere town centre, improving street connections and public transport networks. It would also provide an opportunity for commercial investment beyond where the town centre is at the moment. The process, led by our director Ree Anderson, has been well worked through by our political wing and we are due to go through public hearings for submissions next month.

The alternate route for district scheme plan changes is probably best encapsulated by the Whitford plan changes. It has been a 15-year process but we are now finalising it. I attended the Whitford Residents and Ratepayers AGM last week to confirm that we have at last arrived at the end of the process. We still have the Whitford village plan change to go through but hopefully that will be finalised through by next year in time for the new Auckland council.

The Economy
I am heartened with the amount of vigour I’m seeing within our business community. I attended the 10th anniversary of Tang Ming last weekend. This is an East Tamaki based company owned by Nancy Dong and Peter Chen.

This company has significant links into China . Its core business in New Zealand focuses primarily on residential subdivision development and bathroom and kitchen amenities and facilities. Nancy and Peter have good reason to be pleased with Tang Ming’s progress over the past ten years. They are at the coalface of the development of a strong business relationship between Manukau and some key businesses, cities and provinces in China.

Festive Season
Christmas is descending on our city at a gallop. The traditional first public celebration of the festive season kicked off last week with the tree lighting ceremony at Stockade Hill in Howick.

It was the best turnout I can recall in recent years and the crowd were brave because it was windy and cold. It was a great night finished off by a walk for the family down the Howick Main Street for Midnight Madness.

The street was crammed with families enjoying the occasion and taking the opportunity to look inside the Santa Cave which had been repositioned from a private home on Chapel Road into the new Fencible Park on main street.

This has been a tough year for most of us and with summer, Christmas and holidays beckoning, people are starting to lighten up.

Sir John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation
I also attended the first anniversary celebration of the Sir John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation. The Trustees were hosted by Sir Noel and Lady Sue Robinson and celebrated a great first year which saw the roll-out of four projects with two more still in the planning. It highlights the continuing support and commitment by trusts and by government through SPARC, to Sir John’s vision that every child in our city be active and involved in sport and recreation.

Street Workers
On a more challenging note we recently hosted the Minister of Justice Simon Power in our community to deal with the continuing issue of street prostitutes working in our town centres. This continues to be a concern particularly for the Papatoetoe and Manurewa communities. We had the opportunity to discuss the challenges and the impact of this on our residents and businesses with the Minister.

I am hopeful he has taken what he has witnessed and experienced on board. I suspect he and the Cabinet understands the depth of feeling on this matter in our city and I suspect in many other cities across the country.

I am very hopeful that we may be able to move forward on a legislative programme supported by Parliament. We have to be able to preserve the integrity of our streets and town centres and ensure this reflects the pride we have in our city as well as finding alternative options for those that are legally entitled to practice their trade.

Recently we were told the government will make changes to its transport funding policies. It is going to cap subsidies given via the NZ Transport Agency to councils’ road maintenance. This effectively means cuts to budgets for road resurfacing and improvement in many regions. In Manukau, the cap on subsidies means we will face a $7 million cut.

That could seriously impact many planned walking and cycling tracks, safety projects alongside road maintenance work. Essentially, the practical implication is that we will either need to increase rates or otherwise lessen or delay the maintenance of our local roads.

Neither of the two options are really acceptable. Big rate increases are out of the question and letting the condition of our roads degrade will not pay off in the long run. Of course, my fellow councilors and I will be lobbying government to find solutions to make up the deficit.

This is another example to the tension that exists between the needs of our local communities and the priorities of the government. It demonstrates the importance of having a city mayor who can both work with and challenge the government by acting as a strong advocate for the needs and interests of the community.

I strongly believe that Aucklanders deserve a world class motorway transport system – a great public transport system along with well maintained local roads.

In media reports last month I reasserted my strong support for a number of key Auckland transport issues; specifically in relation to the inner-city rail loop and rail connection to Auckland International Airport as well as electrification and a joint bus, ferry and train ticket.

In relation to Auckland’s roads too, I firmly support a progressive approach and it would be my job – if elected as mayor – to insure that funds are secured and fairly distributed for adequate and well maintained infrastructure.

Owning our own homes is important to Kiwis – it’s something we inherited from our “Old World” forebears, who thought owning their own land and home would guarantee the better life they came here for.

Even though some of our homes might have changed from four-bedroom houses on quarter-acre sections to small townhouses with a private courtyards, or even apartments, home ownership is a dream we’ve largely been able to achieve.

But it is now becoming out of reach for many New Zealanders, especially in Auckland. Statistics New Zealand figures show that between 1991 and 2001, the proportion of Kiwis who owned their home dropped from almost 74% to less than 68%.

And more recently, in March last year, it took more than 83% of the median income to finance an 80% mortgage on an average house. Even though the recent downturn saw prices fall, figures out last week show rising prices and interest rates are again making housing less affordable.

The new Auckland super-city council will have to do its bit to support Aucklanders in achieving their dream of home ownership – and it will have to do so in a way that doesn’t ramp up costs or create a new housing bubble. It will have to focus on better planning and streamlined consent processes, cutting unnecessary costs and delays to make sure Aucklanders continue to have options and choices about where to live.

I’d like to see the new council use its planning role to ensure there’s enough affordable housing right throughout the city. Councils across Australia, the United Kingdom and United States use all sorts of measures to create diverse, vibrant communities – such as planning incentives, density bonuses or encouraging the construction of quality, affordable homes as part of new housing developments. It’s important to investigate how some of these measures could work in Auckland.

But perhaps the biggest role the new super-city council can make is to be an effective and helpful partner to the sectors that play a large role in building housing for Aucklanders. For example, through its Housing Innovation Fund the government is helping non-profit and community groups develop innovative housing solutions. The new council will have substantial land holdings that it could contribute to housing partnerships with these organisations – we should explore these possibilities.

You just need to look at what’s happening with the Tamaki Transformation Project to see how local and central government can co-operate with communities to achieve exciting urban renewal.

Recently in Manukau, and with the blessing of Housing Minister Phil Heatley, we have been exploring ways all parties can work together to increase the supply of affordable, comfortable housing. It’s a co-operative approach I’d like to take to all Auckland, so the super-city supports all its citizens in achieving their Kiwi dream.

Transport

The buzz around public transport is really picking up in the region, with everyone positive about electrifying the rail network. There’s also a lot of work happening to develop the rail terminals, and the economic hubs around them, at Newmarket, New Lynn and Manukau.

In amongst that there are some great local stories that could become great contributors to our options for transportation.

In the years ahead I believe two primary economic drivers will be the ability to attract tourists to Auckland, and then to ensure we can move them around efficiently.

This week I attended the launch of a 24/7 direct bus service from the airport to the CBD. Johnsons Coach Lines, the providers of the bus service and the owners of Airbus Express, representatives of ARTA and representatives of the Auckland International Airport were there to celebrate the Airbus Express expanding its timetable to run around the clock.

The seven day a week service connects a new large bus fleet direct for visitors from the airport to the CBD. It isn’t just for tourists of course, the service is already popular with airport workers and business travellers.

There are presently 13.5 million arrivals and departures from the international airport, and this is predicted to double over the next 20 years. This type of service is crucial as is the need for us to provide a direct rapid transit link between the seaport and the airport.

There is some concern that provisioning of a direct rail link was not necessary and that the airport to city link would be provided by bus only. My view is that there is a huge growth expected in people going through the airport, so we need to be satisfied that bus and rail working in unison could easily deal with that.

Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Awards

I had my first meeting with British Royalty recently, with Prince Edward attending the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary awards at Villa Maria’s Barrel Hall.

It was a great occasion and I thoroughly enjoyed welcoming His Royal Highness on behalf of our City. Prince Edward has a very easy manner with the public and in particular young people which was evident at the awards. It was great to see the number of young people from high schools around Manukau present, including a strong contingent from James Cook High, particularly those who are part of the Taonga Teen Unit.

Shan and I were also hosted by the Governor General later at a lovely dinner at Government House. Prince Edward was at pains to put everyone at ease and he represented his father with great dignity.

Manukau Festival of Arts

The Manukau Festival of Arts continues to deliver some extraordinary events. We attended the Cult Couture show at the Genesis Theatre. This show again exceeded expectations and we enjoyed the colour and energy of this fabulous event.

We then backed up Cult Couture on the Saturday night by attending the World Premier of Strictly Brown, put on by Vela Manusaute and the Kila Kokonut Krew, on Sunday night.

The theatre was packed for what was a fantastic show.

Vela is an extraordinary comic talent and had people in stitches the whole night and it was great to be part of it. We have some amazing talent in our city and it’s particularly interesting to see some of our very best and brightest comic talent coming through from Pasifika people such as Vela and his crew. They are naturally talented and amazingly funny comedians who add a great deal to our art and culture scene.

Recently the Auckland Transition Agency released its first outline of what the new Auckland super-city council will look like.

While this document is good for frontline staff, who now know they will keep their jobs, some aspects of it are worrying – and some important things are missing.

Let’s start with the worrying thing – the senior executives responsible for liaising with and overseeing community bodies and local boards are three levels down from the chief executive.

Why does this make me uneasy? One of the key concerns Aucklanders had when the government revealed the first plan for the super city was that it didn’t have enough local representation and input. That concern was so strong, the government changed the structure to include more community boards and have all councillors elected through wards, rather than some elected at large.

But the structure outlined on Monday does not appear to have strong links to local boards and communities. There will be no direct representatives of local and community interests at the council’s top level. Is this really the best structure for Auckland? Will this really ensure that Aucklanders from Manurewa and Mission Bay, Avondale and Albany, Glendowie and Glenfield receieve the attention they deserve from their new council?

I’m also concerned that we still don’t know how the Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) will link to the council, and that it will be another month before we find out. It’s proposed that vital infrastructure such as transport will be controlled by such organisations – all Aucklanders need to know sooner rather than later what these plans are, so we all have time to make well-considered submissions before the super city structure is finalised.

An inclusive mayor who works in the interests of all Auckland, backed by an effective and efficient council and executive, can make any structure work. But we want the best structure – one that benefits all Aucklanders.

With just a year to go before the super city comes into existence, and just a month or two for public comment and submissions before the structure is finalised, Aucklanders need to know sooner rather than later precisely what’s proposed. That’s the only way we can have meaningful input and ensure the final structure unites all Auckland in a city that really works.

You can read the full document on the Auckland super-city draft organisational structure and staff transition here.