Destroying Auckland city

Written By: - Date published: 4:49 pm, November 3rd, 2009 - 3 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, john banks, supercity - Tags: ,

2297070Yesterday the Auckland Transition Agency (ATA) released its draft structure for the new Auckland council.

Fortunately for the staff, and service levels in the new Auckland council, the ATA has a ‘commitment to maintaining or enhancing council service delivery.’

This means: ‘A prudent approach will be taken to staff reduction where services are reorganised to minimise the loss of institutional knowledge and skills and to maintain staffing flexibility where this may be required by the new organisations.’

That is good news (although the rest of the structure needs work). The last thing we need is some mad far-right ideologue threatening to gut public services in Auckland.

The problem is that one of the candidates for the mayoralty of the new city is not so concerned about maintaining service levels in the new council.

Earlier this year, in a rare moment of truthfulness, Remuera Citrat mayor John ‘barking mad’ Banks promised to randomly axe 2,700 jobs from the new council if he is elected.

That’s 40% fewer librarians, street cleaners, building consent managers and public pool employees in Banks’ bleak plan for Auckland. That means you’ll be getting 40% less service from the new council. Auckland city will grind to a halt under Banks and C&R.

Given wider Auckland’s revulsion to Banks’ downtown takeover and proposed slashing of council services in the North Shore, Waitakere, Manukau and rural Auckland, he might try and backtrack on his promised cuts.

However, just as when Banks said ‘if wear my policy on my sleeve, I won’t get elected’, Aucklanders would do well to remember the truism, ‘a leopard never changes his spots’ and recall his promised slashing of services to the region.

John Banks. No thanks.

3 comments on “Destroying Auckland city ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Steve Withers 1
    3 November 2009 at 10:36 pm

    It may go like this:

    In any Auckland election, as in the general election, the NZ Herald will trumpet on about some emotive, trivial issues to distract everyone with…..and use to support whoever they think the Mayor should be. Just as they did for John Key and National last year.

    The largest minority – who know very little about a lot – will lap it up as they did last year….smug in the knowledge “We showed them!”….and vote for whomever based on reasons that don’t actually matter a hog’s fart in the big picture.

    Privatising water? Restricting democracy?

    Not a clue.

  2. tc 2
    4 November 2009 at 11:54 am

    Steve is spot on……most of the decisions to sell off/outsource/remove jobs has already been made the spin and deferral awaits us so they can delay the massive cost blowouts till after election 2011 probably…..like the very costly IT aspect of a single rating system.
    A certain Nat MP also an AKL city coucillor resigned from ACC 2 days after the date which would force a byelection for his position…….coincidence or intended ? You be the judge.
    The die is cast, the scripts are being followed, the sham consultation process ‘success’ further enhances this theory.
    Banks/Brown/whoever becomes super lord of akl will have little control over the supercity machine……it’s designed that way IMHO.

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