Why is it Len’s fault?

36 comments on “Why is it Len’s fault? ”

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1. Peter 1

   11 December 2014 at 6:10 am

   We won’t find a local solution given that our central Government has no real enthusiasm for it. Alternatively, let the Chinese Government extend their NZ interests and deal with Auckland’s not so super transport issues. They know how to plan and complete major infrastructure projects. By comparison we are total amateurs. They will have the added incentive of their Auckland commercial property prices booming as a result of a more effective city.
   • Skinny 1.1

     11 December 2014 at 6:54 am

     “lLet the Chinese build it” A very good idea they are building railways all around the world. Something has to be done the road traffic congestion is applauding, travelled to Auckland on Tuesday it took 1.5 hours to get to Epsom from the outskirts of North shore, what a bloody joke. Imagine a high speed line from the BOP through to Bay of Islands. Auckland housing would be dramatically reduced if people could commute from coastal properties. Anyway the rail loop issue is political will, of which National are conning JAFFA’s. You get what you vote for I guess, suffer you fools!
   • tracey 1.2

     11 December 2014 at 8:16 am

     what do they pay their railway workers on an hourly basis?
     • Skinny 1.2.1

       11 December 2014 at 10:26 am

       Not a lot I’d say. What I mean by getting them to build is they fund it and supply the materials/infrastructure (rail, bridge spans, trains etc) our worker force build with a limited amount of their engineers & technical staff. And since the sale of land is open they can benefit by housing development. You could build a City the size of Auckland’s at Ruakaka.
       • ghostwhowalksnz 1.2.1.1

         11 December 2014 at 11:37 am

         Its a tunnel.
         The trains have been bought allready ( From Spain)
         • Skinny 1.2.1.1.1

           11 December 2014 at 12:39 pm

           Which is still a loop 🙂 anyway this link is interesting what is happening in high speed rail;
           http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/27422-focus-how-the-us-can-sustainably-become-the-worlds-top-economy-again
           • Ad 1.2.1.1.1.1

             11 December 2014 at 1:07 pm

             There is little support anywhere in central government here for further funding of heavy rail – Kiwirail are slowly gaining mode share but hardly making any money.
   • Ad 1.3

     11 December 2014 at 1:05 pm

     They are welcome to bid like anyone else.
2. Lanthanide 2

   11 December 2014 at 8:50 am

   Given Aucklanders seemed to vote more for National than the rest of the country did at the last election, they deserve their crappy roads, since Labour would have funded the rail loop.
   • tracey 2.1

     11 December 2014 at 8:57 am

     Do you think cantabrians deserve all the crap from the earthquake rebuild too, cos they mostly party vote national?
     • Lanthanide 2.1.1

       11 December 2014 at 12:44 pm

       Anyone who voted National, yes.
       • tracey 2.1.1.1

         11 December 2014 at 12:53 pm

         So all Aucklanders deserve punishment for Nat voters but not all Cantabrians.

         That is delicate footwork Lanth, to dance on that pin.
         • Lanthanide 2.1.1.1.1

           11 December 2014 at 5:25 pm

           Obviously my first comment was very loose.

           The majority of Auckland deserves their crappy roads.
   • Ad 2.2

     11 December 2014 at 1:27 pm

     National has committed to completing City Rail Link main works, starting in 2020.

     The risk to watch for is 2016: local government election year. If the Mayor and Council change substantially then and there is no spade in the ground, there will be uncertainty from the Council side rather than the government side.

     Remember, the only reason we have Britomart at all is because Mayor Christine Fletcher signed the contract to construct on the last day of her term, before Mayor John Banks started.
3. tracey 3

   11 December 2014 at 8:51 am

   Len beat the right wing wealthy businessman. That’s why everything since is his fault.

   It’s ironic that someone like Slater thinks having an extra marital affair renders you incapable of trust, reliability or working on behalf of others.

   Still Palino supports the CRL, you will know that because since he lost the elction he has been very vocal in his support of Len and the Council in their efforts to get this thing going (sarc). Brown should have called him out on it.

   “John campaigned on thiss too, just because he lost doesn’t mean he can’t help. So, c’mon John”

   “Mr Brown’s main conservative challenger, John Palino, is an American-born millionaire businessman and former host of TV3’s reality show The Kitchen Job. He talks of achieving frequent, fast public transport, and wishes to develop a second CBD in Manukau or a similar region. He is keen on the City Rail Link and harbour crossing project in principle – but has an alternative plan on their service delivery.”

   : http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/auckland-mayoral-race–who-are-the-candidates-2013082016#ixzz3LWgtrGft

   And remember what John says on his website?

   “Our future is too important to let politics get in the way of the public’s interest. “
   • Puckish Rogue 3.1

     11 December 2014 at 9:12 am

     It’s ironic that someone like Slater thinks having an extra marital affair renders you incapable of trust, reliability or working on behalf of others.

     Thats not true, it wasn’t that at all. The issue was the way he promoted himself around the churches as a family values type of guy and used council resources to conduct the affair

     Mind you it also goes back to the over spending on the credit card and the mea culpa he performed, again greasing up to the churches
     • Craig Glen Eden 3.1.1

       11 December 2014 at 9:24 am

       HecK PR if that’s the standards you want Len to live up to John Key dosnt stand a chance. Key being the guy who visits Samoan Churches’ who are apposing gay marriage which Key voted for but gives them the impression he didn’t. This from a PM that goes to Church but dosnt believe in God. Hypocrite much!
       • tracey 3.1.1.1

         11 December 2014 at 9:51 am

         SNAP!
       • ghostwhowalksnz 3.1.1.2

         11 December 2014 at 11:39 am

         Key doesnt go to Church ! hes non religous but as usual youll never get him to SAY IT.
     • tracey 3.1.2

       11 December 2014 at 9:24 am

       You must despise this current government.
4. Jenny Kirk 4

   11 December 2014 at 9:21 am

   A bit of deja vue going on here, for me.

   First – Dove Myer Robinson and his inability to persuade Wellington to put decent funding into public transport, and second – the building of the Auck Harbour Bridge and again the inability of Sir John Allum to persuade Wellington to put in sufficient lanes as originally proposed (leading eventually to the “click-ons” and congestion).

   Wellington Tories just never seems to understand (nor wants to understand) how to resolve Auckland’s transport probs.
   • tc 4.1

     11 December 2014 at 11:23 am

     homer J sums it up ” just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand ”

     Muldoon refused Robbies request to complete akl rail ($9m at the time I believe) so it’s ideology all the way as Muldoon was MP for Tamaki and had his bach at hatfields beach just past Orewa.

     Persuasion is pointless when there’s no movement available.
   • Ad 4.2

     11 December 2014 at 1:10 pm

     John Key committed to funding 50% of Auckland’s City Rail Loop by 2020 or earlier if specific conditions were met, in a speech in Auckland in June last year.
     • lprent 4.2.1

       11 December 2014 at 2:40 pm

       Personally I wouldn’t rely on anything that John Key says. Give it a year or so and he will renege.

       Until he stumps actual cash up front, I assume he is doing some feel good bullshitting. He did it from the 2008 election campaign onwards, and has a habit of seldom following through on anything that depletes his cash supply.
       • Ad 4.2.1.1

         11 December 2014 at 2:52 pm

         If he asked me to mortgage my house to get a tax cut next year, i’d probably keep the pen in mid-air.
         • lprent 4.2.1.1.1

           11 December 2014 at 4:56 pm

           I always keep looking for the long-con from the guy.
5. Sirenia 5

   11 December 2014 at 9:23 am

   As an occasional visitor to Auckland I notice the growth of train services and people using them. It seems to stupid now to have delayed them so long. When the loop and the airport line finally arrive we will ask how we have coped so long without them.

   By the way the overseas built trains on the Johnsonville line are not fit for purpose and require a lot of maintenance. We need NZ built trains for NZ conditions at the railway workshops in the Hutt and Dunedin.
   Also resources need to be put into redeveloping passenger services in places like Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Southland. Much of the main trunk line in the north island is electrified but not the section from Waikanae to Palmerston North which is an at-risk commuter service.
   But I don’t think Kiwirail cares about trains (and the government certainly doesn’t). They have just bought a ferry that cannot take trains across Cook Strait.
   • tc 5.1

     11 December 2014 at 11:30 am

     Kiwirail was nobbled by Billy boy soon as they got in by draining their cash reserves into consolidated funds then they installed Jim Quinn to do as directed.

     Replace logic with ideology and competant managers for willing sockpuppets.

     ‘ Much of the main trunk line in the north island is electrified ‘…really could’ve fooled me they must be hiding it underground.
     • ghostwhowalksnz 5.1.1

       11 December 2014 at 11:41 am

       could’ve fooled me they must be hiding it underground….

       More fool you that you dont know something that was done in Muldoons day.
       • tc 5.1.1.1

         11 December 2014 at 1:47 pm

         I stand corrected then so which sections of the main trunk line in the NI are electrified then as all I ever see is diesel locomotives.

         I’ve only ever seen it beyond taupo as an overhead line so is the rest underground ?
         • Steve 5.1.1.1.1

           11 December 2014 at 8:30 pm

           The only parts of the North Island Main Trunk not electrified are Papakura-Te Rapa and Palmerston North-Waikanae.

           Kiwirail does not always run the EF loco’s on the central section.
     • Skinny 5.1.2

       11 December 2014 at 12:02 pm

       National are gearing up to break up our national rail network and privatise lines, similar to what the Tories have done in the UK.

       Quinn as CEO was paid very handsomely (in excess of 4 million for a 5 year contract) to close rail workshops, cut skilled staff. He should be in jail for the ferry & Peruvian sleepers fuck up, the latter true cost closing in on 70 million according to Winston Peters.
     • millsy 5.1.3

       11 December 2014 at 10:54 pm

       Under National, more km’s of line has been taken out of service in decades. Even under privatisation (1993-2003) not as much lines were closed as they were between 2009-now.

       The closure of the SOL, NGL, and from the looks of it, the Dargaville Branch, are the first 3 exhibits.

       The Nats know that selling off the railway would be political suicide. So they have hatched a cunning plan to have the rail network dismantled and sold off bit by bit,
   • Ad 5.2

     11 December 2014 at 1:13 pm

     Auckland is operating off such a low public transport use particularly in rail that locals can be forgiven for feeling a little grateful for any improvement.

     But anyone who comes back from a reasonable sized developed city overseas gets astonished by the motorway dominance and low public transport service here.

     Hard to believe that for the first 50 years of the 20th century, public transport completely dominated social life in Auckland.
   • Draco T Bastard 5.3

     11 December 2014 at 8:44 pm

     Much of the main trunk line in the north island is electrified but not the section from Waikanae to Palmerston North which is an at-risk commuter service.

     Motive Power

     In 1988 25 kV AC electrification of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) between Palmerston North and Hamilton was commissioned.

     One does wonder why they stopped. Would have saved us millions over the years by having a fully electric train system.
6. Tom Gould 6

   11 December 2014 at 1:46 pm

   How can it be surprising in any way that the Tories in government and the Tories on Council and the Tories running the Herald are all blaming Len Brown?

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