DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER: DAY23, STATE HIGHWAY 20 AND MEET THE CANDIDATES

DAY TWENTY-THREE:
Sunday 12 September 2010
It is 5 days until the ballot papers start arriving in the letter boxes and 27 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

Citizens and Ratepayers is about preserving and enhancing the Auckland region’s environment. We are proud of our unique environment, with its combination of harbours and the gulf, volcanoes, parks, forests, as well as the architectural heritage across the Region and the special flavour of its rural hinterland.

In establishing a single vision and plan for the Auckland Region C&R will work with community groups to preserve and protect our environmental assets, while allowing individuals the freedom to enjoy and improve their urban and rural private property. High quality design and planning will be encouraged together with the sensible management of growth and development. We will also advocate for stricter vehicle emissions standards to improve our Region’s air quality, and enhance the water quality in all our streams and harbours.

It was another really bust day meeting the locals in our region of Owairaka. Sarah Turner and I door knocked down Hendon Ave. This is a really interesting area on a number of levels. Historically for me, it was once a play ground during my early teen years. It was the corridor to Spalding Park, which was later renamed Coke-a-Cola Bottlers Park and today it’s Pak n Save. I also played Soccer on Hendon Park and sometimes on Alan Wood Reserve. Today though, Hendon Ave residents are staring down the barrel of State Highway 20. The street is made up of mainly State Houses some have been privately bought while others are in the hands of Transit NZ.

In my teenage days, the families were a mix of Maori, Pakeha and Pasific Islanders. Today there is a significant number of Ethiopian Refugees. There’s also a large community of pacific Island whanau with a few Maori and Pakeha. I worry for the whanau in the area. Not one of the whanau we approached could tell us for certain when they were expected to move. These people are living in limbo. The sooner these whanau know what’s going on the better they’re able to plan their future – how unsettling it is for them to be living like this.

There were also a significant number of signs up proclaiming ‘Tunnel or Nothing’. Lobby groups in this area obvious want tunnel not highway. Whether it’s tunnel or highway what is certain is that it’ll run through Hendon Park and Alan Wood reserve. Whatever happens the community needs to be kept informed at all times. A strong proactive ‘can-do, will-do’ local board will do that. An energetic, enthusiastic Local Board not caught up in historical bureaucratic red tape will be bale to work with the community to progress this important issue. C&R Owairaka will do this.

The Team also went over to Waterview to meet the locals there. They too have concerns about State Highway 20. One of the locals at the very top of Oakley Road has been given termination of tenancy after 20 years residing in her home. She’s over 80 and what an upheaval it is for her. As a Local Board member I would want to know about these terminations, I would not want these residents to go through this on their own.

We also participated in a ‘Meet the Candidate’s’ Hui at the Mt Albert Baptist Church. I congratulate the Pastor for organising this hui. Locals can’t be expected to choose their Councillors and Local Board Candidates from brochures and flyers alone. Putting names to faces is a much more democratic process.