DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER DAY 34 DEVELOPMENTS BEGBIE AND CHEWED TO BITS

DAY THIRTY-FOUR:
Thursday 23 September 2010
The ballot papers are in the letter boxes. There are 16 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

I door knocked streets around the back of the Westfield St Lukes Mall this afternoon. The residents there have been vocal about the extent of the development which will see the Mall expand North East and along the side of Aroha Ave. The Mall already owns many of the homes across Exeter St and Morningside Dr two streets that sit adjacent to Aroha Ave and Bournemouth Street. Indoor floor space will increase from 4.5ha to 9.2ha, eclipsing the 7ha Sylvia Park shopping centre in Mt Wellington and Westfield Albany, which is also around 7ha. This will be the largest shopping complex in the country. The residents have valid concerns regarding the development. The traffic that comes with these things is overwhelming. St Lukes would remain a vehicle-oriented centre as it’s not well served by public transport as other large centres such as Newmarket and Sylvia Park, and according to Mall Authorities the nature of shopping is such that public transport is not an ideal means of carrying more than a handful of small purchases home. As well as the concern over traffic the impact on the aesthetics of the residental properties is also very real. There would be those that champion for the development because of the economical benefits it brings to the area. A development this size will bring a significant number of jobs and for some areas within Owairaka and the wider Auckland these positions will be a ‘god-send’.

I moved a little further along Sandringham Rd and into Begbie Place. This has always fascinated me this cul-de-sac. It reminds me of Don Croot St in Western Springs, where the majority housing is privately owned flats or units. The Begbie residents are culturally diverse – Iranian, Asian (Indian, Chinese) Pasific Island, Pakeha and Maori. I spoke with many of the residents who were keen to share their concerns several coming out onto the street to talk with me. Parking seemed to the major issue for these residents. It seems the street is used as an unpaid park ‘n ride bay. In fact while I was chatting to the locals three people walked around the corner from Sandringham Rd jumped in their cars and drove off. One of the ‘parkers’ admitted using the street for several months as a ‘park ‘n ride’. Coming from Mt Roskill the gentleman said he could save time and money by driving to Begbie Ave park for free and pay a 2 stage bus fare to town. Begbie is north of Balmoral/St Lukes and Sandringham Rd intersection. The ‘park ‘n ride’ cars take up both sides of the narrow street, making coming and going by residents difficult. There is ample off street parking for residents as these units and flats are very well catered with carports, car pads and garages. In my korero with the residents they said they didn’t know who to complain to about the congestion. It’s obvious this street like countless others across Owairaka are being ignored or overlooked. I felt for these residents and I look forward to working with them.

Earlier in the day I recorded CitizenA with host Bomber Bradbury at Triangle TV. The other guest was left-wing political commentator Chris Trotter. I’ve worked with Chris, he was a regular guest on ‘Eye to Eye’ the current affairs programme I executive produced which screened on TV1 for 7 years. Trotter is well respected as an analytical, insightful commentator. He and Bomber spared me no quarter. The moment I spoke they literally tore what I said to shreds. Lucky I’m used to conflict, a weaker person would have buckled and bowled-on-outta there. But the more they ripped into me the more I felt complimented. If they thought I was a ‘flake’ and a ‘fake’ they wouldn’t have challenged me. Anyway that’s my take on the situation and I’m sticking to it!

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER: DAY 32 IF YOU DON'T STAND FOR SOMETHING YOU'LL FALL FOR ANYTHING

DAY THIRTY-TWO:
Tuesday 21 September 2010
The ballot papers are in the letter boxes. There are 21 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

Someone told me or I read it somewhere that if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything! I think I’m already making a difference with the work I do in television programming making. The stories I tell are about accessibility. Gaining access to sectors of the community that are difficult to enter in order to get better information to make more informed decisions about ourselves, others and our country has been the driving force of my Company FRONT OF THE BOX PRODUCTIONS LTD. I want to continue making a difference and I know working for the Owairaka Local Board is the way to go. Now that I have a little family my attention must be refocused and brought back to my own backyard. I’m doing that here in Owairaka because this is where I grew up and this is where my children are now growing up. These are the 5 issues of priority for me. I know they resonant with Owairaka locals and I’m looking forward to achieving these goals and more.

1. ZERO TOLERANCE TO CRIME
Zero tolerance to crime, littering, tagging and destruction of
public and private property. I will work with the Police, Community groups and residents to ensure all people and property are safe. Greater protection for our hard working business owners and honest shoppers will be my priority. I will work hard to ensure shopping precincts have greater security, better lightening, more parking.


2. REVOKE LIQUOR LICENCES
Revoke licences to off-licence premises. I will work
hard to ensure off-licences are removed from within a 3k radius of all schools, public parks and reserves.



3. CHAMPION LOCAL HEROES
Support Community groups and their work.
I will work hard to ensure community groups have access to resources
and facilities to achieve so they can get on with working for locals.

4. MORE BUSINESSES FOR LOCAL CENTRES
Champion a return of businesses to local areas. I will
work with Business Associations to have small businesses return to local centres
and shopping blocks.



5. PROTECTION OF WĀHI TAPU AND ICONIC LANDMARKS
To ensure the historical uniqueness of the area is maintained I will champion the
efforts of manawhenua/tangatahwhenua maintaining wāhi tapu and all those groups working towards the preservation of iconic landmarks.

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER DAY 31 BLAAA BLAAA BLAAA MONOTONE VOICE ON ROTATE

DAY THIRTY-ONE:
Monday 20 September 2010
The ballot papers are rolling into the letter boxes. There are 22 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

So the most interesting thing that happened to C&R today was the ‘sign-off’ between us and City Vision. We read via Len Brown’s Twitter that CV was going to be at the cross-roads of Dominion and Mt Albert Rds so we decided to front up as well. It was very noisy I have to say, what with the traffic and the Len Brown megaphone churning out CV political messages and C&R van pumping out music – it was full on. The thing about party policy messages over megaphones in heavy traffic is that no one hears what you’re saying…because of the traffic noise. So what needs to happen is you gotta be really concise in your korero/speak and also pick your moments when there is a lull in the traffic other wise it sounds like..blah….blah….blah….blah…bla
waaaaaa……waaaaaa…..waaaaaaa – really it does!

Yes in situations like this you have to be quick, snappy, smart and savvy with the messages – you know like a 30sec ad. The only reason why I’m saying all this is because I really wanted to hear what CV were saying and even though I was just across the road and concentrating it sounded like a monotone taped voice on rotate. The thing about the monotone taped voice on rotate is that it comes across as preachy. So I’m only talking about this because in my job as a television programme producer, I have from time to time directed narrators in voiceover recording sessions. Tone and voice inflection is crucial if you want viewer or audience attention and retention. Of course scripting has to be pithy, punchy and precise too, you can’t be cluttered, verbose or unstructured, people or audiences get confused about what you’re trying to tell them. Yes delivery and scripting is vital when trying to capture the hearts and minds of people. That’s why I love Maori activists and activism. The messages from Maori leaders are always uplifting, positive invigorating – they raise the hearts, minds and spirits of the people, especially in our darkest moments. The other thing about Maori leaders when they rally to the masses is that they chant. There is a rhythm and a beat to their korero and of course there is always waiata. My Company produced a documentary Directed by Qantas Award winner Makerita Urale called ‘Waiata Whawhai-Protest Songs’ which detailed the genesis of some of our most iconic protest songs.
Earlier in the day I spent door knocking Sandringham. I covered quite a bit of ground and spoke to quite a few people. The rest of the Owairaka ward will receive their voting papers tomorrow. What an exciting time.

(Nga Mihi John Miller mo nga whakaahua tawhito)

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER DAY30 DITCH THE BAGGAGE

DAY THIRTY:
Sunday 19 September 2010
The ballot papers are rolling into the letter boxes. There are 22 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.
I had a great day today. Following a hui with two TV Industry colleagues and friends I went to work knocking on doors in Western Springs, Kingsland and Sandringham. I got to meet quite a few residents in Rocky Nook. It’s the area at the back of Fowlds Park. It’s an unusual place in the sense that the old Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) brought a lot of the properties that backed onto St Lukes Rd with a view that they could disappear, forfeited to the widening of the motorway. But oddly enough the homes survived and the streets flourished and it’s become an enclave. As I walked around knocking on the doors the same comment kept cropping up: ‘…you’re the only one that’s been to see us.’ It seems the incumbent councillors have taken their positions for granted, that they don’t need to go out and meet the people again or perhaps the incumbents are hoping the citizens and residents are too complacent to vote for change. If there’s one thing I’ve found as I’ve been going around the streets is that the people of Auckland are extremely interested in their city. The people are concerned about inheriting debt from other regions, they’re worried about their burms. The Owairaka C&R team is unencumbered by bureaucratic baggage all we know is that we can-do it and we will-do what ever it takes to get the job done. This doesn’t mean we’ll go naively or blindly into the local board role, on the contrary. We’re business owners in our own right and understand systems and processes, what I’m saying is we won’t let the red tape trip us up, we’ll make sure we see the trees past the wood and we’ll set realistic measureable outcomes for ourselves based n community goals and aspirations.

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER: DAY29 WAVING IN THE RAIN

DAY TWENTY-NINE:
Saturday 18 September 2010
The ballot papers are rolling into the letter boxes. There are 23 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

It was a relatively slow day campaigning, thanks to the wet and rainy, blustery and cold day. C&R team mate Sarah Turner and I walked through St Lukes Mall handing out flyers and chatting to people. We actually managed to distribute quite a bit of information. Although the voting papers started arriving in letter boxes yesterday, there’s still quite a bit of confusion about how to vote ie: how many to vote for, who are the DHB candidates and does Albert Eden Roskill have a Licensing Trust? Of course Sarah and I are more than happy to talk people through the process.

We then decided to wave at cars. So we took our hoardings and plonked ourselves in the middle of St Lukes Rd. Well when I say ‘middle’ I mean on an island – safely. It’s a great location not only do you get the traffic running north and south but it’s also a pedestrian thorough way between the Mall and the Mega Centre. So we got to ask people for support as well as wave at the cars – two birds with one stone. We had to flag the wave after an hour and a half though because we got drenched neither of us had raincoats. Sarah and I really enjoy waving at cars we think its magnificent for Party branding and keeping the profile visible. In that short space of time we can get the brand visibility in front of about 1000 people, not bad.

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER:DAY28 STAND UP AGAINST CCO'S

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT:
Friday 17 September 2010
The ballot papers are rolling into the letter boxes. There are 24 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

The day was a busy one. Sarah and I started by waving at cars in Pt Chev, at St Lukes and then in Mt Albert. In fact, we’ve been saluting at cars and drivers for almost three weeks. Sarah and I estimated that at Pt Chev we would have 200 cars pass us in a four-way light exchange. In a one hour evening session, there would be about 1600 cars. That’s a lot of vehicles. What we also noticed were a whole lot of single passenger rides. C&R advocates for people out of cars and into public transport.

We need a more connected transport system that can get workers from one end of Auckland to the other with minimum fuss as possible. More importantly we need to do this as cheaply and as safely as possible. But this means Local Boards must work as a strong united team to champion the needs and wants of the community.
Transportation will be under a Council Controlled Organisation. It will be the responsibility of the Local Boards to control the CCO’s and make them accountable to the people. They must listen to us the people not the other way around. The Local Board needs to be decisive and focussed come 01 November and hit the ground running. That’s why I do not buy into what incumbents and the ‘experienced’ ‘old-hands’ at council are saying, that ‘….no one will know what is expected and how it will work’. That kind of talk comes from those bogged down in bureaucracy. That kind of talk comes from ‘thinkers-of-a-tired-way’. The new Auckland City must have proactive, forward thinking can-do, will-do individuals who can work as a team to ensure best results for the community. That team is C&R Owairaka. The voting papers are out. Let’s make this region succeed. Vote C&R.

DIARY OF A CAMPAIGNER: DAY 27 MT ALBERT ICONS

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN:
Thursday 16 September 2010
Only 1 day until the ballot papers start arriving in the letter boxes and 24 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.

Wow! Voting papers are out tomorrow!

Sarah and I had another great day door knocking and meeting folk. We started the day at St Lukes Shopping Centre. We met a couple of very ‘informed’ Pt Chev residents. They follow the political scene quite closely at both local and central levels. They were very engaging and Sarah and I appreciated spending a few minutes with them.

We travelled to a part of Mt Albert that has not one but three iconic features. Chamberlain Park Golf Course, the old St Helens Hospital now a AIS St Helens Tertiary Institution and the Charlotte Museum. Chamberlain Park has been reduced in size the North Western Motorway slicing through the middle of it. It’s now an 18 hole course, it’s a public course and so has very low fees. The old St Helens hospital moved to Linwood Ave in 1968 from Pitt and Hopetoun Streets. It closed in 1990 and turned into a Tertiary facility. The Charlotte Museum moved to Linwood last year from Surrey Cres Grey Lynn. It houses the NZ’s Lesbian History and this weekend the Lesbian Newsletter celebrates its 20th birthday.

The street runs from St Lukes Road to Rossgrove. It’s the area North East of the Mt Albert shopping centre.
As mentioned earlier, tomorrow the voting papers are posted out. I’m looking forward to it. It’s an exciting time and I feel privileged to be part of this historical occasion. Nga mihi ki a koutou katoa.