Easter Trading- Should we allow shops to trade on Easter Sunday?

In August 2016 the Shop Trading Amendment Act 2016, came into effect giving Councils the power to decide whether shops in all or part of their district could trade on Easter Sunday from 2018.

At present some areas are allowed to trade over Easter while others are not. This creates variability which is potentially unfair, prescriptive and allows for lack of transparency on variation decisions.

I don’t believe Councillors should determine Easter trading rules without asking Aucklanders for their opinion. To that end I spoke in favour of council’s resolution to:

“…approve community engagement on whether to:

i)   retain the status quo so that only shops currently able to trade on Easter Sunday will continue to be able to do so, or

ii)  adopt a policy that will allow shops in all or parts of Auckland to trade on Easter Sunday from 2018.”

Easter means different things to different people. For some it is valuable family time, others it has strong Christian meaning, others see it as a holiday; one of only three and a half days a year some workers have (the others are Christmas Day, Good Friday and the morning of Anzac day). For others it is an opportunity for a busy day of trading.

The act protects the individual choice of shop workers and so that they can refuse to work on Easter Sunday and can bring a personal grievance if they are compelled to work or treated adversely for their choice. The Act also states that Councils cannot require shops to be open so on an individual and business level, freedom to observe Easter or spend time away from work is protected.

Consultation will start in April 2017 with a report on findings brought back to Councillors in August 2017 for a decision on whether to retain the status quo or adopt a policy.

Look out for the community engagement which will start in April. I will update via our residents associations.

How do I know it's safe to swim?

A significant upgrade of Auckland’s Safeswim beach water quality monitoring programme will be delivered by Auckland Council in time for the 2017/18 summer swimming season.

Monitoring programmes have, without change, been in place at beaches in various parts of Auckland for the past 18 years.  Councillors voted to upgrade the Safeswim programme at the last Environment and Community Committee, using existing budget, to give Aucklanders not only current but forecasted information about water quality. 

Ōrākei Councillor Desley Simpson seconded the motion and is in support of the upgrade.

"Although the water quality of our beautiful Ōrākei bays and beaches is generally good, there are still times that due to rainfall, tides and water temperature, the bacteria levels in the water make it unadvisable to swim in certain areas”, says Simpson.

“The new system uses sophisticated technology providing information on rainfall, wind, tides and bacteria levels, enabling not only read the water’s safety but to also to predict it.  The current system only reports the water quality that has already occurred.”

“The information is then able to be promoted across multiple communication channels.  The public can easily access water quality information in advance, allowing them to make informed decisions on when and where to go swimming.”

This upgrade is an advance tool to complement confirmed council projects such as the Central Interceptor Programme which will ultimately improve water quality as it will increase the capacity and resilience of central Auckland’s storm and wastewater networks so that wastewater overflows are much less frequent.

Relationship documents with Mana Whenua

Interactions with Māori and Auckland Council and consideration of their views in decision making is a principle and requirement of several pieces of legislation including the Local Government Act (2002). In addition, Auckland Council is a member of several co-governance decision making bodies with iwi, for example the Ngāti Whātua Orākei Reserves Board and Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority both of which are set up by acts of parliament.

At the Governing Body Meeting on February 23, 2017staff sought support for a governance relationship agreement template for relationships with mana whenua in the greater Auckland area. I’m told that some legacy councils used similar relationship agreements that both elected members and mana whenua found useful.

I questioned the process around developing the template as local boards had only been presented with a broad approach in 2015.

Consequently an amendment was put up which made the whole thing a choice as opposed to a ‘must do’

The amendment read as follows:

Note that mana whenua and local board parties will ultimately decide for themselves whether they are comfortable with the template and/or whether they will be party to any particular agreement.

Accountability and Transparency?

At its meeting on February 16, the Community and Safety Committee struck a number of problems. The first wasn’t so bad, having to wait for a quorum, but the next was. The purpose of Item 12 was to approve grants to regional community development organizations through the 2016/17 Regional Grants Scheme.

Officers assessed applications for ‘one off grants’ and put up their recommendations to the Committee. The Committee had no opportunity to workshop the applications ( which is what has, under my experience, as a former local board chair, happened with local board grants)

What surprised me is the report recommended the Committee grant money to organizations without any financial reporting or any project reporting as to numbers influenced, success of programmes/activities and the like.   

Further to this, apart from Rape Crisis Auckland who applied for $13,000 and will receive $13,000,  the 7 other organizations will not get the full amount they applied for. The organization however, has no idea which part of their application Council requires their money to be spent on.

I tried very hard to explain that by not being clear, we were not being transparent or accountable to ratepayers or the organizations

 Incredulously I only managed to get half the committee to agree with me, and the vote was lost with chairs casting vote

Art versus Event sustainability

Sculpture in the Gardens is a wonderful free event. Last event it attracted just under 350,000 visitors ( 2015/16) . It has grown exponentially over the 10 years since the first exhibition took place in 2007.

Part of the terms and conditions of the Friends Garden Art License Agreement( first entered into with the former Auckland Regional Council in 2005) was that ‘Friends will retain the revenue received from the sale of artworks, for the express purchase of purchasing artwork for permanent placement at the Gardens’

A collection of  21 significant sculptures is now on permanent display. Many of these permanent works were purchased by the Friends during previous Sculpture in the Gardens exhibitions and subsequently donated to the Botanic Gardens

The Friends, asked the Environment and Community Committee to allow them to utilize $74,000 of the funds held in their artwork acquisition account, to cover operational expenses associated with the 2017/18 event.

I put up an amendment against this, not because I don’t support the event, quite the contrary, but because by allowing capex to be spent as opex we are not encouraging sustainability of the event nor are we allowing the current purpose to ensure more art can be bought for the enjoyment of Aucklanders and visitors.

The manager of the Botanic Gardens Jock Hobbs said in the meeting, the event wasn’t currently sustainable. It was my desire to ensure the Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardens work with Council staff to find a sponsor for the event long term. I didn’t get majority support for this. Instead the resolutions passed were as follows

That the Environment and Community Committee:

a)         approve the use of $74,000 of the funds held in the   Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardens artwork acquisition account to cover operational expenses associated with the 2017/2018 Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition.

b)        agree that the Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardensretain earnings from commissions on sculpture sales during future Sculpture in the Gardens exhibitions, and can utilise this funding for the general purposes of running the exhibitions.

c)         delegate the General Manager Parks, Sport and Recreation authorisation to negotiate with the Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardens updated licence and conditions to supportoperation of future Sculpture in the Gardens exhibitions.

CARRIED

My amendments below whilst supported by some councilors, was lost on voices

That the Environment and Community Committee

a)      Grant Friends of Auckland Botanic gardens approval to utilise $74,00 of the funds held in their artwork acquisition account to cover operational expenses associated with the 2017/2018 Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition on the condition this is repaid after the 17/18 event, back into the art acquisition fund

b)      request the GM Parks, Sport and Recreation to work with Friends of Auckland Botanical   Gardens to ensure sponsorship is in place to ensure future events from 18/19 onwards are self- funding and meet agreed art licence agreements.

Sadly in my opinion allowing the use of capex for opex  will erode acquisition of more public art, lessen the urgency to look for a corporate sponsor and/ or mechanisms to ensure event sustainability, and will not honour the original intent of the agreement.

So what do you think?

Auckland Councillors have started the year by confirming the material that will go to all Aucklanders on the Annual Plan and Budget for 2017/2018

In his opening statement, the mayor acknowledges not all councilors currently agree with everything in the material, but what we all do agree on, is that we should ask Auckland their opinion before deciding on how we spend ratepayers money.

There are 5 key regional issues we are asking your feedback on:

1.       Rates increases. Currently the LTP has a projected 3.5% increase scheduled for 17/18.

We have worked hard to offer Auckland the choice of keeping this or going even lower to 2.5%

 ( the mayors preference) or with some  re-prioritisation  2%

2.       Rating stability. Current policy has residential ratepayers receiving a higher percentage of  rates increases to business ratepayers. Should we change that policy so that business and residential ratepayers have the same increase?

3.        Paying for tourism promotion. Currently general rates money is used to help pay for tourism promotion and major events. Should we continue to do this or target those ratepayers who benefit more directly from tourism promotion ie accommodation sector which would free up more general rates to be spent on transport infrastructure ?

4.       Paying for housing infrastructure. All houses require drains, roads, water supply and sewerage. Should we continue to reply on the current funding tools we have, change our funding policy to allow for the use of targeted rates to fund infrastructure of new houses or request central government to provide more tools for growth infrastructure?

5.       Paying Council Staff a Living wage. Should we keep with current policy which in 2016 saw those over $40,000 receive a 1% increase and those under a 2.5% increase, or phase in the Living wage for Council staff and our substantive CCOs, which will cost $7 million by the end of this Council term.

The consultation period for the Annual Budget opens on 27 February and runs to 4pm on 27 March.
Your opinion is very important and I look forward to discussing these with you further and reading your submissions.

There are several ways to have your say. Information and submission forms will be provided to households with the March edition of the Our Auckland magazine. Residents and ratepayers can also find out more and make submissions by looking for the annual budget on www.shapeauckland.co.nz. There will also be opportunities for the public to have their say in person at a range of events around the Auckland Region.

 I will be holding a public meeting in the Orakei Ward and will update on my website when  th date, time and location are confirmed.

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays

My addition to the Mayoral Proposal for Annual Plan

Auckland is increasingly in demand as a place to live, work and play.

But our growing population is putting pressure on housing, transport and the services the council provides to support our city. This in turn puts more pressure on ratepayers.

We need to find new and smarter ways to pay for the investments Auckland needs – in roads, transport and other infrastructure. We need to do this without crippling ratepayers with exorbitant rates rises as they have experienced over the last 6 years.  At the last Finance and Performance Committee, I called for an amendment to the mayoral annual plan consultation document to include seeking other operational revenue streams to minimise the impact for ratepayers

This was agreed to by the mayor who has included it in his Annual Plan proposal for consultation and  was endorsed at the final governing body meeting for the year. 

Stage one official opening of Auckland’s largest cycleway project

15 months after the first sod turning, I had the privilege to MC the official opening of stage one of the first section of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive shared path. This off road pathway will be used by recreational and commuter cyclist along with walkers, runners,Mums with prams and even thanks to its gradient, mobility scooters!

When we consulted with the public on this project, local residents immediately saw the huge value of a car free connection to the city and public transport.

The 7.5km shared path is being constructed in 4 stages

Stage one, from Glen Innes to St Johns Rd is now complete

I would like to thank the Minister for Transport Simon Bridges for his support through the governments Urban cycleways programme, MP for Tamaki Simon O’Connorwho worked tirelessly with me lobbying for this project and Auckland Transport. Without the combined support, this project would not have been delivered.

Bike Auckland must be also be  congratulated for their invaluable advice and support along with our Meadowbank/St Johns Residents Assoc and St Heliers / Glendowie Residents Asoc. I also want to acknowledge the design and construction teams who have had to tackle some tricky and hilly geography but who have kept the route as flat as possible to help make the shared path accessible for everyone

 Finally, I want to give my thanks to the residents and neighbours who have been directly affected by the construction. They have been patient and supportive as we have worked to deliver this pathway on their doorstep.

This will be one of the safest, scenic routes on which to cycle and walk in Auckland.

Ribbon cutting with Mayor Goff, Minister of Transport Simon Bridges, MP for Tamaki Simon O’Connor, Cr Desley Simpson and Orakei Local Board Chair Colin Davis.

Clonbern Car Park in Remuera ...update

At the Auckland Transport Board meeting on 22 November, AT agreed to enter into a Participation Agreement with Foodstuffs North Island regarding re- development of the Clonbern Car Park between Remuera New World and the revamped Remuera Village service lane. This is a major milestone for work that has been 'discussed ' for years. I'm told a minimum of 255 public car parks must be retained on this site.

Will update further when more information is publicly available.