Brian Rudman: Political common sense notably lacking in upgrade fiascos

Where's a politician when you really need one? For nearly a year now, Auckland City's elected representatives have sat on the sidelines, nodding as the experts finalised their plans for the $30 million upgrade of the city's premier street.

They fizzed about the new bluestone paving and salivated over the new street furniture. But not one questioned the fate of the existing trees lining Queen St. Or if they did, as one or two are now claiming, they didn't bleat loudly enough to make anyone sit up and take notice.

As I sat at last night's special council meeting and listened to the latest chapter in the fiasco unfold, I couldn't help thinking that of all the system breakdowns that have occurred in this, the latest disaster in the on-going $100 million CBD upgrade, it's been the failure of the politicians to act politically that has been most to blame.

Where were their green instincts? Where was their fear of losing their seat on council? Did not one have the political nous to appreciate that a public, long-badgered about the evils of chain-sawing their errant backyard peach tree, was not going to take kindly to their masters blasting through the Queen St forest like a mini-tornado?

They didn't even display a sense of the ridiculous. Last March, when the final concept plan was unveiled, the document announced "it is proposed that the reclaimed portion of Queen St between Fort St and the Waitemata Harbour be unplanted to reinforce the artificial nature of this land and create a greater coherency to the previously upgraded portion of Queen St outside the Britomart Transport Centre."

Unplanted, not just in the sense of having no plants, but also in the sense of rooting up several thriving liquidambars. At the press conference, tongue in cheek, I asked if mangroves would be acceptable. It seemed not. But nonsensically, the grove of imprisoned kauri further out in the imaginary sea opposite Britomart were to remain.

A savvy politician would have appreciated the silliness of these design excesses - and the political perils of being associated with them - and had them filed in the waste bin. But all the mayor and councillors did was "ooh and ah" and parrot the jargon about a world-class street in a world-class city.

It wasn't until the council's announcement, just before Christmas, that trees were to begin falling on January 4, that the voters finally lurched into revolt, flooding this paper with messages of protest. Finally, Mayor Dick Hubbard read the public mood correctly, and ordered a moratorium - and a rethink.

Partly this was driven by Lesley Max's latest creation, Save Auckland Trees, which is challenging the council's consultation processes in the courts. Threatening court action certainly helped concentrate the council's mind. But even Mrs Max seems to admit she's on shaky ground when she said in Saturday's Herald that "it's very hard to reconstruct precisely how it [the consultation] was lacking".

It's hardly good enough to say that because she was "not in the slightest aware" of it, it wasn't good enough. I suspect the court, if it gets that far, will find Auckland City consulted until the cows came home. Where the city does fall down is in its style of consultation.

New chief executive David Rankin admitted as much after his inquest into the Vulcan Lane and Khartoum Place fiascos when he said "we were all reminded of the importance of listening carefully to what people say during consultation and not missing important messages."

He was talking of his bureaucracy and its hired experts of course. But what he says of the officials is equally true of the politicians. In many ways, more so. We elect our politicians to represent us. To read the small print on our behalf and blow the whistle if common sense tells them the experts are disappearing off on flights of fancy.

What's been most lacking in the Queen St upgrade plans has been this political common sense. The mix of common touch, and self-preservation that keeps the successful politician alive for a second term.