Rudman's city: Now the eastern highway puts Parnell Baths at risk

By BRIAN RUDMAN

Whatever shortcomings John Banks might have as a politician, there is one skill in which he is undoubtedly king - his ability to alienate.

Of course the lefties were never going to warm to the new Auckland City mayor, but it takes a special skill to blow off your senior citizen support base within weeks of taking office by declaring belt-tightening plans for pensioner housing.

Since then it has been hard to keep up with his alienation offensive. One of his latest victories was two Saturdays ago when he succeeded in getting the raspberry from 12,000 rugby league fans when he fronted up on the pitch to kick off a pre-season Warriors game at Carlaw Park.

His most recent gaffe was last Friday when he threw fans of historic Parnell Baths into a tizz by unilaterally declaring that the pool's $3.8 million renovation project was on hold because the baths could be skittled by the controversial eastern motorway.

With a cavalier disregard for the democratic process, Mr Banks declared: "We have put a hold on the tender process for the Parnell Baths upgrade until such time as we have clearly established the impact and precise location of the eastern corridor."

Claiming that the future of the baths was "hanging in the balance", he said: "I would be reluctant to spend many millions of dollars upgrading Parnell Baths if the eastern corridor was running five metres away with 16-axle juggernauts hurtling down the road."

The truth is that the tender process hasn't yet been put on hold. That is a decision for tomorrow's recreation and events committee meeting at which the issue is on the confidential agenda. We can only assume, from Mr Banks' comments, that his Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now colleagues have pledged their support for the motorway and that the fate of the baths has been sealed. In which case, tomorrow's meeting will just be a rubber stamping.

Whatever the democratic niceties, Mr Banks' jumping the gun has served a useful purpose. It has brought a touch of reality to the airy-fairyness of the debate about the eastern highway.

So far the proponents have painted the highway as some sort of holy grail, bringing economic salvation to the city. Mr Banks, in his cack-handed way, paints a rather truer image - an image of huge container trucks fuming their way across Hobson Bay, around the cliffs and through Judges Bay to the city.

It is also an image that does away with the treasure that is Parnell Baths and threatens to blight forever tranquil havens such as Judges Bay.

It is an appalling prospect, threatening to destroy the unique interface between shore and sea that remains on the eastern approaches to the city. A quick glance at St Mary's Bay to the west, and at the monstrous Victoria Park viaduct - soon to be enlarged - is a sign of what could be out east if Mr Banks and the big-business roads lobby get their way.

In unilaterally declaring the baths dispensable, the mayor has nailed his colours to the mast. Indeed, he rashly declared that his mayoralty "stands or fails" on his ability to expand Auckland's motorway network. "It is no longer a question of 'if' an eastern corridor will go ahead, it's when and how the corridor will be built."

Suicidal stuff, Mr Banks, suicidal. Well, it would be if anyone was taking it down. But who would bother? How many times have we heard Auckland politicians say that since the eastern highway was first included in the regional highways plan in the 1960s?

What all the proponents gloss over are the difficult bits - getting the highway from Kepa Rd to the city at one end, and exiting it at Mt Wellington and Panmure at the other. At the city end is the waterfront playground and at the other various archeological and geographical minefields.

At one stage, Mr Banks blithely talked of undergrounding the city end under Hobson Bay. Since the election campaign, he seems to have had a reality check on the costs of that exercise. That leaves a new, four-lane highway with somewhere to go above ground on the narrow sliver of land and bays between the sea proper and the cliffs.

Mr Banks says it's a done deal. I say a three-year term of office is a short time in the context of this project, particularly as the proposed road passes through, I suspect, a neighbourhood containing more high-powered lawyers than any other in the country.

Perhaps while the mayor waits for the resource management hearings to grind on, he could start thinking laterally. A good start, perhaps, would be to persuade or force the container trucks which help to jam the roads to the port to stay off the roads during the rush hours and deliver after midnight when the streets and highways are free.

He could also lay on a decent train service, and entice Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis and his Howick and Pakuranga neighbours who so clamour for the highway to leave their cars at home.