Rudman's city: Trains can go - and so can the ferry passengers

By BRIAN RUDMAN

Having got this far into the paper in these gloomy times, you're probably ready for a "good news" break, so here goes.

First, Tranz Rail and Government negotiators have finalised the terms of the Government's buy-back of the lease to the Auckland rail corridors. Now all that is needed is approval from the Tranz Rail board and the cabinet. No problems are expected.

With no cabinet meeting next Monday, a public statement is expected after the October 1 meeting.

And if that isn't excitement enough, the Ferry Building's public toilets have finally reopened for business.

As regular readers will know, the overseas owners of the lease on the busy public toilets decided in April that they were too expensive to run and padlocked them. All winter it was agony for ferry passengers and anyone else with a full bladder as the New Zealand director of the company concerned, Phillips Fox solicitor Marcus Macdonald, refused to open up.

Finally the Auckland City Council has come to the rescue. Mr Macdonald is quoted in a joint statement as being "happy with the arrangement which has been reached amicably". He said it was arrived at in "recognition of the importance of this facility" and that "we are delighted to assure its continuing provision".

This rather begs the question: if it was so important, why did he close it so suddenly, without a care for his other tenants or their customers.

Finally, the good news from Franklin. Remember how Franklin District ingeniously invented something called the Auckland Region of Franklin to get around the provisions of legislation governing the distribution of arts money left over after the dissolution of the Auckland Regional Services Trust? The money was to go to "significant projects in the Auckland region in the area of arts and culture".

Franklin shortlisted seven contenders for its $364,000 handout, all of them from the "Auckland District of Franklin", including a giant concrete wading bird proposal.

The day before the decisive council meeting I wrote about it. This elicited an urgent please explain fax to the council from Associate Arts Minister Judith Tizard. The upshot was the decision was postponed, several other contenders were added to the shortlist - I don't know which ones - and the matter will be reconsidered at the October 4 council meeting.

When you come to think of it, early October is the time for decision-making. On October 8, Auckland City chooses the successful tenderer for the Britomart project, and the judges in the branding and theming competition for Auckland's new public transport infrastructure make their choice.

The final five entries in this contest are on display in the old Central Post Office building and, at the risk of introducing a touch of negativity to the proceedings, none of them exactly grabs me.

The big problem, I suspect, is the entrants fondness for the latest trendy colours. I, for one, am not looking forward to stepping aboard a bus painted a browny-orange. Dark, morose blue doesn't get me going either, despite the proponent's claim that the colour is bold and confident and "expressing the personality of metropolitan Auckland". Their Auckland might be suffering the blues, but is it something we want to advertise and promote?

Apart from MAXX - Metropolitan Auckland XXpressways, the names are pretty naff too. The letters U and A (two different entries) do nothing for me, neither does CIRCUIT or SMART, though I could grow to like Smart's emerald green and grey livery.

But my trip wasn't wasted. Where there are architects and designers there is sure to be A-grade gobbledegook. This contest was no exception.

From the inventors of the letter U: "We wanted our brand to be about people, to lean towards the anthropomorphic, but we wanted to blend that with Auckland's natural soul."

From the SMART team: "The Logic of Smart. A brand must lead by its definition. It must compliment the user in their decision to adopt it. This creates momentum. Smart is astute, ingenious and swift."

If you haven't the foggiest what that means, it gets better.

"Smart is a narrative identity and is founded on the simplicity of a graphic mark and it's (sic) ability to embody many meanings. It is familiar and unfamiliar, micro and macro, figurative and abstract ... "