Slavko Snjegota outside his Belmont home after flooding hit Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs
From one who knows
In Christchurch, our hearts are with you all in Auckland. As you face the clean-up I’ll share some hard-earned experiences. Government departments can assist initially. Don’t allow them to stay too long. Wellington control is hundreds of kilometres away. The rebuild is of your homes and communities. Take their money but demand local control. Parts of the community are more vulnerable than others. The old, the uninsured, the underinsured, different cultures, the poor, deserve appropriate locally accountable structures and services. EQC and the insurance companies must not drive the rebuild repayments as an individual family process. They must be collectively accountable. In Christchurch post-earthquakes, we had to fight home by home to gain our legal entitlement. Lawyers, on both sides, often complicated this exercise. The rain didn’t just hit sections of your city. It hit you all. Create collective and locally accountable responses. Best wishes.
Garry Moore, former Mayor of Christchurch.
Get fixing
We elected Wayne Brown as mayor by a large margin because he promised to “fix Auckland”. Extreme weather events were predicted by climate scientists but what are the agencies doing who should be building infrastructure and preparing emergency plans? The mayor should have been briefed on what was coming and presented with the plans and options to deal with it, not left in front of the cameras to explain the chaos after it was too late. Under the circumstances some grumpiness and bad language are understandable. The absence of Civil Defence with a disaster plan made the situation much worse and the heroic efforts of ordinary people and emergency workers could have been so much more effective if organised. We must also look closely at the council departments whose function is to provide drains and maintain them. The natural watercourses that used to be kept clear by the old councils are now choked with weeds and rubbish; no one seems interested. And what were the planners thinking to allow building on flood plains? I urge our mayor to ignore the knockers and apply some old-fashioned common sense. I, for one, look forward to seeing him succeed.
Alan McArdle, Glen Eden.
Mayoral drive
I just wish Mayor Wayne Brown would stop his tantrums and get on with leading Auckland. Yes, he was elected with a significant majority and most Aucklanders accept that. I think signing a petition to force him to resign is ridiculous. But Auckland deserves better than this. Mr Mayor, please start acting like a leader and not a petulant, immature child.
J.P. Caulfield, Parnell.
Failed bureaucracy
Reading my newspaper this morning (NZ Herald, February 1), I thought, yes, it certainly is time to wind up the Super City of Auckland and go back to local government strategies. The present system is not working and costing us the ratepayers a small fortune. Can you believe that this council waits for an emergency to happen, then declares a state of emergency and learns what it means “on the job”? Our mayor refuses to speak to the media so that they can advise us, the residents what is happening. Hats off to our media, newspapers, and television for keeping us up with the deteriorating situation, our local council certainly wasn’t able to and still isn’t up to the job. I had one cell phone message on Tuesday afternoon. Since then, deathly silence. Pathetic.
Bob Jessopp, Massey.
Struggle streets
Whilst I applaud the Government on retaining the reduced fuel tax and lower fares, we should remember these measures have already been in place for some time. They have done little to alleviate the hardship of thousands of Kiwi households. Perhaps it is time to look at removing GST on essential grocery items? Another look at tax brackets? Something must be done to curb inflation. No matter which party holds power, there is an emergency. This is global but, needs immediate attention at a local level. Our people who work full-time should not need a food bank to survive. Let’s hear the strategies all parties have in hand to deal with this national crisis.
Gary Neil Denney, Eden Terrace.
Fate sealed
Recent polls have suggested an upturn in the Labour Government’s election hopes; reporters have discussed it and this morning (NZ Herald, February 2) their revival was confirmed by Mike Hosking vehemently telling us once again they haven’t a chance.
John Wilkinson, Stonefields.
Hazardous housing
The flooding recently experienced by Auckland has clearly been significantly exacerbated by infrastructure development not having kept pace with built environment intensification. While council planners have half-heartedly tried to manage this in the past, the Government’s new intensification rules will preclude them from doing anything at all about it in the future so the flooding risk can only get worse. Can we, therefore, expect the Labour Government and its unholy alliance with National and the Greens to revisit their ill-conceived policy on this issue in the near future?
Ivan Lipanovic, Kerikeri.
Road remedies
Seeing the stretch of southbound motorway between Northcote and Esmonde roads flood once again, and not for the first time this past week, I wonder where the common sense of roading engineers and sharp eyes of urban designers have gone How much would it cost to get rid of the damming concrete motorway barriers that trap rainwater on the roadways? It’s high time the offending concrete was replaced with the customary raised metal and wood crash barriers that would allow water to pass underneath. The adjacent busway road, currently in a natural dip, needs to be a bit higher with some stormwater pipes beneath so water can drain away rather than pool, pond and create transport mayhem. Aucklanders and other users of the motorway network don’t have to accept all the outcomes of weather events as an inevitable inconvenience.
Nigel Pearson, Glenfield.
Bussed deep
One wonders about some bus drivers in Auckland. They think they are doing a great job but don’t seem to realise that they are putting lives at risk. The clips on the media of buses driving through relatively deep water are bad enough but some are ignoring road-closed signs. As an example, early on Saturday morning a bus proceeded up Oteha Valley Rd in Albany, despite being warned by a pedestrian that the road was flooded ahead and cars were stranded. The bus driver removed cones and continued up the road. He did not replace the cones and, as a result, other vehicles followed. As our bus transport is run by Auckland Council one can only assume this is a Wayne Brown approach to the situation. Perhaps the drongos driving these buses were late for a sporting event?
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Men’s issues
It seems that an opinion, once presumed racially-motivated, or racist, without any true basis of fact, is now defunct. It has now been replaced. All failures or opinions that offend all and sundry are now deemed misogynistically-motivated. An opinion is one’s own. Just because one may not like it, it doesn’t have to be labelled racist or misogynistic to validate your disdain of said opinion. Thus misogyny revolution is in fact marginalising and labeling men in a very poor light and it is most unjustified.
John Ford, Taradale.
Fumbled response
Watching the CEO of NZ Football on television footling about “asking questions” of the dubious FIFA organisation over the planned sponsorship of Visit Saudi for the Women’s World Cup here and in Australia makes one wonder about the leadership of our elite sporting codes. Following on from the sheer bewildering cowardice that the equally feckless leadership of the NZ Rugby Union has shown in not firing a shot to retain Sevens here in a country - that along with Fiji and other Pacific nations - has stitched brilliance into the fabric of this sport over many years, NZ Football appears to be cringing down the same road. No interest in the plight of Saudi women. The men and women who throw their courage, desire, skill and - yes - passion on the field here deserve better from the men in ties who daily drop the ball. Just say no.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
On food
If the Government really wants to help those at the bottom of the food chain, then remove the unconscionable 15 per cent GST on food, a tax that no other civilised society imposes. Ericson List, Pāpāmoa Beach.
On Wood
MP Michael Wood has been aptly appointed to help clean up Auckland’s flooded “river of filth” if I may quote him from a Wellington protest context. Chas Bennett, Beach Haven.
On CD
I believe the Civil Defence organisation was far more effective when manned predominantly by volunteers supported by council. We now pay for more people to be part of Civil Defence for a lesser return on investment. A J Dickason, East Tamaki Heights.
On fuel
Why do I get the feeling that, if the Nats were in control, the only people getting relief on fuel costs would be business owners? G Spencer, Patumāhoe.
On heroes
Every morning, during this awful rainfall and flooding crisis, our Herald has been delivered to our letterbox. We don’t know who you are; but we appreciate you enormously. Maxine Nisbet, Mt Eden.
On drongos
I’m now waiting for the Mayor to use the word “boofheads”. Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
On fade
We can put men on the moon; robot vehicles on Mars; a telescope hundreds of thousands of kilometres into space; and shift the path of a meteorite. Why can’t we, therefore, find a solution for rain fade on our TVs?Donn de Silva, Greenhithe.
House prices expected to drop 15-20%
Between 2020 and December 2021, they went up 46 per cent-plus in Auckland. Mortgage rates were at a never before seen low and properties for sale were few and far between. Fear of missing out created chaos. Fast forward to 2023 and welcome to the real world. Even if houses drop 30 per cent, they will still be tracking back to the decades-old, normal. Mortgages at 6-10 per cent and houses rising 3-5 per cent per year. No surprises there. Deborah T.
The funny thing is that the Government knows people are struggling with mortgage repayments, and yet won’t reinstate interest deductibility. Rents don’t even cover the mortgage repayments and then the Government also takes a cut from the rent. No wonder a crash is on its way. Kiwis will suffer but Grant Robertson will be happy. Sunny K.
When interest rates nosedived and landlords’ yields skyrocketed, they didn’t lower the rents, did they? Marina L.
Cry us a river, Sunny. The removal of interest deductibility clearly removed some investors from the market, reducing competition with first-home buyers. Instead of those trapped in a cycle of renting your crappy, poorly-maintained properties, they have a better chance of buying their own home. Dylan M.
Interest deductility, brightline test... etc... were introduced to make housing less attractive for specu-vestors. People who own one home and live in it themselves were never able to deduct interest so why should property specu-vestors be able to when the only contribution they make to the economy is pushing up the cost of houses (and rent) for everyone while moaning about the fact that the rent they charge tenants to pay the mortgage on their comically inflated assets no longer cover their mortgage costs like they used to! How terrible for them to have to give up something, instead of accumulating wealth for nothing. Alexander Q.
All the fantasy prices of newly-built townhouses are in for a rude awakening now. These shoe boxes with no land and parking will be difficult to sell soon and a correction will put the price [at] what they’re really worth. Stefan N.
Hawke's Bay hosts Christmas lunches for those seeking company and support.