KEY POINTS:
Auckland City deputy mayor Bruce Hucker has told his caucus he will not agree to their call to resign.
City Vision-Labour issued a demand saying that if he did not go voluntarily by 11am, he would face a vote of no confidence.
Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
Steve
Time for Hucker to go, and hopefully Hubbard isn't too far behind. I just find it a nonsense that because I live in Manukau City, my opinion on who the Auckland Mayor should be can't be heard, even though I spend most of my time working in the CBD.I've had enough of the lack of direction and poor leadership, and hopefully the people who do have a voice bring back Banks next election.
happy ratepayer
Only 2 and a half years too late.
Shore Boy
Many people throughout Auckland including some on my side of the bridge tried to warn you all on Hubbard et al prior to the 2004 elections. You all failed to heed the warnings and even on this post there are people ashamed of voting for him. Don't make the same mistake twice. Make sure this October you dump Hubbard and Hucker. The only legacies Hubbard has left Auckland is ever increasing rates, high spending and a blocked main street. Queen Street is a folly and Hubbard is a damn disgrace for ever letting it happen.
Stewart
No we am note happy with any of Auckland City Councilers especially the Mayor Mr Hubbard and Deputy mayor Bruce Hubbard due mainly to the fact they seem to think the ratepayers of Auckland city have an endless supply of money too enable Council to levy hefty rate rises each year .Sadly the rate payer hasn't got deep pockets full of spare monies.
Norman
Ah! The loyalty to a colleague, as practised by the Labour/City Vision group. Richard Northey for mayor,(or deputy). Pretty to watch.
lynda of TCL
George Wood should be mayor for ACC! Their excuse for big long overseas trip is a lot of BS. They're only looking after themselves. You need a permit and resource consent just to prune your nut trees.
Ed
Auckland City leadership is indeed a mess and I believe that if John Banks can overcome his rather unfortunate "Im the greatest" persona in favour of his very real business and political skills he may get another go, should he want it.
Weak leadership with weak ideas, compounded by a weak left leaning ACC staff culture, leaves the City directionless and floundering.
If C&R Now can put up a ticket of proven good decision makers they must bolt in as in days gone by.
William
The over rated people of Auckland City call upon Hucker andD Hubbard to go as well as the rest of the misguided morons who are stuffing up our great city.What a woeful state we are in when these type people are voted in election after election. Please, someone who has some common sense stand this coming election!
Isaac
Bring back John Banks! Auckland needs strong leadership and at least Banks was a man of his word, he did what he said he would when he was voted in.
Adam
Auckland city council is a mess. I don't have confidence in any of them let alone Dr Hucker. It seems to me that many in the council voted for water rate increases but since it was done in secret, we don't know who they were. The current mayor stood for transparency in local government but then he also voted on water rates in secret behind closed doors. They are now all back tracking on this issue and have hung out Dr Hucker to dry, an extremely weasely thing to do but I'm sure he deserves it. I am against water rate increases because no one has bothered to explain why they are necessary. What will the money be spent on? Being a ratepayer doesn't seem to earn me the right to an explanation. The real problem here, is a lack of effective communication and a lack of respect. I don't think this council are competent and I feel like we don't have strong leadership. There is a lack of a coherent vision for our city and secret meetings with secret voting should be banned. Sadly, I also can't see anyone else putting up their hand to provide open and forthright leadership.
Ray Gilbert
I was wrong! I was delighted when Dick Hubbard decided to stand for mayor as I had no confidence in either of the other candidates. His performance has been a serious disappointment - weak, indecisive and lacking leadership. The next election cannot come soon enough and if John Banks decides to stand then he will have my vote, arrogance notwithstanding.
Zpete (Mt Wellington)
Simply put.
The councillors seem to be playing a mixed version of "Sim City and Monopoly". The ratepayers are "not" consulted, even when directly involved.
Former John Banks' communications adviser
With an independent mayor, it is fundamental that the deputy mayor be the leader of the ruling majority. Given Dr Hucker's lost all caucus support, he has no influence and hence serves no purpose to councillors or the mayor. There's no room for a figurehead deputy mayor. The mayor should have the courage to sack him.
Martin
Auckland appears to be a city that has poor roading, footpaths, drainage, power, and water supplies.Has almost doubled in population over that last 20 years. Many of the present council members have sat and watched for muchof this time, and taken no action to update Auckland's infrastructure.Can they be prosecuted for failing to do their jobs properly?
Grumpy
They are a bunch of losers. Paid too much ,too many business class seats ,bloody outrageous. None will ever get my vote again.
Lance Hutchison
The leadership at Auckland City is out of control, the Mayor out of his depth and irresponsible. Staffing at Council, and the associated increased spending is causing the rates blowout. The Council intend borrowing over a billion dollars, 3 years ago under the guidance of mayor John Banks, the City had no debt. Banks' also had a "Zero" tolerance of Graffiti & law & Order. Have you seen the Central City now? There is a tidal wave of support for the return of John Banks...can you find anyone who owns up to voting for Hubbard & his "team" now.?
teebee
Don't just dump Hucker, dump the whole damn lot. They are just a money grabbing, useless outfit, they are only there to line their own pockets. They should all go and get a proper job, where they might actually have to work!
Vicki (auckland)
I wondered where our illustrious Mayor Hubbard was. Having let his councillors answer calls and front up to media and obviously allowing his deputy to become the target of taxpayers re the water debacle, he has decided to come out of his obvious self imposed exile and join the chorus regarding ridding the council - his council - of their Deputy. Considering through all of this we have not heard one word from Mayor Hubbard I would suggest that he holds Dr Hucker's hand and they walk off into the sunset together.
Andy C (Auckland)
Dr Hucker has been bad news for Auckland City since the last election. He completely undermined Dick Hubbard and runs things his own way, riding roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him, both inside and outside the council. He has to go, I just hope nobody votes for him this time. It's time he went out into the real world and found out what it is like.
Simon, Auckland
The mayor needs to go as well the mishandling of the street race issue was just outrageous.
The Auckland City Council has become a bloated ratepayer funded joke more worried about business signs than running the city. Now Hamilton gains all the benefits.
Dave
Heres an idea.Why dont the people of Auckland actually vote this time around.Hucker,Hubbard and the rest of the crew have been an absolute waste of breath and I only hope we have paid enough in rates to be able to open up Oakely hospital again so the above councillors have somewhere to stay.
Christopher
It's not a pretty sight to see a man like Dr Hucker resisting retirement; he has been through thick and thin over the past 20 years, and this has to be acknowledged. Remember, he was the lone voice on Council that resisted the sale of pensioner housing under a Cits'n'Rats council.For all those who moan about Council, think of this - Council has been under right-wing and left-wing control, yet the cock-ups still happen... take away council and who's left? Staff.Council staff culture is the biggest problem. The culture within council needs to change - the number of 'managers' employed who have poor strategic and people skills beyond a desire to stay in their job directly affects the numbers of cock-ups council staff does. To be fair there are a number of excellent managers and staff within council - all cowed by the poor staff culture.It ain't our Mayor and Councillors that are the problem. It's Council staff culture.
pCb (Auckland)
This council is long past its used by date having for way too long been big on business class travel and frills and short on serving those who pay their way. There appears to have been an artistic bent to many of the comments that come from the city leaders to the point that no one trusts them now (e.g. just who suggested that Metrowater push its drain rehabilitation out by another 6 years and why?)We need not only a change of mayor and council but also perhaps a change of many of the executives as well (but can't much the same be said of central government?). Failure to do so only makes this city a bigger laughing stock than it already is.
Aussie
We are living in Hong Kong at present. Our tenant in Auckland rang me asking about a possible source of water from under the house on the driveway. We spoke about downpipes etc but could make no sense of it. So he crawled under the house, a considerable feat in itself. Still he could not find a source from any leaks etc. But the ground was sodden (it is volcanic) so he called the water supplier. Their staff came and said it was inside the main so it was his problem. They turned the main off and left. He got a plumber within a couple of days and fixed it and we paid his bill. Now we get a bill for almost $8000 for water use, which we have asked the supplier to reconsider.When the local authorities created their trading enterprise they did so with a view to charging for water in order to ration its use to avoid wastage. My tenant did everything he reasonably could to prevent wastage. Surely the trading enterprise need to be careful about making such unreasonable charges.
Russ
Absolutely, positively not, nor am I happy with any of the other Auckland councils. They are mostly full of self-serving egos with their own agendas and connot focus collectively on the real issues facing Auckland. Everything they do takes to long and cost too much, with too much focus on fluffy issues not the basics. Time to set up one Auckland council with small efficient ward offices.
Adam
Time for a vote of no confidence for Auckland City Council.There is too much greed that needs weeding out now -starting with Bruce Hucker!
The Huia bird
Auckland city has not had an effective, visionary mayor for decades - one who lasted more than a single election - unlike Waitakere and Manukau. That in itself is a vote of no confidence by Aucklanders. And there isn't a likely long-lasting candidate in sight for the next election. If Auckland can't present a sustained face to the rest of the country, then it begs to be amalgamated into a regional body. Auckland City Council, because of its centrality, tends to see itself as leading the way in the region. It's a false claim to supremacy.
Johny
You just want our money to generate more dividend, where the money goes, you just like a vacuum, seating in your office and sucking peoples money, while people are working to have a better life, and you guys feeding you family with by sucking others people money,, shame on you.
PD
Sayonara Bruce. Take a hint. Do the honourable thing and fall on your sword ASAP.
Scott
What a shambles! Bring back Banksie!
Claire
Aucklanders have had a vote of no confidence for years now. We all know some of the most decadent, incomprehensible activities are going on with rate payers money. Everyday of consultation, review and strategising by these jokers running the show is one day nearer to seeing Auckland being rated as a 3rd world city to live and work. Pretty soon traction will be lost completely.
Jill
We need international help to shape our little Auckland City Council. ACC needs to stop being so centralised and consider useful factors. Our city council seems to always do whatever they like, without thinking of the mess and consequence. Look at the Queen Street upgrade, is that necessary? Where's our taxpayers' money going? With the whole water thing, I'm not even mentioning it. Pathetic.
Jono
Im kinda worried that these old fools cant seem to run our city properly. So far we have had higher rates across the board (thanks), Queen Street is a debacle and now this.At this rate I might even vote.
VA (Auckland)
I have no confidence in anything the council does or says. They promised to not put up water rates and after being elected what do they do...the opposite! We cannot trust these people. We cannot even argue against them without risking expulsion from a meeting, the ones that aren't secret anyway. The council has got its priorities backwards. Its not exactly a hugely pressing issue to clean up the billboards around Auckland city when there is not even a rail line going to the North Shore and only one old bridge thats a pretty dodgy one at that. And what else are Aucklanders going to look at while stuck in the daily gridlock? Admire the architecture instead? The deputy mayor should resign and so should the rest of them.
Sophia
This is about the most decisive action witnessed in politics in a long while. See how easily they can step around the bureaucracy when it suits them! Lets hope they get Hubbard out next!
kate
The thought of not being able to afford to grow old in the city I was born in, lived my life to date in, and love dearly.upsets me greatly. I now have no faith whatsoever in the current council.
Mark
For the past six years that we have been in Auckland, nothing has changed for the better. Countries around world keep progressing in many ways whereas as we in Auckland just seem to be riding the same old wheel. Time for a change.
Corrie
I vote for no water rates increase and he should resign if he carry on with this matter, We cant afford more of these increases as the household budget cant afford it.I also want to see a decrease in council spending by making sure we get value for money, you have not been given a open check book to do what you want to
Aaron Bhatnagar
I'm not sure I like this "Team 20" consensus style politics - it's too violent.
Christine
Hurrah - 20 minutes and he should be gone....
Peter
Get rid of him. One stuff up after another, had the chance to have a world class stadium fully funded by central govt. Bring back Banksie.
Dirk
The Auckland City Council is a mess. Policies of council change by the week, mayor's statements can not be relied on (Queen St trees, etc), Council spending on frills (non-infrastructure basic expenditure) continues to rise as a percentage of total in spite of councillor candidates promising to stop this - "essential expenditure only", secret meetings, fudging of expected future costs increases (water), etc, etc, etc. Now the architects of the water debacle are proposing to stand on an election platform to change this. What a joke!
