Often, driving in Auckland, I feel like I'm in a failed state. Have warlords taken over?

It's Auckland's biggest new tower and shopping centre - and Commercial Bay says H & M and HSBC will be tenants.

Make no mistake, Auckland is in crisis and it is a crisis of the council's making. Housing is unaffordable due to artificial restrictions on land supply.

Pipeline was to carry human and industrial waste from Tauranga through the middle of mostly Maori-owned peninsula.

COMMENT: This is an issue for the entire country because if Auckland doesn't work, the country doesn't work, writes Rachel Smalley. It's our economic powerhouse.

I live in the go-to suburb for "gentrification" comedy. Even a house in naff Avondale is now unaffordable.

Labour's push for the Government to abolish Auckland's city limits to get people out of cars, caravans, garages and tents has riled critics but gained support from a business lobby group.

COMMENT: Let's take action on homelessness which has a better chance of fixing the problem and which returns our pavements to pedestrians.

Len Brown wrapped up his last budget yesterday with a 2.4 per cent rates rise - the lowest increase in his six budgets as Mayor of Auckland.

COMMENT: Research by the Auckland City Mission shows the number of homeless in the Auckland CBD doubled between 2013 and 2014.

COMMENT: While the cost of the remedial work will not be insignificant, it needs to be viewed in context, writes Penny Webster.

The suggestion of a port at Muriwai - one of Auckland's wild west coast communities sitting in a regional park - has not gone down well.

COMMENT: Finally, two Auckland City councillors are stepping up to the plate to deal with the scourge of beggars in the city, writes Larry Williams.

Ethical investment has come with a price tag of more than $380,000 for a council fund.

A stadium on the waterfront is an investment in the future of the city. It's inevitable, the longer the delay, the greater the cost. Local politicians need to make this happen, writes Larry Williams.

The community groups challenging the SkyPath plan in the Environment Court have reached their deadline to finalise their issues with the proposal.

Following the rolling brawl in Auckland's Britomart club-lands, heavyweights from the police and Auckland Council squared off over who was to blame, writes Brian Rudman.

Chris Brooks, the council boss charged with salvaging the city's stadium strategy, is a quietly spoken Australian.

It could soon be easier on the environment to have a shower or use the toilet in Auckland.

We've arrived somewhere pretty dismal when property-owning baby boomers reckon it's okay to publicly mock young people who disagree with them, writes Toby Manhire.

Mayor hopeful doesn't care that the Prime Minister plays there.

The Auckland Council is going back to the drawing board after a majority of councillors scuttled housing density proposals in the city's leafy suburbs on Wednesday.

Dumping zone changes is another black mark against Mayor Len Brown and his deputy Penny Hulse.

If we do not see leadership from the council, we will continue to allow an old guard to have a stranglehold over Auckland's future, writes Sudhvir Singh.

Many residents' groups in Auckland over the years have fought hard against the schemes of city planners for higher-density housing.

Mayoral candidate Vic Crone says dramatic housing density changes should be withdrawn.

Depriving residents of their right to have their say is anti-democratic. The way the council has gone about this is contrary to natural justice and an abuse of process, writes Richard Burton.

Auckland's housing crisis hit home in the past couple of weeks as I searched for a flat so that I could move out of my parents' place, writes Alex Johnston.