AUGUST 2023 UPDATE

The Community-Led Design Group (CLDG) was optimistic that the design studio appointment would be approved soon and that our 10-year-long CLD engagement process with the Waitematā Local Board would continue. This optimism was well founded and we are delighted to announce the design studio that has been selected to progress the Ponsonby Park project.

Drum roll please. And the design studio is… LandLAB!

The CLDG is delighted with this appointment and we extend our congratulations to Henry Crothers and his team.

LandLAB’s PARK+ concept design for Ponsonby Park, the new civic space at 254 Ponsonby Road, was chosen by the community in 2017 as their preferred option.

Since then the design has gone on to achieve several awards both in NZ and internationally:

NZILA Award of Excellence in Unbuilt Visionary (2019) World Architecture News (WAN) Future Projects: Civic Award Winner (2018)

· World Architecture Festival (WAF) Civic Future Project Award Finalist (2018)

As the LandLAB website* says:

PARK+ Ponsonby

"In a world with increasingly complex problems, collaboration is essential. PARK+ was LandLAB’s winning entry into the Ponsonby Park design competition held in late 2017. This project pilots a new model for community-led engagement, a design-led process and interdisciplinary collaboration beyond a 'business as usual' consultation process.”

We are all stronger together and the CLD process has repeatedly shown this to be true. With the whole world now having to face the complex problems wrought by climate change, this project will provide real-world solutions to what are often daunting challenges. Ponsonby Park will be an exemplar of sustainability, mitigation and adaptation. Think global – act local.

We would like to thank the Waitematā Local Board for their continued support in the CLD process and we look forward to continuing our collaborative and constructive working relationship as the detailed design work begins.

The LandLAB design studio is now underway with the development of their PARK+ concept design into preliminary designs.

Brilliant. Be excited. And keep watching this space. (JENNIFER WARD)  PN

*landlab.co.nz/projects#/ponsonby-park/

For more information, please see our website 254ponsonbyrd.org.nz

The Deputy Mayor of Seattle in North West USA called on my office this week to check on council’s preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup as they are hosting the next men’s cup.

Mostly the preparation was handled by Tataki Auckland Unlimited, council’s CCO in charge of events so other than leaning out over the top of Eden Park with a soccer ball in my hand, for promotion there wasn’t a lot to do as FIFA is very descriptive in what it requires.

Inevitably, the conversation with the Seattle Deputy Mayor turned to local government practices in both cities. Seattle has twice the population of Auckland and I was told they have nine councillors, but she said she would prefer only seven. I swooned.

She was more than surprised to be told that we have the horrendous number of 20 councillors, quite a few of whom think there should be fewer as long as it is the others who lose their jobs. The really shocking thing is that we also have 21 local boards along with their salary-seeking members plus the members of the Independent Maori Statutory Board, resulting in around 174 elected officials.

Nobody can name them all and on top of that there are about 40 MPs in Auckland City area and nobody can name all of them either.

On top of all this, local government is saddled with legal obligations to consult on everything including budgets, which of course the Government neither needs to or bothers to, so our $5b budget gets discussed ad nauseum while the Minister of Finance just announces his $150b without even telling his own party members.

Consultation is expensive and not followed by voting councillors in many cases. Labour Party councillors come under pressure from unions and some vote according to that pressure rather than what citizens wanted. All very inefficient and unhelpful.

To add to the mess that makes us democratically overloaded, the city is divided into wards that don’t match the local board areas and bizarrely the most densely populated area in NZ, being the Auckland CBD including Ponsonby where I live along with your readers, has been attached to two islands – Waiheke and the least densely populated area of Aotea Great Barrier.

All this courtesy of Rodney Hide, who should have stuck to ballroom dancing.

LETTERS CONTINUED FROM P28

I read the Ponsonby News letters to the editor last month in utter dismay. No less than three letters about the apparent dysfunction of the Waitematā Local Board and its lack of leadership. The people of Auckland Central would probably have tolerated a Chair representing the views of City Vision if they had voted for a City Vision - dominated Waitematā Local Board. They in fact voted for the majority of the Citizens and Residents team. Then Gen Sage crossed the floor, deserting her team to secure herself the position of Chair and she appears woefully ill-equipped for the role.

As a final difficulty, there is now a call for more precipitation democracy, whatever that is, as some representatives are not satisfied with 174 of us talking to the public and want even more. No wonder getting decisions is so hard.

(WAYNE BROWN)  PN Mayor of Auckland www.facebook.com/WayneBrown4Auckland

We need Sarah Trotman to be released from the sidelines. She has been recognised for her leadership competency and her extensive governance experience. Trotman got the most votes on election day, yet her voice is repeatedly silenced by a broken process. Trotman fought fiercely for the community on the two matters that dominated the Waitematā Local Board last term, and she’s the reason for the swing to C&R. Surely she could have dealt with Sage swiftly.

David Adams

LETTERS CONTINUED ON P66