Look out! ‘Long Hauler’ leaves ARC Station
The ARC Transport & Urban Development made another small piece of rail history yesterday by formally backing a novel rail initiative – something we are calling the ‘Long Hauler’. This came out of an...
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MOTAT’s ‘I Am The Last Tram’ exhibition – provides remarkable view of Auckland in 1950s – and reminds us that history is never over
The ‘I Am The Last Tram’ exhibition at MOTAT, resurrects the memories of the 1950s – a critical time in the history of New Zealand. Though most of Auckland’s present day population was not...
No Sell-Out Of Our Port!
ARC Group success underscores why Auckland’s publicly owned Port must not be privatised The ARC Group (ARC, ARH and ARTA) has had an extremely successful period chalking up major strategic achievements. On top of the political successes of...
ARC Beats Rent Hike
A thirty-seven percent rent hike on the Auckland Regional Council’s Pitt Street offices from 1 February 2009 has been averted by Chairman Mike Lee’s insistence that the increase was too high to be justified....
Steven Joyce and Auckland rail projects – a case of ‘Pot Calling the kettle black’?
While it is understandable the Transport Minister Steven Joyce wants to puncture some of the more overblown ‘rail everywhere’ rhetoric of Super Mayor hopefuls, he could give some thought to applying the same sort...
China Visit 9 -19 July
My private holiday in China – mainly because of the Queens Wharf crisis proved to be more of a working holiday than I had originally anticipated. In fact at one stage I seriously considered...
Queens Wharf Saga Brought to a Satisfactory Conclusion
The decision by the Council on 6 July to confirm my provisional agreement with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust to protect Shed 10 and relocate Shed 11 brought on a major crisis between...
Trams to Make Comeback on Auckland’s Streets
After an absence of more than 50 years electric trams are coming back to Auckland streets. Early in June the ARC signed off on the $7.4m first stage of a heritage tramway project for...
The history of marine dumping within the Hauraki Gulf – my submission which helped end the last of it.
IN THE MATTER OF: THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACT 1991 AND THE HAURAKI GULF MARINE PARK ACT 2000 APPLICATION FROM PINE HARBOUR MARINA LIMITED TO DREDGE SEDIMENT FROM THE MARINA APPROACH CHANNEL AND ENTRANCE AND TO DISCHARGE AND...
French Polynesia – Conservation Work on Tetiaroa
After returning to work in the second week of January I took private leave from 18th January to 5 February to travel to French Polynesia to join NZ scientist James Russell of Berkeley University...