The BFD | Devonport-Takapuna Local Board: An Absolutely Biased Guide to Auckland Local Elections

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board

RATINGS GUIDE:

$ to $$$$$ with $ being a leftist trougher and $$$$$ being small government dynamo

For some, however, a clown is more appropriate. More than one may be awarded.

It’s quite incredible to watch the percentage of votes being returned compared to previous elections. This article will be published a couple of days after writing but 2019 is currently 40% lower than the record low turnout of 2016.

I lived in this local board area for about 5 years up until the end of last year. While I have now returned to the Orakei ward, I still work on the Shore in Hauraki and breathe a sigh of relief that my journey stops at the entrance to the much maligned Lake Rd.

There are 18 candidates contesting 6 positions. You may cast up to 6 votes in this FPP contest.

Aidan Bennett – A Fresh Approach $$$$$

A Fresh Approach is a new ticket running three candidates who didn’t contest 2016. If any new candidate knows the issues in this local board area, I’d bet money Aidan does. His printing company Benefitz employs 80 people and he also publishes Channel Magazine – a monthly local. If you’re getting into politics, what better tool than your own magazine?

Bennett says he is standing because he believes the performance of the local board is declining and there are incumbents who have been there far too long. Bennett is very future focused in terms of embracing and preparing for further intensification, driving electric cars, bikes and scooters. Instead of fighting change, he wants to adapt accordingly.

Bennett has invested in the area, not just as a business owner but also in the community, receiving a QSM in 2018. He has held various roles in the North Harbour Club Charitable Trust over a 14 year period and also as a trustee of Takapuna Beach Playground Charitable Trust getting – you guessed it – the playground on that beach constructed.

He hasn’t mentioned the controversial carpark issue but he mentions creating a vibrant town centre so you can probably join the dots for his position on that.

Mary-Anne Benson-Cooper – Independent

I first encountered Mary-Anne while rating the Upper Harbour contest. She is standing for three different local boards and if she is elected to more than one, Devonport-Takapuna isn’t her first priority. Considering she finished in 14th place for this local board in 2016, she clearly isn’t your top priority either.

She says if she is elected, she would find solutions for Lake Rd. I guess she doesn’t have any yet. She also says she will keep rates low which reinforces my suspicion she really has no idea what she’s talking about.

Kevin Brett – The Trump New Zealand Party

When I stumbled across the Trump NZ Party several weeks ago I was immediately intrigued and had a look at their website trump.org.nz It is a hideous site/sight to behold. Messy, cheap, overflowing with capital letters and exclamation marks. I emailed them to find out more and found out nothing as there was no response.

You don’t really need me to tell you how silly this group is. Brett’s poorly written candidate profile is all the red flags you need:

Workers including professionals from all over the CPTPP Nations are going to pour into NZ to take your Jobs they will work for less than you.

This is just nonsense. Your job is the one you currently have, not fantasy positions you might like to do one day. What a knob.

Gavin Busch – Team George Wood $$$$

Team George Wood was formed in the 2016 elections and it is the first example of a personally named local board ticket I’ve ever seen. They took 3 of the 6 seats. Busch stood last time but wasn’t successful.

Busch lives and works in the area and has degrees in Finance and Economics. Those certainly wouldn’t go to waste if he represents you on the local board.

Gavin doesn’t consider himself a natural politician (another plus) but is standing because he blames the lack of support from Council on having a board which has been dysfunctional compared to others which do enjoy Council support. While he claims that has improved with the election of three Team George Wood candidates in 2016, things could still be better.

I personally can see the benefit in electing a board ticket that holds a majority. It’s reasonable to expect you’d see a more efficient board that makes faster progress. Rodney and Manurewa are good examples of this.

Busch has identified groups and facilities that are focused on water sports and safety as a priority for local board funding which is sensible considering much of the area is coastal. He also wants to deliver on the Local Centre plans for Devonport, Takapuna and Milford. He has also been involved with the development of the Narrow Neck Pump Park and is keen to get it started sooner.

Paul Cornish – Keep Our Open Spaces $$$

Paul is the sole candidate running on the ‘Keep Our Open Spaces’ ticket, which he describes as a byline, reinforcing my suspicion about the general validity of local body affiliation practices.

Obviously Cornish is focused firstly on preserving open spaces and acting as a watchdog to protect jeopardised public space. At least he accepts the need to move on from the battle over the Takapuna car park and instigate a new town square.

He has led a campaign to “erode the dominance of the sole Lake Rd petrol outlet” and support the establishment of a rival outlet. I had never heard of this campaign but upon taking a closer look it would appear Devonport has been serviced by a solitary BP at the top of Lake Rd since 2010. Gull actually commenced plans for an unmanned petrol station on Vauxhall Road min 2018 but that is being objected to by bloody heritage NIMBYs from Devonport Heritage Inc. I recall the group was bankrupted in 2016 after losing an Environment Court battle to interfere in the business of the owners of the Masonic Hotel. Unfortunately a new group was formed within a year. Cornish wants to conserve heritage buildings so I’m unsure how serious he is about his petrol campaign.

Paul has put a lot of energy into reviving two squash clubs and the Victoria Theatre in Devonport. I immediately started searching his profile for hints of a desire to pump your money into the theatre, of which I found none.

Trish Deans – Heart of the Shore $

Trish is the Chair of Devonport Heritage formed in 2017 and was chair of the original Devonport Heritage which went into liquidation following an unsuccessful attempt to interfere in other people’s business; opposing Redback Develop’s plans to demolish the Masonic Tavern and build apartments.

Auckland Council and North Shore City spent $322,838 defending the resource consent. In 2011, Auckland Council voted to withdraw a claim for $106,500 costs against the trust and other groups also involved. Devonport Heritage was unable to pay a $27,000 bill for court costs resulting from the battle.

Evidently Deans is quite comfortable with sticking her beak where it doesn’t belong, running up six-figure bills in the process, walking away without paying the bill then building a clone organisation to do the same to others.

Donald Horsburgh – Independent $

Donald thinks the board needs to get real input from the entire community to ensure it is trying to achieve what the community wants. He would establish more reference groups similar to the last Greater Takapuna Reference Group in Sunnynook, Devonport and Milford.

From what I’ve gathered researching the North Shore race, the slow progress being made by Council is not due to a lack of consultation but rather too much. Council funding for irrigation and lighting work at the Allen Hill Reserve, the Lake Pupuke walkways and the cycleway and walkway at Plymouth Reserve had been allocated. Some members of the board who aren’t standing for re-election insisted upon resource consents being opened up to full public notification. This adds 12 months to the process and Council won’t hold those funds if there is not an expectation of them being used within the year.

Ruth Jackson– Heart of the Shore $

Heart of the Shore, in my estimation, is the far-left ticket for DT Local Board. Jackson has been fighting the closure of the Anzac Street car park in Takapuna. In March 2018 Auckland Council voted to sell the land and develop a new Town Square and park, plus apartments and retail with new parking very nearby. Unfortunately, on June 22, the genuinely insane Miriam Clements successfully convinced the High Court to put a temporary block on the sale pending a judicial review in August 13.

It’s a long, messy, confusing tale to follow but it appears the project was back on track following the judicial review. Move forward another 12 months and it appears that Takapuna Residents Association has just lodged an appeal with the High Court asking for a review of “serious flaws” during the Auckland Council’s approval for the regeneration of the Anzac Street car park. Iain Rea is the spokesman for the group and also a Heart of the Shore candidate for Local Board, so I’ll continue this under his candidate rating…

Ruth Jackson says in her candidate profile (with my comments in brackets) that she is committed to:

Genuine consultation and democracy (dragging out arguments on any issue she doesn’t get her way on).
Fighting asset-stripping (emotive buzzword used by those who favour rates increases and borrowing over selling some existing assets to fund new projects)
Advocating for quality planning (doing it her way)
Safe and vibrant civic spaces (define vibrant)
Preserving community character during unprecedented growth (using every possible excuse to oppose any potential change or development)

Then continues with the standard mentions of clean waterways, beaches etc. She will be obstructive, irritating and cost Takapuna millions of dollars in Auckland Council investment while she attempts to hamstrung any progress on the local board.

Jenn McKenzie – Team George Wood $$$$

McKenzie was elected to local board in 2016 and at 31 years old, brings a younger perspective. That’s borderline ‘youth voice identity politics’ nonsense which most candidates under 30 sink their campaigns by using. Borderline.

Living and working in the area, she also works as a Brand Manager which is a bit vague and previously has been President of Takapuna Rotary and a Girl Guide leader in Hauraki.

There’s no beating around the bush in communicating her priorities for her second term; environmental issues including water quality on beaches at the Wairau Estuary, improving play spaces and improving accessibility to facilities, especially those who are not able-bodied.

Glad to see she has also highlighted the importance of doing this in a fiscally prudent manner.

Jan O’Connor – Heart of the Shore $$

Writing a voting guide can be awkward at times as I know several of the candidates personally. It’s always been a pleasure talking politics with Jan. I had also worked with her late husband Mike on various political projects many years ago.

Alas, Jan’s viewpoints couldn’t be any more different from mine and we are diametrically opposed on the big Anzac Street car park stoush, but I wish her well for the campaign.

Iain Rea – Heart of the Shore $

Iain Rea is the latest person to throw yet another spanner in the works of the decade long battle over Anzac Street car park. He gives his reason for appealing to the High Court to determine whether two competing proposals for a town square accurately presented to councillors and was the public consultation, cited to support those proposals, proper and fair.

Rea says “Council should work better!” If he genuinely believed that, he wouldn’t be seeking your vote.

Rea is also chair of Devonport Peninsula Precincts Society who appealed to the Environment Court in February 2017 to object to the design of a proposed Ryman Healthcare 600 bed, six storey retirement complex in Devonport. Rea was also assisted by nosey-parker neighbour group Urban Auckland and the NZ Institute of Architects in the ensuing mediation process. The 5 week mediation process cost DPPS $50,000 but I’m unable to determine the cost to Ryman Healthcare from the delay. It resulted in Ryman changing its plans to four and five storey blocks and reduced unit numbers.

Notorious obstructive NIMBY Tricia Deans, Heart of the Shore candidate also ensured her unwelcome opinions were heard. Nothing was mentioned about the hundreds of thousands of dollars her activities had cost ratepayers in earlier NIMBY battles.

Ian Revell – Team George Wood $$$

I thought I recognised the name. Revell is a previous National MP. He is very enthusiastic about achieving the goals Team George Wood has set for the next three years, such as the overdue improvements to Lake Rd, finally getting the Takapuna town square upgrades underway, the Milford Takapuna walkway, Wairau Estuary boardwalk and dealing with the water quality issues at Castor Bay, Milford and Takapuna beaches.

Revell is especially keen to get the Castor Bay public facilities completed as well as urgent geotech stability work on the Castor Bay Cliff. I don’t share his enthusiasm for undergrounding “ugly power poles” because there are far better ways to spend ratepayer money.

The 2019 elections need to return a board with a majority grouping that shares the same aspirations for the area, avoiding the delays, obfuscations and deadlock that has characterised the previous three years.

Dorothea Scanlan – The Trump New Zealand Party

Scanlan is opposed to the CPTPP Labour signed following the US withdrawal from the TPPA. It’s completely irrelevant to a local board contest. In her experience “bullying, racial discrimination, emotional blackmail, public humiliation are all used in the corporate sector against women.”

The Trump New Zealand Party Policies are designed to preserve the existing culture and heritage. She also wonders why we don’t talk much about the ongoing issues in the Amazon Basin which she believes plays a critical role in stabilising the global climate. She is a vegan who enjoys going to plant based cafes with others from her gym after yoga.

Why am I writing this? It’s all I’ve got and it’s on her candidate profile.

Michael Sheehy – Team George Wood $$$$

Michael has been on the local board for George Team Wood and also served on Takapuna Community Board pre-super city.

His focus for the next term is to fix Lake Road, ferry terminal for Bayswater, improve water quality from the Wairau creek and our beaches. Support the Wairau Creek boardwalk, local business, and local clubs. A floodlit basketball court for Sunnynook, and improvements to Allen Hill Stadium.

He believes the Shore is getting short-changed by Auckland Council and will pressure them to forward the outcomes of the Sunnynook and Belmont plans.

Toni van Tonder – A Fresh Approach $$$$

Toni currently works as the Devonport Business Improvement District Manager and has been involved in leading roles on the Devonport Arts Festival Trust. She is also a founding member of the Devonport Zero Waste Committee and very enthusiastic about improving the local environment through sustainable practices.

Her employed and voluntary activities mean she should be well aware of how local boards and the Council works so she is a step ahead of most first-time candidates.

Her professional role means meeting with numerous community groups and volunteers who happily dedicate their free time to activities that improve the neighbourhood, such as weeding reserves, cleaning beaches and organising parades. She can see the importance in engaging with and mobilising that energy from a seat on the local board.

Like other A Fresh Approach candidates, she wants to prepare for a new town centre and the challenges that will come with the inevitable intensification of the area.

Danny Watson – A Fresh Approach $$$

Watson will be well known to many as a former talkback host on Newstalk ZB and I’m just old enough to vaguely remember him on What Now! He lives in Bayswater running a karate and arts school with his wife.

He’s interested in big plans to deal with transport problems and says we need to be bold and start digging the tunnel from Epsom to Albany and Waterview to the Shore. That certainly is bold.

George Wood – Team George Wood $$$$$

George Wood is a very familiar face, having been Mayor of North Shore City for nine years, North Shore Councillor for six and the Chair of Devonport-Takapuna for the last three. He’s experienced, knowledgeable and driven to complete the major projects coming up in the region.

In 2015, Devonport-Takapuna lost the $54 million budget for Lake Rd, but three years later, George and his team got $47 million replaced in the budget for the urgent upgrades needed to fix the daily traffic snarls. Also to come are improvements on Esmonde Rd and finishing the cycleway linkage between Francis Street and Esmonde Rd.

Milford Mariners are currently spending $1.1 million without Council assistance dealing with the pollution issues caused by sediment flowing down the Wairau Creek into Milford Estuary from Thomas Park. The current leaseholders, Takapuna Golf Club, have 6 years to run on their current agreement.

George’s experience at all levels of local body make him well qualified to embark on essential improvements to storm water systems and with a new targeted rate in place, he will be lobbying strongly for improvements to the water coming down Milford Estuary onto Milford and Castor Bay beaches.

The other big project on the cards is Unlock Takapuna which will include the replacement of Anzac Street car park with a new town centre, and increased car parks nearby plus the upgrade of Hurstmere Road.

In my view, to continue the momentum on these plans, it is essential that George and the other Team George Wood candidates are elected.

John Wood – Future Focus

I thought Wood’s background as an employer and employment mediator would be welcome on the Local Board. However, he thinks Auckland Council needs to reduce carbon emissions by 50% over the next decade. He is prepared to have the challenging conversations needed to bring about change.

Talking to yourself is only insane if you get a reply.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS: You may cast up to 6 votes in this FPP contest