Jury's out on Judges Bay

A wealthy suburb is getting a makeover at the expense of areas such as Glen Innes and Avondale, writes Joseph Barratt
Money down the drain or a timely clean-up? The jury's still out after the city council's budget proposals favoured $5 million being spent on inner-city Judges Bay while massive cuts are planned in outlying suburbs.
Alison Jenkins is a retired dental nurse who lives in Parnell. Every sum mer for more than 30 years she has made a daily trip down to Judges Bay to swim.
She couldn't believe her eyes when she read that the Avondale Library and Glen Innes Community Centre were likely to miss out on funding. Mean while, her local bay in a wealthy sub urb is slated for an upgrade.
``It seems ridiculous. The people who need the help are not getting it.
``In the summer, I swim down there every day. It's not perfect but it doesn't need an upgrade more than poorer areas of Auckland need development.'
Aaron Bhatnagar, a city councillor from the plush Hobson ward and the ruling Citizens & Ratepayers faction, says the biggest incentive for the upgrade is not the appearance, but rather what lies beneath.
``It has the worst bacterial count out of any of the beaches in Auckland City. In the last year alone, it has had two enterococci readings over 280 and had to be closed. Most other Auckland beaches generally read about 20.'
Most of the money will be spent on a stormwater extension and dredging the bay, he says.
``At the moment, the bay is all silted up and that silt is full of heavy metal.'
The council is proposing to cut funding across the city, reducing spending on road safety at schools by $18 million, deferring a $7 million Glen Innes town upgrade by more than 10 years and deferring upgrades of Mt Roskill and Otahuhu libraries.
Cathy Casey, a councillor from Mt Albert on the ``opposition' City Vision ticket, says Judges Bay might need work but there is no reason for it to take precedence over other projects in the community.
``It reeks of being a pet project,' she says. ``The council is slashing spending everywhere, stopping community development, and then this project came out of nowhere and sprinted to the top.
``Meola Creek and Cox's Bay have been calling for help for eons. They need a clean-up just as bad as Judges Bay.
``You can't shuffle budgets to get favourite projects through. Public opinion should be behind it.'
B E N C H M A R K Enterococci is a bacteria in the gut of humans and animals. Its presence is measured to indicate the sewage contamination of marine water. The main guideline is that beach water should not exceed 280 enterococci per 100ml of sea water in a single sample. Most Auckland beaches are tested for enterococci levels every Wednesday.