Brian Rudman: A prophecy, Mr Mayor - they'll remember

COMMENT

Which John Banks are we to believe? The one who on August 4 said that "it would be lunacy" to spend $500,000 to $600,000 developing a detailed traffic demand management plan for the V8 street car race before getting planning consents.

Or the John Banks who yesterday buckled to a strong hint from the V8 car race planning commissioners and admitted, "We accept there is more work to be done".

The Auckland City Mayor said: "We are happy to continue working with Transit and the other key stakeholders ... With a lot of goodwill we can get there."

Deep in a sand trap of his own digging, it's no surprise Mr Banks is calling for a lot of goodwill. But after the abuse he fired at Transit New Zealand and North Shore Mayor George Wood about their submissions to the commissioners two weeks ago, he's going to need more than goodwill.

He'll need an outbreak of saint-like amnesia among his victims.

On August 4 the Auckland mayor declared that "George Sydney Wood" had been "pathetic" and "a sad sight" as he "perform[ed] so poorly" at that day's hearing.

Mr Banks said Mr Wood's claim that consultation by Auckland City had been scant "suggests at the very least that the mayor suffers from short-term memory loss" and "is very confused about the consultative process and continues to struggle with much of the detail".

These were not impromptu throwaway lines to a passing reporter, but part of an official mayoral statement. Transit NZ came in for similar abuse. Now Mr Banks expects the bullied to save his skin.

It's hard to see all the goodwill in the world saving this flawed project.

The commissioners, headed by lawyer David McGregor, said the application was deficient in several areas, including the effect on traffic, the effect of noise, and the economic ill-effects on local businesses. They also expressed concerns about the effect on Victoria Park.

But there's another issue that doesn't come within the commissioners' purview that should worry every Aucklander.

It is the rapidly mounting hidden costs which, one suspects, will be left to ratepayers and taxpayers to pick up, not the race organisers.

I return to Mayor Banks' August 4 press release. He said Transit and North Shore's "nonsense claim" that V8 consent applicants "should produce detailed traffic management plans before applying for consent" was "lunacy" and would "set a dangerous new precedent".

If it became the norm, it would cost local bodies around the country tens of millions a year. It was "sheer folly" and "stupidity the country and Aucklanders should be spared".

The commissioners ignored his doom-laden warning and agreed with North Shore City and Transit on the need for more work on the likely effect on traffic of the car races.

Whether this is a precedent that will cost the country tens of millions a year I don't know. But we have Mr Banks' word that, as far as the V8 race alone is concerned, the added work is going to cost an additional $500,000 to $600,000.

"Cost whom?" is the question ratepayers should be asking. Ratepayers or the race promoters, IMG?

It's time we also got a breakdown of all the in-house costs incurred by the city since the project was adopted by city officials.

Mr Wood says North Shore City is also facing a bill of "tens of thousands of dollars" - and growing - trying to ensure its citizens don't become unwilling victims of V8 traffic jams.

On top of that are the untold taxpayer dollars Transit has already spent on the matter.

It's time these hidden costs were revealed for all to see.

In a press statement a couple of weeks ago attacking Transit and North Shore's "narrow-minded churlishness", John Archibald Banks said "modern day Cassandras are alive and well" in both organisations but he believed "their prophecies of doom will be unheeded".

What he doesn't seem to appreciate is that the Trojan heroine Cassandra received the gift of accurate prophecy from her lusty admirer the god Apollo, but because she rejected his advances, he twisted the blessing so that no one believed her. The result: the fall of Troy.

It seems the curse of Cassandra is still working.