Rodney Hide: Mayor can look back with pride on legacy

Mayor Len Brown has made it happen. Just over five years ago, he promised Aucklanders he would deliver if they voted for him. Photo / Sarah Ivey

You promised. And you delivered.

For nearly 100 years politicians have been talking about an inner city rail link. But for 100 years that's all it's been: talk.

Mayor Len Brown has made it happen. Just over five years ago, he promised Aucklanders he would deliver if they voted for him. They did. And he has. It's an extraordinary achievement.

It's even more so given that the project wasn't under his control. He's had to corral council and get central government to agree. At times it seemed it was just Len Brown speaking up for the project.

Central government always had serious reservations but Brown was not to be deterred. Through his doggedness and determination he won them over. So much so that Prime Minister John Key used his State of the Nation speech to bring forward Government plans to fund and to start the project. The Prime Minister has signed up to the Mayor's promise. That's an astonishing turnaround.

We are so used to politicians promising this and that, and then hearing their excuses, that we don't quite know what to do when one delivers. Well, we should congratulate them. And they should take a bow.

The Prime Minister is also right: a decision, one way or another, was needed to provide the city with some certainty. There comes a time when a decision is more important than it being the perfect or right one. So it's full marks to John Key too.

Auckland has had many mayors. They have come and gone and left hardly a mark. That's not the case with Len Brown. Our children's children's children will be riding his rail link. That's quite a legacy. He should look back on his mayoralty with pride.

As Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide implemented the start of the Super City in 2010.

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