Super City: Held up works, beaches big issues

The Glen Innes Community Library and Hall. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The new Glen Innes music centre was postponed, town centre upgrades were put off and the Onehunga foreshore is still to see a clean-up.

The new Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board will have to work with a community that has watched as major community projects were cancelled, and the candidates will have to work to get them all back on track.

In the Tamaki subdivision, the people of Glen Innes often feel they have been ignored or overlooked by a city council with a focus on the central city.

Indeed, they have taken it upon themselves to raise $5 million needed for an arts and music centre deferred by 10 years by Auckland City Council last year - despite the fact that the idea had been talked about for 20 years already.

The group set up to find the money has won funding for $20,000 for a feasibility study which, says town centre manager Adriana Bader, is a good start. But $5 million is a big ask.

In the same round of re-prioritising funding, an upgrade of the town centre was also deferred.

"When it comes to Glen Innes, it seems everything gets stuffed into the too-hard basket," said Ms Bader.

There are four board seats in the Tamaki subdivision and just five candidates. Current Auckland City Councillor Leila Boyle is one of those standing.

Some in the community feel that, with a traditionally low voter turnout, the board members have little mandate to represent the people.

In the Maungakiekie subdivision, one of the big sticking points remains the Onehunga waterfront.

To some it is a fetid stretch of coastal land which no one would visit, but to others it has the potential to be a prime waterfront walk which could grow into a major visitor attraction.

Supporters have been pushing for the foreshore to be reinstated with four new beaches, but the city council's scaled-back - and considerably cheaper - plans have been fought over for several years.

The latest possibility is proposals to test material dug from Waterview for suitability for the $28 million project.

The idea has been proposed by the Onehunga Enhancement Society, which believes up to 600,000cu m of the 1.4 million cu m of material could be used for an 11ha reclamation plan aimed at restoring beaches destroyed in the 1970s by the Mangere Bridge motorway project.

The Maungakiekie subdivision is entitled to three board members. Brett Clark, Simon Randall and Bridget Graham are all Maungakiekie Community Board members hoping to be re-elected.

The list of nominations for both boards consists of current community board members and local faces, with a mix of tickets from C&R to Labour to the local Maungakiekie Team.

The Tamaki ward is predicted to grow by 30,000 people over the next 20 years.

Ms Bader said the pressure would be on the community board members.

"I spoke to Rodney Hide and he assured me everything would be tickety-boo. I'll hold him to that."

CANDIDATES

MAUNGAKIEKIE-TAMAKI BOARD

MAUNGAKIEKIE SUBDIVISION - 3 SEATS

Brett Clark, Maungakiekie Team
Roshni Golian, Citizens & Ratepayers - Maungakiekie Tamaki
Bridget Graham, Maungakiekie Team
Debbie Leaver, Focus Local
Carl Power, Citizens & Ratepayers - Maungakiekie Tamaki
Simon Randall, Maungakiekie Team
Joseph Rebello, Citizens & Ratepayers - Maungakiekie Tamaki
Kane Te Waaka, Independent
Walter Wi-Peri, (no ticket stated)

TAMAKI SUBDIVISION - 4 SEATS

Josephine Bartley, Labour
Leila Boyle, Labour
Chris Makoare, Labour
Alan Verrall, Labour
Bob Wakefield, Citizens & Ratepayers - Tamaki

* From the New Zealand Herald feature, 'Super City - Election Guide'