Wayne Brown, Viv Beck and the art of complaining: Simon Wilson

THE FACTS

• Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown sounded off last week about being lobbied to cut rates.
• The central city business leader Viv Beck reported widespread retailer complaints about rough sleepers and other issues.
• The election for mayor and council ends this Saturday.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown told the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its parent group the Taxpayers’ Union to “f*** off” last week. How good was that?

That was the mayor, telling a pressure group with ridiculous demands where to go. And while he might be the only one who said it out loud, he’s probably far from alone in thinking it.

Only one of the 12 candidates for Auckland Mayor – Ryan Pausina – has signed the groups’ “Ratepayer Protection Pledge”. That’s good news too.

Then on Monday, Heart of the City’s Viv Beck described a “nightmare” situation for central city businesses.

In my view, that was the chief executive of the business association talking down her own shopping precinct, just weeks before the critical Christmas season begins.

This is a column about good and bad ways to complain.

Perpetual Guardian chief executive Patrick Gamble and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck. Both are concerned about safety on Queen St. Photo / Anna Heath

The union and alliance are performatively outraged. They’ve asked, “Is Wayne Brown planning a rates blowout?” Although they must know perfectly well that he is not.

Auckland’s 5.8% was the lowest average residential rates rise of any large city in the country this year. The plan for future rates rises is publicly available: 7.9% next year and 3.5% each year after that.

In what universe is that a “blowout”?

Auckland Council has a $6 billion budget. Undoubtedly, some of it is unnecessary. The union and alliance will always be able to find a morning tea that cost too much or a playground upgrade that used too many bolts to fix the swings to the ground. It doesn’t follow these things happen because of a culture of waste.

One reason it’s irresponsible for politicians to sign rates pledges (or promise no new taxes) is that they don’t know what’s going to happen. The devastating storms of early 2023 were all the proof anyone should ever need of this.

So, arguably, is the fast-rising problem of rough sleepers in the city. The council has allocated $500,000 to managing this issue, but it’s probably going to need a lot more.

The ratepayer pledge says rates should not rise faster than inflation and population growth. But this ignores the decades of under-investment in infrastructure, caused by demands for low rates. Chickens will roost.

There’s more. Auckland Council’s “value for money” programme cut $600 million from spending this term. That’s massive.

Brown is reforming the council structure, to make it more accountable and, therefore, more financially rigorous. He has introduced a 10-point Better Value Projects checklist that all spending must be measured against before it’s approved.

I think it’s right and proper to argue the value of Brown’s reforms and his spending priorities. And in my view, Beck has highlighted one of his major blind spots: the central city. The mayor has spent the past three years saying very little about it, except for occasional rants about road cones.

It's remarkable what you can do with road cones. Photo / Simon Wilson

But while he has flaws, profligacy is not one of them. So why do the union and alliance and their little legion of keyboard warrior supporters pretend it is? Sam Warren of the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance reckons its pledge campaign generated 1500 emails to the mayor.

I’ve spent several weeks listening to various forms of Taxpayers’ Union-inspired grumbling and outrage on the campaign trail. In my view, many of those doing it are not much concerned about rates or spending levels, let alone the quality of the city and the life in it. What they want is to stop spending on things they don’t like.

Their real target isn’t Brown. It’s public transport, community services and amenities, arts and entertainment programmes, business initiatives and economic booster plans: anything that neoliberalism says should be done by the market or not at all. And, of course, the old perennial: cycleways, speed humps and other projects designed to make the streets safer.

Another day on Queen St. Photo / Getty Images

Meanwhile, Beck’s complaints do at least focus on a real issue and what’s required in the real work of running the city. But instead of just complaining, what about some solutions?

Here’s a five-point plan Heart of the City is very welcome to adopt.

• No empty shops

I want to shout this. NO EMPTY SHOPS! They’re the biggest single killer of retail and the fix is in the hands of Heart of the City itself. Many of its members are the very landlords leaving those shops empty. Carrot and stick them. Get the arts community to help with shows, do pop-up markets and events, just do whatever it takes.

Nothing else will work if there are empty shops. So fill them.

• Put a park opposite the Civic

The St James Theatre is about to be brought back to life, but on current plans the Queen St part of that site will remain derelict. Heart of the City and the council should work with the landowner to put a pocket park there until something more permanent can be done.

Remember the Griffiths Garden, complete with beehives, on Wellesley St where the City Rail Link station is now? It’s so easy to do.

• Make the streets feel safer

If the solution was obvious, it would have been done.

The Government has put more police on the beat in the central city and allocated more funding to emergency housing through existing providers. And more resources have gone into the Street Guardians, a programme to help rough sleepers and others, funded by the council and run by the Auckland City Mission. Clearly, though, it’s not enough.

There is an inter-agency approach, but it needs supercharging. And someone needs to be responsible.

• More events

Events bring people, but the key to this is not Government funding for a roof on the tennis stadium. Queen St and the nearby areas need a solid stream of activities, including music of all kinds and kids’ activities.

And hey, you people in charge of the CRL: open up Te Waihorotiu station and get lots of tours going. Why can’t we watch the work? Put events in there, too. Same with Watercare: I bet what you’re doing with the new pipes is fascinating, so why don’t you show us?

• Get a champion

Is the business association doing enough to promote positive solutions for the central city?

Good things do happen on Queen St, such as the Farmers Santa Parade.

Looking further ahead, there are three more things the council should take in hand.

• More residents, fast

Encourage property owners to convert empty offices to apartments, especially now the earthquake regulations are being relaxed. Empty buildings will be the long-term death of Queen St, just as empty shops have created a crisis now.

• More emergency and social housing

The City Mission says: “We share the desire for a safe, welcoming city for everyone, and agree with business leaders that Government leadership is essential. We’ve repeatedly urged ministers [Chris] Bishop and [Tama] Potaka to change the emergency housing criteria so those most in need can access support, and while recent steps are welcome, much more is required to truly address homelessness in Auckland.”

• Less construction disruption

It’s not going to stop. The Symphony Centre is about to be built over the Wellesley St entrance to the CRL, and every other sign of progress will bring its own disruption.

But despite Brown’s complaints about construction disruption on the campaign trail in 2022, he hasn’t done much about it. Time to fix that, Mr Mayor.

In fact, now you’ve seen off that silliness from the Taxpayers’ Union, the city awaits.

It’s not about bringing back four lanes of traffic, as some people still believe. That won’t help. It’s about bringing more people in, every day.

If you win on Saturday, this is a task you could make your own.