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Speaker: Why Auckland, and New Zealand, needs the city rail link

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  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    what a sweet way into town the Western Line is

    I love the view of the city with the line following a different angle than the roads

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Sacha,

    Sorry, that's unduly snarky of me. This issue has been managed way better than most others - and polls show good public support already so the message must be working.

    Like public opposition to asset sales, it's not being translated into voting intent but that's a bigger problem than this one issue. Failing to strongly and consistently refute Joyce's lies - like claiming the loan for Auckland rail as spending - is part of the same malaise. We all deserve better.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I confess, it's taken me too long to realise what a sweet way into town the Western Line is from Pt Chev. Baldwin Ave is a 5 min drive from where I am, and a fairly safe place to leave the car if I'm in for a big one.

    Hmmm, but after the big one, it's a 5 min drive home?

    ETA: Buses seem to be better options for boozy nights unless you're walking distance from a train station. Pity, trains are much nicer to ride in. Trains sell on their convenience for commuters. Integrated ticketing would make a huge difference.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Leopold,

    Hate to say it, but Chch has a golden opportunity for light rail - just hope that Big Ger et al don't fumble the ball (or get talked out of it by Mr J)

    Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report

  • Nat,

    Great piece! Would the herald publish it?

    Seattle • Since Jun 2011 • 52 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Sacha,

    Failing to strongly and consistently refute Joyce’s lies – like claiming the loan for Auckland rail as spending – is part of the same malaise. We all deserve better.

    Which is part of the reason why I made a printable poster about it. I also have a trucking-related poster in the pipeline, too.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Patrick Reynolds, in reply to Nat,

    Nat, have you seen the Herald? No Chance, I've tried.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2010 • 40 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to BenWilson,

    better options for boozy nights unless you’re walking distance from a train station.

    Trouble there is you can easily fall asleep on a train, I once ended up miles from home as the sun was coming up.
    (I could have “Coddingtonised” that)
    “I once woke up hundreds of thousands of miles away”
    “Where are we Neil?”
    “One small step for… what the f….”

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Nat, in reply to Patrick Reynolds,

    Nat, have you seen the Herald? No Chance, I've tried.

    Well, yes I have, but the case is so clear and obvious and well expressed, it might change minds if it was given the right forum. What that is and how you get access to it are questions whose answers need more local knowledge than mine. (I've only been here for a couple of years). Radio NZ interview? The Listener? Will there be a public debate on the transport issue before the election?

    Seattle • Since Jun 2011 • 52 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Patrick Reynolds,

    Nat, have you seen the Herald? No Chance, I’ve tried.

    If you introduced yourself as Dr. P. Reynolds you may have a chance.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Patrick Reynolds, in reply to Nat,

    Nat the Herald is run by regressive Nat Party naturals like John Roughan which means the whole publication has a very clear subtext. I sent them a carefully tailored piece on the AK plans, ideal length etc. Result? not only is it not run but it just spurs Roughan to write his nonsense shilling for the opposite view. Here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/local-government/news/article.cfm?c_id=250&objectid=10762330

    No courage to run an opposing view as well of course, bullying coward, so i realise by submitting pieces I'm just giving the smug idiots ideas for their own tired views! So no, the Herald is more than a waste of time for any real engagement.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2010 • 40 posts Report

  • martinb, in reply to Russell Brown,

    and a nice new station at Baldwin Ave too...

    Auckland • Since Jul 2010 • 206 posts Report

  • Patrick Reynolds, in reply to Nat,

    Nat for Roughan's earlier form on rail in AK, go here: http://publicaddress.net/speaker/john-roughan-is-scared/

    Auckland • Since Jan 2010 • 40 posts Report

  • martinb, in reply to Patrick Reynolds,

    Yeh- Roughan was arguing on the weekend that Goff had committed lese majeste by calling someone who'd told a lie a liar, and that whichever party had the most votes should form the government.

    So if Labour and the Greens had 52 combined and the Nats had 47 he's arguing that justice is served by National governing there.

    He had to travel on the train to the world cup opening and didn't like that. So by that reasoning trains are useless for everyone.

    Auckland • Since Jul 2010 • 206 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to BenWilson,

    Hmmm, but after the big one, it’s a 5 min drive home?

    Pick up the car in the morning, bro. The last train’s at 12.36am. Night may have barely started by then ;-)

    But yeah, it’s totally the “nicer to ride” thing. Also, my mate’s place is walking distance from the station.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Steve Withers,

    Excellent analysis in my humble opinion. Just one of about 300 reasons to NOT vote for the National Party. But you have to KNOW the reasons and it appears roughly 50% of voters don't. Not sure they will ever know, either.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report

  • Nat, in reply to Patrick Reynolds,

    Nat the Herald is run by regressive Nat Party naturals like John Roughan which means the whole publication has a very clear subtext. I sent them a carefully tailored piece on the AK plans, ideal length etc. Result? not only is it not run but it just spurs Roughan to write his nonsense shilling for the opposite view. Here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/local-government/news/article.cfm?c_id=250&objectid=10762330

    "sprawling suburban paradise"

    *Shudder*

    And peak oil is an "excuse" used by planners? This guy is scary.

    Rightio, not the herald then. Other options?

    Seattle • Since Jun 2011 • 52 posts Report

  • peterpeasant,

    Wellington as a through station to the South Island is problematic.
    Wellington as a through station to its own hinterland is problematic

    A Christchurch type sequence and Wellington is a major disaster. (Parliament does not count!)

    Just hope those Auckland volcanoes do not respond to seismic activity as people cross the harbour, over or below the surface.

    Cheers

    new zealand • Since Oct 2010 • 39 posts Report

  • Colin Ross,

    Fear not ! The rail "loop" will come to pass. The power of the Auckland vote will make this into an election issue in very short order. Politicians are craven creatures, and they will very quickly see the error of their ways.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2008 • 6 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Colin Ross,

    The power of the Auckland vote will make this into an election issue in very short order. Politicians are craven creatures, and they will very quickly see the error of their ways.

    So long as Prostetnic Vogon Joyce and his cohorts don't do a Greater London Council on 'Red Len'. Were that to happen, declaring outright war on Len would effectively declare war on Auckland itself.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Colin Ross,

    National is quite certain that it can continue to ignore Auckland’s single voice until said voice gives up and does what it’s told; or gets voted out due to lack of progress in the face of a hostile central government. A voice that, as embodied by Brown, speaks with the mandate of more direct votes than any dozen of the Beehive’s residents combined. Brown needs to remind Joyce and Key of the fact that more people voted for him in that single election than have voted for the two of them combined in every election for which they have stood! (ETA: And that would apply even if Joyce had won Rodney in the last election.)

    It’s a shame that the prolles seem to be so completely bamboozled by the Key Cognitive Dissonance Field, because the stated voting patterns really bear no resemblance to any statements made relating to National’s policies.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • Patrick Reynolds,

    For further analysis of the economic case for the CRL go to the ever brilliant transportblog site: http://transportblog.co.nz/2011/11/08/re-analysing-the-city-rail-links-benefits/

    Auckland • Since Jan 2010 • 40 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    I’m not interested in Auckland being like every other city in the world, generally. We are what we are – a city the size of Portland, Oregon, shaped by our geography, and our penchant for lots of roads, and bad driving, and short sighted town planning. The public transport thing though – I do find that very exciting. I haven’t been on a train in many years – the last one I went on was as part of the Out West book festival, yonks ago – and I don’t normally take buses (the having to take 3 buses to work thing – yeah). But if there was a linked service from South to Central, I would probably look at it, at least. From my point of view, I find it exhilarating, that not only are we talking about it, but that there are firm plans in place to make it happen. At last!

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Pick up the car in the morning, bro. The last train’s at 12.36am. Night may have barely started by then ;-)

    Heh, an extra trip just to use the train :-)

    I've found it very useful for trips to Waiheke. Train is much nicer for children in prams, and the car is safe outside the house with the huge savage dog that barks ferociously at every single passer by.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to peterpeasant,

    sining the Magma Crater...

    Just hope those Auckland volcanoes do not respond to seismic activity as people cross the harbour, over or below the surface.

    ...or from the drilling of all those tunnels through the dormant (extinct?) cone field of greater Auckland.
    :- )

    What the frack...
    Interesting to note that Oklahoma is experiencing an increase in increasingly larger earthquakes in light of this article...

    and this piece in the Huffington Post:

    Arkansas also has seen a big increase in earthquake activity, which residents have blamed on injection wells. Natural gas companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, use fluid to break apart shale and rock to release natural gas. Injection wells then dispose of the fluid by injecting it back into the ground.
    There are 181 injection wells in the Oklahoma county where most of the weekend earthquakes happened, said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees oil and gas production in the state and intrastate transportation pipelines.
    But natural gas companies claim there is no proof of a connection between injection wells and earthquakes, and a study released earlier this year by an Oklahoma Geological Survey seismologist seems to back that up. It found most of the state's seismic activity didn't appear to be tied to the wells, although more investigation was needed.

    Interested folk in North Canterbury can catch GASLAND
    - a US based Fracking documentary by Josh Fox
    on the following days this month:
    14/11/2011, 7.30pm, Oxford Oxford Club 160 High Street.
    17/11/2011, 7.30pm, Rangiora John Knox Centre, Stewart Rm,
    Cnr High & King Sts.
    22/11/2011, 7.30pm, Kaiapoi Kaiapoi Club 113 Raven Quay
    - Old restaurant
    gold coin/koha entry
    organised by local Green Party candidate John Kelcher

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

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