Posts by Jim Welch
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Speaker: Generation Zero: Let's Grow Up, in reply to Sacha,
Older people tend to have accumulated more wealth, so yes. Interesting to see which suburbs are making the most noise.
Wealth also gets passed on, so a twenty-something who grew up in Remuera is likely to reap the benefits of their parents' wealth in a way that someone who grew up in Mangere probably isn't. My point is that all older people are not wealthy and all younger people are not poor and it is perhaps unhelpful to obscure the fact that socio-economic differences cut across generations.
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Speaker: Generation Zero: Let's Grow Up, in reply to Jim Welch,
The only other thing I'd quibble with is the example of Sydney as somewhere people would go to enjoy a quality of life not available in sprawly Auckland.
I recently moved back to Auckland after five years in Sydney and my opinion is that Sydney is in many ways what Auckland doesn't want to become. Talk about suburban sprawl! Sure it has some really nice neighborhoods close to the CBD but those are far out of reach for most people on normal incomes. Like Auckland, Sydney is blessed to be located on a beautiful harbour, its natural assets often obscuring the fact that away from the water it is ugly and badly planned. Unlike Auckland, Sydney is still a squabbling collection of little local council fiefdoms. Hopefully the Super City and Unitary Plan will enable us to make Auckland into a city which is way more liveable than much of Sydney.
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Speaker: Generation Zero: Let's Grow Up, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Young doctors have six figures of student loan hanging over them, with mandatory repayments consuming 12 cents in every dollar they earn above about $20k.
This is all true. Luckily for med school graduates, they are on a career path which will see them earning in the hundreds of thousands annually. These are not the people who are most disadvantaged by Auckland's crazy property prices.
I hope that the Unitary Plan leads to higher density good quality mixed housing in the desirable inner suburbs so that in the future they are not just affordable for doctors, bankers and lawyers.
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Speaker: Generation Zero: Let's Grow Up, in reply to Martin Connelly,
Great post. I am very impressed with Generation Zero. Agree with pretty much everything you say. The only thing I'm a bit uneasy about is the idea that the main dividing line between supporters and opponents of change is age. I think the real division is not generational, but the widening gulf between rich and poor. I appreciate that it is harder to get into the Auckland property market than it was a generation ago, but somehow I think young doctors will be fine. Kids from poor families who leave school with no qualifications, though, not so much....
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Hard News: A plea for sanity on the…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think infrastructure issues are very important -- school capacity in Point Chev is a major concern. But much of that is outside the council's remit. We actually need central government to stop its hostility towards Auckland Council and engage with its responsibilities here.
Absolutely agree that schools and other infrastructure are important--the maddening thing is how hard it seems for people to understand what the Council can control and what is up to the central government. I imagine it suits John Key just fine to sit back and watch Len Brown get bashed for not building enough schools.
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Thanks for your contribution to the DUP sanity project, Russell. I've been shocked by how many people who should know better have adopted knee-jerk negative opinions of the DUP. In my experience, these have not just been old folks, but also lots of people from my demographic--inner suburb-dwelling forty-something liberals with kids. Our primary school newsletter has turned into an outlet for uninformed ranting against the DUP (the biggest complaint is that with increased housing density will come the need for more schools and they are not "on the plan"--as if it is the council's role to make decisions on building new schools, and as if this should be done even before the people have arrived!).
A friend of mine works in planning for the council and he says he is amazed how many people genuinely seem to believe that the Unitary Plan is a blueprint for the council itself to build dozens of giant apartment blocks that no-one wants. It is hard to have a rational public discussion with this level of wilfull ignorance. The council needs to do a much better job in communicating what the DUP is all about. To date there has been far too much opportunity for right-wing trouble-makers to misrepresent it.
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ps mmmmm, whiskey.....
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I enjoy PA & it is you sand pit but I'm right on this one. Niggardly is used by smart ass racists ( so says the Urban dictionary) and I can't compromise on this position.
michael, dude! don't want to harsh on your buzz, man, or be mean, but most of what you write makes absolutely no sense, and what little that does is just absolute tripe. does it not make you a trifle uneasy that *everyone else* who has responded to you disagrees with you, quite vehemently? it should, because, as numerous others have lucidly explained, you're wrong. i'm sorry i started this at all--i used the example of one stupid and wrong-headed reaction to the word "niggardly" to point out how an over-developed fear of offending anyone, married with ignorance and laziness could impair our use of language and actually degrade the level of public discourse--in this case about race, identity etc. little did i imagine my example would actually create the same ridiculous misunderstanding in miniature.
so, you've provided some mirth and then frustration for all of us here, now it's probably a good time to, as russell gently suggested, pull your damn head in! -
Jim, niggardly should get you fired. I like your search for identity but it requires a wider acknowledgement than you're giving it.
michael--ok, i give up. i have no idea what you're talking about....
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Well, i hate to harp, but i don't think "native-born" has a pejorative meaning in NZ. (if it does, it shouldn't--just like using the word "niggardly" shouldn't spark calls for your resignation.) calling someone (Maori) a "native" (in the sense of a "primitive") is probably offensive, but that is a different use of the word. saying someone is NZ "native-born" simply means they were born in NZ. only an Australian would find that offensive....