Hmm some intelligent debate to read.

There are some questions that haven't been adequately answered by the proponents of the Waterfront Stadium in my opinion.

1. Safety considerations of having only one side as an exit point. What happens if this is blocked off by fire, damaged in an earthquake, or blown up in a terrorist act? Everyone just mills around the back end or jumps into the water?

2. Is exposing the piles holding up such a building really a good idea from the whole fraidy terrorists are coming point of view? I mean, how easy would it be to scuba under, strap some limpet mines, and crumble goes the stadium. Or just charge a small boat full of explosives at it. So now you're going to have to have police divers under there, and you're going to have to build a barricade around the edge of the platform. Are these costs factored?

3. What is going to happen to the money from the sale and redevelopment of Eden Park? Will this be recovered to pay for this stadium, and for that matter why not get rid of Mt Smart stadium as well and recoup money from redeveloping that site too? (Auckland does not need so many stadiums.) It doesn't seem right that this money should flow into other things around Auckland and the rest of the country is paying for the waterfront stadium.

4. It has such a large footprint, this could be reduced a bit. Rotate the stadium so its long side is facing Quay St, and shuffle it Eastwards a little and are you telling me the Port can't give up that little bit of land that is pretty much vacant in every aerial photo I can find? This would allow at least half of the stadium to be built on land, reducing the risks immensly. And so what, give the Port 20 million or 40 million, it beats the 75 million or more that half of the platform would likely end up costing.

5. Why wasn't there better consultation on other sites? I personally favour west of the Viaduct. I think it has much better potential in longer terms for flow on developments, and kick starting the (re)juvination of this area. It wouldn't be any further away from the transport hub that Wellington's stadium. It would be linked by a new iconic bridge and promenade linking Quay St to the western side in a long boulevard. (see really rough location sketch at http://www.punk.co.nz/viaductsite2.jpg) It has all the governments wonder of touching the water, and the city as the backdrop etc. The only problem appears to be the small business operating there, but again, surely this is available for far under the $150+ million cost of a risky platform? You could buy all the land and businesses outright, and probably pay out all the employees $100,000 dollars for less than half that.