Bring On The Americas Cup Challenge

It is fantastic news that state support for Team New Zealand has been announced. The America's Cup is  far more than a rich man's yacht race for New Zealand.

Owning The Great Ponsonby ArtHotel and hosting  America's Cup fans, boat buyers and investors we are well qualified to comment on the real value of the America's Cup.

It is far, far more important. The original America's Cup defence was a transformation for the New Zealand marine industry and continues to be so today.  It also was a positive step in our nation's character development . Our confidence surged and again this serves us well today.

The Fonterra debacle which is heading to European courts and has the potential to damage New Zealand Inc. would have thrown us once and our media would be full of doom and gloom.

With the confidence we developed with the America's Cup victory and successful defence we as  people are better able to cope with these challenges.

Rod Oram's column below celebrates this  It is also the part of the narrative of our industrialism and our innovation.

Rod Oram’s Sunday Star column of September 22, 2013  The Year of the Cat has made a 21^st century clarion call for nation building.  He writes “an even bigger challenge for Emirates Team New Zealand is to make New Zealand the global epicentre for its powerful technologies and skills”.

“The science and commercial benefits for New Zealand would flow far beyond sailing. The technologies have wide applications across the economy in hi-tech manufacturing energy infrastructure, construction and many other fields.”

In 1936 Michael Joseph Savage said, “Our objective is to turn New Zealand into a nations of buyers as well as consumers and to make science, machinery and money the servants rather than the masters of the people.”

Oram’s column is a 21 century  statement of our potential as championed by Savage. W.B Sutch and Norman Kirk were people of great vision who have shaped New Zealand. All would no doubt agree with Oram.

Oram in this most thoughtful and analytical of his columns wrote, “Auckland must play the same global role in high tech yacht racing not just for the sake of the America's Cup but to drive science business and wealth generation in our economy”.

Oram is correct. The challenge for New Zealand Inc is to come to an understanding, a consensus, and to commit. Government cannot be hands off, but must champion these industries and have a vision and take Kiwis with them as Norman Kirk did.  The government’s challenge is to maximise the benefits that these technologies can deliver and the industry that can be built. 

In 1939 Michael Joseph Savage said “We cannot leave our economic and social standards to the fluctuations of overseas trade conditions. New Zealand must establish our own standards and with these thoughts in our minds we set out to establish a nation in these southern seas”.

These are the foundations that  built our nation.  If our leaders champion what Oram has written we can lift our standards and  once again have the potential to provide have a security that once we all felt.

Pity The Poor Who are Forced To Rent

The announcement of the Weymouth  affordable  housing plan  is a overdue but a major  step in improving the housing  needs in south Auckland and should be applauded .

 The sale of State housing in depopulating areas is confusing and may be a lost opportunity . We do have an increasing number of people in need of housing.  Many are highly skilled . These people could well have made a real contribution  to these communities may of them have lost much social capital  and by enticing these skilled folk wound  have been  of addressing this issue.

A long term durable bi partisan policy is what is lacking and the options for increasing number of our citizens are far from attractive and no one i know wold like this insecurity.

The life for rental tenants is variable. I have been a landlord. Our tenancy laws provide minimal security and our tax regimes provide an investment option based not on growth but on tax deductions.
The withdrawal of the state from providing income related rents and pensioner housing is impacting on all tenants.
There have always been people whose incomes are so low that home ownership is not  a realistic option, and whose housing needs were provided for. New Zealand is in a minority of western countries where the state is devolving responsibility for these people. Where do we think our nurses, bus drivers, fire fighters, pensioners and essential service folk are going to live?
 The shortage of affordable pensioner housing is critical. Many of the folk who are volunteers and provide the human infrastructure at our museums  and events are living on fixed incomes with rent consuming most of their pension.
 This situation has been exacerbated with the closing of public health facilities which means these people are first in the queue for public housing and compete with the working poor and pensioners. Address these needs by increasing the public housing stock and the housing problem will largely disappear.  

Aucklands Crown Jewels

This blog was published as a letter  in the New Zealand Herald  Today Tuesday, 24   September , 2013.

 The Auckland waterfront and Hauraki Gulf are our regions crown jewels. Whether we win the Americas Cup, and I hope we do, the development of Westhaven is imminent. Every day fishermen, joggers, ramblers,   dogs and their owners, sailors, children and kayakers play in their hundreds there.
If we lose the dog friendly beach or price out the ability of most folk   from fishing or having a recreational life at Westhaven, we will damage the soul of our city.  

 From the fishermen who fish on the western side of the harbour bridge, the  venerable sailing clubs, the marina of fine yachts and floating gin palaces, cruise companies, the new apartments, Wynyard Quarter, the bustling viaduct harbour to the working port is the soul of Auckland.   It is organic.  This is not Disneyland.

 What we have is real.  It is about people.  It is Auckland.  The restored Shed 10 is wonderful.  It is gritty and reeks of maritime history. This is the key.

 The challenge is to have a recreational and commercial port that will serve future generations of Aucklanders.

The strength of our city is that all can enjoy these jewels of our city. Damage the soul and we damage Auckland.

Ponsonby News Article - Local Board Elections

John Elliott, a well-known political commentator and voice of democracy in Ponsonby, also wrote the comments below in the September issue of the Ponsonby News.

America cup capsize;

The near capsize on San Francisco Bay this morning quickly brought a nations heartbeat  to a dead stop. Armchair sailors spilt rum or tea  and the drinks stopped for a moment in waterfront watering holes in ports everywhere .

Relief was on the faces or all and their silence  spoke more leagues than most have sailed on the waves. New Zealand’s aspirations and dreams were within seconds of being shattered before the sea gods looked after our boat today.

  

 Our skipper and crew are among the finest sailors on the on planet. They seek higher things than fame and personal fortune. They sail with our nation's will and know if they can retrieve the cup, Auckland and New Zealand inc will be advanced more than political spin and sound bites of recent years .  Everything about this crew and their campaign is 100 % Pure New Zealand. That is why we love them .

This is what we would like to see 

Ti    

My Submisson On SKY City Convention Bill

To the select committee,

I wish to make a submission on the New Zealand International Convention
Centre Bill.

The purpose of this bill is to expand the gambling license for Skycity, a
private Australian company operating in New Zealand. It seems that aside from
these extraordinary provisions, the bill does not have a reason to exist.
With this submission I join with a wide selection of groups urging the
committee to reject the provisions of the bill, which sells our  current
gambling laws for the project management of the International Convention
Centre.

Some reasons I oppose this bill:

* 200 more problem-gamblers - Bad for people

If this bill is enacted, it is estimated that 10 000 people will need to deal
with the adverse effects of problem-gambling. Regardless of any attempts
Skycity may make to mitigate this, gambling addictions lead to family and
relationship breakdowns, theft, domestic incidents and crime. Each of these
“adverse effects” can be life destroying.  The passing of this Bill has
the potential to be devastating to thousands of people.

* Minimal community returns - Bad for communities

There is a perception that gambling profits will return to benefit community
organisations, but the proportion given by Skycity in this way is alarmingly
small. Skycity returned only 2% of its gambling take, compared with more than
37% from other gambling operators like pubs. Research by BDO Kendalls shows
that more than half of all money stolen from non-profit community
organisations has been to stolen by gambling addicts - $180,000 per person
per theft on average. These figures in tandem cast the whole deal in a
greedy, immoral and ungenerous light. This bill does not benefit community
organisations.

* Contrary to existing gambling laws - Bad for rule of law

The main reason this bill exists is to reduce Skycity's responsibility under
the 2003 Gambling Act. The Gambling Act's first stated purpose is to control
the growth of gambling - but the New Zealand International Convention Centre
Bill exists to expand Skycity's gambling license. It sets a bad legal
precedent to allow the largest private gambling operator in NZ to buy
gambling laws. This bill contradicts the purpose of our gambling law.

* Poor business case - Bad for the economy

The potential economic benefits of the Skycity Convention Centre have not
been subjected to a proper challenge. The draft design of the convention
centre suggests that it will not benefit local businesses. The 10-day average
length of stay estimate by the Government is not supported by convincing
evidence available to the public. The employment estimates bear no relation
to the employee figures in comparable convention centres overseas. The Sydney
Convention Centre (which also has a capacity of 3500 people) employs only 200
full-time equivalent staff compared with the Government's figure of 800
expected jobs in Auckland's centre. The economics don't stack up.


I request that all provisions that allow expansion of this private company's
gambling operations to be removed before this bill proceeds.

As an Auckland ratepayers we do have options . I believe that a convention
centre  will be  of real benefit   However we could continue to. use the
Aotea centre and develop the St James theatre

.Under the Sky City proposal these council owned venues will ultimately lose
business to Sky City  and as rate payers we will have to pick up the cost.
This would be in the community and civic interest .The Sky City proposal is
not.



Thank you for hearing my submission.



Gerard Hill

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Martha's Corner Should Be Saved

 This blog was published as a letter in the New Zealand Herald today Thursday 15 August, 2013 


The buildings that surround Martha’s Corner should be saved.

Nothing less is unacceptable. We have lost too much of our built heritage and we are much poorer as a result. The ability to tell the important history and the stories of our city will be further diminished if these buildings are demolished . This will have a cultural and economic impact far beyond many folks’ thoughts as well as deprive future generations of their whakapapa and sense of place.
 
  Since the Christchurch and Wellington earthquakes the approach that many are taking that buildings have to be knocked down, has not been thought through thoroughly. Regrettably this view has been given a currency that in most cases is far from the public interest.

Recent decisions at government level have been helpful on the time frames in getting heritage buildings up to scratch and do serve the national interest.   This sentiment in the case of Martha’s Corner has not travelled over the Bombay Hills.
Another compelling factor was this council placed no penalties on the Chow Brothers for the Aurora Hotel demolition. Many developers may have taken this as a green light.

Failure to protect these buildings will be a developer’s charter.