It’s now past the shortest day of the year, so we can start thinking about springtime and the impending summer again. Half the year has slipped by without my really noticing it.

One thing that I have noticed is that the costs of the CRL (Central Rail Link) keep on escalating. What started off with a three billion dollar price tag is now escalating into a 12 billion dollar price tag with an announcement back in June of more infrastructure needed to make the CRL a viable proposition. It is incredible the way this infrastructure is escalating cost-wise out of control.

Also back in June, the Government put out on a Friday afternoon, five days after the stampede of cyclists overtook the Harbour Bridge on their freedom ride which included members of the local North Shore Board, the announcement as we all know of the new cycling and pedestrian bridge to cost $700 million plus another $100 million for infrastructure either side to take these people onto the proposed  bridge. No thought, no planning, no reason really. Have we not got better things to spend our money on in this country? So much money being thrown around, millions here and billions there, it ceases to mean anything until you realise that if you break it down, this bridge would cost every household in the country around $370.

Six months ago, Devonport was given a so-called free sculpture to put on our waterfront. It is a Greer Twiss sculpture, which is officially known as Flight Support for Albatross. The sculpture had been lying in storage for many years at Auckland City, until someone decided that the end of Devonport Wharf would be a good place for it. The so-called free sculpture costs were:  $136,000 for artist’s fees, consenting fees $41,927, consultancies $5370 and a project manager fee of $53,910. So the total cost was $237,000 odd plus GST. Isn’t it incredible that a free sculpture given to the people of Devonport suddenly costs quarter of a million dollars. Who authorises this lunacy? To me the whole bloody sculpture blocks the view of the harbour while walking down Victoria Road towards the waterfront, it looks like a maze of twisted scaffolding until you get up close, and see a couple of albatross in there. But they do say that art is in the eye of the beholder.

I see the Council has now authorised the reconstruction of the playground at Montgomery Avenue in Belmont to the tune of $380,000. For that sum you could build a really nice spec'ed three bedroom house if you had the land. 

It was so nice to see in the last Queen’s Birthday Honours that the great rugby player Wayne Shelford was knighted for services to rugby and the community. Wayne and his wife Joanne are both wonderful human beings who found fame, but never purposely went out to find fame. Wayne has done so much for the local North Shore Rugby Club, playing, coaching, committee work and now President of one of the oldest rugby clubs in the country. He has worked tirelessly for men’s health, both physical and mental. I do congratulate Sir Wayne and Lady Joanne on this honour; it is thoroughly deserved.

I also read recently, that despite Auckland Council crying poor and saying we must all tighten our belts and face increases in rates this year and every year in the foreseeable future, they now pay 3161 staff salaries over $100,000 – an increase of 330 people from last year, the year that the Council said they lost millions in revenue due to Covid.

I’m also waiting with interest, with the Government announcement of encouraging people into using electric vehicles, to see how that’s going to work in my line of business. Toyota has said there are no electric utes in the pipeline, not to mention the various other equipment we use – our big excavators, the power floats, rollers etc. There’s also the concrete trucks that deliver the concrete, the concrete pumps, the big six wheeler trucks that cart excavations away. 

I’m also wondering about the fire engines, ambulances and other emergency vehicles that, when needed, are needed straight away. How much of a drain on the battery would there be, with big vehicles like fire engines using lights, sirens and then all their equipment? How terrible to arrive at a house fire, with not enough charge left to run the hoses. 

I recently read in our local Flagstaff paper that there has been a deal struck between Auckland Transport and the bus company that the “connecting” buses will now wait for passengers to disembark from the ferry and board their bus. Buses have been leaving before people have managed to get there, in order for the buses to run to schedule. I wonder what part of “connecting” was misunderstood. That’s a bit of encouraging news for commuters. 

See you next month, I’m sure there’ll be a few more things to grumble about.