Policies

The Beer Tax

If I am named mayor I will introduce a rise in licences held by establishments that sell alcohol within the Auckland area. This is done for three reasons. Number one being that council has to set money aside every year to pay for council owned facilities or equipment stolen or vandalised by people who are intoxicated. If establishments choose to sell alcohol to people who are intoxicated or they know will become intoxicated by the product they sell them then they should have to pay towards the damage caused. The rate payer has already paid for the equipment or facility once before. Why should they have to pay for it twice? The second reason is because of family violence rates. Family violence is a problem everywhere in New Zealand and it is not something that happens only to the poor. During my time as a reporter the majority of domestic violence being relayed by the police was down to alcohol. Alcohol was a key driver n most of the offences. As part of its guardianship role council will make the abusers pay one way or another. If the establishment owners decide to recoup their losses through customers maybe Mr and Mrs Domestic Violence will think again before they raise their voices or fists at each other or other members of their family. To those caught up in the blanket rise, I’m sorry but it comes down to that simple notion that it takes a village to raise a child. This is a sacrifice we will all have to make and if you do know of any family violence offenders then this should help encourage you to report them to the police. And lastly, it is to help revenue gather. The money raised will help pay for repairs for alcohol related wilful damage to council property and will help fund other community projects. And hopefully help reduce rate increases.

Community Boards

I will not listen to them unless they come up with ideas that work for Auckland as a whole. It is my understanding their decisions are not legally binding so they have no point. If the communities want their own separate groups they can form them themselves but as the moment I do not see why rate payers everywhere should have to bankroll them. If the community boards were given power to make legally binding decisions then I would listen to them. As it stands no mayor elected has to listen.

A council led investigation into electricity smart metres.
This is born out of a complaint about how once a smart metre was introduced on an associate’s mother’s home her power bill increased. There is a story of a family of five having to pay $400 a month where as a lone elderly woman and her cat was told to pay $600. She had no heat pump or electricity guzzling devices. She was armed only with a few heaters. When the elderly woman’s daughter questioned the electricity company she told them she could get her mother to turn the heaters off. They thoughtfully chipped in not to as there was no way she could handle the cold “like you youngins”. I want to launch this in council but that will come down to whether or not council can afford it. This means a conversation with the council chief executive just to see if the plan is a goer.

Rate Rise

There will be a rate rise. Council needs to keep up with inflation. But the next rate rise should also capture maintenance costs of the city’s infrastructure. This is going to burn a whole lot of pockets but if the general upkeep of the city is not met then it will only become more expensive as the years go on crippling future rate payers. Once again a conversation will have to happen with senior council staff to find out the logistics and if it can be done.

Democracy

An investigation will be launched into how the Super City Council came to be. That investigation will look into the drivers of it and the financial backers of its pushers. The big question will be asked. Did Aucklanders want this to happen? Depending on the answer the investigation will either look at what the public does want and how council can go on delivering it or we will continue to merge as decided by Central Government.

Public Transport

I would like to make public transport free. That may not be achievable though so instead I would like council to investigate and implement some sort of super travel day pass that could be sold for a nominal fee of 5$. This would cover the buses and trains in the city and the greater Auckland region. The main driver is to free up the roads as much as possible with the World Cup around the corner and to reduce congestion. This should make things easier for council as whole as well as other key stakeholders such as the public and law enforcement. I would like to extend that to the ferries but once again that would have to be discussed with senior council staff to see if that could happen.

ENDS

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