John Palino: I'll reverse Council's outrageous car parking charges

"The Auckland Council's ill-conceived plan to ramp up car parking across the Auckland CBD will benefit only private carpark owners and should be abandoned," says Auckland mayoral candidate John Palino.

"The Downtown carpark operates as a cap on car parking costs across the CBD, helping to keep travel to the city affordable for the hundreds of thousands of Aucklanders who can't afford to live along rail and busway corridors.

"These residents will now be priced out of their CBD.

"Combine the Mayor's traffic restrictions with higher parking costs and we have a central city area for the wealthy and privileged who can live in the now unaffordable central parts of the region, not for all Aucklanders.

"We should be inviting Aucklanders into their CBD, not making the area an oasis for the rich.

"If the Mayor and council spent half as much time focused on delivering new developments with jobs and homes as they do on penalising private vehicle users, we might have a city for all of Auckland," said Palino.

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