A detailed Mayoral plan
John Palino has released a detailed 97 page book outlining what he sees as wrong with the Auckland Council, and what he wants to do to fix it.
It’s superb to see a Mayoral candidate offer so many specific policies. I hope all the other Mayoral candidates will do the same. Too many campaigns are about style not substance.
A summary of what John Palino is proposing includes:
- Reduce rates by 10% over the first term
- An Auckland Ratepayers Bill of Rights that will hold Council responsible for meeting and managing within budgets limiting future rates increases to no more than inflation and population growth
- Any project with spending of over $1 billion to go to a referendum
- Make Council spending transparent to Ratepayers so they can judge whether or not their money is being spent sensibly with all spending to be placed monthly on the Internet
- To provide a long term city plan that reduces traffic congestion by creating an environment that encourages and allows businesses to develop in locations and provide employment opportunities near where people want to live
- Remove the Metropolitan Urban Limit
- To abandon the current council ideology that increasing housing density in existing suburbs will solve traffic congestion problems and provide affordable housing
- Change zoning to allow intensification of housing, commercial and industrial greenfield sites near existing major transport routes in order to support and develop satellite CBDs. .
- To provide an Iwi consultation process for resource consents that is limited to genuine cultural issues, that is speedy and cost certain
- To hold council officers to account for poor or tardy decisions by establishing a Citizens Decision Review Panel, including relevant external experts, that ratepayers can appeal to
- Will make the 10% rates reduction a KPI indicator for the CEO
- Have all consenting decisions made within half the statutory deadline
- Support tolling for new roads