one city to rule them all

There is considerable momentum - apparently - among Aucklanders to merge their local bodies into one Super City, able to rival international wonder cities like Brisbane in stature and forward planning. Brian Rudman (or at least his sub-editor) goes as far as saying that the proposal is so good that nobody will have a bad word to say against it. Well yes, you got some, but not others.

Well, for starter's I'm not keen on Secret Plans being hatched by people I didn't get the chance to vote for, let alone the one who I voted against. Secondly, amalgamation isn't something to dream up and go running to the government in order to make it happen - I want to see options, and I want to vote on it. I'm also keenly suspicious that the four old men who hatched the plot didn't take the time to have a chat to their counterparts in the Rodney, Papakura or Franklin districts, let alone talk to the Auckland Regional Council about their ideas.

I'm confident in predicting that the 4-way tryst had come up with one of two bad plans:

#1: Combining Auckland, North Shore, Manakau and Waitakere Cities and leaving the rest up to themselves. Leaving the 3 small councils out in the cold is silly. Rodney and Papakura won't be districts much longer - leaving two small cities latched upon one very large one will create social and infrastructure deficits that will spark the need for further amalgamation down the track. Pitting SuperAuckland against the Auckland Region will also create political headaches, most likely having the City constantly whinge about not needing the hang on regions and wanting to go on it's own.

#2: Put the whole lot together, the four Cities, three Districts and one Region to create BehemothAuckland, dwarfing any local authority in the land, creating a unique system of government that will rival the power of Parliament. Auckland could demand a greter influence over how the Government spends it's money Which, I'm sure National supporters will think a good idea now - but they'd rue the day that a Labour-run BehemothAuckland pits itself against a National Government especially on issues of social policy. It might be good for Auckland - may possibly reverse Auckland's stunnning voter apathy - , but it won't be good for the country to have a a City-State battling the nation constantly.

But my biggest problem is the argument that Auckland can't move forward with the issues with a fragmented local body structure. Firstly, demanding major upheaval in in government because of an inability to sit around and agree isn't a good enough reason. Secondly, having different voices of leadership serving their community isn't a bad thing. If Dick Hubbard and Mike Lee have different opinions on how to do something, the better off we all are. Do your job, talk to each other and find a way forward.

And certainly don't assume that the best way forward is to amalgamate to quash dissention and make decisions in secret.