When I was asked to write this column some years ago, I never thought in my wildest dreams that Aidan Bennett’s dream of a monthly magazine for the North Shore area would last past one issue, let alone reaching the milestone of the 100th issue.  I have been indeed privileged to be a part of this magazine and I do thank Aidan Bennett for allowing me this privilege. It has been a catalyst for me to be able to vent the many frustrations at what goes on around our beautiful city. Over the 100 issues I have touched on many points, this as an extract from one my earlier columns:

“Sometimes I wonder whether New Zealand is too small, too few people paying taxes and too many on Social Welfare, too many on benefits. We have too many people with a sense of entitlement, who think the State will pay for them and look after them. Where has this come from, when we used to be known for our independence, ingenuity, innovation and can do attitude? We are now a nation of beige people, too scared to speak out. We have lost our sense of humour. One of the worst things that happened to us as a country was losing Billy T James at a young age.  He was one person who could ‘poke the borax’ and get us to laugh at ourselves. When he died, a lot of our national humour died with him. Now we are so politically correct we can’t say anything vaguely controversial.”

Also, another thing that I mentioned quite a few years ago, is the volleyball court/sandpit down at Woodall Reserve at Narrowneck Beach. I mentioned the overall cost as being $35,000 while the actual materials and labour cost would have been no more than $5000. The rest of the money would have been taken up by Resource Consents, permits, so called Consultants and the rest. Now, a few years later, the area is in a sad state of repair, rough and overgrown.

Has anyone been noticing the new infrastructure that’s happening down the end of Eversleigh Road, where the old Navy houses have been mostly moved out, the sections fenced off and new construction underway? This is a large area of land that will have a mix of housing. Not to mention Roberts Avenue in Belmont, where several houses have already been removed and the dreaded fencing has gone up around another whole block of houses. Shortly construction will begin on the land nearest the Bowling Club, where there are yet more apartments planned. I see that some state housing in Lake Road, near to Bardia Street, is due to be demolished and apartments will be built there, and bubbling along in the background is the proposed apartment complex down at Bayswater Marina.

We also have the first occupants of the huge Ryman complex moving in, with the resulting impact on traffic flows once this reaches completion, with residents, staff, visitors etc. all joining the queues on the road. 

I can’t imagine what Lake Road will be like once even some of these developments are completed and people begin moving in.  Here’s some thoughts on Lake Road :

Some years ago Takapuna Borough Council considered a linkage across a narrow arm of Shoal Bay between Francis St and Esmonde Road/Barrys Point Road intersection.  Lake Road congestion could be addressed by such a link from Jutland Road, at least for buses and high occupancy vehicles, ambulances and fire engines, or even better for at least one way peak traffic. An extension southwards from Francis St to Eversleigh Road would cross Northboro Reserve and on to Bayswater Avenue just east of O’Neill’s Cemetery and that link would service the proposed precinct and Navy/Ngati Whatua development. The above would require long term planning, with staged work to suit budgets and with refinements such as lane controls or one way systems to suit peak flows.

In the recent Auckland Transport business case presentation to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, there was a cryptic reference to Alternatives at the start, and then NOTHING. Just an Esmonde Road high occupancy bypass followed by yet more proposals for widening Lake Road.

What really is at stake is the future viability of the Peninsula, which is a Town planning issue, not something to leave to Auckland Transport, but rather to be critically addressed by Auckland Council.  What is needed is thinking outside the square, or rather in this case outside the bottlenecks. 

There’s a lot of stuff going on at the moment, plenty of scope for the next 100 columns.

My congratulations to Aidan and more importantly his team on the 100th issue of the Channel Magazine, when you have good people around you and the excellent calibre of columnists such as myself, success can only follow.