Subscribe to RSS$120,000 On History Approved
The Auckland City Council is going ahead with its plan to spent $120,000 on commissioning a book on the council’s recent history.
It made the decision at last night’s council meeting but councillor Doug Armstrong insisted the money would come “from a variety of areas, including identified savings in remuneration of elected representatives” and not impact on rates.
City Vision councillors strongly opposed the idea and also suggest it will be glorify the Citizens & Ratepayers faction which dominates the present council.
Mr Armstrong, who is chair of the Finance and Strategy Committee, said the book will cover the last 21 years which were “important ground in Auckland’s municipal history including the early years of the amalgamated Auckland City Council which merged the smaller local borough councils.
“Over the past two decades, Auckland City has had 5 different Mayors and the council has played key roles in major developments like Britomart, Viaduct Harbour, Sky Tower, Vector Arena, as well as strengthening heritage protection, the provision of important transport links, and hosting major events like the Americas Cup.
“The establishment of the new Auckland Council will involve major change including re-structuring and re-location of records inevitably with some loss of heritage memory.
“To leave out this key chapter in Auckland’s history would be remiss of this council.”
Mr Armstrong said that while the cost of the project was significant, it reflected the fact that a professional author/researcher would be engaged.
“Councils do have a role in preserving the heritage of their city and this takes many forms including artworks, buildings and documents which inevitably involve cost and political debate.”
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1 Comments
On the fence on this. There surely is scope for a useful and even readable (depending on the quality of the writer, rather than the research) product here.