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The ARC bows out tonight.
After 47 years serving the people of Auckland, the ARC has its final meeting.
Auckland’s first regional authority, the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA), was established in 1963 and can be credited with creating some of the region’s most significant infrastructure.
The ARA developed the region’s bulk water storage dams, completed the wastewater treatment plant at Mangere, and built the international airport terminal. It also started the regional parks network.
After local government reforms in the 1980s, the ARA became the ARC.
Our biggest thanks is to its public transport growth.
Transport plans have also been advanced through the ARC’s subsidiary, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA). Record investment in public transport has resulted in unprecedented passenger growth.
Auckland’s trains now carry the highest number of passengers since records began in 1955. Overall patronage has increased from 2.5 million passenger trips in 2003 to 9 million in 2010.
The ARC has expanded the regional parks network which now includes 27 parks and covers more than 40,000 hectares.
The ARC has also introduced leading conservation programmes to restore natural habitats and return kiwi, bellbirds and kokako to Auckland after being absent for decades.
The ARC has also invested in Auckland’s waterfront. The country’s most important port, Ports of Auckland Ltd, significant parts on Wynyard Quarter and Queens Wharf are now in public ownership.
Thankfully, ARC chair Mike Lee is a councillor and expected to be a rep on Auckland Transport.
Sadly other good ARC councillors didn’t make it in the local body elections such as the very smart ARC passenger transport chair Christine Rose who lost to Rodney Mayor Penny WEbster and North Shore’s public transport and cycling enthusiast Joel Cayford.
3 Comments
It is a shame that Christine Rose, Joel Cayford and Brent Morrissey didn’t get in. They, along with Mike Lee did Auckland public transport proud.
I think they rightly suffered because they stuffed up the chance for us to have a stadium on the waterfront paid for in full by the government
Whut? You think Rodney Hide was some sort of Karmic punishment for not wanting a sports stadium foisted on us by Wellington ministers?
Geez, a) not everyone thinks sports trumps basic infrastructure, and b) not everyone wants Auckland’s decisions made in Welly.
In my opinion, there were much more important decisions being made in the last decades, and Mike Lee and his fellows got most of the important ones right.
And to further remind you: Due to the way NZ law is set up, the party in power on a national level creates the local government structure. It is pretty ass-backwards, but local government (and the locals) have no say in how local government works here.