Vote for me: Tony Holman (NZ Herald Website 16.09.2004)
Click here for story

The upper reaches of the Okura estuary. Tony Holman has been pushing for measures to minimise pollution of these waters from run-off from subdivisions and landfill (including Rodney District).

ENVIRONMENT

“Council surprise in dump decision.” (NZ Herald 2.8.04)

“ARC staff have withdrawn objections to a controversial dump without telling the elected councillors who had turned down the project.”

“…Okura catchment falls within both Rodney and North Shore, with the ARC having responsibility for environmental effects, but the dump site is within Rodney.

“… North Shore City councillor, Tony Holman, said that his council would fight on despite the lack of support.  This makes nonsense of what we’re trying to do. The cleanfill will have an effect on the estuary. Material dumped at the site could include fibrolite, demolition materials and clay, he said.”

[top]

WATER SUPPLIES & PRIVATISATION

“Overseas firms told: Hands off our water.” (NSTA 24.4.97)

“Councillor Tony Holman says overseas companies are touting some very attractive packages that could seduce the council. … Mr Holman is concerned that Shore residents are silent on the issue because they are worn out form fighting and losing, privatisation of other assets, such as power.”

“It is critical that water continues to be owned by the public to ensure that their interests are met in relation to costs, standards, treatment and delivery.”

“A world full of people dying to get a drink.” (Extracts from an article by M.McCarthy in  NZ Herald, 6.3.03)

“Of all of the social and natural crises we humans face, the water crisis is the one that lies at the heart of our survival and that of our planet Earth, said UNESCO director-General, Koichiro Matsuura.”

[top]

WASTEWATER / SEWERAGE;

“Hoo-ha.” (Ltr to the Editor, NSTA 8.7.97)

“Congratulations to councillors Tony Holman, Heather Brown and Andrew Eaglen who want money spent on essentials, not luxuries.”

“Their suggestions demonstrate their down to earth common sense and integrity.”

“We’ve had enough hoo-ha about sewage overflows. Why doesn’t council get on with the job?”

(sgd) A. Salter, Northcote.

[top]

INFILL & GROWTH

“Noxious spread of infill.” (Extracts from article by Tony, Sunday Star-Times 20.11.94) 

“This ‘scourge or the suburbs’ is like a plague of exotic weeds, sprouting everywhere, but not yet pronounced noxious by the authorities – only by the people who have it next to them.”

“… Open space on infilled sections is greatly reduced [by infill] resulting in almost nowhere for the kids to play outside; loss of privacy; increased noise and other pollution less chance of planting and no room for mature trees of any size to soften the landscape.”

“… The infrastructure of the district is affected with increased pressure on roads, parking, parks and open spaces, water, power, drainage and sewage treatment.”

“Flooding puts focus on infill.” (NZ Herald 18.2.00)

“City councillor, Tony Holman said stormwater was to blame for a lot of the pollution along the city’s coastline because it picked up pollutants such as petrol, dirt, oil and exhaust emissions and carried them into the sea.”

“Mr Holman believed that infill housing and the excessive use of concrete on the North Shore were to blame for the city’s ongoing stormwater problems.”

“ ‘ Turtle City’ tag” (NSTA 10.2.00)

“A councillor wants high density infill housing banned after a Danish environment expert dubbed North Shore ‘Turtle City’ because so much is covered in concrete. Cr Tony Holman suggests that infill housing only be allowed if the property is above a certain size and limits can be set on the amount of the property that can be concreted over.”

“… Mr Holman, who made the plea for a change at the committee meeting, said afterwards changes needed d to be made to the district plan. Unless we change the planning … we will be stuck with this problem forever, he says.

“Plan to curb infill housing.” (4.7.97)

“Councillor Tony Holman says council has failed to quell concerns about infill housing and the effects of growth on the city. …Mr Holman says Shore residents are concerned with the decline in the living environment, including the problems of the loss of private open space, stormwater, sewerage and roading problems.”

“Strategy sparks growth worries.”  (NSTA 21.5.98)

“North Shore City is worried powerful councils are trying to impose too much intensive housing on the city. The final version of the regional growth strategy – which outlines where housing will go to cater for the region’s increasing population – is due out next month.”

“Councillor Tony Holman, North Shore City’s representative on the growth forum, says powerful councils such as Auckland and Manukau are fighting for a compact region and for North Shore to shoulder more of the growth.”

“Mr Holman says this would be unacceptable to North Shore residents.”

Post script to the above story:  After various discussions and appeals, there was a reduction in the size and the number of areas where intensive housing was proposed within North Shore City.

“Councillors wrangle about who’s to blame.” (NSTA 1.2.01)

“Accusations are flying over who is responsible for overloading the city’s sewers through high density housing.”

Mayor Wood says he and city councillors have to accept blame. But two councillors who have repeatedly tried to curb infill housing over the years blame both current and past councillors, council officers and the Resource Management Act.”

“… Mr Holman is frustrated that change has been so slow [to control infill] and says he wishes enough city councillors had supported moves over the years to stop housing developments until the sewerage infrastructure could cope.”

“… Mr Holman says the council is reactive rather than proactive in tackling the issue. He says that trying to remedy the results of growth rather than dealing with the cause is parking the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.”

[top]

DISTRICT PLAN

‘Planning with Pictures.’ (Extracts from an article by Tony in the NZ Herald 10.3.98)

 “…..district plans are not user-friendly documents. They are huge. People struggle to find the provisions which affect them or their neighbourhood. Then, even worse, they struggle to understand the words.”

Resource management jargon is interspersed with boring looking tables and diagrams. The average person cannot easily translate the words and tables into visual reality.”

[top]

YOUTH

“Trust gives youth a say.” (NSTA 6.4.00)

 “Board member, Tony Holman will attend the first meeting in his capacity as chairman of the board’s community services committee. He wants to see more young people active in local government. .. I’d hope we could get a lot more young people to understand better what local government is about, what their rights are and what we can do for them in the community.”

[top]

RATES

“Voice of prudence.” (Ltr to Ed. NSTA 17.7.01)

“Once again councillor Holman has been the voice of prudence and (after a lengthy battle) has saved ratepayers an ‘initial’ sum of $169,000. Not much in the grand and glorious scheme of things some would say, but note that he has also saved us that ominous…. ‘with ongoing costs to follow.’”

“Those ongoing costs could have been hundreds of thousands of dollars with no reward but the glory of our councillors joining in another talkfest.”

(sgd) D. Cholmondeley- Smith.

[top]

 
“Cruisy conference creates waves.”(NSTA 17.11.99)

“The North Shore City Council paid thousands of dollars for councillors to cruise the Waitemata on a recreation conference.”

“… Crs. Andrew Eaglen, Gary Holmes and Tony Holman voted against anyone being sent…”

 “Mr Holman says councillors shouldn’t have been sent because spending ratepayers’ money on a conference ‘which is so light on information’ isn’t justified.”

[top]

 WHAT SORT OF MAYOR?

“Make mayors team players” (NZ Local Govt magazine Feb.1997)

Some extracts from this article, written by Tony are set out below:

“Because a mayor is elected directly and city-wide, some take the view that their voters have placed them in a semi-autonomous position within council.”

“So the situation can arise whereby the mayor may often decide to air views which are at complete variance with council policy. This can create the problems of confusion and council credibility. ”

“Artful mayors … could promote themselves as populist  leaders…sounding forth…on many crowd-pleasing issues. However, these may be totally out of step with carefully assessed council planning, the mayor’s ‘sound bites’ can unfairly make the councillors look like mean-spirited reactionaries.”

“The reality is that mayors should represent their councils policies. It is councils as a whole that make the decisions and the mayor should state and support that.”

“Mayor, councillors at loggerheads.” (NSTA 29.8.00)

“Mayor George Wood swept to power in 1998 promising to put an end to the divisiveness in a city council struggling with major problems. He painted a picture of a new council working together as a team to get the city back on track. Chief reporter LIZ WILLIS looks at the ever-widening cracks appearing in the relationship between the mayor and council.”

[Further within the article, the reporter records a list of instances where the present mayor worked against council decisions having been previously defeated overwhelmingly.]

[top]

TRANSPORT

“Single transport group sought.”(NSTA 7.4.00)

“North Shore City councillors are pushing for a single transport authority for the Auckland region to deal with transit, rail, ferry and bus solutions.”

“…Cr. Tony Holman says it’s important to be pro-active in casting the net to include transport activities from various councils in a fully focussed single passenger transport authority.”

 “…There are too many unconnected bits, too many people dealing with too many separate bits, he says.”

“Persistence pays in transport body vote.” (NSTA 4.7.01)

“A city councillor has taken the phrase ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again’ to heart and won.”

“After three successive debates…the council at Wednesday night’s meeting made up its mind that it will not be joining a [new additional] regional transport body.”

[In April, council had voted to become a shareholder in the LATE charged with developing the existing rail corridors] 

“At Wednesday’s council meeting Mr Holman warned that the rail system needed $60-$80 million for improvements to increase patronage. Mr Holman said that the council should instead with pushing for a single passenger transport authority for the region.”

“…. Cr Margaret Miles said she could not see benefits to the city paying out [almost] $170,000 to join the LATE.”

“…. The council voted 10-4 to not join the LATE… but to seek observer status at the meetings.”

[top]

COUNCIL PERFORMANCE

“Part-timers told to get off.”(NSTA 5.9.00)

“A city councillor is hitting out at some fellow councillors who work on private business in the council chamber” [during meetings]. He has also criticised councillors who don’t read their agendas and whose attendance at meeting is only part-time.”

“Tony Holman has a message for councillors who are unable to give council work their full attention: ‘Get off! Don’t stand again, be fair. ’He says ratepayers don’t get value for money from these councillors and it puts extra pressure on the others.”

[top]