Jafa's Corner,No fluff here today

J.A.F.A

Non New Zealanders might wonder what this means down here in the antipodes.

Just Another F*&^ing Aucklander is the take on it down here.

But in Auckland things are shifting, changes are afoot, we are becoming a Super City.

Now I looked up on web Dictionary what the definition of a Super City is...



Su-per-cit-y

Pronounced [soo-per-cit-ee]

1. a larger, heavily populated area that includes several cities; megalopolis

2. a very large city

All very dissapointing really apart from the word megalopolis which sounds somewhat like a dinosaur name really.

Picture Terry Prachetts tortoise with a world on its back [discworld] and transfer image to a dinosaur with a city on its back perhaps.

Auckland is a good dinosaur, it lives in the past far too much, it hasnt moved forward when it should have. Our roading infrastructure belies describing it is so far behind the times, with a railway only just creeping out into the suburban areas and buses that cost more to get to work in and for me at least 3 changes of bus to get to work, than it does for me to drive my car each day.

20 years ago they suggested a Tunnel under the Harbour to aleviate the traffic problems from the North Shore each day. Just recently the work on this has started. Suffice to say past Mayors have made some good, viable, even ahead of their time suggestions, but Auckland with its stuffy Aunt, over bearing, risk averse culture has vetoed them all only to have them resurface and be heralded as great ideas many years later.

The CBD is a mish mash of old and new buildings that neither compliment each other nor could be called eclectic, its just really a thoughtless souless mash of structures that hurts the eyes to look at.

So now we have voted in a new Super City Mayor. Will he be the vibrant, forward thinking, driven, visionary with the oomph to push ideas through the beaurocracy and red tape.

So Mr Len Brown, this is your mantle for the next few years, Mayor of the new Super City. Getting the people through the changes, the bedding in the new reforms etc. We are watching you carefully Mr Brown. You have the right ideas and ideals but will you be different and actually follow them through so they are not the hollow election promises we are so used to.

Lets build us a Megalopolis we can be proud of both here and offshore that will have any Tyrannosaurus Rex trembling in its prehistoric boots.

Lets take Auckland Megalopolis / Super City into the future and boldly go where no city has gone before or at the very least can we at least catch up to the other megalopolises.

Aside from all this I do love Auckland a lot because she has huge potential and on her good days she shows a bit of soul.