I was running late in driving over from an appointment in Papakura. However, upon pulling into the carpark, I was surprised to see that few cars were parked outside at the local hall.
Upon scanning the QR code and entering into the workshop, I could see fewer than 10 people from the local community and that was quite sad to see.
Upon further investigation, I heard that there had been earlier forums and discussions that had taken place but for me it was sad to see that there was not enough representation.
It reminded me of the forums that I had been a part of when I had worked for the Ministry of Education contracts in the late 1990s where few community representation would be seen at the meetings. However, I've learnt since that it's best to work in community partnerships where links to community members are already set up i.e. schools, churches, sports clubs etc.
The good thing was that I was able to learn a lot more about the project and that its at the early stages at the moment in trying to make up a business case for the route that would likely link the airport to Auckland city with major stops along the way at Mt. Roskill, Onehunga, Mangere Bridge and Mangere Town Centre.
This could help support a much needed face lift at the Mangere Town centre and also could open up more job prospects within Mangere. The link would make it much easier for people to commute via train to the city as its currently difficult to travel to Uni for which our eldest changed from AUT city campus to the Manukau South campus.
However, it's also about working with mana whenua (our tangata whenua or local indigenous people who wish to protect the local area) and to ensure that he carbon footprint is as reduced as possible with the use of locally sourced flora for the setting as well as keeping the character of the local community.
I'm also advocating for local groups that I'm in sync with to bring their voices to the table in having a say in what they would like to see in the near future and in the local community regarding this new initiative.
It's exciting but also important to see that it supports the local communities positively with collaborative planning and design which could bring about some very special outcomes for the local community as well as for local businesses.
Check out their website to submit your thought via an online form on the website: https://www.lightrail.co.nz/ and share it with your networks https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AKLLightrail An interesting start so far...
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