by Cimino | 4 Jan 2018 | Regional parks, Rivermouth ferry, Transport and climate action
Most public transport in Aotearoa is fossil-fuel powered. But that would not excuse the key component of the Mahurangi Coastal Trail, the ferry, being fossil-fuelled. Fortuitously, as described in Minimum Impact 100% River-Powered, a fossil-fuel-free solution is...
by Cimino | 16 Dec 2017 | Events, Meetings and celebrations, Regional parks, Warkworth Town Hall Talk
The planned fivefold increase in population of its tidehead town is critical to the future of the Mahurangi watershed. If, within a couple of decades, a town of more than 20 000 has an attractive, swimmable river as the hero element of a broad linear park, the...
by Cimino | 10 Dec 2017 | Rivermouth ferry
Minimum impact 100% river-powered In one respect, it could not be easier. Build a coastal trail linking three regional parks, all on publicly owned land. However, if it had in fact been easy, it would have happened soon after Mahurangi Action first suggested it, three...
by Cimino | 1 Dec 2017 | Local board, Regional governance, Regional parks
Region survives serial secessionism Serial attempts to turn the clock back six decades have failed, and deservedly. For without regional governance, Aucklanders would be much the poorer, for example, 27 sublime regional parks poorer. It would also lack a cohesive...
by Dr Ronald Locker | 9 Nov 2017 | Part 4 Surveys and Settlement
Jade River: A History of the Mahurangi Ronald H Locker First published 2001. Published online 2014– This online edition is a work in progress… Contents Part 4 Surveys and settlement Pages 72–76in first and second, printed, editions Founder of Mahurangi tidehead town...
by Cimino | 25 Oct 2017 | Coalition democratisation, Transport and climate action
Half voted for change, and half for the status quo. The 44.4% who voted for the New Zealand National Party, and the 0.5% who voted for what remains of ex-Labour-finance-minister Roger Douglas’ rebel act party, are now represented by 57 opposition members of...
by Cimino | 11 Oct 2017 | Coalition democratisation
If New Zealanders elected their prime minister, there would now be a clear winner. And, unless it was under the old deeply undemocratic first-past-the-post system, that winner would be Winston Peters. Because, while Jacinda Ardern and Bill English top the...
by Cimino | 6 Oct 2017 | Fauna, Sedimentation, Warkworth, Warkworth Town Hall Talk, Weirs
Mahurangi was always going to need all the help it could get. When, in 2004, the then Auckland Regional Council announced a $3 million, 5-year kickstart to address the harbour’s elevated sediment accumulation rate, Mahurangi Action was advised, regarding a similar...
by Cimino | 1 Oct 2017 | Coalition democratisation, Democracy index, Electoral enrolment, Youth voting
Let’s do this, and deliver unperverted democracy It would be hard to contrive a more effective means of turning youth off. After being lectured for months on the importance of enrolling and voting, young people are now told nothing. Not only are they not told how...
