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There is a threat of legal action in Auckland.\xa0

It involves a group called 'Save Queen Street Society' and the council. The council is selling a parking building and with it, its almost 2000 car parks.\xa0

The society has what they think is a better plan and one that will net the council a better return and save some car parks. They are potentially suing under a rule that says councils must consider all options when making decisions.\xa0

The frustration is driven by the zealousness of most major councils in urban New Zealand to get cars out of cities, despite the fact we mainly love cars and have not, and will not, give them up.\xa0

All that has unfolded over the years, as it has become increasingly hard to enter the CBD, is we go to the local mall where parking is plentiful, it's undercover and often free when you shop.\xa0

Mall owners deal in the real world. Councils deal in ideology.\xa0

To say downtown Auckland is a mess is to understate the matter in fairly spectacular fashion.\xa0

We see it in Wellington with the farcical 'Let's Get Wellington Moving' and the ongoing destruction of the Golden Mile, a project still going ahead because the council knows best, even though 'Let's Get Wellington Moving' is dead.\xa0

They all want us to look like some sophisticated European city, with our e-scooters and trams to enjoy croissants and pedestrian walking spaces. The fact public transport is as shambolic as their thought process doesn\u2019t seem to matter.\xa0

Those who have to try and make a living in the centre of our cities are dying. As Viv Beck of Heart of the City wrote the other day in yet another of her exasperated articles, there are 25% fewer people in the city.\xa0

Why do you reckon that is?\xa0

Wellington is a ghost town because the civil servants never came back and those who did got sick of the trains breaking down, and the buses getting cancelled, and there being nowhere to park.\xa0

Christchurch, yet again, might be an exception. Maybe they can make it work.\xa0

But the arrogance of councils is born of our lack of interest. We don\u2019t vote, we don\u2019t care and that\u2019s on us, and councils know it.\xa0

Look at Lower Hutt this week and their astonishing Petone vote. What a bunch of condescending tossers. They thumb their noses at us.\xa0

They do as they please because they can, and in doing it, they wreck places.\xa0

Watch this space on the downtown carpark.\xa0

Hopefully the 'Save Queen Street Society' actually get to save Queen Street. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0

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