Viewpoint – Keep informed

Daylight saving has started and we look forward to some bright sunny and warmer days. The new bus services for the North Shore and Hibiscus Coast have started. I look forward to comments from bus users to find out if it’s working as promised. That is more frequency, more buses and more places to go. With all changes we need the service to bed in a little.

It is important that if something is not working you phone and report it. For Auckland Transport the phone number is 09 355 3553 or the website at AT.govt.nz. Numbers do count if something needs fixing. You should receive a CAS number, if you don’t get a response within a reasonable time please email us with the CAS number so we can track your complaint.

We are just one year out from Local Government elections. If you are thinking of putting your name forward to stand for a position, then now is the time to decide what you bring to the table. There is plenty of information on the Auckland Council website at aucklandcouncil.govt.nz and search ‘about local boards’. The public can also attend any Local Board or Council meeting and you will hear first-hand about issues facing the areas we deal with. The Hibiscus and Bays Local Board area starts at Waiwera in the north, follows East Coast Bays Road on the coastal side to Campbells Bay. There are two subdivisions with four people elected for the Hibiscus Coast subdivision and another four for the East Coast Bays subdivision to make up a local board of eight members.

Councillors are elected at large to represent Aucklanders on the council’s Governing Body. Two councillors represent the Albany Ward on the Council, which covers the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board and the Upper Harbour Local Board areas.

I often read on social media sites particularly Facebook that ratepayers living in the Hibiscus Coast area have been hit with an extra rate. The Rodney Targeted Transport rate, that the Rodney Local Board consulted on and is part of this year’s rates, does not affect Hibiscus Coast ratepayers. The other targeted rate that hasn’t been implemented yet on the Hibiscus Coast is the separate bin for food scraps; this won’t start until around 2020.

We provide all sorts of things for the young and not so young to make this special place we live and play in even safer and more enjoyable. This summer the local board hopes to have a pontoon at Little Manly in the Hibiscus subdivision and one at Browns Bay.