My fellow citizens of Manukau, greetings. This is my first weekly newsletter in this Mayoral campaign. It is my intention, on being elected Mayor in October, to continue these weekly reports to the community.

In these letters, I will cover matters relating to life in our city, that may or may not be campaign related. I look forward to your feed back. These letters will go out to networks right across the community and will be posted on my web site at, www.lenbrownformayor.co.nz

An integral part of my last campaign and this one so far, is my doorknocking. I love it! From the thousands of homes visited so far, in all wards, the feedback has been very positive for success in October. However, since starting in October last year, daily progress has been slower because a lot more people know me, post 2004.The discussions are longer and the scones more plentiful! As a consequence I am also getting a greater number of requests for assistance on Council related matters.

One of these requests highlights the importance of getting the small stuff right. Ray of Papatoetoe has lived in his street for 24 years. He has seen, over recent years, worsening servicing of the curb chanels and cesspits. The street tends to get a lot of leaves. Ray had been on to Opus to clean the road and cesspits. They sent him a letter and said they had, following through on visits every 3 months. Ray said they hadn’t been there for a year.

Worse, Ray was told that the significant build up of debris in the drains "was within specifications”. With the assistance of Gary Troup, the street was cleaned to ensure it met with Ray’s reasonable “specifications”. The former Mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani talked about sweating the small stuff. Most of our community only connect with council on the type of stuff that Ray wanted help on. He was proud of his home and street, and he wanted Councils work to reflect that pride.

In our city , we are going to sweat the small stuff.

The AMETI report has been released this week. This is Eastern Corridor, post Banks. This report will be available for public consultation next month and I want the Howick and Pakuranga communities to really get into this issue. In the last campaign I hammered the Eastern Corridor project. I felt it was too focussed on unnecessary massive changes to Ti Rakau, and did not recognise that we were committed to opening a new link to the motorway through Highbrook/Smales Rd. in East Tamaki. That connection is now due to open next month.

I see this work as a much better base to plan the roading /public transport needs of the Eastern suburbs over the next 50 years. But, there is a lot of work to do to shape the present proposals to get the right plan.

I attended a meeting held by the Water Pressure Group, in Papatoetoe, during the week. The waste water charge now paid by all ratepayers, as a consequence of the establishment of the new Manukau water company, has got some people very upset, particularly the elderly.

My opponent Dick Quax, showed his true colours on this one. Having done an amazing flip flop on user charges, by saying he now supports free entry into pools, Dick was back leading the charge for user charges, this time, on wastewater. This line looked good for many on fixed incomes, but of course what this debate really does is pit those people against families. If we used volume as the sole basis for a wastewater charge, if those 1/2 person homes get major reductions, who is going to get massive increases?

I have indicated that I will seek to carry out a major review of this new company for the year 2008. I would suggest that any further pricing or structural changes of our water business await that review.

A beacon of light as we look to face the challenges of some of our youth who have been lost to the world of gangs, drugs and broken families. Some churches in Clendon have joined forces to look to establish a young persons refuge in their community. They call their trust “Beacon”. Most appropriate. They have commenced a street patrol around the town centre, and have been dealing with a number of kids who can’t or won’t go home. They are looking to set up a place for short term stay, while they try and repair the kids family relationships.

A huge commitment by them all, and important that the churches be leading these types of initiatives in the community. I am assisting them by working with the local MP, George Hawkins to seek agencies assistance to fund this project. It will cost around $50k /annum. Any helpful suggestions as to other sources would be appreciated.

This campaign has been like a developing conversation. I love democracy, and particularly local community democracy. I want these conversations to bring our people much closer to our council, to bring more trust and participation in our council and community matters.

A lady in Manurewa told me the other day , we have to bring the pride back.Its starts here. Thank you for your support.

Kind Regards,

Len Brown, Candidate for Mayor, Manukau.

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