Discussing the new Auckland Mayor in
this posting on publicaddress.net, Russell Brown makes the point that I meant to make myself:
The new mayor, Dick Hubbard, already appears to have had a lesson in political reality - in that he might yet be able to contrive that elusive cost-benefit analysis to save face, but 13 votes say that the motorway plan won't be proceeding. It is reasonable to say that he didn't win the election, Banks lost it, and therefore, he has a lot to prove. Where he and his new councillors do agree is that genuine steps have to be made towards building Auckland a better public transport infrastructure.
He might as well have stood up on a box in Aotea Square (or actually, down by Britomart might have been more appropriate) and shouted "HEY! I'M NOT JOHN BANKS - VOTE FOR ME!". Lets just hope that next time it's not someone standing on a box shouting "I'M NOT DICK HUBBARD!" , because this crap about canning the V8 race and 'reviewing' the opening hours of inner city establishments isn't a good start to his term in my humble opinion.