I felt a little bit sad last month when Christchurch opened the new stadium, Te Kaha. I felt sad because of the lost opportunity Auckland had as a city. I envisaged a Te Kaha-type stadium down on the old tank farm that juts out into the Waitematā Harbour, adjacent to the viaduct precinct. A beautiful stadium with a roof over it, catering for 25,000-35,000 people. Home to the Auckland Blues, New Zealand Warriors, Auckland FC, the Auckland rugby team, the next Bob Dylan concert, Madonna and Lady Gaga. Ferries coming in and out from Northcote, Birkenhead, Devonport, Gulf Harbour and Pine Harbour, dropping punters off to have a beer in the viaduct before a short stroll to the stadium.

During the summer, New Zealand Cricket and Auckland Cricket would be at their new home in Victoria Park. A purpose-built 'Victoria Oval' with a capacity of 18,000 people. Three boutique grandstands named after famous Auckland cricketers: the Crowe stand, the Stewart Wilson stand, and the Vivian stand and a large area of embankment to the south-east side so people could sit in the late afternoon sun under the warmth of the shedding oak trees. I can imagine Beau Gundry not out on 95 at lunch, while the spectators take a leisurely walk to the viaduct area for lunch before ambling back to watch Beau, still not out at 193 with his brother Edison Gundry at the other end on 103 not out.  Stumps arrive, and the spectators again wander off to the viaduct for an early dinner before the journey home.

A couple of months back, we heard that Auckland Rugby is looking for a new home. Auckland Cricket has confirmed Colin Maiden Park, Glen Innes, as its new home. Who the hell wants to go out to Glen Innes to watch cricket? There’s nothing out there. To wander off for lunch, you have to go to Burger King, the fish and chip shop or the pie shop. There’s not a lot around.

I am personally so over the stadium discussion in this city that has been going on for many years. It’s time somebody had the balls to get all the groups together. Sell Eden Park, sell Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, and sell North Harbour Stadium. Bulldoze them all and have one stadium for the city. Instead, some dumbass wants to go out to Collin Maiden Park, where there is nothing. But I suppose another couple of decades will go by, we will put plaster jobs on all our crumbling stadiums, and we will have the same conversations in a couple of decades. Everything is downtown, guys. Look around you. The hotels are there, the transport hubs are there, the restaurants and the beer taps are there, and the conference centre is there. Everything is there waiting for the stadium. Wake up, city fathers and smell the roses.

While we are on about city fathers, I see, as usual, the pre-election promises of a second Waitemata Harbour crossing have come up again, with Mayor Brown saying it is too expensive and poorly located. Our harbour bridge is close to 70 years old; it's time for a new crossing, and it's time someone had the courage to do something about it constructively. Or haven’t we got the money to do it? And this stupid idea by the Auckland Mayor of trying to put a crossing over the Meola Reef area is absolutely appalling. That will never work due to the greenies and the ‘not in my backyard’ people. So, watch this space.

I still notice all the metro buses coming in and out of Devonport. Huge diesel-guzzling buses with five or ten people on them. Going out to Stanley Point with three people on them. Even with the fuel crisis, it doesn’t seem to have changed too many people's transport habits. Again, the biggest problem we’ve got is that Auckland City is spread over such a vast area with only two million people.

It was quite interesting last month when part of my team was working up in Milldale, a new suburb of Auckland just north of Silverdale. A couple of staff from the Inland Revenue Department wandered onto the site asking questions about who they were all working for, what company they were with, work visa status, etc. Obviously, doing an onsite audit of subcontractors, whether they be scaffolding companies, concrete construction companies (like ourselves), chippies, plumbers and electricians. Within this subdivision is a collection of the countries of the world (and many new New Zealanders) working together to build countless houses. Hopefully, it could have been an audit of who is paying taxes and who is not paying taxes. I personally do feel there are a lot of companies out there not undertaking their due responsibilities.

Well, that’s it for the month. See you next month.