Long gone

I have had the first week in my new job. Orientation this week and next. Meeting with groups and individuals. Many of them I have known in different settings over a large number of years. Usually in the same context as I now meet them again. Some in a very different role.

Just before midday I took my bike and rode down to the Wynyard Quarter. This area is being upgraded from almost derelict status and after some debate, expensive apartments are in the process of being built on what was until recently City Council owned land; either directly or through the Harbour Board.

When I was still in training one of the external people who talked to us was a sociologist or town planner or something (I cannot remember now what he did in the University). He talked about the way that cities develop. That they g through phases where the wealthy leave the central city and move out to the suburbs (and at times beyond), and central city housing becomes run down and bought and lived in by the poor. Who aspire to also leave the city. When they start to be able to do so, that coincides with the rich moving back into the centre. And so it goes ever onwards. Currently Auckland is in the midst of a return of the rich to central city living, drawn by the possibility of a waterfront apartment and the ability to get easily and quickly to work in the city.

My photo is of a derelict part of the Wynyard wharf. On the left can be seen that part which still exists, and from which the ferry to Waiheke Island departs. On the right are the storage silos which have been decorated with the words of Karl Stead's poem, Auckland. The project was the brainchild of art critic Hamish Keith, and the silos were painted by street artist Askew One.