Elderly Targetted as Elected Members Enter Campaign Mode

Auckland Council has started to hit the most vulnerable in our communities and yet the high-end extravagant projects go untouched. Today I was contacted by some residents of a local Council owned housing for older persons flats (formerly pensioner houses). They told me that their garden bins had sat unemptied for about six months and then yesterday they were removed completely. The residents were advised that the garden waste service, which had been collected by Council for as long as they could remember, would be cease. They were not informed and (as a Board member) the Local Boards do not appear to be informed of this cut in service either. These older residents maintain the Council's gardens to a very high level and this is penny-pinching at its worst. A cynical person would suggest that Council has waited until its local board had finished its final meeting for the term before conducting this sort of action on some of our most vulnerable residents. To top it off, we were all promised that there would be no loss of service under the amalgamation to Auckland Council. That promise will ring hollow in the ears of our older folk as they struggle to dispose of Council garden waste. yours sincerely,