Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland

Two people have been injured in Central Auckland after debris fell from a building.

Police were called to a building on Queen St on Monday morning after an object fell and shattered glass.

Two pedestrians were moderately injured and were taken to a nearby medical centre, a police spokesperson said.

Auckland Council's co-governance and co-management representative says they have been told by fire crews the blaze on Māngere mountain at the weekend was intentionally lit.

Te Waka Tai-ranga Whenua kaiwhakahaere Joe Hammon told RNZ they spoke with Fire and Emergency on Sunday.

"They explained it to be intentionally lit from the top centre of the crater," he said.

"The fire has then spread evenly downwards towards the bottom of the crater, both left and right of the crater, and as you can see in the photos in media, the whole wall of the crater right down to the bottom has been burnt to charcoal."

An Auckland ferry cruised through the SailGP course last week, and near several catamarans out on the water.

"Not even a flying F50 was stopping this ferry," SailGP said on its official Instagram account.

An Auckland Transport spokesperson says the Bayswater ferry's skipper was called through by the race marshal on Thursday during a SailGP practice session.

There's a 30s video of it. Apparently they were given the go ahead but I bet the skipper was a bit nervous as those boats approached at speed as a swarm.

A grass fire that broke out on Māngere Mountain in Auckland on Saturday night has now been contained by firefighters.

Crews were called to the scene, near Domain Road, just before 9:30pm.

Nineteen crews fought the blaze, with firefighters also standing guard at the entrance to the road and turning away people who were trying to get a closer look at the flames.

The fire grew to more than three hectares, Fire and Emergency said.

Five people have been rescued after their boat capsized in the Manukau Harbour.

The Coastguard said the incident happened near Puketutu Island about 8.20am on Saturday.

The Police Eagle helicopter, Coastguard units from Titirangi and Papakura and Auckland Airport's hovercraft helped to get the boaties out of the sea.

An Auckland food bank is asking for help to fill the cupboards after it was emptied by thieves who cut a hole in the wall to gain access to the building.

"The aim [of the food bank] is to help people in the community who are experiencing severe financial hardship ... we rely on donations from food from generous people and organisations and then to find that some scumbags have come along and robbed us, it seems to be pretty diabolical to me."

The thieves got inside by lifting some cladding from the back wall and then ripping a hole in the wall where the heat pump unit had been installed, he said.

Furlong said most of what was taken was frozen meat, biscuits and confectionary.

"If they had come to us and said they needed food, we would have given them food anyway.

A 57-year-old man has been arrested after pretending to be injured on the East Tāmaki overbridge on Auckland's Southern Motorway.

Emergency services were called to reports of a man who appeared injured at about 7.46am on Monday.

Police arrived to find the man "who was pretending to be injured as part of what we can only describe as reckless behaviour in an attempt to gain publicity", Inspector Danny Meade said.

Traffic was unusually heavy during peak-hour as a result.

House values continue to fall, with some main centres seeing an increase in the rate of decline.

The latest QV House Price Index shows home values fell by a national average of 0.2 percent over the three months to the end of May, which was down slightly from the 0.1 percent quarterly growth reported in April.

The average house value was sitting at $923,713, which was 3.9 percent up on the year earlier, though 13 percent down from the peak in late 2021.

Auckland led the market down with a 1.4 percent drop in quarterly values for the fourth month in a row.

Known for its iconic maunga like Rangitoto and Maungawhau Mt Eden, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is a city built on an active volcanic field that has erupted at least 53 times.

But beneath streets, houses and parks, there are other – hidden – remnants of the city’s fiery past: hundreds of lava caves.

The Auckland Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) outlines what transport projects will get funded over the next 10 years. It is a joint plan between Auckland Transport, KiwiRail, and the NZ Transport Agency. Consultation is now open until the 17th of June.

This time around, there is a disconnect between the aspirations of the city and central government’s signalled priorities. There is not enough money set aside nationally for public transport services or infrastructure to keep things running as they are, let alone to start on new projects.

If you want your voice heard now’s the time to provide feedback on what you think the priorities should be.

Highly recommend reading this April fools post and the many comments of people who thought it was real.

I'm so keen for this one. I would use it all the time.

I have to ride out to Howick for a nice seaside ride:

Rosier Burgers has closed. Local joint I only heard about recently moving to the area but saw it being recommended in various places. Tough business at the moment.

@auckland@lemmy.nz

AT: "We need to get people out of cars!" Also AT: "Let's remove trains, reduce the number of buses and... (what did we forget to cancel...?) also suspend ferry services!"

People are complaining about food scrap collection which is starting in Auckland.

My favourite complaint:

"I think it is too small, and when it's full it's heavy.

It's too small, except when it's full then it's too big.

Seeing articles about govt funding for the theatre. Looks to be in a bit of a state - should it be torn down or fixed up?

The FDS will guide where housing growth is targeted over the next 30 years and has a huge impact on the provision of housing and transport infrastructure. Submissions are open until the 31st of July.

This update proposes pulling back from some of the most wasteful greenfield expansions in the Northwest near Kumeū/Huapai and in the south between Drury and Pukekohe. These are the “Supporting Growth” areas where AT and Waka Kotahi have been investigating billions of dollars worth of transport infrastructure to subsidise sprawl.

Greater Auckland has an article out today summarising the strategy and changes https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2023/07/20/the-future-development-strategy/

Scary stuff. Was heading into town to Britomart 😬

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1710731

Credit:

1910 - View of the Wesleyan Church, Northcote, Auckland. Price, William Archer, 1866-1948 :Collection of post card negatives. Ref: 1/2-001681-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22778618

2023 - Google Streetview