Banks transmogrified? Yeah right.

Lost in all of the hubbub yesterday about John Bank's posturing over Eden park was another announcement made by the "transmogrified" Banks.

In addition to picking a fight with the ARC and the government over Eden Park funding, Mr Banks has announced that he will scrap the Council's affordable housing project.

The project is a City Vision/Labour intitiative that will modestly begin to build up a stock of affordable housing in Auckland, particularly in central areas where prices have moved well beyond the reach of most ordinary families.

Bank's plan to scrap the project shows he has not moved on from the slash and burn days of the 1990s. When he was last Mayor of Auckland, Banks and the C&R Council hocked off our stock of affordable housing at firesale prices. Now we are faced with a housing affordability crisis.

The Banks proposal to scrap the affordable housing project shows he has not "transmogrified" at all. A vote for Banks and C&R will see a return to privatisation, user pays, and cuts to important council services. Only a City Vision-led Council will continue to make the investments necessary to build the infrastructure necessary for a prosperous and fair city.