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Speaker 1: You want to see a story of how to record place,

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Speaker 1: try downtown Auckland. After one hundred and forty five years,

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Speaker 1: we got confirmation last night that Smith and Coey's can't

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Speaker 1: do it anymore. Economic hardship, CBD safety, road cones, homeless, parking,

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Speaker 1: picking anyone you want. If you've ever seen a council

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Speaker 1: try to record joint that this is it. The store

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Speaker 1: will officially close by the end of July. Vibeca's the

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Speaker 1: heart of the city boss, of course, and she is

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Speaker 1: with us. Good morning to you, good morning. Was it

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Speaker 1: always coming post the initial announcement or not?

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Speaker 2: Well, we hope they'd be able to get through to

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Speaker 2: the opening of the CRL And we have absolutely laid

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Speaker 2: it out clear as day to both Auckland Counts and

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Speaker 2: on Auckland Transport what they needed to do to reduce

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Speaker 2: the barriers to get into the central city. And I

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Speaker 2: think the lack of action is inexcusable.

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Speaker 1: I know you don't like me saying this, but I've

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Speaker 1: been to this. I go to the city, it's a dump.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't go to Smith and Coe. Why would it

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Speaker 1: bother with the homeless, the cones, the signs, the fines

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Speaker 1: that you can't get there. It's just ruined. It's wrecked.

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Speaker 2: Well on the moment, obviously, that's that's a good call.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, the reality is, we know the

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Speaker 2: things that need to change. There are some fantastic things

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Speaker 2: here and we've just had thousands of people for the

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Speaker 2: Writers Festival, but there are fundamental flaws in the way

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Speaker 2: this is being managed and it has to stop. The

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Speaker 2: reality is has been an obsession with getting cars out.

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Speaker 2: We've already lost forty four percent of them. So it's

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Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, and yet Auckland Transport seems to think finding

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Speaker 2: people in our nighttime district in Queen Street is acceptable.

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Speaker 2: The reality is the ideology has to be replaced by

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Speaker 2: common sense, economic viability, operational functionality and has to meet

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Speaker 2: Auckland as realistic transport needs. I've got a whole other

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Speaker 2: story to talk about another day about the safety and

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Speaker 2: what we're trying to get counsel to do on that.

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Speaker 2: It's not just counsel, but there is more they can

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Speaker 2: do and we determined to keep on that. But the

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Speaker 2: reality is we've got so much good stuff and it

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Speaker 2: is a positive future. The City rail Link will make

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Speaker 2: access easier, but we cannot tolerate this behavior anymore. At

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Speaker 2: has to stop.

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Speaker 1: Well see but appreciate it. Beck, Heart of the city.

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Speaker 1: Probably the toughest job in New Zealand outside being the

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Speaker 1: Finance Minister. But that's one hundred and forty five years

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Speaker 1: of history just done. And that's the Auckland Council for you.

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Speaker 1: That's how useless they are.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.