'RAM the ARC !' says political voice of Rates Revolt

Public meetings advertised as "RAM the ARC!" are being held across greater Auckland on the weekend of 27-28 March. (Times and places at end of first report.)

The meetings are being hosted by RAM - Residents Action Movement.

Several days before the meetings, quarter-page advertisements featuring RAM's criticisms of the Auckland Regional Council are appearing in community newspapers (Suburban Newspapers' eight "Metro" papers).

"RAM was set up last October as the political voice of the Rates Revolt," explained RAM spokesperson Grant Morgan.

"RAM grew out of the rates boycott committee, an organiser of homeowners refusing to pay last year's outrageous ARC rate rises. Our members felt there had to be a united electoral challenge to the ARC's ruling faction in this October's council elections, and so RAM was born."

"RAM is standing a full team against the ARC's ten corporate politicians responsible for the rate rises," Mr Morgan confirmed. "Our team will be elected at a RAM Summit in May, when our growing army of supporters across greater Auckland hold a mass conference.""RAM candidates will stand for the two North Shore ARC seats, the three in Manukau, the ones in Rodney and Franklin-Papakura, and three out of four of the Auckland seats," said Mr Morgan. "We're supporting the three ARC councillors on our side - Sandra Coney and Paul Walbran, who hold Waitakere's two seats, and one Auckland councillor, Mike Lee."

RAM has three core policies, he said.

"First, a RAM-led ARC will reverse last year's rate hikes by restoring the business differential. When ARC chair Gwen Bull and other business politicians axed the differential, they gave Auckland's richest corporations a rates holiday by forcing the burden onto low and modest income homeowners. That grossly unfair policy will be overturned. We will bring economic justice to grassroots people."

"Second, public transport will get a huge boost under a RAM-led ARC. The $4 billion that local body politicians want to waste on the Eastern Motorway is financial and ecological madness, and will worsen traffic congestion. It will pour more cars into central Auckland, pushing traffic jams further across the Harbour Bridge and back into East, South and West Auckland. Half this $4 billion would fund a sustainable public transport alternative that fixes Auckland's car chaos in a fraction of the time it would take to build an unwanted motorway. But the present ARC is sitting on the fence. A RAM-led ARC would lead a political fight against the Eastern Motorway in favour of a sensible public transport strategy."

"Third, there will be a tremendous expansion of grassroots democracy. A RAM-led ARC will form strategic alliances with Greypower, unions, community groups, churches, iwi and ethnic associations and other grassroots organisations that are today sidelined by the powers-that-be. RAM would invite such grassroots organisations to play a central policy role. Whenever a big new decision had to be made, a RAM-led ARC would convene a People's Assembly so that grassroots representatives could debate all the issues. Promoting democracy in such practical ways would stop the ARC being captured by powerful corporate and bureaucratic elites, which is what's happening now."

RAM has well over a thousand supporters across greater Auckland, says Mr Morgan. "The way we're growing, we look likely to gain thousands more before October's election, making RAM the main opponent of the ARC's ruling faction. RAM versus Bull will be the best show in town. We're going to roll the ARC's business politicians and promote economic justice, transport sanity and grassroots democracy in Auckland."

DETAILS OF FOUR RAM PUBLIC MEETINGS The media are invited to attend all meetings.

CENTRAL AUCKLAND 1pm on Saturday 27 March Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, 489 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden (opposite Potters Park)

SOUTH AUCKLAND 3pm on Saturday 27 March PACT Hall, 311 Great South Rd, Papatoetoe (near Hunters Corner)

EAST AUCKLAND 1.30pm on Sunday 28 March Tahapa Crescent Hall, 22 Tahapa Cr, Meadowbank (off Meadowbank Rd)

NORTH SHORE 3pm on Sunday 28 March Sunnynook Community Centre, cnr Sunnynook Rd & Sycamore Dve, Sunnynook (opposite Foodtown)

SPEAKERS Each meeting will feature a range of speakers, including: * Grant Morgan, spokesperson for RAM. * Barry Wilson, president of Auckland Council for Civil Liberties. * Alan McCulloch, president of North Shore Greypower. * Elaine West, chair of Auckland City Residents & Ratepayers Association. * Matt McCarten, secretary of Unite workers union. * Fua Niko, Samoan representative for RAM. * Graeme Easte, Campaign for Better Transport. * Jill Ovens, president of the Alliance. * Peter Cross, longtime unionist. * Percy Allison, chair of Poverty Action Coalition.

For more information, please contact: Grant Morgan 634 4432 (days & evenings) gcm@actrix.gen.nz