OPINION: What is the point of a national stadium like Eden Park if the limits on its use are so restrictive that for 95 percent of the year it sits empty?
This big white elephant in the middle of Mt Eden, sitting empty. It wants to hold a concert, but can you believe in 120 years it has never held one, unless you count the last time they wheeled out TrueBliss at half time.
This year, even before COVID-19 hit, it was going to get just 14 cricket, Super Rugby, All Black games and a football match. Fourteen days or nights where it might get a crowd - the rest of the year it sits empty.
Across the ditch, Brisbane's Suncorp has twice the number of events and concerts and no moaning neighbours.
It's well past time Eden Park was put to proper use. It was certainly there long before the NIMBYs arrived. That's the "not in my backyard" group who oppose concerts.
The common complaints? It'll be noisy, people will urinate on the berm, my dog needs quiet. Well, good for you, grab a bus and head to Glendene. You bought your house next to a stadium, did you not notice? Location, location, location.
So, a public hearing is underway to consider its use.
As it stands, it can hold six concerts a year but it must seek resource consent first and they never get it. It's a farce. Helen Clark and her tiny group of fun police jump all over it.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of ratepayer and taxpayer assets that can't hold concerts because a small but noisy minority are controlling the game.
The AM Show is talking to Shona Tagg on Tuesday. She's determined to prove that most of the residents actually favour concerts being held there.
We need to turn this law on its head and govern for the majority. It's a goddamn stadium. Use it properly. Give it a voice, let it sing. And don't pee on the berms please.
Duncan Garner hosts The AM Show.
