Mike Lee (New Zealand politician)
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Councillor Michael (Mike) Lee |
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|---|---|
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| Chairman of the Auckland Regional Council | |
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In office 2004 – 31 October 2010 |
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| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Councillor, Waitemata and Gulf Ward, Auckland Council | |
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In office 31 October 2010 – 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Position created |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | City Vision |
| Other political affiliations |
Alliance Party (formerly) |
| Website | Mike Lee's blog |
Michael (Mike) Lee is a councillor on the Auckland Council and the former chairman of the Auckland Regional Council, both in Auckland, New Zealand. He chairs the transport committee of Auckland Council, and sits on the board of Auckland Transport.
He was first elected to the Auckland Regional Council in a by-election in 1992 and was elected chairman in 2004.
He has held the position of parks chairman (the Council operated a number of regional parks), and oversaw the acquisition of substantial further parkland by the Council during his time. He wrote his thesis on such matters as land titles on Hauraki Gulf islands.
He counts helping to stop the privatisation of Ports of Auckland as one of his major early influences at the Council.
In his time before coming to chair the Council, he was at times called a 'maverick' for opposing the more conservative elements on the Council.
He contested the Rodney electorate in the 1996 election as an Alliance Party candidate and came second after National's Lockwood Smith.
With the amalgamation of his Council into the Auckland Council, he was elected in the Waitemata and Gulf ward as a councillor.
He has been very critical of the form of the new Council as created by the Fifth National Government (though he supported the creation of the Council itself), and especially of the creation of large business-like council-controlled organisations (CCOs) to manage substantial parts of the Council-owned assets and services at arm's length from actual Council control.
One of his key projects in the 2000s was successfully pushing forward the electrification of Auckland's rail network, succeeded by his work on achieving a city centre rail tunnel to increase the capacity of the rail system, both projects often against strong opposition from national government.
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Wikipedia