It would appear that after using a knock-off of the "Ted Cruz Cancún escape plan", our absentee Mayor has decided Aucklanders should fend for themselves (I'm paraphrasing his words).

As far as anyone can tell, the man seems rather dispassionate about the duties of his office. If he had, at the very least, called a state of emergency sooner, there may have been a better outcome for some this week.

And yes it's all well and good to say he couldn't have predicted the outcome, but the metservice had been warning about the potential for violent weather and flooding for several days.

So, a serious discussion, should Wayne Brown step down as Mayor for someone who actually would invest their time and effort into the role? I'd like to think we can at least have a civil discussion about it at the very least.