SOLD OUT: Santa’s in the vocal minority
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ODT 14.11.13
OPINION: Cycleways and parking issues
Dunedin City Councillor Jinty MacTavish is happy the cycleway proposal has sparked discussion, but wants to keep the conversation grounded in fact. Cont/
Comment to article:
DCC’s +$47M cycleways project
Submitted by ej kerr on Thu, 14/11/2013 – 11:13pm.
Cr MacTavish has better things to do. She knows it. Her job as a city councillor is to take the air out of her various tyres and acknowledge that her loose-assemblage greenwash ‘political party’ should stop its spendthrift ways. Far better that they bend over backwards on quickly retiring the council’s +$623M consolidated debt. A harder workout than cruising on SH1 with the wind up their tails.
Reply:
Cycleway clarifications
Submitted by Jinty MacTavish on Fri, 15/11/2013 – 11:41am.
It’s an unfortunate urban myth that the DCC intends to spend $47M on cycleways, which seems to have originated from this article which double-counted the cost of a bunch of projects. I’ve asked staff to send through the breakdown and will post again here when I have the full details in front of me. Cont/
Discussion at What if? Dunedin:
JimmyJones
Submitted on 2013/11/17 at 9:25 pm
Sustainable Jinty commented in the ODT article referred to and said It’s an unfortunate urban myth that the DCC intends to spend $47M on cycleways, which seems to have originated from this article which double-counted the cost of a bunch of projects. I’ve asked staff to send through the breakdown and will post again here when I have the full details in front of me.
Here we see her claiming that the $47 million is a myth and that it has been wrongly calculated. She says this while not having the actual figures and not even knowing where it came from.
The figure actually came from the DCC at a forum in May this year involving the DCC and the NZTA ODT: City to lead country in cycle safety. We were told:
Dunedin is set to lead the country in cycle safety.
Projects worth more than $47 million will form a cycle network unlike any other within urban New Zealand, those at a forum in Dunedin heard last night. Mayor Dave Cull welcomed the almost 100 people present and explained why cycle infrastructure deserved significant investment.
It is clear that Jinty lied to us about the double counting. The figures are in the article, and there is no double counting. There is also no double counting in Jinty’s figures, because she doesn’t have any. Her attempt to discredit and minimize this estimated cost of bicycle projects has failed. Note how she re-interprets the claim as being DCC-only spending, whereas the claim has always been DCC + NZTA spending (Straw man). Richard Thomson on Radio Dunedin has been up to the same mischief (12/11/13). I say “mischief” but these statements could be offences against the Financial Reporting Act or other legislation. In any case this is very disappointing because the misinformation seems intentional. Desperation breeds dishonesty.
Reply:
Elizabeth
Submitted on 2013/11/17 at 10:38 pm | In reply to JimmyJones.
JimmyJones, I looked upon Cr MacTavish’s comment on the $47 million (in reply to a comment I made at ODT)… with sheer incredulity. I couldn’t believe what I was reading so didn’t even bother to reply.
However, glad you brought it up. You correctly place the councillor’s comment in context here and of course (!!!) what she says does not shine in a pure angelic or intelligent light. The quality of her ‘homework’ has dropped out the bottom, as ’twere.
Well done, JJ.
Related Post and Comments:
17.11.13 Cull, MacTavish: (to borrow a phrase) “Have you fixed the debt crisis?”
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 