Received from two sources, this afternoon.
—— Forwarded Message
From: Dave Cull
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2014 14:09:42 +1200
To: “All Elected Members”, “Executive Leadership Team (ELT)”
Subject: FW: Re: Letter to Mayor from Allen Clark -Aromoana – no address
Colleagues,
For your edification I attach a letter I received recently. I suspect one of “What If”’s perennial correspondents has gone AWOL and is holed up in Aramoana.
Dave
Attachments:
Letter to Mayor from Allen Clark -Aromoana – no address
50 The Octagon, Dunedin; PO Box 5045, Dunedin 9058, New Zealand
Telephone: 03 477 4000; Fax: 03 474 3594
Email: [address removed]; www .dunedin.govt.nz
—— End of Forwarded Message
[The scanned pages below are set out in the order written. -Eds]
—
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
AWOL. Dear oh dear. Pretty clear what Dave is implying by that expression. A mental or emotional state. This is going to hurt him big time, the idiot. Well done for publishing it. People need to know.
So, how many breaches of legislation do we have here…?
What seems sad to me is that a citizen has complained that raw sewage is floating in his neighbourhood and not only has Dave decided to do nothing about it instead he’s trying to make fun of the complainant.
I suggest that the gentleman concerned include a large sample with his next message in order to get his point across.
A sure sign that he isn’t coping with the job by coming out with something so petty. The guy obviously has frustrations with the sewerage problem there and Dave Cull couldn’t care less.
Daaave needs to put his teeth in before he tries to bite people who have legitimate complaints.
I once heard of a man who didn’t, next minute he sits on the glass they’re in and simultaneously gets glass up his arse and bites himself in the bum.
Not that that could happen to Daaave, he’s smart. Proof: he’s a regular What If reader. So unfortunate he’s got nothing worthwhile to contribute to What If’s discussions of the many issues.
Mirth X contempt
We await news of what Cull’s reply has been to “Allen Clark”. If the letter writer ‘exists’ I’m sure the Rates database will throw out an address and contact details. Or will Daaave use the mayoral fund to pay for an Open Letter to Concerned Residents of Aramoana, in the ODT.
ODT 2.7.14 Letter to the editor (page 12):
Queries over bad week
A bad week for the Dunedin City Council. Christchurch visitor John Simpson alerts the parking division to a malfunctioning meter. No thanks given (ODT, 13.6.14).
It comes to notice the job of finding the leader of Dunedin Enterprise (the in-house merging of the DCC’s Economic Development Unit and Tourism Dunedin) has gone to a Christchurch firm. How’s that for following through on the “demonstrable passion for Dunedin” the job advertisement sees as a key attribute?
And then we read Mayor Cull quoted as saying Air New Zealand “screw us”. If the mayor was advised to make that comment, he was poorly served. If he shot from the hip, even worse. Better to be thought foolish than make it obvious to all.
Steve Davie, Shiel Hill
[This letter was referred to the Dunedin City Council but it declined to comment.]
What to make of the locational confusion? The first reference is to Aro moana, which is a wet hipster valley in Wellington, then ‘Ara’moana, which is fishing. AWOL is a term for Outram, and ‘Allen Clark’ was a British actor in the ’60s.
Actually, Allen Clarke was with The Hollies. EJ, I hope you’re not getting like Rebekah Brooks.
RB got off.
Hollow. Hollow.
Latest from our esteemed mayor at FYI Dunedin: Your Dunedin News July 2014 (Issue 19) – he doesn’t mention DAIRY PRODUCTS. Why ever not.
Since when will Dunedin become ‘international’ – his words: “Dunedin must foster its burgeoning identity as an aware, value driven, outward looking, future focused, international city.” In your dreams, Daaave.
How come he mentions “values driven” yet leaves off ‘a city of ethics and moral fibre’ – not possible at a corrupt fraud-beaten stadium-built receiving dark hole like DUD?
—
To be fair “value driven” (a business-spiel term) and “values driven” (more of a Jinty thing) are quite different things.
It’s not really a matter of being fair, I suggest Mike – not when this garbage is being sent to how many households. We don’t know what definitions Dave is applying here in his drivel. We both know the current jargon associated with ‘values’, driven or otherwise – I merely point to the mayor’s lack of acceptable political values by playing on the term :'(
I was really just commenting on the type of garbage …. “value driven” is common biz-speak at the moment – googling around I find similar garbage like “A number of corporations have adopted value-driven strategies in implementing quality programmes and pursuing manufacturing excellence” – “value-driven” is quite the thing at the moment – it really means they’re actually going to work on making things that are worth selling.
Hub is another.
It’s hard to believe he actually wrote that. I choose not to, but prefer the notion that it is the ‘clap trap’ ravings of some PA whose job it is to push propaganda to the ‘plebs’. “What kind of city, lifestyle, and attitude will attract the students, importers, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors we need?” Try for starters a city which is technically bankrupt, has a maximum set of rules and regulations policed by ‘piddling’ little people, relies on the aforementioned to pay excessive escalating charges in order to keep the ship’s gunwales above the water line. A ship which has gaping holes being frantically stuffed with money in a vain effort to keep the water from rushing in. A city with a labyrinth of cycleways all leading to nowhere, a stadium which can’t get within a million miles of recovering its costs of being, an international conference centre competing with the world for conferences, the most comprehensive, expensive Settlers Museum with no income. An ‘international’ airport with no international connections. A demographic which is shrinking and ageing continuously census after census. A Debt per ratepayer in excess of $14,000. Attractions? I don’t think so.
No, what they would look for is an efficient city with clear simple regulations designed to facilitate easy development projects without stultifying overreaching bureaucratic meddlers. A city with a modern efficient infrastructure and minimal debt per citizen resulting in low, competitive overheads. Then we could expect to see growth based on substance, not hollow ‘claptrap’.
An International airport Calvin. I flew out of our “international” airport last Friday and returned on Tuesday evening. On Friday the escalator taking new arrivals down to collect their luggage was out of action. The new arrivals were staggering around like lost cows, looking for a way out, nobody was there to give directions. On my arrival back on Tuesday night nothing had changed. New arrivals still looking lost as they couldn’t find a way out.
That was five days, that I know of, that the escalator was out. Can you imagine any other international airport in the world with only one escalator, and that being out for at least five days. If Dunedin cannot run an airport efficiently to met the needs of those using it. How the hell could they run their own airline?
I was wondering the same thing myself (also on Friday) – the parking payment machines continue to tell us that “Change is Possible” so I guess there’s still hope
OK Calvin, you’ve had your rave but what about the workers eh? What about all the hard-working career-minded people in the claptrap production industry? YOU JUST DON’T CARE.
Hype; What about the workers INDEED? If you mean the ‘hard-working career-minded people in the ‘claptrap’ production then you’re right, I JUST DON’T CARE.
Clap trap, we hate the word in harness racing. It’s insulting to the great caller, Reg Clapp.
In Europe, we used to have the phrase “Polish Economy” which referred to something which could never work. Whatever you tried, you were doomed.
Dunedin is an example of something much more sinister – it is an example of an economy that has been utterly hamstrung by the outflow of capital since the gold rush:
a) into grandiose stone buildings to show off new wealth
b) North to build Auckland
c) sucked out by property developers
d) sucked out by con artists
Capital in this city does not circulate and all associated activity simply stagnates. Hence Dunedin can accept the new mantle of “Polish Economy”.
I to would like to have a little rant and rave about the Mayor’s Desk.
I will take one sentence from it. “Our region’s premium food products”.
What a bloody insult to the horticulture industry that is.
Since amalgamation of the city with the various other councils in the area, big brother Dunedin City has set out to destroy the horticulture industry. Before amalgamation the Taieri had about 15 orchards. Today there are none.
There were enough market gardens to supply all of Otago and many other parts of NZ as well. Today there are not enough market gardens to keep the farmers market going, the majority of growers coming from outside of the Dunedin district.
Since amalgamation there has been a rush to have the high class soils taken out of production and turned into housing subdivisions, with most of the subdivisions far from complete, if they ever will be, and the land is left to grow weeds.
The majority of this has happened since the new district plan was designed for developers, and not those who were producing the goods and the jobs in the rural areas. Most of this has happened on the watch of the consent hearings chair Colin Weatherall, ably assisted by A Noone.
Then there was the Labour Party and BP who decided to close the majority of the schools on the Taieri, about 4 or 5.
If we add all these up since amalgamation the rural sector and associated business have lost about 8ooo jobs. Many of the jobs in the horticulture business have been exported to other areas like Canterbury.
Council are now giving consents to Veggie Boys to operate a commercial activity on rural land, and to rub salt into the wound they are bringing in the majority of the produce from other provinces, bringing coals back to Newcastle.
Next time you take your bag of frozen veg out of the freezer Dave, have a look where it’s from. Probably from some of your mates in China.
Why are we not growing them here? Because developers get the preferential treatment. Cronyism.
5.7.14 A growing need for workers
Horticulture is growing. A paper recently released by the Ministry for Primary Industries predicts the industry will need an extra 7800 workers by 2025. Many will require higher skills and more qualifications. In Central Otago’s orchards and vineyards, more skilled hands cannot come quickly enough. Leith Huffadine reports.
http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/308260/growing-need-workers
(WHY forget Dunedin/Taieri high class soils? Because we’re on a stupid fricking housing binge – thanks to ex Crs Sydney Brown and Colin Weatherall and their tawdry industry friends.)
Brian, there is nothing worse than continuation of New Zealand’s cowboy property speculation that has brought about the HUGE disparity between rich and poor and sent our funds offshore to banking and insurance conglomerates. Ugly. You are totally correct about the effects post local body amalgamation. And regarding loss of productive horticultural land to bloody lifestylers and suburban shit housing on the Taieri.
How do we decommission DCC ?