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Tue, 26 May 2015 at 8:10 a.m.
### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, May 26 2015
Editorial: Councillors don’t deserve a free lunch
OPINION: It is odd that Wellington City Councillors think the ratepayers owe them a free lunch. They don’t. Councillors say they don’t have time to go out and get lunch, so they must carry on working without it. “People have been getting grumpy,” explains Councillor Andy Foster. Therefore, the ratepayers must provide lunch. This argument is truly ridiculous. It means, apparently, that the politicians are incapable of doing what everyone else does, which is to have lunch within the usual times. They will say, of course, that they are busier than the other people. […] The councillors are in the difficult position that two years ago they scrapped free lunches, partly as a cost-cutting measure and partly as a sign that they were willing to share the pain. If those arguments were valid then, they are still valid now. So consider the cost-cutting argument. Officials are now recommending a 5.1 per cent increase in rates in 2015. Part of this will be $20,000 for councillors’ free lunches. This is about half of what the councillors’ free lunches used to cost before they scrapped them in 2013. Some will say this is a reasonable “compromise”. […] Councillors might now argue that $20,000 is a piffling amount in the context of the capital city’s budget, and of course it is. But suppose a burglar stole a car worth $20,000 from the city council’s fleet. This is also a trifling sum in the context of the city’s property assets. Would the councillors wink at that too?
Read more
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Tears, spats and squabbles (note ODT url for the following item)….
### ODT Online Tue, 26 May 2015
Vandervis ‘contesting voting ban’
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis says he has begun a legal challenge to reclaim his lost voting rights, although senior council staff remain in the dark about the details. His move came as yesterday’s full council meeting descended into increasingly bitter exchanges, most involving Cr Vandervis, who told one councillor to leave town and was advised by another to “shut up”.
Cr Vandervis, speaking at yesterday’s meeting, maintained the voting ban was “ultra vires”, as a councillor’s right to vote was “sacrosanct”. He also took exception to the accuracy of meeting minutes purporting to record the decision to remove his voting rights, as well as subsequent committee meetings.
Read more at http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/343501/tears-spats-and-squabbles
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Cr Vandervis said the council’s real success in the Warehouse Precinct had been to “get out of the way” of private developers.
### ODT Online Tue, 26 May 2015
DCC approval for Exchange work
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council is to press ahead with a $1.1 million plan to revamp Exchange Square and create new car-free zones in the Warehouse Precinct. Councillors at yesterday’s full council meeting voted to approve both projects for public consultation over the next few months, which could be followed by construction later this year.
Read more
● ODT: Council may bring forward Exchange works
● ODT: Jetty St pedestrian area proposed
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█ Report – Council – 25/05/2015 (PDF, 1004.9 KB)
Renewal and Upgrade of Exchange Square
█ Report – Council – 25/05/2015 (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Proposed Restriction of Vehicles From Sections of Jetty Street
Other information:
● Dunedin Central City Plan (all documents)
● Exchange Square Upgrade
● Urbanismplus: Dunedin Central City Framework (PDF, 9.7 MB)
This full report provides justification for a better city centre, a vision for the city centre, some strategic direction and finally an implementation plan. October 2011.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
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Photo: NZ Herald (via newstalkzb.co.nz)
What if? Dunedin... 