Another instance.
ODT 24.6.15 (page 12)
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Filed under Business, DCC, Democracy, Economics, Media, Name, New Zealand, People, Politics, Project management, Property, Site, Stadiums, Town planning, Transportation, Urban design
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What if? Dunedin... 
Why do you keep calling him Daaave? Seems rather childish to me, and diminishes the quality of debate – as much as I think he mucked up his response to the flooding, such name-calling isn’t very grown up and is best avoided in a public forum like this one. I generally like this blog but this ‘Daaave’ nonsense (and other such name-calling) is really irritating.
What-oh. Mr/Ms Brickell, hall monitor.
The recognisable wolf cry: Daaave-Daaave-Daaaaaaaaaaaave, mostly heard during the day issuing from readers of ODT letters to the editor; infrequently at night, by watchers of 39 Dunedin News; yelled rapaciously by Goons and Monty Python followers anywhere anytime, and by those with an ounce of sociability in their big toe who manage to attend council standing committee meetings and code of conduct hearings.
Daaave-Daaave-Daaaaaaaaaaaave !!!!!! (wump)
A variation practised by the Confused, the GD Voter sheep: Daaave-Daaave-We-Love-You-We-Love-Your-Spendthrift-Ways-Daaaaaaaaaaaave !!!! (heard most clearly when the town is aflood or when fire appliances get stuck on medians).
For those who feel the urge to respond the 2015 ratepayer’s survey is open on the DCC web site
See DCC media release at new post:
DCC Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS)
Before you fill in the Residents’ Opinion Survey, all of you should do the on-line submission for the proposed closure of motorised vehicles on Jetty street. This is part of the Warehouse Precinct Revitalisation Plan (a Hazelton/Bidrose brain-fart).
The main reason for doing this submission is to tell them that you oppose the destruction of the one way system (Crawford/Cumberland St) (aka “two-waying”. This consultation is not asking us about the very foolish two-waying plan, but this is likely be the only chance for us to have a say on the matter. They have already asked us about this a few years ago as part of an annual plan consultation and the idea was firmly rejected. The idea reaches the DCC’s pinnacle of stupidity – a very high peak. Here are some reasons why you should try to save our One-way System:
— going from one way to two way will cause serious congestion – this congestion will spread to roads beyond Crawford/Cumberland St.
— the DCC have blatantly lied to us about the congestion: they have said, and are still saying, that there will be no increase in congestion. Their own traffic modelling report says the exact opposite
— the ORC have read the traffic modelling report and they oppose the changes
— traffic modelling reports are not needed for us to know that this would be a stadium size mistake: removing whole lanes of traffic and adding extra traffic lights are very obvious ways of causing congestion
— this is part of a plan to close both north and south parts of the One-way System. Dave Cull and his secretive Tertiary Precinct Planning Group have been working on destroying the north part of the one-way as well
— this change would cost a lot of money to produce something very harmful to the city
— our One-way System remains as one of the few beneficial DCC projects completed in modern times.
To have your say, go here http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/currently-consulting-on/current-consultations/proposed-restriction-on-vehicles-on-sections-of-jetty-street
Don’t worry about Jetty St – use the box to write about the vandalism of the Crawford/Cumberland St. One-way System. Submissions close at 5.00 pm today (Tues 30/6/15).
Jimmy, make it a one-way system, revert to a two way system, it’s what they do! They are called makework schemes. When you have too many employees they will either play cards, look at Trade Me or the alternative, dream up a makework scheme. The worst part is that it is difficult to find the honest one. Is it more honest to admit they are supernumary or to create a scheme that makes them look busy at the expense of the ratepayer debt?
Jimmy, I couldn’t agree more. I have submitted online my opinion for what it is worth. Probably “sweet fanny adams’ as there would not seem to be any public vetting of the results. It is “the way” the Cull era works. Keep em’ wondering, tell them what’s expedient (like promising faithfully, cross my heart we will limit rate increases to a maximum of %3.) then B…..t the reason why it had become imperative to go to a 3.8% increase. Jimmy, when there is no trust left there is nothing. A pox on all their houses.
Calvin: honesty is what is severely lacking at the DCC. I think we are suffering from another unfortunate combination of Mayor and CEO. The character of the new Group Chief Financial Officer also contributes to the problem.
This is what Dave Cull wrote in his reply to the ODT letter (see above): The flooding was not a result of poor maintenance and neither have stormwater and utilities been neglected. The Dunedin City Council will continue to invest in both quality infrastructure and enhanced community facilities within the limits of our prudent financial strategy. Let’s look at each statement:
— The flooding was not a result of poor maintenance: this is a lie. The seriously diminished capabilities of the stormwater system was the main reason for the severity of the flooding and a properly functioning stormwater system might have meant that there was no flooding above floor level – in other words, no serious property damage. The lack of maintenance as well as underfunding of the upgrades/renewals are the causes of the defective stormwater system.
— The Dunedin City Council will continue to invest in quality infrastructure: not true – he is wanting us to believe that infrastructure renewals and upgrades have been adequate. We have seen that this is not the case and the new LTP plans for the 3-waters upgrades to get even further behind over the 10 years. We are going backwards.
— The Dunedin City Council will continue to invest in enhanced community facilities: This is bound to be true – he is telling us to expect more useless, high cost, ego-driven projects built for their favourite stakeholders. You know the type – Logan Park lighting, South Dunedin Library, Mosgiel new pool complex, bicycle facilities, the general destruction of the One-way and CBD traffic systems etc.
— The Dunedin City Council will continue to invest within the limits of our prudent financial strategy: another lie – the spending decisions of Dave Cull and his councilors during the LTP process has resulted in a budget blow-out of $101 million – yes it has gone up – it was $95 million only a few weeks ago. CEO Bidrose and Dave Cull have both tried to mislead the councillors about the size of this blow-out. Councillors decided to believe Dave Cull and ignore the Auditor’s warning. Citizens have also been lied to with Cull and Bidrose’s promise of 3.0% limit on rates increases.
At least the Auditor has given the council a warning, but apparently the plan was voted on unanimously by all those present, despite earlier concern expressed by a few councillors about the budget blowout….being in denial etc. For consistency I would have expected some to vote against it.
No doubt next year we will have much the same people piously campaigning on fixing our broken finances. I will not be listening to them.
Where will it all end? Greece is not alone. They are just further down the road to chaos. Maybe that great apostle of ‘intergenerational debt’, Richard Walls, was right. We share the debt with our children and grandchildren. Fuck’em.
Peter, Cr Walls went the additional step further at What if? calling it “intergenerational equity”. No-one was fooled and he received much brow beating for that inanity.
Equity….don’t you love how politicians play with words, to convince themselves as much as hope the punters get sucked in.
The new mantra of course states that subsidies equate to profits. Fascinating. Some people just don’t have pride in themselves to come up with that crap. Or is it integrity?
Equity… Equiticorp… anyone remember Allan Hawkins?
Dec 16, 2014 – The Commerce Commission has filed criminal proceedings in the Auckland District Court against 2 finance companies controlled by former Equiticorp boss …
Haha, Cr Walls should’ve clicked to that. In the end I cited accountancy dictionaries to him.
Peter: the LTP was adopted unanimously, but only because Cr Vandervis wasn’t there. He voted against it at the end of the LTP deliberations. Other councillors expressed concerns about the plan but none of them have had the courage to vote against it or suggest changes to fix the problems. During the LTP deliberations on the Mosgiel swimming pools Lee Vandervis spoke of his concerns about the cost to the DCC of the project given the size of the DCC debt burden and the unknown annual running costs of the project. Near the end of the discussion Cr Vandervis had a few words to say. This is what he said (shortened by me):
“Nobody wants to talk about the running costs because that really is something that now plagues us. The real problem with the the stadium is the ongoing maintenance, running, interest costs – because they are forever; they keep coming. And this Council for many years now has not shown the guts to actually say “enough”, and “we’re going to pay this down”.
Rather than saying “enough” what we are saying is “more”. We are swimming in red ink here and we want to add another amount. ~ In the space of a day we have gone from funding $7.5 million, up to $10 million now and thrown in some other bits and pieces. Where is the slippery slide going to stop – what part of NO MONEY do you people here not understand?
You vote for this, as you voted for the cricket lights yesterday that came out of nowhere – as you vote for ALL this other spending. You take other people’s money from them – and you spend it – I won’t have a part of it.
This was probably from Wednesday 20/5/15. YouTube available here » Dunedin City Council – Draft Long Term Plan Deliberations – Part 9
All of what Lee said was just obvious and common sense; the disappointing thing is that all of the other councillors and Mayor needed to have these things explained to them.
Here is what the ORC think of DCC CEO, Sue Bidrose’s current claim that destroying the Crawford/Cumberland St. One-way System will not cause traffic congestion. This is from the ORC’s submission on the Draft Warehouse Precinct Revitalisation Plan:
ORC notes that:
— the affordability of these proposals is as yet unproven
— modelling undertaken by MWH for DCC showed levels of service at
intersections in/near the area would be very poor (grade E), indicating that the proposed works alone would not be adequate
— should the two-waying proposal proceed, there are traffic access and safety issues still to be addressed in the final design, and further investment warranted in pedestrian and public transport facilities, as described below, affecting cost and affordability.
Downgrading the traffic system to a level of service of “grade E” is a very high price to pay for no advantage. Sue Bidrose should apologise to all of us for her blatant dishonesty in claiming that there will be no increase in congestion. See above for my suggestion about what to do to help to stop this foolishness.
JimmyJones, I have made an online submission. And have yet to decide if I will speak at hearing – need to research it all. ORC very clear, as they normally are!