█ FYI Dunedin Issue 41 July 2016 (PDF, 251.1 KB)
Read online or source back copies at:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/fyi-dunedin
█ HOT PRESS.— Fees and Charges
Most DCC fees and charges will rise by an average of 3% from 1 July.
IMPORTANT DATES
Nominations for candidates open Friday, 15 July and close 12 noon on Friday, 12 August.
ENROLMENT TO VOTE
Check your enrolment details online at www.elections.org.nz or at any NZ Post Shop.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.
*Images: screenshots by whatifdunedin
What if? Dunedin... 
In view of the 3% increase in DCC fees and charges from 1 July, remind me again what the New Zealand Inflation Rate is.
Why are Dunedin Ratepayers and Residents being shafted by DCC on fees and charges.
And more rhetoricals that Dave and Jinters will never answer in a month of green-tinged Sundays.
ODT 5.7.16 (page 6)
Elizabeth – “remind me again what the New Zealand Inflation Rate is” – irrelevant. In Dunedin there are Other Authorities’ figures and Mayor/DCC figures, that’s why the sea level is rising in S Dunedin.
As the logic goes – widely perceived – the content of the Proposed 2GP is being pushed by the following Mayor and Councillors (some of whom are also Hearing Commissioners for the 2GP! yes really…. note their political and ideological biases).
Under no circumstances should these people retain their seats on the Dunedin City Council. Nor are they suitable candidates for the Dunedin mayoralty.
Vote them OUT , or lose your hat…. along with your property values if not your whole flatland or coastal property! !! !!!
Dave Cull
David Benson-Pope
Chris Staynes
Kate Wilson
Aaron Hawkins (Green Party)
Jinty MacTavish
Taxes (and rates) will rise until the customer complains- Gurglars Law V, pinched from C. Northcote Parkinson and WORTH REPEATING.
Tony Crick’s heartfelt plea is understandable, but I don’t think local body politics will ever change that much. Some council terms will be better than others, but attracting some dross to council is part of the human condition.
Drongos and simpletons get their share of the vote because they speak the language of enough people to get their vote.
On a national level, taking Australia’s recent election as an example, we now see the return of Pauline Hanson after twenty years. Appalling as she is to so many, she speaks the language of her constituency who see her as an Aussie battler like them.
At least she challenges the status quo in her own way and good on her……not that I agree with her weird views.
At least we don’t have a Pauline Hanson on the DCC! Do we?
Who knows who is in the woodwork next time around.
Tony Crick’s letter would have a lot more gravitas if he wasn’t jointly responsible with Julian Smith for backing Dave “Cull de Mayor” into the position he now holds. Having now dumped the mayor from his favourites thus admitting his gross error of judgement (see letters to the editor ODT) he is here again advising on the requirements of a successor. Tony, stand yourself, as you no doubt know, the gerrymander which is the cumulative votes of the DCC employees and friends, would see you have little or no chance of election.
Dave Cull, David Benson-Pope, Chris Staynes, Kate Wilson, Aaron Hawkins (Green Party), Jinty MacTavish, all of you have been disastrous to to live with, so I will not vote for any of you in October.
I imagine the number of South Dunedin people turning out to vote in October will be MUCH higher than usual, now they’re horribly aware of how important it is to have councillors and Mayor who aren’t bent on personal ideological trips and agendas.
It’s up to all of us not only to think and then vote carefully, but before that, encourage nag and hassle everyone we know to be involved. Remind them they lose whinging rights if they don’t vote then aren’t happy with the next 3 years of council decisions. Remind them it’s their rates that AREN’T spent on necessities, that result in disasters like the S Dunedin flood, and ballsups like the build, demolish, rebuild, oopsy sequence of cycle lanes – and numerous other examples.
Remind them of “only” 3% rates increase when interest rates are 1% and wage increases for the majority are less than the rise in cost of living.
Vote!
Non-voters deserve shafting by governments and bureaucrats, trouble is the rest of us get punished for their inertia.
Another thing.
Last elections, very obviously a number of Councillors used the tactic of keeping quiet so to be voted back in.
Jinty MacTavish, after getting her bubble burst at South Dunedin and perhaps aghast at finding she’s not universally the love child of the citizenry, has opted for relative silence since. Of itself, this is another unwholesome bubble to prod the skin of. Elections and permeable membranes….
This year more than most – intriguing! – I’ve been interested to learn how much work time inside and outside normal business hours the DCC operationals are spending on monitoring the online life of individual members of the public (plural!) who as New Zealanders are guaranteed the right to free speech and free thought – but who are receiving bald threats to Temper, Shut Up Or Else.
Now too, the tendency in writing (personal emails and so forth…) from elected representatives. The latter are a bit blind to the fact that no confidentiality reasonably applies to ANY email or social media blip they send no matter how they mark it up, if at all! The internet is a marketplace of busy conflicting traffic – enter/email/whatever at your own risk.
Dunedin is a small close knit community – we outside DCC, swap notes in every coffee shop regularly as the maligancy grows ‘within’.
The forthcoming elections with electioneering in preamble can be chemo and radiation.
****
How did the egalitarian South arrive at such an insidious and defensive, bullying council culture in just two trimesters headed by Mayor Cull. This beats the stadium years overseen by the Chin council by quite some way. Exhibit A: lack of professional sophistication.
Quite the perfect litmus test is how Mayor Cull will engineer engagement or not with the community-driven South Dunedin Action Group in the next days/weeks.
If no sincerity at the top, instead a sense of controlling deadening boorish lack of sympathy and care – then, the individual Councillors are your first port of call. Note.
A number of elected representatives have more decency, strength and nous than to cede to a leader’s political manipulation of the South Dunedin Community (of communities, the powerful plurality!).
South Dunedin in its own right is robust – its identity, permanence and endurance is significantly integral to the health and wellbeing of Dunedin as a whole. The South Dunedin Community (backed by us we & co) must ‘learn’ DCC what infrastructure and services are necessary for continuance, as a fully viable network cluster of neighbourhoods for home, work and recreation.
Mayor Cull, if you do damage to the freedoms of the People of South Dunedin you threaten to injure us all – the backlash will be severe for you.
Time for the Chief Executive to use integrity, professionalism and independence to advise riddance of this unsavoury ‘policing environment’ and the rule of divide and conquer.
That said, backbone! No mousy grey dissembling stuff.
“The latter are a bit blind to the fact that no confidentiality reasonably applies to ANY email they send no matter how they mark it up” – yes, does anyone really think that writing You must not pass this confidential email on to anyone, actually means anything? Check calendar: 2016. Be like the smart people, don’t threaten anyone by email, the evidence can’t be disposed of by burning it in your ash-tray.
Don’t bother burning your tablet or smartphone either. For one thing it’s awfully non-green, for another it won’t destroy the evidence.
And it will make you look such a bimbo!
We all know how hot the press can get, down at Gutenberg’s Presse..Hot grilled type. The front page is still hot in the early morn. It always says ‘Tamara Press, heroine of the Soviet Union, Hot Shot, already’.
Nope. Nada. Who ?
Can you see this young guy as mayor of Dunedin, it’s not like he’s an economist, neither has he worked in finance or learnt a business from the ground up. From student to student radio to mayor (anything else?) ….with what credentials. Is the green party backing enough. Is funny money a sound principled campaign. Is the living wage even possible in this depressed city economy… and who really pays for that, huh? If DCC heads it, then the cost will be on the Ratepayers. We’re already paying enough for DCC’s MISTAKES and MUCH WORSE.
Not on your Nelly.
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11 Jul 2016
ODT: Living wage, Dunedin dollar his platform
Dunedin mayoral candidate Aaron Hawkins has announced his intentions to transform Dunedin into New Zealand’s first living wage city and establish a local currency if elected mayor. Speaking at the Green Party’s Dunedin local body elections launch, the first-term councillor said he wanted to push for every resident to earn a living wage and to establish a local currency, the Dunedin dollar, modelled on the Bristol Pound.
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Mayor of Dunedin…. ????? Next, line up line up !!!!!!!
Elizabeth – I too am not impressed with this candidate. He represents that Group of Councillors who want to spend $37M of our ratepayers money on tarting up George St rather than investing in the long overdue upgrade of South Dunedin Stormwater infrastructure. I say “long over due” with confidence because even the recent peer review (that you got out of the DCC with suprising alacrity) mentions the need to upgrade the infrastructure which the consultants writing that report suspect have fallen below “acceptable levels of service”. A point that JimmyJones has been patiently making ever since we learned of the existence of the various Integrated Catchment Management Plans birthed out of the 2011 Three Waters Strategy. In summary this candidate stands for that Group of councillors that never even bothered to ensure the 2015/16 Annual Plan contained new capital funding to go beyond more than just making sure the mudtanks are cleaned properly and the two Pumping Stations are now up to operational scratch. But hey Kings High School got $500,000 for a new hockey turf area!!!!!
“But hey Kings High School got $500,000 for a new hockey turf area!!!!!”
Lyndon, that’s one big hairy monster of an absurdity.
Perhaps the upcoming election needs a reminder campaign, small stickers with facts such as that, placed here there and everywhere to help people focus on what they want their rates spent on and who they trust to run the country sensibly, like real old-fashioned grownups.
Yes, sure, but not, like, Real Old grownups. The hegemony of the sage is, like, really boring.
To elaborate a little. Presumably we don’t know yet who else in standing for Council, just the incumbents who are not and those cummerbunds who are. Representative, inclusive democracy is not age or ratepayer specific. Would like to see a wide range of Dunedin interests on Council, not just an Old Boy, property owning gerontocracy calling the municipal shots.
Comment at ODT Online:
Naked self-interest
Submitted by Otakou on Mon, 11/07/2016 – 6:51pm.
It is amazing how all the protagonists for a “living wage” have never had to pay a wages bill.
The greatest problem facing low income earners is rising costs. A 3% rates rise is just one of them. If Councillor Hawkins really wanted to assist the poor and downtrodden, he would have voted for a zero percent rates rise, no ridiculous expenditure on cyclelanes, traffic lights, eradicating carparks and other DCC fripperies.
But the opportunity to porkbarrel votes at the cost of his very constituents is a disease inherent in every left leaning councillor. Give them what they want, they chant (and charge them later for the privilege).
It is high time we elected prudent, curmedgeonly, mean councillors who will eliminate the $15,000 worth of debt every ratepayer in Dunedin legally owes the DCC and thus take away the burden imposed by the pork barrelers previous. This philosophy would immediately be good for business and thus jobs and wages which could then be based on profits rather than ratepayer costs.
Except, not all wage workers are ratepayers. Neither are all those eligible to vote paying rates. I’m with you, I could hardly be opposed, but you can’t build broad based movements with exclusivity. It would be better to also take into account the interests of the non property owning young, who work for wages or study, and retired renters.
The renters pay contribution to rates through their rents – they are automatically affected.
[said she paying market rents at Dunedin since January 2000]
I agree, but renters are taken for granted if the debate is owned by ratepayers. Tenants are automatically affected, but not, one hopes, automatically spoken for.
“It is amazing how all the protagonists for a “living wage” have never had to pay a wages bill.”
I wonder how many opponents of it spent more than a teen holiday job on a wage as far below decent living income as the current minimum rate – bearing in mind also that many of those workers are also on variable hours less than a full week – and “full time” work is now defined as 35 hours per week.
Is sub-living wage what they think would be acceptable for their own family members and friends, or is it only OK for “people who aren’t like us, not nearly as smart and competent as us”? People who do some of the most important jobs too. Think about it, who won’t be missed if they’re away for a couple of weeks, the cleaners? The home help who showers elderly people and helps them get up in the morning and get to bed at night and keeps an eye on their welfare every day?
If fair pay is too expensive – well that’s why we import clothing made by sweated labour overseas! More and more people are getting around to the idea that profiting from exploitation of other people is plain nasty. This attitude applies to animals too, thus willingness to pay more for eggs and pork produced ethically.
What’s so threatening about more money going into the economy that is certain to be spent, probably locally? The people affected don’t stash their money offshore, they don’t have tax dodges, they have to use their income to live on, and hope they can put enough away for car rego and dental treatment.
I’m disappointed in the attitude of people I know, when they advocate the continuance of breadline existence for fellow NZers. I had expected better of them.
ODT’s Dave Cannan reports that tomorrrow’s newspaper features a splurge on John Bezett and Richard Thomnson. This preceded by his saying that two of DCC’s longer term councillors are not standing in this year’s local body elections…..
Hype, whilst all you say is true, if you merely jump up the minimum wage, you ignore the problems of society which must be faced now.
The overpayment of people at the top of the bureaucratic heap and the top porkers of the economy. The problem with the minimum wage is that costs are rising above the level of inflation.
Lets see- Higher salaries commision- tick
Rates- tick
Supermarket costs- tick
Taxes- tick
There is a case for reducing prices/costs we have done it with petrol despite tax increases, we have done it with car registration. We have done it with interest rates (or in reality these costs have fallen in line with reduction in the price of oil and a lack of demand for finance from business).
What we in New Zealand need to do is demonstrate against any attempt by the troughers (the minority of higher paid public servants) to raise their relative standard of living by diminishing the real income of the majority- us)
Lawrence Yule’s suggestion of local government taxes is just one of them.
Too many traffic lights are an unnecessary expense – $25,000-$500,000 per set of lights, Cycleways are a ridiculous expense, now being taken out at even more expense in Sydney, over $60 million in Dunedin alone of your money, $500,000 for a CEO and $3200 per day for commissioners to run the SDHB.
Surely all can see the gross wastage of your money by these persons who we also overpay.
It is not the minimum wage we should march for it is the reasons the wage that worked 50 years ago, does not work now. Unnecessary costs.
Crs John Bezett and Richard Thomson not standing in October.
█ Nominations for the Dunedin City Council, community boards and the Otago Regional Council open today.
Fri, 15 Jul 2016
ODT: Council role loses lustre for some
Long-serving Dunedin city councillor John Bezett has fired parting shots at the growing bureaucracy and politicisation of the council, yesterday announcing his intention to stand down at the coming election. And a second prominent councillor, Richard Thomson, also signalled yesterday he was not seeking re-election in October, joining Crs Andrew Noone and Neville Peat who had earlier made the same decision. Cr Thomson said he had made the “very reluctant” decision because of the increasing difficulty in balancing his workloads as a deputy commissioner of the Southern District Health Board and a city councillor.
Nominations close on August 12.
Elections will be held on October 8.
Britain’s getting rid of the green freaks! Glory BE. The fashion HAS to follow here with the demise or dilution of the DCC greenie fruitcakes in October 2016! These murky bloody idealogues / politicians HAVE TO GO, they cost us arms, legs, dwindle our bloody rates and threaten sanity :
Dave Cull, David Benson-Pope, Chris Staynes, Kate Wilson, Aaron Hawkins, and Jinty MacTavish. Vote Them OUT
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HERE’S HOPE and Commonsense
### breitbart.com 14 Jul 2016
Britain’s New Prime Minister Drives A Stake Through The Heart Of The Green Vampire
By James Delingpole
Official: Britain no longer has “the greenest government ever.”
Incoming Prime Minister Theresa May has driven a stake through the heart of her predecessor David Cameron’s fluffy, faux-Conservative project by scrapping the Department of Energy And Climate Change (DECC). Established in 2008, DECC was a hangover from the Gordon Brown era of woeful misgovernance. Its first Secretary of State was future failed Labour leader candidate Ed Miliband whose only significant political achievement also happened to be one of the most expensive and pointless in British parliamentary history: the drafting of the truly disastrous Climate Change Act. Under the terms of the Climate Change Act – written by a green activist from Friends of the Earth called Bryony Worthington; endorsed by Cameron’s Conservative opposition and rejected by only five MPs – Britain is legally committed to more stringent “decarbonisation” targets than any other country in the world, at an annual cost of around £19 billion a year.
Read more
Erin go bragh! I am FF. You can see me as a young woman in ‘Ulysses’ (1967), and, much older, in ‘,The Others’ (2001). At age 81, I was thrown out of The Orange in Auckland, for being too sexy for Protestants. Which brings me to my point. A reflexive response to The Green is dangerous, especially in the Islands of Britain. What if we happen to be wearing the Green when some berserk Tory does a Peter Cushing and stakes the Green? What about Robson Green? The Green Man? (admittedly a strange Pantheist with bush all over him who wanders around drinking craft beer).
Finally, the Green Party. I knew them in a first incarnation, 16 years ago. Duncan Eddy had the Green Party HQ in lower Stuart One True King Street. Pip Direen stood for parliamentary election. Local meetings were upstairs at the Railway. Political change was the agenda, on liberal/left lines. They were involved, idealistic not ideologue. Climate Change had not yet arrived as a major issue. Just saying. I am old. Where do the young go for political representation? Blimey, must go. That awful Leo Bloom is walking this way. This way, like. Fionn.
The list as we know it for the 2016 Dunedin City Council election
Standing for mayor = NO WOMEN STANDING (deplorable)
Dave Cull (Independent) – disingenuous, green-fickle, lost plot
Aaron Hawkins (Green Party) – Green nappies, no economist
Lee Vandervis (Independent) – no policy statement
Andrew Whiley (Independent) – unknown quantity, least threat
Standing for council = smarmy army, can do a lot better
David Benson-Pope (Independent) – opportunist. Dangerous.
Dave Cull (Independent) – lowers property prices, wrecks lives
Doug Hall (Independent) – what does he stand for, does he speak
Aaron Hawkins (Green Party) – best left to student radio
Mike Lord (Independent) – left Greater D, raises good questions
Chris Staynes (Independent) – how did this happen
Lee Vandervis (Independent) – best suited to adversarial politics
Andrew Whiley (Independent) – wants progress, at what cost?
Kate Wilson (Independent) – housewife / cycleway proponent
Undecided
Hilary Calvert – useful work, legal grounding, intelligence
Jinty MacTavish – not needed, no financial credibility
Not standing
John Bezett – could’ve done something for SouthD
Andrew Noone – lost to ORC, effective chair hearings cttee
Neville Peat – who ? (greenie)
Richard Thomson – fee making logic, questions the system
Upcoming ? (in no particular order)
Steve Walker – a worry, we need more info…
Paul Pope – works hard for Dunedin communities
Scott Weatherall – works hard for Dunedin communities
Christine Garey – divides conquers (being a woman not enough)
….
Aha, so Dave Cull’s sufficiently unsure of his mayoral record to place a bob each way on continuing attachment to the rates titties, even if at the lower Councillor pay rate. Amusing musing: if Vanderis became mayor, would Councillor Cull expect the same treatment as he handed out? And does he have the guts to carry on without tanties while being insulted at every opportunity, and would Vandervis be dumb enough to let emotion rule him, eventually supplying enough rope for others to hang him with?
Vandervis is blunt and some people find that hard to handle, preferring the soft nonsense approach – though I think S. Dunedin people have had more than enough bullshit mixed into their floodwater. He’s not petty, not vindictive, he’s too intent in getting on with the job(s) he undertakes to waste energy on personal crap with people of little substance.
I think summing Cr Vandervis up as ‘best suited for adversarial politics’ may be a judgement derived more from ODT coverage than actual council meeting performance. I don’t know how he has the patience to read everything so thoroughly, no matter how dull the topic and pick up numerous errors, anomalies, omissions and inconsistencies. Then he usually has enormous difficulty in convincing his colleagues that such nonsense is, in fact, nonsense. Despite being extremely persistent.
Calvert usually gets the point, often independently, and so, from time to time, does Thomson. But, generally, enormous ‘ambiguity tolerance’ is a long-term institutionalized culture at DCC meetings. Even ‘incoherence tolerance.’ Who cares if something makes no sense? That’s the way things have always been done around here. Practically a tradition!
That wasnt based on ODT coverage which at best is sparce.
Dunedin doesn’t deserve another Yes Council. At present, rigour at the council table is damned near imperceptible, were it not for a mere couple of contrarians experienced in longer debate or, question-raising – given not many Councillors appear to understand what they read if indeed they actually read their papers at all. It’s all too hard. It seems easier to earn – not respect amongst peers – but instead, Code of Conduct threats by the short man. Then too, who needs to work when a stipend is automatic with all those hearing fees thrown on top to make things real comfy at home. All are guilty of that – check out their holiday jaunts.
Agreed, Diane. He tells the ISSUE straight, which other people take as attack i.e. personally adversarial. Being fluffy-minded about facts, what they hear is that it’s not about establishing the accuracy and relevance of facts (one “fact”,which they can’t distinguish from faith/opinion/error, being as good as another) so it must be a quarrelsome personality!
If Vandervis didn’t care so much about getting Dunedin back into shape he’d surely take Mark Twain’s advice, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
Not exactly unexpected re John Bezett bailing out. Probably the last of the lot that went along with the stadium, believed in creating a pile of intergenerational debt etc. Richard Thomson I thought might have hung on to augment his rather healthy income from the health sector. His exit underlines the collapse of Greater Dunedin. What will be far more interesting to see is just who will put their hands up to wrest control of the Council away from the current cabal.
Doug Hall – someone who knows a thing or two told me he’s not a confident speaker so appears to be The Invisible Man, but he’s got several truckloads of know-how and is jolly useful at providing practical knowledge, out of public view.
I’m OK with people being useful in different ways.
Having a nice smile and readiness to open gob and made pronouncements from a base of ignorance/stupidity is something Certain Other People have excelled at. I note they aren’t recommended in the list above and I agree, we’ve had more than enough of them.
OK. I might be sent to, er, Conventry, for this opinion, but Mac stays, alright? Hilary for no nonsense rark ups of astringency. Doug H because there are few self made working men in municipal life, and Paul Pope, who might be a former ed of WifDn who went ‘#*!!@’ your comments, some of you’. ?
Clarification.
The former owner and founder of the What if? Dunedin website is Paul Le Comte.
Paul Pope is the deputy chair of the Otago Peninsula Community Board, and is not Paul Le Comte.
Thank you for that clarification Elizabeth. I’m also not related to David Benson-Pope.
Ah, very good point.
A fine name, all the same. Heard of Alexander?
A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Jinters is undecided. She might go and I would support that. No school girls needed, no school girls without elocution lessons needed. They lower the tone.
A warning for all councillors but particularly Cr MacTavish, who is wonderfully fluent in council jargon to the point where I wonder whether even the council staff understand her sometimes. A goobledygook generator:
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/gobbledygook-generator.html
Also, it’s not really on to continually chat privately with the mayor during meetings, as Cr MacTavish so often does. Where would we be if ALL the councillors did that? For a start, much of the ‘public’ meeting would be being conducted in private. And I suppose the councillors who got to whisper the most would be those who the mayor liked best. I am surprised Standing Orders don’t disallow ‘words in the chair’s ear’ during meetings.
Spot on, Diane.
Although current standing orders don’t go quite this far… NO flibbertigibbets is the new 2016-19 rule.
No, and that goes for the men as well. Flib Bert E Gibbet, sentenced at York Assizes..
OK. We’re on the same page.
Alright, already. At least a person of her generation, then, for diverse representative local govt.
If I were to satirize these bright young girly fundamentalists, I would come up with some virtually indistinguishable from this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T72higN3S8
In fact, is this DCC Public Forum for real? Or is someone pulling our legs?
Warning: may make some viewers nauseous.
Now, you’re really getting my goat. The one I’m paid to stare at for the military. This. Is. Ageism. It works in reverse too. Let’s ban them from public life and participation on grounds of age and personal conviction. Now you’ve done it. I’ve got the apoplexy and must run away to Claris.
Wow you guys! Incredible Diane, you really dug deep within yourself to find the strength to watch then share this incredible tale of incredible personal development with the rest of us girls from St Maybelline’s College. All those guys, and us guys too, are just incredible. By the way you’re welcome to come and clean my bathroom any time, it’ll be inspirational for both of us.
That’s nice, the Pope words. You know the Elliott Evans woman? She wrote of The Floss, with A Mill On it. Inspirational and lovely, in that Victorian way, Mary Anne enlightens, writing ‘You church or chapel?’, in “Silas Marner”. 4 words to crystallise the entire High/low church schism.
Yes Hype
I know Doug well from way back and the person who told you that is right on the button. He has practical and sensible knowledge in spades. But the blabbermouths probably don’t listen to him. Too busy listening to the sounds of their own voices.
Cr Bezett says it’s no fun being on the DCC any more. Good! It may have been a good deal more fun for some Dunedin city councillors when there was a great deal of money available to borrow and spend, along with very little in the way of accountability on how the spending was done. I’m glad those days are over, even if it’s only mainly because the money supply has run out.
So far, the candidate line-up seems to promise just more of the same dreary old stuff. My only spark of interest is set off by the thought the tables being turned by Cr Vandervis being mayor and Cull a mere councillor. What standard of impartial chairing would we see then, I wonder. And interesting to see that Cull is hedging his bets by standing for a council seat as well as for the mayoralty. This suggests he really does want to serve the city, rather than just scoop up the mayoral remuneration. He hardly needs the councillor’s pittance after all this time in the top job. The Cull/Vandervis feud, which is now likely to continue, makes the DCC a bit of a bear pit and you would have to have a very thick skin and maybe also a killer instinct to be willing to get into it.
Also wonder whether Wilson will get in without a ward where she’s known to support her vote. And glad to see Noone considering the ORC, where he could put his considerable political experience to good use. Thomson is a loss in a way, because at least he understands what is going on, and often usefully talks plain common sense when most other councillors are silent. But for my tastes, when it comes to voting, he is far too comfortable with high debt levels and non-essential expenditure. And secretive.
Calvert would be a great loss if she doesn’t stand. But I think she doesn’t like being in the public eye and subject to having her whole life under scrutiny. Also, she’s probably smart enough to know that being a Dunedin City Council elected rep requires an enormous tolerance for pushing shit uphill. Why bother? Unless you happen to have a rare Herculean capacity for work, like Cr Vandervis. Cr Lord has the same issue as Wilson – if he stands again, will he get in without a ward to support him? I hope so.
The biggest problem with this candidate line up is where’s the new blood? Waiting for last minute disclosure?
People must have short memories. When Cr Noone came to office the council debt was under $30 million. During his stay he was one of the chair leaders for the stadium, council debt up to $600 million. He could be the last of the big spenders. God help us if he heads to the ORC with their mindset of spending multi millions for new offices. Cr Noone will be in his element, and our pockets will keep on getting hammered.
I dare say he votes National, Trudy.
I’ve noticed these polarised views about Cr Noone. The people who are not impressed seem to say he spent too much. Granted that voting for the stadium was a black mark. But I think the ward system, as well as disenfranchising voters, may have misled some councillors and voters into believing that a ward councilor’s proper job was to fight to get as much as possible spent on what they saw as their own patch. Even make deals and trades to achieve that. Dividing up the pie, while each still trying to get the biggest share. However, a councillor’s legal responsibility is to make decisions for the benefit of the city as a whole. So maybe another benefit of the ward system going is more focus on overall financial prudence.
Diane. Noone was elected as a rural representative yet he was part of council that overturned an independent commissioner’s recommendation of excluding highly productive soils from residential development in favour of ??
Many may remember the social commentator and activist Murray O’Neill, of East Otago, who founded The Dunedin Free Press (1990’s). What I liked about Cr Noone is that he once said in the ODT “Murray O’Neill is quite right to tell me off”.
You’re right, Diane, the ward system gave councillors a mixed message, not conducive to best decision-making.
Wingatui Flyer: Was that Cr Brown’s subdivision?
The most embarrassing candidate, not because he’s not clever or even smart, but who is so full of conflictions and past baggage is in my estimation is David Benson-Pope. Lowers the tone in any gathering in which he sets foot.
Paul Pope looks promising – well-informed, articulate, background of community service, Community Boards experience. Makes an effort to communicate online with potential voters. Seems to me to talk good sense. https://paul-pope.co.nz/
Diane- I would totally endorse Paul Pope for DCC election; given my dealings with him over Sand Dunes at Middle Beach and a good working relationship through the St Clair Action Group. He is also member of the Otago Peninsula Community Board; and a true friend of South Dunedin.
Diane, I watched the video of the presentation of the young girls at the DCC table
I have no problem with individuals heading off to conferences and overseas trips at their own expense, but I do have a problem when they aspire to leadership having only had those type of experiences. It might well explain why public servants rush to the exits for free overseas trips and conference tickets.
The city has a $650 million dollar debt problem and owns a large quantity of failed or failing businesses. One would have thought that leadership training in being a business cost cutter or at least trying some real commercial experience would be absolute requirements for election or leadership.
Yet we send three lovely girls up to bolster their self esteem and to educate them in being nice people no doubt a skill they already possess.
Perhaps that explains why we the ratepayers are each $15,000 behind the eightball. The young have no evaluation skills and no basis on how to say the magic word.
No.
It’s binary. The old don’t have the confidence or chutzpah to say Yes. Ergo, stagnation. And, of course, if Council were not televised (did they ask for the girls’ consent?), these rather curmudgeonly responses to youth opportunity would not be prominent.
As gentle as doves but not yet as wise as serpents. But both are needed.
What I don’t want to see is council business conducted with this quasi-religious “love is all you need” mindset. It isn’t. To say nothing of the vacuous, nebulous language characteristically used. I’m not knocking the young and girly, except where those intersect with silly and naive. And the plain fact is that they often do.
What young person wouldn’t be flattered to be selected as a committed and courageous young leader, and what family and school wouldn’t be proud of them? But naming something doesn’t make it so. The fluffy blurb for the Aspiring Leaders Conference makes me think it’s a bit of a con. Quoting:
“The Aspiring Leaders’ Forum on faith and values is an annual event that brings together a diverse group of committed and courageous young leaders from across Aotearoa New Zealand. Guided by facilitators and esteemed national leaders, selected young people will discuss leadership from a narrative point of view, throughout a carefully articulated and varied four-day programme.
Our hope is that Aspiring Leaders’ Forum will build a bridge from one generation to the next, inspiring and elevating our young people’s expectations of leadership.”
http://aspiringleaders.org.nz/
(Hype: you nailed it. Actually, I think it’s rather insulting to go and do ‘good works’ in Stokes Valley. If anyone really wants to help the poor, they should give them money, not make use of them in educational and social experiments.)
Diane, is that your way of saying you’re not coming to clean my bathroom? Ho hum, it was worth a try.
‘Stokes’ Valley. What a giveaway.
At what age does one lose “the confidence or chutzpah to say Yes”?
At what age does one get to choose about making decisions about when to say Yes and when to say No in place of being carried away with enthusiasm coupled with inexperience?
At what age is it common to lose fascination for one’s own feelings and navel?
Just wondering.
And at what stage does one start to be aware that one’s fresh amazing incredible ideas are virtually identical to the fresh amazing incredible ideas that boring old farts had when they were young, and so did their parents, and their………………………
The sheep of Dunedin say, “Baa!”
Does it matter? The young are the future, the old were once the future. I can understand that ratepayers are stakeholders in Council enterprises, but criticising the worldview of the young was the preserve of the reactionary and conservative. This, too, is part of the ‘learning curve’ that these young people are in: unexpected public response online to their aspirational endeavour.
ab, oh sailor man
youth is fudged (look at Jinters, now sundae’d and spidered)
When Elizabeth says ‘sailor man’, this is naval nomenclature for a.b, a person who crews boots in latitude 45S..(We used to appreciate your spare books & magazines).
The young may be the future, but fatuous young are no improvement on their equivalents who were born 30 or more years earlier. There are young sharp-minded people but at that age they’re not embarked on becoming career politicians, and in a few years when they have worked out what’s not working with the system they’ll, with any luck, decide to stand for election. At that stage they will, with any luck, have not only met but worked alongside people from many backgrounds, seen systems that work well and many that don’t. I dread the ascent of hand-picked and nurtured apprentice politicians, inducted straight from school/university into the current political fellowship by current political insiders – most of whom were also career politicians from far too early an age.
Yes. Boomers, as we were, married young, and women retired, until the liberation of Feminism. Some of us are now great grandparents. If you read youth opinion in the ODT, the most rational are by female students.
Retired eminences gris, respected professionals, did the Castle Street thing just as much as today, without the Burning.
These young people are still being subjected to postmodernist nonsense, still apparently permeating the education industry (because that’s what it now is) at all levels here and promoted as the One True Way.
For example: http://www.shiftingthinking.org/?page_id=64
and
http://www.shiftingthinking.org/?page_id=61
Endless discussions, talks, books, research papers, workshops and courses are possible on the meaning of all this and whether it has any meaning and whether meaning has any meaning (and so on ad nauseum) and so very good for business.
Contrast this with comment from a US industry insider on how textbooks are contrived to get past the thought police: http://www.edutopia.org/textbook-publishing-controversy
Good thing the internet is available as an escape from total indoctrination in self-obsessed silliness.
A bit like 5th English. We were encouraged to analyse ideology in lit and deconstruct ‘hidden persuasion’ in advertising. I don’t think the medium or topic matters. The purpose of Education is skill in critical thinking. No one is brainwashed examining cultural or societal trends. Let it be vocational at tertiary level.
Sat, 16 Jul 2016
ODT Editorial: Public service tradition
OPINION Public service is a proud tradition in New Zealand and the upcoming local authority elections are a chance for citizens from a diverse range of backgrounds to put themselves forward as candidates. […] What has become apparent are vested interests working together to push an agenda which does not always sit comfortably in the wider public arena.
Didn’t that strike you as a warning about 2 mayoral and several council candidates?
Yes. Ominous. A very dour tone such that the typeface seemed atypical by illusion as I read it.
Smithy here. Letters give me gyp. Take 0RR0, two Orbs separated by proboscised R’s in the word ‘horror’. It looks, well, horrified. Then ‘Cheers’. That looks, um, cheerful.
Old smithies made words as we do now.
Urban Dictionary on Smithy….
They were adapted for radio by putting them on timbre and banging a nail through them.
Here’s an interesting comment on the tradition of the unsigned newspaper editorial. Quote: “I don’t believe in objective, neutral, impartial, fair and balanced journalism. Not because it isn’t a worthy goal, but because it is impossible. But any claim to objectivity that dailies may have is totally undermined by the institution of the unsigned editorial, which anonymously imposes the personal opinion of an individual—often the publisher—on the newspaper as a whole.”
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/01/20/it-is-time-to-end-unsigned-editorials-and-endorsements
Strange that the unknown writer protests about ‘vested interests’ when a monopoly press is exactly that itself. And maybe the ODT never makes it clear who is writing its editorials because the characteristic leaden, cliched, pontificating style is hardly anything to be proud of.
One reason I won’t pay for ODT – because I don’t want to be financially supporting an undisclosed local political lobby. Honest local journalists who make an effort to be impartial, yes. Newspaper publishers with behind-the-scenes political agendas, no.
Any view, no matter how extreme, as long as it is out in the open with a name attached is fine with me. Time for the unsigned editorial to go.
Unsigned is OK with me if consistent nom-de-plume is used so one can build up a picture of the writer(s) over time. It also avoids the suggestion that a rich or famous person is wiser than the next fellow, irrespective of the sense they write they are worth taking notice of.
That’s why famous people are paid to endorse Walwig erection enhancer/stain remover/lumbago cure made with organic walnuts and earwigs – Shaylee of Stokes Valley hasn’t the credibility even if she’s actually smarter than Glossy/Rugged Celeb.
Now, you’re onto it. Neither does Shaylee play rugby. Only men can endorse herbal relative analgesia.
I agree wholeheartedly Diane, but find a certain irony in that many of the views expressed on ‘What If’ also come from writers who hide their identities.
Uh, oh. Identity. You’re being like Brian Edwards, Richard. What to do? People do go a bit toey if they know the identity of commenters with whom they disagree.
Nice to hear you and Lyndon on Otago Access Radio, Richard. I hope we get more local political coverage there, independent of Allied Press, as the election date approaches.
http://www.accessradio.org/ProgrammePage.aspx?PID=8fe75f68-6c6e-4e3c-b4ab-929576c92c2d#
(Pulse on Politics)
Hi Diane, I understand that both Neale and OAR are looking at ways to provide more coverage. Neale and I have discussed the subject in some depth and are hopeful. Listen to Neale’s summary of ODT journos and politics on podcast of last night’s programme. His assessment, as always, is very astute.
I’m thinking of standing due to the incredible amount of free publicity we are getting.
signed
A.Transvestite
Just so Richard Stedman knows Ho I am.
It is clear you are a fifth columnist. A transvestite is a man in drag, Not LGBIT. Nevertheless, getting through Dunedin incognito requires effort, creativity, and a costumier. Over the years, I have gone as ‘Blind Pugh’ of Treasure Island, Det ‘Snapper’ Organs of Q Div, who nabbed the Kray gang, an monk and as Strother Martin in ‘Cable Hogue’.
Hilary Calvert not standing for the mayoralty or a seat on council – via Ch39 News. See the morning’s ODT.
BUGGER!
Yup. I understand Hilary was forthright on what DCC has turned into thanks to the Save The Planet Brigade – and due to the demands of Central Govt. Good for her.
Here is the logistical problem: With Hilary Calvert’s decision to step down the beleaguered ratepayer and citizens of Dunedin must now cross a moat 5 seats wide before they can disturb even one of the undesirables, so unless we have about 40 exceptional candidates the chances of unseating the cullable coterie are now almost nil.
I noticed also that the OUSA is sniveling because they will not have a polling booth on campus despite the fact that this is a postal vote and nobody else has a polling booth. What is it with these self-important bloody narcissistic children! Chances are they will bugger the vote anyway by filling in any old form they find in the street. Postal voting has accelerated the death of local democracy assisted by the totally distorting STV system, so if you think this council is bad, brace yourself.
I think you are right Richard.
Add the 1000 vote plus from DCC, Delta and Aurora and the gerrymander is permanent.
Sustainable morris dancers
No car parks
Whispers behind the scenes
Traffic lights at the end of cul de sacs
bikes on SHW1 only
the future beckons
Thu, 21 Jul 2016
ODT: Lessons in local body politics
Prospective Dunedin council candidates got a quick lesson in the devious ways of local body politics and a stern warning about procrastination last night. About 30 people turned out to an information evening at the Municipal Chambers to learn how to negotiate the serious undertaking of electioneering. They heard they needed to follow all the rules on giveaways, and what sort of promises they made while they were on the hustings.
—
Rachel Elder is standing for DCC again.
https://www.facebook.com/Rachel4Council/?rc=p
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elder-5998ba61
—
Oh look, another Jinty or Aaron student puppet with no proven experience in local government or business….
Thu, 21 Jul 2016
ODT: Student announces mayoralty tilt
Scout Barbour-Evans plans to run for the Dunedin mayoralty at the October elections.
Hurrah!
“Quardle Oodle WFT?” the tui said.
We hear someone (of stature ?) is lining up to place a mayoral bid on the last day possible. Ears to the ground, people.