ODT 19.8.16 (page 10)
– purple text overlay by whatifdunedin
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### ODT Online Fri, 12 Aug 2016
‘Dangerous mess’ addressed, remedied after 2011 review
By Dave Cull
OPINION Claims that council-owned companies are out of control and lack transparency (ODT, 5.8.16 and the editorial 6.8.16) are sadly ill-informed, lack business understanding and worse, threaten the ratepayers’ asset value. […] Ratepayer-owned companies are more expertly governed and more comprehensively examined and reported on than ever before.
Read more
E X P E R T L Y ● G O V E R N E D
M O R E ● C O M P R E H E N S I V E L Y ● E X A M I N E D
E N T I R E L Y ● L A U G H A B L E
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Related Post and Comments:
● 12.8.16 DCC trifecta : openness, transparency, accountability —All dead?
R E P E A T ● R E P E A T
█ Delta Utility Services Ltd (“Delta”) has been joined in a constructive fraud action brought by original Landowners/Caveators of the Noble Subdivision application at Yaldhurst, Christchurch.
Very substantial multimillion-dollar losses caused to Dunedin Ratepayers (on Mayor Cull’s shift) stem from Delta’s decision in 2009 to involve themselves in the illegal and unconsented subdivision. This all follows multimillion-dollar losses (about $14M) suffered by Ratepayers as a consequence of Delta’s involvement in the Luggate and Jacks Point subdivisions.
On Monday 1 August, we had absolute Confirmation that the city council is Not transparent —the Council blindly followed (without proper or worthy documentation; no diligence done by Councillors; no thoroughly independent legal advice to Council) the manipulations of Mr Crombie, DCHL chairman, assisted by the head of DCC Finance Committee, Cr Thomson, threading a ‘long’ story to seal a bad ‘Delta’ deal.
ODT reported (3.8.16): ‘Deal designed to help Delta’s bad debt woes’. This deal, “to help Delta recover a $13.4million bad debt from a stalled Christchurch subdivision”, unfortunately, fails to give DCC control over the whole Noble subdivision, which DCC could have secured for relatively little financial outlay (as Advised by What if? Dunedin in emails to all Councillors; and of course by the Caveators), resulting in generous profits in a longer time frame.
So the Old Boys have conspired once more to use Rates funds to line the pockets of those they would work with and protect, this time at Yaldhurst —Not named by DCHL/Delta : The Buyer of the subdivision. [which may include Delta types]
The ODT editorial (6.8.16) rightly states: “Delta has a history of secrecy and limited transparency, stretching back many years to the time it was a council department.”
As our correspondent Christchurch Driver says in a recent post (8.8.16): “Delta, for the third time, [has] created a stinking financial mess … Ratepayers now know that [Dave Cull] is unfit to be Mayor and has not a shred of any concern for the interests of Ratepayers but is simply part of the Dunedin establishment who protect each other.”
█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.
*Image: Dave Cull tweaked by whatifdunedin
What if? Dunedin... 
Sadly, Dave Cull is out of his commercial depth.
As the “Peter Principle” maintains –
He has definitely passed his level of competence.
Anyone who votes for Mr Cull either does not understand what is going on or is in his pocket.
Fair play to you. True. It’s a unconscionable municipal mess.
Sunday Star*Times 21.8.16 (page A11)
The scary thing about commissioners is that they are placed by the government of the day to sort out incompetents’ messes, but then it takes high explosives to get rid of them when the horrendous mess is back to Average Untidiness. From government’s p.o.v. it seems too darn tempting having their own “trusty” in charge, instead of independent councils or boards chosen democratically by the people of that region.
We need guaranteed return to local democracy, otherwise we’ll be ruined by our own choices or dispossessed by central government’s.
Nice wee general hospital, yes? Won’t that be nice!
See ODT tomorrow on Hospital woes (read: wars).
Cry Mikey Havoc!, and let slip our angry marching citizens.
Gurglars has got a long time been crystal: Cull de Mayor
All we need.
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ODT 22. 8.16 (page 7)
Jim Sullivan – Nothing too serious
Opinion: ‘Naming streets a vexatious path’
Smartphone shot
Cull de sac was coined on this site. Who gets tomorrow’s paper today, already? Must the streets be named after prominent white men? Nein! We want the likes of ‘Elizabethan Promenade’, Lovelock Ave to be ‘Millicent Way’. We already have Emily Seideberg Way Way.
Give Cull de sack – campaign slogan
Sack through the ages:
Sack of Rome: big going over by Alaric, a Vandal. In effect, the end of Empire.
(Give him) sack! Brusque order for a kind of sherry.
Don’t Sacha! Confused French instruction, meaning ‘Don’t do that, Sacha!’, or ‘Don’t sack her’.
Being sacked. A loading mixup sends man on long journey.
sack barrow – poncy conveyance for political wasbeen to carry his sugarbag while tramping the countryside looking for prospective employer ignorant of snafu propensities, and unwillingness to cooperate with anyone more competent.
Cull de Sac!
Wish I’d thought of that.
Didn’t it start with a conversation about ‘Cul de sacs’ (incorrect use of the collective françoise), when we used to talk about no exit streets?
Yes it did; will search and link.