Category Archives: Carisbrook

by Elizabeth | June 10, 2017 · 5:58 pm

City Property . . . .

### ODT Online Sat, 10 Jun 2017
Property boss quits
By Chris Morris
The man in charge of the Dunedin City Council’s multimillion-dollar property portfolio has quit following a review by independent auditor Deloitte. [A] Council spokesman ….yesterday confirmed city property manager Kevin Taylor resigned last week. [DCC] responding to Otago Daily Times questions by email, declined to say what Deloitte’s review had found, insisting the final report was “still being considered”. The development came three months after the ODT reported the department responsible for property worth hundreds of millions of dollars was being reviewed ….The role was expected to change in future, with a “specific focus” on community and civic properties ….Mr Taylor’s departure was the latest upheaval for the city property department, following the departure of former city property manager Robert Clark in 2014, and his assistant manager, Rhonda Abercrombie, the following year.
Read more

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### ODT Online Fri, 10 Mar 2017
Council’s property department under review
By Chris Morris
The performance of the Dunedin City Council’s city property department is under the scrutiny of an independent auditor. It was confirmed yesterday Deloitte had been called in to examine the department responsible for property worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It is understood the review’s focus was on the department’s performance, and any suggestion of impropriety has been ruled out. Deloitte has been brought in to provide extra resources for the review, but city property manager Kevin Taylor has been replaced in the day-to-day running of the department.
Read more

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### ODT Online Tue, 15 Sep 2015
Property manager quits DCC
By Chris Morris
Dunedin City Council manager Rhonda Abercrombie has resigned abruptly, but nobody is prepared to say why. Mrs Abercrombie, the council’s assistant city property manager, handed in her notice last week but was no longer working at the council’s Civic Centre building.
Read more

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### ODT Online Tue, 29 Apr 2014
Quick exit for another DCC senior manager
By Debbie Porteous
Another senior manager is to have a quick exit from the Dunedin City Council after the announcement yesterday of his departure. Economic development and property group manager Robert Clark will clear his desk on Friday. He is returning to the commercial sector after six years with the council. Mr Clark’s withdrawal from the organisation comes after a proposal was circulated to staff last month in which his position was effectively disestablished, his responsibilities split between new positions to be created under a new council operating structure. The structure was developed by chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose in a review of the council’s property and economic development operations.
Read more

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Manager Economic Development and Property moving on
This item was published on 28 Apr 2014
The Dunedin City Council’s Group Manager Economic Development and Property Robert Clark is leaving the organisation after six years to return to the commercial sector. General Manager Infrastructure and Networks Tony Avery says Mr Clark’s last day at the DCC will be on Friday, although he will continue to do transitional consulting work in the coming months on some significant projects.
Read more

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For some weeks, independently of today’s news, the Dunedin grapevine has been rattling (autumn leaves) with tales of the missing City Property reserves, worth millions.

WHAT, you say. Noooooo.

Let’s hope our elected representatives are onto it.
Historical, it appears.

Thus the shadow boxing about town: raising all the circular questions of who and how, historically.

New blood to a system is supposed to flush out nasties, this takes hard analysis of past annual reports and investments, and of ‘figures’ present and correct —or not. Anything strange or unseemly, a mere whiff of stray fur, should be swiftly signalled to the chief executive for immediate independent audit, especially if to do with a property division.

The age-old question for local government continues to be: if you’re not a business person, how do you smell rats in your balance sheets and upon whom do you rely for sound advice, internally and externally, for the health and solid whereabouts of your ratepayer funds and assets. Indeed, without this staunch critical oversight how on earth can a council operate or even run its companies.

And how do you screen applicants; and monitor job performance.
Without great gaping holes in the cheese and skirtings, People!

[pennlive.com]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

10 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Construction, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, Economics, Education, Finance, Health & Safety, Heritage, Housing, Media, New Zealand, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Resource management, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Travesty

Tagged as Appointments, Aptitudes, Asset management, City Property, Deloitte, Dunedin City Council, Exits, Funds, Independent audits, Internal audits, Performance monitoring, Personnel changes, Property, Reporting, Reserves, Swiss cheese, Whistleblowing

by Elizabeth | May 20, 2017 · 7:17 pm

thoughts and faces #loosematerial

My father [never a follower of the FedUp Farmers, as he deemed them; always the campaigner for removal of farm subsidies, to enhance production and market competition] had ‘stock’ phrases with which to judge the faces of female adversaries, those with little brain or spine in politics, pretenders. One adept phrase that sticks in my mind is “like a horse eating thistles” —so I look on the following with my tinted lens, and laugh, rurally (ruefully). No one target.

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On 19 May @StuFleming tweeted: “Spend $200k, revenue projections of $2.4M to others, 10% margin yields say $240k net”
[minus ODT news photo of face]

As ratepayer not involved in tourism or hospo, I’m wondering what to spend my windfall from Trenz on. Travel? Balclutha or Hampden? https://t.co/kau4b3aDSB

— T. Optional (@TomBoyOptional) May 20, 2017

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Rather bleak. pic.twitter.com/dI41cnqk0u

— Chris (@opetheater) May 20, 2017

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[DUD ‘money hype’ typically depends on false multipliers, anechoic silences, and arrogant self-belief —this (yes) bleak statement applies across a broad range of proposed deals and associated marketing detritus in the city, especially to events, conferences, sport, hospitality and accommodation, and even the re-use (Not conservation) of truly rare and precious instances of historic heritage] Here’s to all the fricking horses out there, including hypocritical colleagues and friends with blinkers like demo balls prepared to squeeze the last dollar and pass us to Hell. Anyway, back to “the business”…. cargo cult tourism. The wider effects of tourism are like those of dairying. Too many eggs in one basket and everybody (I mean, everybody) ends up doing it badly —killing Our Place for generations. Greed, like endorphins, like a running addiction, binds them up. They think they’re bright, they think they’re enablers (read risk takers/investors centred on their own gains only), they think they’re entrepreneurs, better than others (but because I for one will tell you things you don’t want to hear, you’ll say “I’ll ring you tomorrow”, that silence again) but they’re just funneled, tunneled sheepybaas – doing it wrong. Like cows, deer, Chinese gooseberries (Kiwifruit!), wines, stadiums….. or ‘getting a room’ behind the poorly remembered, heavily made-up, Disney’d facade of our city and nationhood. The worst kind didn’t, or didn’t bother to, ‘grow up’ here. They get desperate, create mess, import other yes men. Ring you like nothing happened, their exploits —not to ask deeply madly who and how you really are.

### ODT Online Sat, 20 May 2017
Trenz prompts high aspirations
By David Loughrey
Next year’s Trenz conference in Dunedin is set to cost ratepayers $200,000, but the long-term pay-off should run well into the millions.
The Dunedin City Council will next week be given an idea of the costs to the city of hosting the conference from May 7 to 10, and also the estimated benefits. The city learned last week it would host the tourism industry event next year, bringing up to 1200 international travel and tourism buyers, media and New Zealand tourism operators to Dunedin. It will be the first time the event, run by Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA), has come to Dunedin and the first time it has been hosted outside Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch or Queenstown since it began in the 1960s. Trenz is an opportunity for New Zealand tourism operators to sell their product to buyers, effectively overseas travel agents who put together itineraries for overseas tourists. Attracting more than 350 buyers to experience the tourism products on offer here is considered a huge coup. On average, each buyer sends 4000 visitors a year to New Zealand, totalling 1.5 million. It comes as figures show New Zealand’s tourism market is expected to continue to grow strongly, topping $15 billion by 2023. Tourism contributes more than $690 million to Dunedin’s economy every year.
Read more

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South Islanders woke up to a snowy start this morning with the first Antarctic blast of winter https://t.co/AJsIxO5Pwe pic.twitter.com/0jBfYGEORq

— nzherald (@nzherald) May 19, 2017

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Meanwhile, although we (‘our stock’ NZ) and the UK farm gate look pretty much the same……

‘Herdwick Shepherd’ aka James Rebanks (@herdyshepherd1) farms Herdwick sheep in the English Lake District. Author of bestselling memoir, The Shepherd’s Life:

Still cold up on the fells pic.twitter.com/VsFBL9yJnX

— Herdwick Shepherd (@herdyshepherd1) May 19, 2017

Best thing this week… pic.twitter.com/CKD0DJtAxj

— Herdwick Shepherd (@herdyshepherd1) May 19, 2017

### ODT Online Saturday, 20 May 2017
OE to Britain set to get tougher
Prime Minister Bill English says the Conservative Party’s new plans to clamp down on immigration will sting New Zealanders wanting to live in the United Kingdom, including on the traditional OE, but there is little he can do until Brexit is completed. The British party’s election manifesto includes plans to drastically cut net migration from 273,000 to less than 100,000 by targeting students and those on working visas. It proposes cutting the number of skilled migrants to get visas, higher levies on employers who take on migrant workers and tripling the National Health Service immigration health surcharge from £200 to £600 ($NZ380 to $NZ1130) a year for those in the UK on visas of more than six months and 450 for international students. That surcharge increase will also affect those on the traditional OE, although there is no mention of scrapping the two-year youth mobility visa which allows young New Zealanders to get a two-year visa to work and travel in the United Kingdom. Mr English said the changes would affect those on their OE but they would have to grin and bear it until Brexit was completed. NZME.
Read more

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Super City mayor Phil Goff has a plan for getting money from tourists – it bears some similarity to that of the Mongrel Mob……

Amid talk of hotel taxes and tourist levies, Winston Aldworth says New Zealanders are missing a bigger opportunity https://t.co/oJNUiMesTL

— nzherald (@nzherald) May 19, 2017

### NZ Herald Thu, 18 May 2017
Winston Aldworth: Seeking the smart money
OPINION What do Phil Goff and the Mongrel Mob have in common? As hundreds of travel industry figures from all around the world gathered in Auckland for last week’s Trenz conference, one of the many topics up for discussion was the Auckland mayor’s enthusiasm for a hotel bed tax on visitors to the city. Meanwhile, up north at Ahipara on Ninety Mile Beach, three German tourists were approached by two local Mongrel Mob members who told them that they were on Maori land, and had to pay koha. They also told the tourists they’d be taking a few of their cigarettes. A tobacco tax, if you will. Perhaps their plan for putting heavy taxes on visitors was inspired by the Super City mayor. Goff’s bed tax is about as blunt an instrument as the Mob’s shakedown. “Look there’s a foreigner! Let’s get a couple of bucks off them.” The airport tax introduced by John Key a year ago is equally clumsy. It’s a travesty that these tariffs are the best we can come up with for making money out of tourism. Yes, other countries put dull levies on visitor arrivals, but that’s no reason to follow suit. We New Zealanders pride ourselves on being innovators, so let’s find innovative ways to get more money out of the tourism sector. Both Goff and Key were ministers in governments that did everything they could to remove tariffs from the dairy trade. Today, the best and brightest marketing wallahs of Goff’s inner circle are putting forward a plan no more sophisticated than one devised by two Mongrel Mob members standing on a Northland beach. I’m not against making money out of tourists — quite the opposite, in fact. I think it’s terrific that our country can be boosted by an industry that encourages us to care for our environment, celebrate the things that make our culture unique and spreads revenue quickly and efficiently to the regions. But how about instead of putting a dumb tax on the visitors, we upsell them? Take their money at the gate for sure, but give them something special in return.
Read more

Enough randomising. More rain and ice falls.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

24 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Baloney, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, COC (Otago), Concerts, Construction, Corruption, Crime, CST, Cycle network, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, Economics, Education, Electricity, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Finance, Freedom camping, Geography, Health & Safety, Heritage, Highlanders, Hospital, Hotel, Housing, Infrastructure, Media, Music, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Offshore drilling, ORFU, Otago Polytechnic, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SDHB, SFO, Site, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Technology, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as Accommodation, Adaptive re-use, Business, Cargo cult mentality, Conferences, Dunedin, Economic impact studies, Events, Finance, GREED, Heritage, Hospitality, Hotels, Investment, Marketing hype, Multipliers, Other People's Money (OPM), Public funds, Ratepayers and Residents, Risktaking with OPM, Screwy deals, Seemy sides, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism

by Elizabeth | January 12, 2017 · 6:56 pm

No Integrity | Cull’s FULL INSULT to Ratepayers and Residents

The Star cites the Mayor-terrible:
“Creating the Vision. 2017: Positive, confident, outward-looking Dunedin”

█ Go to http://www.thestar.co.nz/news/creating-the-vision/

Opinion. The Mayor is a disgrace.

Starter for 10:
1. Responsible for DCC flooding South Dunedin in 2015
2. Responsible for Council’s lack of infrastructure spending and monitoring
3. Responsible for wasting +$20million pa of Ratepayer funds to prop up the loss-making Stadium
4. Responsible for Council not investigating the misuse of public funds by Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust
5. Responsible for wasting millions of Ratepayer dollars on unworkable cycleways
6. Responsible for overseeing lack of prosecutions for Jacks Point and Luggate
7. Responsible for Council ignoring constructive fraud and money write-offs at Noble Yaldhurst
8. Responsible for lack of prosecutions for Citifleet (+152 cars sold on, 2003-2013)
9. Responsible for lack of progress with council debt reduction
10. Responsible for criminal neglect of Otago’s power network via Aurora/Delta/DCHL boards and management

So yeah. Has kept Dunedin’s economy at a standstill since being elected to office.

Not a smart learner.
Deals in OBFUSCATION, hides behind deadbeat mouthpieces while practising a pronounced lack of fiducial responsibility to Ratepayers and Residents.
Ending in chaos and disaster for those set to inherit ‘Dunedin’.

Re lack of vision…
Responsible for the lack of Health & Safety leading to an appalling eye injury at the DCC-managed New Year 2017 event held in the Octagon.

Your main job, Mr Mayor, is to get the Otago power network and Dunedin’s water infrastructure, roads, reserves and community owned assets into first class working order.

But actually, just f*** off altogether.

Wanted: New leader with a cool business head, capable of rigour and empathy.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

21 Comments

Filed under Agriculture, Aurora Energy, Baloney, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, Citifleet, Climate change, Concerts, Construction, Corruption, Crime, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Design, District Plan, DPAG, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Electricity, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Finance, Geography, Health, Highlanders, Hot air, Hotel, Housing, Infrastructure, LGNZ, Museums, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Offshore drilling, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SFO, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design

Tagged as Dunedin, F****** green policy, Infrastructure chaos, Liability and risk, MASSIVE Council Debt, The Mayor Ineffectual

by Elizabeth | January 12, 2017 · 2:32 am

How to drop Crombie and the mafia from City boards

Or read, how the new city council will continue to undermine the Ratepayers and Residents of Dunedin, as well as the power consumers and district councils of Otago, just like before…. by allowing ill-considered (shoulder tap) appointments of a ‘class of morons’ to the boards of the City companies.

Troughers Unite.

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ODT 11.1.17 (page 4)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

8 Comments

Filed under Aurora Energy, Carisbrook, Central Otago, Construction, Corruption, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Education, Electricity, Events, Finance, Geography, Health, Highlanders, Housing, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Travesty

Tagged as Aurora Energy Ltd, Bloody accountants, Boards of Directors, Council owned companies (CCOs), DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta Utility Services Ltd, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Dunedin City Treasury Ltd, Dunedin mafia, DVL, DVML, Forsyth Barr Stadium, fubar stadium, Jacks Point, Luggate, Misuse of ratepayer funds, Money laundering, NZRU, Office of the Auditor-General, ORFU, PROFESSIONAL RUGBY, Rorts, The Highlanders, Thugs, Troughers, Yaldhurst

by Elizabeth | December 30, 2016 · 4:45 pm

Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta

ODT 30.12.16 (page 12)

Aurora – Safety webpage (detail) 30.12.16

WorkSafe New Zealand
Contact WorkSafe 0800 030 040
█ http://www.worksafe.govt.nz/worksafe

Energy Safety
Part of WorkSafe New Zealand, Energy Safety acts as the regulator for ensuring the safe supply and use of electricity and gas in New Zealand. Energy Safety is responsible for providing an effective investigation, compliance, enforcement, and conformance regime for achieving electrical and gas safety outcomes.
█ http://www.energysafety.govt.nz/

Note: On Monday 4 April 2016, the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) came into effect. HSWA repeals the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, with immediate effect.

‘Delta’ bovver boys by Douglas Field 29.11.16 (detail)

On 19 October 2016 former Delta manager Richard Healey went public about workplace and public safety concerns at Dunedin and across Otago via TV3’s Story (newshub.co.nz).

From 19 October through November posts and comments at What if? Dunedin, including those by Richard Healey, focused on the dangerous network, and poor governance within the council owned companies Aurora/Delta, within the council’s holding company DCHL, and within the duly elected Dunedin City Council itself [relevant trimesters].

The full extent of the dangerous and deliberately degraded network is attributable to criminal negligence and extreme mismanagement of financial resources (public funds).

The young inexperienced chief executive of the companies Aurora/Delta, Grady Cameron, has personally resisted taking any blame for the dangerous network – note, the findings and advice of the 2010 report by LineTech Consulting, commissioned shortly after Cameron’s appointment, have failed to flow into various Asset Management Plans drafted by Aurora, subsequently.

As a result of Richard Healey’s revelations three investigations were to take place:

1. Deloitte report for DCHL (released 12 Dec 2016)
2. Energy Safety (WorkSafe) investigation (no date given for release)
3. Commerce Commission investigation – industry regulator (no date given)

The courts await.

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I N ● J U S T ● O N E ● M O N T H

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

Mobile substation Willis St, Harbourside 12.11.16 [photo: Christchurch Driver]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

1 Comment

Filed under Aurora Energy, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Education, Electricity, Finance, Geography, Health, Highlanders, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Travesty, What stadium

Tagged as Asset management, Aurora Energy Ltd, Board of Directors, Brian Wood, Company audits, Council owned companies (CCOs), Dangerous workplaces, Dave Cull, David Frow, DCC, DCHL, Delta Utility Services Ltd, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Dunedin Venues Ltd, DVL, Forsyth Barr Stadium, fubar stadium, Gary Johnson, Good Old Boys (GOBs), Grady Cameron, Graham Crombie, Health and Safety, Ian Parton, Infrastructure networks, John Walsh, Matt Ballard, New Zealand Rugby Union, NZRU, Obfuscation, Office of the Auditor-General, Official complaints, ORFU, Otago Rugby Football Union, Power poles, Property development, Renewals, Rugby, Social Media, Stadiums, Steve Thompson, Subvention payments, The Highlanders, Trevor Kempton, Whistleblowers

by Elizabeth | December 27, 2016 · 8:23 pm

Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview with Kathryn Ryan #RNZ

Link received 27/12/2016 at 3:21 p.m.
Message: A lesson for some Dunedin ‘luminaries’ perchance?

It’s amazing how resistant, particularly powerful men, are to people coming from outside and giving them advice on how to make decisions.
—Michael Lewis

RNZ National
Trust your gut? Think again
From Nine To Noon with Kathryn Ryan, 10:09 am on 21 December 2016

[Abridged.] Michael Lewis is one of the most famous non-fiction writers in America. He has written 14 books, edited one and is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair. His books include the global best-selling Flash Boys – an expose of high speed scamming in the stock market; The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine – an account of shady financial transactions and accounting that led to the 2008 global financial meltdown and on which the film The Big Short was based and Moneyball, the story of a maverick outsider who beat the system.

Lewis’s new book is called The Undoing Project in which he profiles the professional and personal relationship between the behavioural psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Kahneman and Tversky’s work shed new light on how humans make decisions when faced with risk and uncertainty. They established that we generally trust our gut instinct, over the evidence, to guide our decision-making.

[simonandschuster.com]

Lewis says he came across Kahneman and Tversky after writing Moneyball. He says the two were very different personalities and that made for the perfect team.

“They sensed in the other something they wished they had. Kahneman is an unbelievable creative mind he really has a mind more like a poet or a novelist filled with these flashing insights about human nature. Tversky wanted to be a poet but he has a scientific, logical mind. He’s a brilliant logician.”

The two decide to come together and study how the human mind works. That work became an examination of human fallibility – the weakness of the human mind. They designed experiments to show how our mind plays tricks on us.

One they stumbled on was a phenomenon they called anchoring that skews human decisions. They also established that we are terrible at assessing risk – we rate risk based on what’s most memorable which tends to be what happened most recently.

[marketwatch.com]

“People long for the world to be a far more certain place than it is, instead of dealing with uncertainties they tell stories that make it seem much more certain and respond to stories that make it seem much more certain than it is. A politician speaking in certain terms as if he’s infallible has weirdly an advantage – even though we shouldn’t believe him. We’re very vulnerable to people who simulate certainty.”

Lewis is unsure whether this inbuilt fallibility can be fixed.

“I hate to sound fatalistic but one of the big takeaways from [Kahneman and Tversky’s] work is just how hard it is to correct for human fallibility – they equate cognitive illusion with optical illusion.”
Read more

█ Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (26′07″)

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Michael Monroe Lewis (born Oct 15, 1960) was born in New Orleans to corporate lawyer J. Thomas Lewis and community activist Diana Monroe Lewis. He attended the college preparatory Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. He then attended Princeton University where he received a BA degree (cum laude) in Art History in 1982 and was a member of the Ivy Club. He went on to work with New York art dealer Daniel Wildenstein. He enrolled in the London School of Economics, and received his MA degree in Economics in 1985. Lewis was hired by Salomon Brothers and moved to New York for their training program. He worked at its London office as a bond salesman. He resigned to write Liar’s Poker and become a financial journalist. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009. More at Wikipedia.

Vanity Fair – Hive: Politics
█ Donald Trump and the Rules of the New American Board Game
By Michael Lewis Dec 18, 2016 7:00 pm
While volunteering at his daughter’s new high school, Michael Lewis watched kids of all races and backgrounds react to Trump’s election with a peaceful demonstration of their grief and fear. It inspired a game he’s devised for thinking about the future. Link

Vanity Fair – Hive: Politics
█ Obama’s Way
By Michael Lewis Sep 11, 2012 6:12 pm
To understand how air-force navigator Tyler Stark ended up in a thornbush in the Libyan desert in March 2011, one must understand what it’s like to be president of the United States—and this president in particular. Hanging around Barack Obama for six months, in the White House, aboard Air Force One, and on the basketball court, Michael Lewis learns the reality of the Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent Stark into combat. Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Michael Lewis by Tabitha Soren / W.W. Norton Company
blackwhite by whatifdunedin

1 Comment

Filed under Aurora Energy, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, Citifleet, Climate change, Concerts, Construction, Corruption, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, District Plan, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Education, Electricity, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Finance, Geography, Health, Hot air, Infrastructure, LGNZ, Media, Museums, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, NZTA, OAG, Ombudsman, ORC, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SDHB, SFO, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design

Tagged as 'The powerful', ANCHORING, Behavioural psychologists, Change, Cognitive illusion, Creative minds, Decision-making, Donald Trump, Fallibility, Finance, Gut instinct, Human nature, Memory, Michael Lewis, Money, Optical illusion, Personalities, Red alert, Risk and uncertainty, Risk assessment, Rose-coloured glasses, Scientific minds, Simulating certainty, Stories/Myths, The Big Short (film), The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (book), The Undoing Project (book), Trust, Vulnerability, Wheel of fortune

by Elizabeth | December 26, 2016 · 7:52 pm

Stadium : Used car and underwear sales down #missdpopularitycontest

The man running Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium says the venue is still hunting for sell-out concerts, despite being overlooked by a string of top international acts.

### ODT Online Tue, 27 Dec 2016
Concert quest ongoing despite setbacks
By Chris Morris
After a bumper period last year in which Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac and Neil Diamond all performed at the stadium, the venue’s international concerts have dried up, the last being Black Sabbath’s show in April. Hopes more big acts would stop in Dunedin this summer were dashed when performers such as British rockers Coldplay and pop superstar Adele opted for shows in Auckland instead…. Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive Terry Davies [said] this summer’s “dry” period for concerts in Dunedin would continue for the first half of 2017.
Read more

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Listen:
### radionz.co.nz Fri, 12 Dec 2008
Radio NZ National : Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan
Carisbrook Stadium in trouble (Link)
09:30 Malcolm Farry, Chairman Carisbrook Stadium Trust; and Jeff Dickie, property investor and outspoken critic of the stadium.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (13′15″)

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The instant the CST and the council started believing in their own hype and spin about Dalai Lama visits, world swimming championships and Royal tours was the moment that this city’s ratepayers were doomed to have to meet all of the “private funding”.
–Russell Garbutt ODT 13.4.12

Garrick Tremain – 13 May 2012

At various times, it was imagined that it might host international soccer, rugby league and even swimming; that penguins would frolic in a (converted) adjoining quarry, and not just that the biggest names in rock music would visit, but, perhaps, the Dalai Lama and British royalty.
–Steve Kilgallon Stuff 3.6.12

Then….

### channel39.co.nz Tue, 17 July 2012
█ Dalai Lama’s proposed visit puts smile on face
The Dalai Lama’s proposed visit to Dunedin has put a wry smile on the face of the man behind Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Video

Garrick Tremain – 17 Jan 14

Garrick Tremain – 1 Oct 2014

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Full article:

[before we knew the GOBs were completely buggering Dunedin and Central Otago’s electricity network]

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 03/06/2012
House of Blame
By Steve Kilgallon – Sunday Star Times
AMBITIOUS: The Forsyth Barr Stadium has left a city divided and its ratepayers facing vast debts.
….In June 2008, two major concert promoters had told the D-Scene newspaper what should have been self-evident: Dunedin was too small, remote and student-oriented to provide the sales base to attract big-name acts. In February this year, council-owned stadium management company Dunedin Venues Management Limited’s (DVML) chief executive David Davies said concert bookings for the stadium would be “thin” in 2012. “What’s thinner than one?” asks Garbutt. Cull says the council has to leverage the advantage of having a roof, guaranteeing events won’t be rained off. Farry, who wanted to run the stadium for its first two years, is disappointed the council hasn’t attracted more concerts.
Read more

*The same article, retitled, appears at Stuff Sport: Stadium builds under fire

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### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:38 14/09/2012
Councils should stay away from business
By Chalkie – Tim Hunter
There are people who believe local councils should own businesses because they generate returns and ease the burden on ratepayers. Chalkie is not one of them. Your humble correspondent thinks councils should stick to their knitting. The reasons are many and varied. Taking a couple of examples at random:
a) Councils can start to think they are there to make money instead of, say, distribute water; and
b) Councils are not commercially savvy shareholders.
Poppycock, you say. Show me a single case of a council’s emptyheaded pursuit of unprofitable goals. In response, Chalkie invites you to consider Dunedin. In that southern city the council is the proud owner of Dunedin City Holdings, whose job, according to its report, is “to manage the commercial investments of the Dunedin City Council to maximise returns”. The businesses under DCH’s umbrella include electricity network company Aurora, forestry company City Forests, the Taieri Gorge Railway Company and an engineering business called Delta Utility Services. DCH’s 2012 numbers are not yet available, but last year it trumpeted an improvement in revenue and profit and a total cash return to the council of $23.2 million. If you thought that was a good result, you’d be wrong. When you look at several years of DCH numbers a disturbing pattern emerges of ever-increasing millions being borrowed and pumped into underperforming assets. The cashflow statements tell the story.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

25 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Baloney, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, Concerts, CST, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, Economics, Electricity, Events, Finance, Hot air, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Travesty, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as Aurora Energy Ltd, Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust, CST, Dangerous network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta Utility Services Ltd, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Dunedin City Treasury Ltd, Dunedin Venues Ltd, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, FINANCIAL DOOM, Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, fubar stadium, Good Old Boys (GOBs), Heathens, Hollow learnings, Malcolm Farry, MASSIVE Council Debt, Sharks, Stadiums, THE FLOP

by Elizabeth | December 15, 2016 · 8:18 pm

DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling

Garrick Tremain – 15 Dec 2016

****

Received from Lee Vandervis
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 7:43 a.m.

From: Graeme Jeffery
Date: Wednesday, 14 December 2016 7:41 pm
To: Aaron Hawkins; Christine Garey; Doug Hall; Marie Laufiso; Mike Lord; Jim O’Malley; Sue Bidrose; Damian Newell; Chris Staynes; Conrad Stedman; Andrew Whiley; Kate Wilson, Mayor Dave Cull
Subject: Re: Delta Milking

Dear Councillors, I was pleased to see Richard Healey was vindicated in his claims about the crisis facing Delta and Aurora. I, however, was disturbed to see the appointment of another accountant, Steve Thompson, onto the board. Part of the problem with the pole replacement program was that for some time an accountant was running it. We need engineers on the board not accountants as the problem here is health and safety and the integrity of the network not financial systems. I was not however surprised to see Thompson on the board and read he is backing Cameron. After all, the company he works for is Deloitte and it awarded Cameron ‘Young CEO of the Year’. What is hard to understand is how Thompson could claim that Cameron has done a good job in difficult circumstances when most of those circumstances were Cameron and the Boards’ own doing. Does he mean, for example, the millions he lost on subdivisions in Luggate, [Jacks Point] and Christchurch or perhaps the fact that he was the first CEO in living memory to lose money in a financial year. Maybe he meant the 20 roading redundancies, 40 in Christchurch, 15 in Alex, a further 50 in Dunedin at Civil, and another 10 in Greenspace this year. A grand total of 150 good people that Cameron sent down the road. Or were those difficult circumstances the investigations he is or has been under by the Audit Office, WorkSafe, Energy Safety, the Commerce Commission, the [Central Otago] District Council, the Queenstown [Lakes] District Council and then Deloitte. Perhaps it was the hundreds of thousands he spent on relocating offices and his failed re-branding or the fact that he and his deputy Ballard have surrounded themselves with people not competent to do the jobs they are assigned to. Or was it maybe the death and at least 5 serious injuries that have happened on his watch? Maybe it was the destruction of asset management systems and his failure to implement inspections such as link boxes, MDI boxes, air break switches and high voltage switch gear that he has knowingly overseen.
Perhaps those difficult circumstances were driving out good people such as Jarrod Stuart who was to oversee the pole replacement program but could no longer work under interfering, incompetent leadership. Or was he worried that he has now appointed a person with no knowledge of electricity networks to run the pole replacement program after realising how his previous appointment of an accountant to do this went so wrong. Maybe he was worried that his minions have been altering the input into the xivic analysis of pole structures so he could claim to have less red tag poles in the system. Or was it really just his utter failure to carry out what was needed when he did the LineTech Report in 2010 which required 1200 poles replaced per year for ten years and the worry that he may [be] and was found out ? Maybe it’s been difficult for poor Grady in the 2 months since he announced the accelerated pole replacement program that he supposedly planned in April [being that] he hasn’t replaced one extra pole. That puts him 140 behind schedule already. Nothing new there. No perhaps it was the fact that he has destroyed morale and goodwill among staff at Delta and is now considered no more than a laughing stock?
Surely the council can see why Richard Healey said it was ‘mind boggling’ that Thompson backed Cameron and his deputy Ballard. Quite frankly it doesn’t say much for the new chairman of the board when he is supporting somebody clearly not fit to run the company. How can any sane person possibly support this man and his so called executive leadership team. I know very few staff at Delta do. It is completely wrong to suggest, as some councillors have, that it doesn’t matter whether Cameron stays or goes, as he has been responsible for the day to day running of the company and his reports to the board and vice versa have clearly been misguided and deficient. Not only that, no-one at Delta can move on or start the huge task ahead, safely or efficiently with the dark clouds of Cameron and co hovering over their heads. After all, Crombie and Mr Benson-Pope said heads should role if the allegations proved correct. They have. Remember safety was the primary motive for Richard exposing what was happening at Delta and Cameron has been shown to be part of this disgrace (eg LineTech Report).

What is truly sad, is that all this was preventable, as many people have told the councils and the boards over the years this was going to happen. As I have said before this was raised to the then mayor (Sukhi Turner), the board and an MP as early as 1998 but the old boys network closed around her and us, just as they may appear to be doing now. It is time we learnt that you need engineers, some more engineers and then more engineers to run these systems and drop the accountants, and lawyers, who are neither qualified or competent to run an organisation of this type and size, when it is facing the biggest infrastructural project in Otago for next year and beyond. PS, The views of many of the councillors who represent the interest of the ratepayers and owners of the asset have been frighteningly absent through this. Have they left the country, are scared or just not interested. Cheers Graeme (Unhappy ratepayer)

——– Forwarded Message ——–
Subject: Delta Milking
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2016 22:15:38 +1300
From: Graeme Jeffery

To: Aaron Hawkins; Christine Garey; David Benson-Pope; Doug Hall; Marie Laufiso; Mike Lord; Jim O’Malley; Sue Bidrose; Damian Newell; Chris Staynes; Conrad Stedman; Andrew Whiley; Kate Wilson, Mayor Dave Cull

Dear Councillors, I was extremely disturbed to see from the mayor, that the report from Deloitte into public and worker safety and the management of the network may not be made public. Remember this report was to look into management and not on their behalf. The safety of workers and staff is paramount and commercial sensitivity being used as an excuse to censor from public view is inexcusable. Pole replacements, switchgear, transformers, potheads, lines down etc are not let out for contract so commercial sensitivity has no bearing – I fail to see any valid reason why the entire report can’t be made public considering the level of public and worker interest. Remember, you are answerable to the public and ratepayers first and then the board and management are answerable to you, not the other way round which keeping this secret would suggest. We who work on and the owners of the network surely should have the report before us first and the board and management after that. The tail is clearly wagging the dog here. Delta has had at least 5 serious injuries and one death since Cameron took over and Delta has been complicit in at least 2 of the injuries and the death. Roger Steel left behind a widow. How many more women must weep and families like mine worry while the council worries about “commercial sensitivity”, and puts the public’s interests behind the interests of the Delta board and management.
Cameron commissioned a report by LineTech in 2010 that showed he needed to replace 12,773 poles in Dunedin alone (32,406 in total with Central) in the next 10 years to keep the network safe. He and the board have replaced way less than 3,000 in Dunedin in that time. A blind eye or incompetent. Both I’d say. Also the report said inspections, increases in cables maintenance, replacement and equipment had not been adequate, yet I can assure you these have not been stepped up at all, in fact some of these things have stopped all together. For the record, at the recent meeting of Delta staff less than 15 people out of a hundred voted to have a committee and release a joint statement to the media. There was not a No vote taken. A vote of no confidence was proposed but again no vote was taken. I hope there was no confusion that this was a unanimous or popular decision by the workers to support the joint statement. Around 85 of the hundred there didn’t endorse it. Personally I would be disgusted and lose all faith in due process and democracy if this report isn’t released in full and the true owners, the ratepayers, aren’t informed [of] what’s been happening. It may appear to Delta staff and ratepayers alike that the old boys network is closing in on the council and mayor. Remember, you the councillors are answerable first and foremost to the asset owners, the ratepayers, and not the Delta board and management.

[ends]

28.10.16 ODT: Criticism for Cull on poles approach
Whistleblower Richard Healey and Delta staff member Graeme Jeffery were yesterday highly critical of Mr Cull’s response and questioned why he had not yet condemned Delta and Aurora for their health and safety failures.

****

I-Know-Nothing Stuart McLauchlan has no Get Out Of Jail Free card

● McLauchlan was appointed to the Aurora/Delta Boards on 1 June 2007.

Aurora Energy Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/471661
Delta Utility Services Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/453486

● McLauchlan served on the Board of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd from 1 June 2007 to 31 October 2011.

Dunedin City Holdings Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/559098

● McLauchlan ended his stint as Highlanders Board chairman in October 2009. He was appointed in 2004 by NZRU.

As a mere accountant and ‘professional’ receiver of (many sets of) directors fees, Mr McLauchlan is completely out of his depth in regards to property development and subdivision practices per se, however friends and colleagues found themselves assisted towards advantageous pricing of ‘stadium land’. Mr McLauchlan is renowned for having been in the thick of Delta’s ‘lightly investigated’ loss-making Luggate and Jacks Point property speculations. Contemporaneously, Mr McLauchlan and ‘friends’ were behind Delta’s buy-in to the then illegal subdivision at Noble Yaldhurst, Christchurch. That subdivision is set to lose Dunedin ratepayers further millions while bank rolling, once again, certain male protagonists.

We’re not sorry that Mr McLauchlan must take what is coming.

Thu, 15 Dec 2016
Stadium hurt renewal plans – McLauchlan
A departing Aurora Energy board member says pressure to pay for Forsyth Barr Stadium meant less was spent on network maintenance. Former Aurora and Delta board member Stuart McLauchlan was reluctant to go into any detail about the findings of a Deloitte review, but was keen to highlight the problems it identified pre-dated the current board. ….He said his resignation after nine years on the boards of the two beleaguered companies had nothing to do with the review’s findings and he was disappointed the connection had been made. Cont/

****

ODT 15.12.16 (page 16)

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: ngaitahutourism.co.nz – stuart mclauchlan

9 Comments

Filed under Aurora Energy, Business, Carisbrook, Central Otago, Construction, Corruption, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Education, Electricity, Finance, Geography, Health, Highlanders, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Queenstown Lakes, Resource management, SFO, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Travesty, What stadium

Tagged as Asset management, Aurora Energy Ltd, Boards of Directors, Commerce Commission, Compliance, Corruption, Council owned companies (CCOs), Councillors, Dangerous workplaces, DCC, DCHL, Deloitte, Delta Utility Services Ltd, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Executive Leadership Team, Grady Cameron, Graham Crombie, Gross negligence, Health and Safety, Incompetence, John Walsh, Mayor of Dunedin, OAG, Obfuscation, Resignations, Rorts, Steve Thompson, Stuart McLauchlan, Tartan Mafia, TIME TO GO, Whistleblowers

by Elizabeth | October 13, 2016 · 2:19 pm

COMPLETE Dis-satisfaction with DCC, DCHL, DVML, DVL, Delta….

Fake it til you make it, and hey, don’t lift the marigolds.

Sorry Daaave, looks like a D for your council’s governance. —Actually, for the avoidance of euphemism, make that D- and lower for DIRE Performance, accompanying Drivel, and Diabolical treatment of Residents and Ratepayers in the aftermath of emergency situations.

Listening to Yes People and your dwindling voter base isn’t your best hope to resolve ongoing multimillion-dollar losses being sustained by a couple of the council-owned companies, to the point where the holding company led by chairman Crombie, fronts with a “qualified audit” only on presentation of its annual report(?) to Council.

[In July 2015 Graham Crombie was appointed to the Commerce Commission as an Associate Commissioner for a five year term.]

Damages to employment, liveability and opportunity in a No-growth city keep stacking.

—

“It is also yet another example of good public service jobs being lost from our smaller towns and cities.” –PSA spokeswoman

### ODT Online Thu, 13 Oct 2016
ACC jobs to go in Dunedin
By Vaughan Elder
After consulting with staff since June, the decision had been made to relocate all the roles over the next 12 to 18 months to the larger Christchurch office and have “one centre for consistent customer and rehabilitation services across the Southern region”.
Read more

****

Asked about people who continued to be negative about the city, he said: “Negativity is an attitude, it’s not a fact.”

### ODT Online Thu, 13 Oct 2016
Survey ‘shows Dunedin on right track’
By Vaughan Elder
A survey showing Dunedin residents feel increasingly positive about their city shows the city is on the “right track”, Mayor Dave Cull says. […] the annual survey was not all good news. Last year’s June flood was picked as a reason for increasing dissatisfaction with the city’s stormwater system [down 13 points to 43%]. Satisfaction rates also fell when it came to public toilets, the suitability of the city’s roads for cycling and the availability of parks in the central city.
Read more

[Chief executive Sue Bidrose] said some of the areas where there had been negative results this year and in past surveys correlated to negative media coverage in the Otago Daily Times.

*1577 survey responses from 5400 residents randomly selected from the electoral roll,

The Talking Head (without helmet, unprepared)

█ Dunedin City Council (media release)
Residents’ Opinion Survey released 12 Oct 2016. Link

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: cdn.guardian.ng – marigold, tweaked by whatifdunedin

6 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Climate change, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, District Plan, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Finance, Geography, Health, Hotel, Housing, Infrastructure, Media, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, SFO, South Dunedin, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as 2016 local body elections, 2016 Residents' Opinion Survey, ACC, Blind faith, Central government, Citifleet, Council consolidated debt, Council spending, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin employment, DVL, DVML, Employment, Finance, Infrastructure services, Jobs, Local body, Pipe renewals, Ratepayers and Residents, Redundancies, South Dunedin flood, Spendthrift mayor, Stadium LOSSES, Surveys, Vote count (down for Dave)

by Elizabeth | October 2, 2016 · 7:40 pm

WHO says ‘heritage rules are too restrictive’ —What’s their agenda in the Heritage City

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

St Joseph’s and the Dominican Priory, Smith St [cardcow.com]

‘A new roof for Dunedin’s Dominican Priory, considered one of New Zealand’s most important and at-risk historic buildings, is a big step closer following a $100,000 grant. [The] Dunedin Heritage Fund had committed the money from its 2016-17 budget. The 139-year old priory was built to house the city’s Dominican nuns and provide teaching space for girls. Despite its vast scale and elaborate construction – its floating concrete staircase and double-glazed music room were cutting edge designs in their day – the building received little maintenance over its working life.’ –Gerald Scanlan, Catholic Diocese of Dunedin (ODT)

19.2.16 ODT: Boost for restoration of priory (+ video)
12.5.16 ODT: DCC commits $100,000 to priory restoration
27.6.16 ODT: Priory future gets clean slate

*The Dunedin Heritage Fund is administered by representatives of Dunedin City Council and Heritage New Zealand.

****

MORE GOOD NEWS

Dunedin Prison “big-picture project” [dunedinprisontrust.co.nz]

‘The Dunedin Prison Trust has raised about $500,000 to start the first stage of its development programme to return the [old prison] building to its original appearance. […] Last year, the trust lodged a planning application with the Dunedin City Council detailing about $250,000 of restorative work which would return the prison’s exterior to its original 1896 condition. The application included work on the building’s roof and walls, as well as seismic strengthening, work expected to cost another $250,000.’ (ODT)

24.8.16 ODT: Restoration begins on historic prison
2.9.16 ODT: Captive audience for prison project
17.9.16 ODT: Old prison roof being restored

****

GOOD NEWS CONTINUES

Dunedin Courthouse [panoramio.com]

‘Refurbishing and strengthening Dunedin’s historic courthouse is expected to cost more than $18 million, according to a building consent approved by the Dunedin City Council. The consent includes detailed designs that council building services manager Neil McLeod says involve some of the most extensive earthquake-strengthening ever undertaken in the city. The plans also show the extent to which the Ministry of Justice plans on returning the building to its former glory.’ (ODT)

10.9.16 ODT: $18m to be spent on court upgrade
29.9.16 ODT: Courthouse restoration set to begin
30.9.16 ODT: Dunedin firm wins courthouse contract

****

BAD NEWS

‘The Physio Pool is one of the largest warm water swimming pools in New Zealand and Dunedin’s only therapeutic swimming pool. The temperature is always kept around 35 degrees. We feature wheelchair accessibility, hoist and private changing rooms. The benefits of warm water exercise are tremendous and have an extremely positive impact on the quality of life for all ages. We are open to the public and offer a non-threatening environment for swimming, aqua jogging, individual exercise programmes, or warm water relaxation.’ —physiopool.org.nz

### ODT Online Sat, 1 Oct 2016
Pool heritage status opposed
By Vaughan Elder
The Southern District Health Board is fighting a proposal to classify Dunedin’s already endangered physio pool site as a heritage building, saying it may have to be demolished as part of a hospital redevelopment. This comes as the Property Council and the University of Otago are set to argue at next week’s Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) hearings that proposed rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings are too restrictive.
Read more

█ Heritage New Zealand | Otago Therapeutic Pool List No. 7581
Historical information and Heritage significance at http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details?id=7581

****

FURTHER BAD NEWS AND PILLOCKS

Criticism of the [second generation district] plan comes after praise in recent times for the council for its proactive approach towards saving the city’s heritage buildings.

### ODT Online Sun, 2 Oct 2016
Heritage rules deemed too restrictive
By Vaughan Elder
The Dunedin City Council’s proposed new heritage rules are too restrictive and property owners should have more freedom to demolish uneconomic heritage buildings, the Property Council says. This comes as Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) commissioners are set to hear arguments next week about a new set of rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings. The University of Otago is also among submitters to have expressed concern about rules, planner and policy adviser Murray Brass saying they had the potential to reduce protection by making it more difficult to maintain and use heritage buildings.
A summary on the 2GP website said the changes included addressing the threat of “demolition by neglect” by making it easier to put old buildings to new uses and requiring resource consent for most changes to identified heritage buildings and “character-contributing” buildings within defined heritage precincts.
The new rules have prompted a strong response.
Read more

****

FOR HISTORIC HERITAGE

Second Generation District Plan (2GP) – Heritage
Read all Heritage topic documents including reports, evidence and submissions to date at: https://2gp.dunedin.govt.nz/2gp/hearings-schedule/heritage.html

Documents
● Notice of Hearing
● Agenda
● Speaking Schedule – updated 29 September

Council Evidence
● Section 42A report
● Section 42A report addendum

DCC expert evidence
● Statement of evidence of Glen Hazelton [Policy planner – heritage]

█ Download: s42a Heritage Report with appendices (PDF, 5 MB)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Carisbrook turnstile building, Neville St | HNZ Category 1 historic place
[filmcameraworkshop.com]

7 Comments

Filed under #eqnz, Architecture, Business, Carisbrook, Construction, DCC, Democracy, Design, District Plan, Dunedin, Economics, Education, Events, Finance, Geography, Heritage, Heritage NZ, Housing, Infrastructure, Innovation, Inspiration, Leading edge, Media, Museums, Name, New Zealand, NZHPT, OAG, Ombudsman, People, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, SDHB, Site, South Dunedin, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, University of Otago, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as #eqnz, Adaptive reuse, Architecture, Built environment, Conservation, DCC, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Heritage Fund, Financial assistance, Funding rounds, Grants, Heritage building industry, Heritage economics, Heritage New Zealand, Historic heritage, Historic places, HNZ, Motivated building owners, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, NZHPT, Preservation, Property investment, Redevelopment, Restoration, Urban design

by Elizabeth | August 15, 2016 · 3:33 pm

Calder Stewart playing games at Carisbrook

S H I F T I N G ● T H E ● G O A L ● P O S T S

█ Site zoned industrial under district plan and proposed 2GP.

█ Company lobbying to evade set condition for 10.5m setback —for own commercial gain.

### ODT Online Mon, 15 Aug 2016
Old stadium site ruling questioned
By David Loughrey
The company that owns the former Carisbrook Stadium site in South Dunedin is calling on the Dunedin City Council to scrap a 10.5m setback suggested for its Burns St frontage. Calder Stewart says the setback will cover 1963sq m of land worth about $600,000, and will not provide the benefits suggested in the second generation district plan (2GP). The company took its concerns to the 2GP hearings last week, as a hearings committee considered what the next district plan will look like. […] Research undertaken by the University of Otago had shown South Dunedin had a low population of native birds because of a lack of habitat, and planting of native or exotic trees there would provide a valuable habitat resource.
Read more

[click to enlarge]
Dunedin Jan 2003. Image: flyinn.co.nz

Carisbrook May 2013. Image: Rob Hamlin

DCC Webmap – Carisbrook, South Dunedin JanFeb 2013

—

C A R I S B R O O K

Source: Wikipedia

Broke ground 1881 | Opened 1883 | Closed 2011 | Demolition starting 2013

Former Tenants:
Otago Rugby Football Union | Highlanders (Super 14) (1996–2011)

Carisbrook was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city’s main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, rugby league and motocross. Carisbrook also hosted a Joe Cocker concert and frequently hosted pre-game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s. In 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced by Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza in North Dunedin.
Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as “The Brook”, it has been branded with the name “The House of Pain”, due to its reputation as a difficult venue for visiting teams.
Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground was flanked by the South Island Main Trunk Railway and the Hillside Railway Workshops, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground.
Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after a castle on the Isle of Wight). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from Tasmania. It hosted rugby union internationals since 1908 and full cricket internationals since 1955.
The stadium was home to both the Highlanders in Super Rugby and Otago in the ITM Cup through each side’s respective 2011 season. It is also the former home of Otago cricket, which moved to the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city after the redevelopment in the early 2000s, and also of Otago United Football team in the New Zealand Football Championship, which moved to the lower-capacity Sunnyvale Park for the 2008–09 season.
█ Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carisbrook

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

17 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Construction, DCC, Democracy, Design, District Plan, Dunedin, Economics, Finance, Geography, Heritage, Hot air, Media, Name, New Zealand, People, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, Site, South Dunedin, Stadiums, Town planning, Travesty, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as Calder Stewart Ltd, Carisbrook, Carisbrook ground, DCC, District Plan, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Expensive bloody stadiums, Highlanders, Industrial zone, ORFU, Otago Rugby Football Union, Planning, Second generation district plan (2GP), Setbacks, South Dunedin, Sports grounds

by Elizabeth | July 23, 2016 · 10:24 pm

Calder Stewart pay up #Carisbrook

What will Dave and the greenies spend this loot on ?

ODT 23.7.16 (page 6)

Link: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/391281/dcc-paid-31-million-carisbrook-sale

█ For more, enter the terms *carisbrook* or *orfu* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

7 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, DCC, Democracy, District Plan, Dunedin, Economics, Finance, Highlanders, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, Site, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Town planning, Travesty, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as Calder Stewart, Carisbrook, DCC, Demolition, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Good Old Boys (GOBs), Heritage, Industrial land, Land banking, Stadiums, Turnstile Building, Zoning

by Elizabeth | July 2, 2016 · 7:28 pm

STADIUM LOSSES +$20M Ratepayer Subsidy each year : Not a Community Asset while Our Money flows OUT

So DDT, woops ODT, persist with their Stadium Support Policy after months of Nothing of Substance at the LOSS MAKING Stadium.

One feeble rugby test only.
Infrequent visits by grey-haired performers, jaded once-stars.

All this for +$20million each year on your Rates. The sinkhole of all Dunedin GOB stupidities, with a direct line to Mssrs MF and EE, dear friends of Queenstown.

The erstwhile owners of the local newspaper (and was it 23 delectable Rolls Royces and Bentleys later, as if Sunday night marshmellows by the roaring log fire) have the personal wealth to overlook the sheer theft by stealth and duff embellishment that is Dunedin’s LOSS MAKING stadium.

Many of us find our entertainment thrills, according to income or not…. via the tea leaves, payless YouTube, internet TV, Sky, or the treat of flying to venues elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas. Without having to insinuate ourselves into the Dog Stadium of #DUD.

Unless, you’ve a moronic Thugby itch, a weakness, a throwback in your understanding of national identity as brawl and brain injury…. and can live with just one test in a year, or more years…. to justify filching from the pockets of vulnerable citizens bullied into paying for Stadium indulgences of the rustler-wealthy and the toothless eroding upper echelons of the middle class.

Then a little Home Show for the Non-savers amongst us. Glory!

ODT 2.7.16 (page 1) | phoneshot by whatifdunedin

Dunedin’s 53,000 ratepayers (the hordes? far from it!) and the power users of Otago (via Aurora Energy, on notice to industry regulator, the Commerce Commission, because the lines company can’t fund sufficient renewals and upgrades to its working assets – not helped by annual subvention payments) are being Robbed Blind year in year out – to subsidise the council-owned Stadium debt servicing and operating costs.

This is a complete INJUSTICE.
All the games of tilted media Sway is the crippling joke landed upon those who dare to live South. More fool us for our obsequious, largely unquestioning gutless surrender.

In the midst of irresponsible property speculation, low-paying tourism-exploitation, and dairy industry shortfalls, no wonder it’s harder for people to meet rates, rents and basic weekly living expenses —or indeed to feed, clothe and home our very young and our school children, or to sympathetically and safely care for our elderly, and our homeless. Hell, just add the LOSS MAKING stadium as sprinkles on top.

New Zealand is now a Social-economic Monster and our Dunedin City Council is the frizzling Limb of that Heathen.

What faith a turnaround in our individual and collective fortunes at Dunedin as the +$20million pa Stadium RORT continues…. ?

The financial betrayal of the Chin and Climate-Change-Cull councils is WRIT LARGE as the hanging noose. The ANNUAL Stadium Subsidy – in raw terms – equals +$20million not available each year for Dunedin business diversity and development sufficient to create jobs as the much needed ratchet to gradually better standards of living for our most vulnerable residents.

So ODT, here’s the middle finger to your soul-destroying misfit editorial, Stadium’s true legacy (1.7.16), its deceitful posturing : an incendiary Insult to honest Dunedin people.

ODT, you socialise the parochial blindness, unquenchable greed and ultimate +$20million (annual) sins of the good old boys and flunky boosters. FO.

****

Reality checks from MikeStk at ODT Online:

The stadium’s true legacy
Submitted by MikeStk on Fri, 01/07/2016 – 10:52pm.

The stadium’s legacy continues to be a litany of broken promises and financial mismanagement. They’ve largely been papered over by raising taxes to pay for all these missteps, this can’t be put behind us because we continue to be forced to pay and pay for these mistakes and lies.

Let’s list a few:

● Mr Farry started off, back during that first council election, promising us a stadium that would be completely privately financed and the ratepayers would simply be a backstop in case of disaster. In the end we’ll have paid more than $400m, $8000 per ratepayer.
● Then we were promised the stadium “would not cost a dollar over $188m”. Turns out they quietly spent more than $250m, forgetting things like toilets, kitchens, turnstiles and scoreboards, and neglected to include the cost of debt servicing. When we’re done it will have cost more than half a billion dollars, not including the ongoing losses from running the thing.
● Rugby promised to raise $50m in capital to pay for the stadium. They failed, then they had the DCC borrow the money and ‘sold’ the best seats cheaply to their own members with the intent that that would pay down those loans (at the same time taking income from DVML). This ended up on the books as ‘rent’ that DVML was paying DVL, crying poor DVML abandoned this plan and the council hit up the ratepayers to pay for rugby’s private fundraising – we’re still waiting for rugby’s promised private fundraising.
● We’ve twice bailed the ORFU out of impending bankruptcy, largly caused by their decision to push for the building of a stadium that grossly devalued their one asset, namely Carisbrook, that secured their bank loans. In a moment of insanity the council bought Carisbrook for twice what it was worth. Having done this once rugby continued to party up big, holding black tie events for which they could not pay the bills. For some strange reason we bailed them out again. Last year the ORFU made $1m – it’s time they started to pay back some of their debts
● Rugby’s CST promised us that the stadium would make a small profit, $175k/year. Wouldn’t that be great? Instead DVML charges too little for using the stadium, losing millions every year that are paid for by the ratepayers as subsidies to create a pretend profit.

It’s been pretty much a disaster, and those responsible have yet to be held accountable. [Abridged]

****

A clarification at What if? Dunedin:

Mike
Sat, 2 July 2016 at 1:00 pm
For the record abridged from my response to this travesty was the final lines “… the various CST actors have mostly left town, the rugby crowd still don’t pay their way and wilfully neglect their promises to help pay for the stadium.”

The ODT also removed my contention that Farry’s original promise that the stadium would be privately financed “turned out to be far from the truth”. They also removed the adjective “their own stupidity” describing ORFU’s decision to push for a stadium resulting in the value of their one asset crashing to 0.

[ends]

****

ODT: Firm has 3 weeks to pay Carisbrook $3.1m debt (2.7.16)
The buyers of Carisbrook have three weeks to pay the Dunedin City Council for the former sports ground after an earlier plan to subdivide and develop the site to meet the $3.1million debt did not eventuate.

This week ODT said the mild winter had produced an increase in rodents. ODT need look no further than the infestation at its own sainted house.

—

Related Post and Comments:
1.12.14 Stadium Editorial Support strategy —ODT [see recent comments]

█ For more, enter the terms *stadium*, *orfu*, *rugby*, *carisbrook*, *pokies*, *dia*, *martin legge* or *bev butler* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

11 Comments

Filed under Baloney, Business, Carisbrook, Climate change, Construction, Corruption, Democracy, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Events, Finance, Highlanders, Hot air, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, Site, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, University of Otago, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as +$20M pa stadium subsidy, Corruption, Coverups, Defrauding Dunedin, Dunedin, Good Old Boys (GOBs), Hurt the vulnerable some more, Liquidation, Local media, NZRU, ORFU, Pokies, Ratepayers and Residents, Rodents, Rugby, Stadium rort, SUBSIDISING PROFESSIONAL RUGBY, Thugby, Trog City Council - Toadies

by Elizabeth | June 10, 2016 · 4:50 pm

“Civic administration” reacts to hard hitting Listener article

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

S o u t h • D u n e d i n • F l o o d

Truth and decency are owed to the flood affected people of South Dunedin.

Interpretations post flood and in the months since —appear without technical evidence, making false claim to Climate Change (the ‘end is nigh’ if only to avoid local government liability), in contradiction to data and analysis provided by local engineers, ORC, MetService and former council staff, amongst others.

6 June 2016
[post] Listener June 11-17 2016 : Revisiting distress and mismanagement #SouthDunedinFlood

‘Our leader’ is in a self-flagellating hole —prepared to say anything to attract votes in the October local body elections. Serious ? Genuine ?

We owe it to ourselves.
The Mayor of Dunedin should not get a third term.

‘Leadership’ has involved neglect of core council business – specifically, maintenance of key infrastructure network and services.

This has done too much damage: tens of millions of dollars of damage at South Dunedin. A massive hit sustained by constituents and insurers. Yet today ‘the administration’ rattles and unsettles the community it has comprehensively failed, with latest wanton burble at the opinion pages of the Otago Daily Times.

The Mayor should immediately resign his office at Dunedin City Council.

Bullshit from the Mayor and underlings is UNACCEPTABLE.
South Dunedin has a stormwater system that when properly maintained is well able to take rainstorms equivalent to that experienced a year ago.

Systems can always be improved but the current stormwater system is not all that old and has been designed with sufficient control mechanisms and stopgaps.

The Administration failed (for years) to deliver on budget, contracts, drain and mudtank maintenance; failed to check pump performance and screens at pumping stations during the June 2015 storm event; as staffing changed, failed to set in place procedures for weather events; failed to understand Civil Defence requirements for the most densely settled suburb of Dunedin; failed to adequately consider storm run-off from surrounding hill areas and the increase of impermeable surfaces as The Flat developed; failed to release stormwater to the ocean, etc etc……. but ultimately FAILED to put proper thought and planning to AVOIDANCE of Endangerment to the lives, health and livelihoods of thousands of South Dunedin residents.

Seriously. That’s the sort of ‘care and concern’ the gold-chained opinion-writer represents at ODT today. Further, there are Absolutely No Grounds to grease up the loophole backside of the technically inexpert Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

The Listener article raises the issue of “mismanagement” during the rains of early June 2015. The liability rests at council doors.
That is a hammering public fact.

█ For related posts and comments, enter the terms *flood*, *sea level rise*, *stormwater*, *hazard*, *johnstone*, *hendry*, *south dunedin action group*, *debriefing notes* or *listener* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

19 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Baloney, Business, Carisbrook, Climate change, Construction, Corruption, Cycle network, Democracy, District Plan, Dunedin, Economics, Events, Finance, Geography, Health, Hot air, Housing, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, Other, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Politics, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Public interest, Resource management, Site, South Dunedin, Stadiums, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design

Tagged as 3 June 2015 Flood, 3 Waters Strategy, Commercial development, Contract supervision, Cyclical maintenance and repair, Drainage, Drains, Dunedin, Flood, Flood damage, Groundwater level, Historical storm events, Infiltration, Information DELAY, Infrastructure, Insurance debacle, Lack of accountability, Legal advice, Liability and risk, Listener, Maintenance contracts, Media, Monitoring and supervision, Mudtanks, No Redemption, NZ Listener, Obfuscation, ORC, Otago Regional Council, Peer reviews, Rebecca Macfie, Reports, Sea level rise, South Dunedin, South Dunedin Integrated Catchment Management Plan (ICMP), Stormwater DAMAGE, Stormwater drainage, Stormwater pumping stations, Unliveable houses, Who?

by Elizabeth | February 25, 2016 · 6:20 pm

CELEBRATE !!! Greater Dunedin has DIED #boombustcycle

It has not quite gone to Hell, alas.

ODT editor Barry Stewart on tonight’s 39 Dunedin News, announed Greater Dunedin has ended.

This doesn’t mean the people from that popped cycle tyre won’t stand individually.

The reign of Incompetent Spending Terror continues.

But it’s a start. More spurning please.

[HUGE PITY] Dave Cull is running for Mayor again.

Who are they ???
● Dave Cull
● Chris Staynes
● Richard Thomson
● Kate Wilson
● Mike Lord
● Jinty MacTavish

Photo (retitled): The Greater Dunedin caucus leaves

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

68 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Climate change, Concerts, Construction, Corruption, Cycle network, DCC, Delta, Democracy, District Plan, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Geography, Highlanders, Hot air, Hotel, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, Ngai Tahu, NZRU, NZTA, OAG, Offshore drilling, Ombudsman, ORFU, Otago Polytechnic, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Resource management, Site, South Dunedin, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as Anti oil and gas, Climate Change, Council debt CRISIS, Cycleways, DCC elections 2016, Global Warming, Greater Debt Dunedin, Greater Dunedin, Led by sheep, Liability Cull, Make it work, Stadium SUBSIDIES

by Elizabeth | February 8, 2016 · 4:26 am

Rugby Stadium flat passion

Comments at ODT Online:

It’s the finances
Submitted by MikeStk on Sat, 06/02/2016 – 11:26am.

Bones: Once again you misrepresent me – my beef with the stadium and rugby is the way that Otago rugby has ripped off Dunedin, initially promising us a free stadium at no cost to the ratepayers then, without allowing us to vote, changing it to “we’ll raise $50m” and you can pay for the rest, then to “oops we can’t raise a cent” you pay for all of it, to “oops we’re going down the gurgler you must buy Carisbrook for $10m”, to “we’ve had too many black tie dinners and now we’re bankrupt you have to bail us out”, to “we’re not paying enough rent to use it you have to subsidise the running costs by $2m, $5m, $7m, ….”-
Now local rugby is making million dollar profits off our backs but is still not contributing a cent to pay for their rugby stadium – a bunch of wowsers eating at the public trough hoovering my hard earned dollars out of my pockets to subsidised their booze fed events.

I’ll say nice things about your rugby stadium the day I stop having to pay for it and for your fun.

—

A sad decline
Submitted by MikeStk on Sun, 07/02/2016 – 2:25pm.

Bones: As I said, my issues with the rugby stadium are with the finances, not whether anyone thinks it’s a good stadium or not. Solve the financial issues, have rugby pay what they owe and make the ratepayers financially whole and I’ll be happy.

Remember that the ORFU once owned Carisbrook free and clear – the grandfathers of the current generation of rugby official built and paid for Carisbrook out of their own pockets. That’s the way it should be done.

But over time they started spending more money than they were taking in, rather than doing the financially sensible things like spending less or charging more. They started mortgaging their major asset, with no real way to pay it back, and eventually they owed the DCC $2m, and the bank a few million more – a terrible way to honour the wonderful legacy they had been gifted by their canny, thrifty grandfathers.

Then in a moment of financial lunacy they decided to get the city to build them a new stadium, to replace Carisbrook – the bank must have looked at that and raised their collective eyebrows somewhere over the backs of their heads – Carisbrook, the thing they had mortgaged was now worth less than the loan. You can see why they offloaded it on the city in a deal that cost the ratepayers millions – if they’d sold it themselves their bank account would be in the red. So much for their grandfather’s legacy – squandered to nothing.

There’s no reason for the DCC to have been involved in building the rugby stadium – the ORFU’s grandfathers had already proven that with some thrift, some canniness, reaching into their own pockets and raising money from the public, it was completely possible for rugby to build its own stadium. The current generation seem to be too lazy to try, too willing to force the rest of us to pay for something they should have been saving for themselves over the past generation – very much the Ant and the Grasshopper. [Abridged]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: sportreview.net.nz (Aug 2010) – matching rugby’s favourite nutbar Peter De Villiers’ quote to New Yorker cartoon, tweaked by whatifdunedin

6 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Construction, CST, DCC, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Highlanders, Hot air, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, ORFU, People, Perversion, Politics, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Travesty

Tagged as Carisbrook, Council debt CRISIS, DCC, Dunedin City Council, fubar stadium, NZRU, ORFU, Otago Rugby Football Union, PROFESSIONAL RUGBY, Robber rugby, Thugby

by Elizabeth | January 28, 2016 · 9:28 pm

New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption

Whaleoil link received.
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 at 9:10 a.m.

—

LOCAL GOVERNMENT . . .
“in NZ is dodgier than a 10-month-old piece of rancid mutton.” –Slater

### whaleoil.co.nz January 28, 2016 at 8:30am
NZ drops in corruption ratings
by Cameron Slater
The Herald has asked the question of whether NZ is corrupt. Really? They don’t know? Are they surprised?
Of course NZ is filled with corrupt officials. Local Government is the worst.
Corruption is foolishly assumed by the Media Party to be extreme acts. Like someone getting paid off to make a decision that avoids due process. They have tried to lay the blame on top line government “scandals” but they are missing the point. Corruption comes in many forms.
Read more

27.1.16 Fairfax: NZ’s anti-corruption record slipping: watchdog
27.1.16 NZH: Stonewalling and strange deals: Has NZ become more corrupt?

Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index
First launched in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index has been widely credited with putting the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda.
█ https://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/

### radionz.co.nz 3 hrs ago
High-profile deals behind corruption slide – report
By Robert Smith
Controversies such as the Saudi farm deal and SkyCity’s Convention Centre mean New Zealand no longer sets the standard for integrity in the public service, as it slips down the world rankings for corruption.

New Zealand fell to fourth in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International released yesterday.

It has previously topped the index seven times, including as recently as 2012 and 2013, and fell two spots this year after losing the top ranking to Denmark in the 2014 list. Finland and Sweden have now overtaken it and are perceived to have less corrupt public sectors than New Zealand.
The SkyCity Convention Centre plan, the Saudi sheep deal and the Oravida affair have been cited by Transparency International as the primary reasons for New Zealand’s slide down the rankings.
The findings in the latest report have been backed up by the Public Service Association (PSA), with national secretary Glenn Barclay saying the group was not surprised by the drop thanks to a “growing lack of transparency” in the public sector.
Read more

—

█ For more, [sample] enter the terms *corruption*, *delta*, *flood*, *citifleet*, *hotel* or *stadium* in the search box at right. [there are other terms, Dunedin is a clear seat of fuzzy avoidances of accountability]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (top) aliexpress.com – tshirt mickey mouse fudged by whatifdunedin | linkedin.com – corruption

6 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Climate change, Construction, Corruption, Crime, CST, Cycle network, Delta, Democracy, District Plan, Dunedin, Economics, Infrastructure, LGNZ, Media, New Zealand, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Perversion, Pet projects, Police, Politics, Project management, Property, Proposed 2GP, Resource management, Sport, Stadiums, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design

Tagged as Abuse of power, Corruption, Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Democracy, Dunedin, GREED, Lack of accountability, Lack of transparency, LIES LIES LIES, Local example, Local government, New Zealand, Obfuscation, Thick as fog, Transparency International, Whitewash

by Elizabeth | December 9, 2015 · 4:50 pm

Dunedin Venues’ (DVML) clandestine operations for Rugby-Business

2015 Club Rugby: Harbour v University at fubar [orfu.co.nz community]

DVML’s Terry Davies has gone deliberately quiet on all SECRET SANTA help his company gives to Otago Rugby, more evidently so following recent purchase of The Highlanders by local parochials.

Yesterday’s dish-out to ORFU (“charitable status”) is just another *feel good* cover to the multimillion-dollar transgressions charged to Dunedin ratepayers, for PROFESSIONAL RUGBY operations.

MAKING IT WORK
Remember fubar stadium is costing ratepayers over $25 million per annum. The ‘blistering handiwork’ of Mayor Dave Cull and his cronies, Greater Dunedin.
NONsustainable as all HELL.

Otago v Canterbury at fubar stadium 15.8.15 [orfu.co.nz community]

—

Dunedin Venues’ September funding gave $267,819.60 to 24 community organisations to hold 53 events.

Dunedin Venues Management Ltd – Media Release
DVML Community Events Funding September Funding Round Allocations
8 December 2015

As part of the Community Access Service Level Agreement with Dunedin City Council, DVML has annual funding of $750,000 to allocate for community events/activities to be held at Forsyth Barr Stadium and the Dunedin Centre. The funding provides financial support to people, community groups and/or organisations that have a charitable status or are a not for profit organisation, to enable community users to utilise the facilities, resources and equipment across the venues.

The September funding applications have now been processed with 53 events/activities by 24 organisations receiving funding. A total of $267,819.60 has been allocated as follows:

Group/Name of Organisation | Funding value

Forsyth Barr Stadium
Athletics Training Squad —$3,700.00
Southern Skating —$14,580.00
●●● ORFU —$19,940.96
Athletics Otago —$3,090.00
Athletics NZ —$18,870.96
Southern United Football —$43,982.88
Sport Otago —$ 10,210.00
NZ Master Games —$15,720.96
Historic Motoring —$4,000.00
SARINZ Trust —$14,730.00
Plunket —$16,110.96
Playcenter —$16,110.96
Natural Health & Wellbeing —$1,450.00
Wishbone Trust —$5,350.00
Kavanagh College —$14,660.96
Dog Rescue Dunedin —$19,530.96
Fibromyalgia Awareness —$ 2,450.00
Malcam Charitable Trust —$14,350.00
Dunedin Bike Blade & Board Development Trust —$5,240.00
Kaikorai Valley College —$2,740.00

Dunedin Centre
NZ Masters Games —$6,000.00
Southern Sinfonia —$5,000.00
Sport Otago —$6,000.00
NZ Choral Federation —$4,000.00

█ The next round of funding for events happening 1 July to 31 December 2016, will open on 1 February and close on 4 March 2016. There are specific criteria which applicants must meet and the application form and policy can be downloaded at http://www.dunedinvenues.co.nz.

Source: http://www.dunedinvenues.co.nz/whats-on/latest-news/dvml-community-events-funding-september-funding-round-allocations/

****

### ODT Online Wed, 9 Dec 2015
Community groups get $267,819
Dunedin Venues Management Ltd has given more than $250,000 to community groups in its September funding round, it was confirmed yesterday. DVML marketing and communications manager Kim Barnes said as part of the community access service level agreement with Dunedin City Council, DVML had $750,000 in annual funding to allocate for community events and activities to be held at Forsyth Barr Stadium and the Dunedin Centre.
Read more

—

For more, enter the terms *dvml*, *dvl*, *rugby*, *orfu*, *highlanders*, *stadium*, *carisbrook*, *nzru*, *cst*, *pokies*, *aurora* and *high performance sport new zealand* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

2 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Concerts, Construction, CST, Delta, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Highlanders, Hot air, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Politics, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums

Tagged as Attraction Fund, Community grants, DCC, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Stadium, Dunedin Venues, Dunedin Venues Ltd, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, DVML, Events funding, fubar stadium, New Zealand Rugby Union, NZRU, ORFU, Otago Rugby Football Union, Otago Stadium, PROFESSIONAL RUGBY, Rugby, Sports development, Stadium operations, Stadium review, Stadiums, Terry Davies

by Elizabeth | November 30, 2015 · 8:46 pm

City council “justifiably proud of its fiscal discipline” —Cull The Delusional

ODT 30.11.15 (page 8)

—

Comments received at other threads:

photonz
Submitted on 2015/11/30 at 9:34 am
Several more blocked drains seen later on Friday and also more on Saturday, including some so bad they were flooding right across the road.

And today in the ODT we have the Mayor slapping ratepayers across the face again with the laughable claim that rate rises are due to rises in the cost of bitumen and pipes.

Considering how much is spent on bitumen and pipes, compared to wages and interest, that sounds [like as] big a lie as “the drains are properly maintained”.

The ODT should call Mayor Cull on this – because blaming year after year of rate rises on the costs of bitumen and pipes sounds like a big fat lie.

[Published in abridged form at ODT Online: Your Say:
DCC not responsible for flooding? Yeah right]

photonz
Submitted on 2015/11/27 at 9:26 am
Just posted to the ODT website –

“Taking the kids to school this morning, the drain at the end of our road is blocked and water is flowing across the street. So I started counting blocked drains on my short journey to Queens and Tahuna schools. Grand total – 14 blocked drains, including three bad enough for large amounts of water to be flowing right across the street.

Similarly a relative’s business in town has been flooded several times, every time because of blocked drains. Often they are left with the choice of going out in the rain to unblock it themselves, or hiring a private contractor to suction-pump it.

Because even though the DCC know it’s a problem, they still don’t maintain it.

Do the DCC not realise that all they do is make themselves look like either incompetent fools or liars, when they make the laughable claim that the drains are well maintained and do not contribute to flooding?”

photonz
Submitted on 2015/11/27 at 11:36 am
Several more blocked drains seen on the way into town, including two so bad the water is flowing right across the road. And it wasn’t even raining very hard at that stage.

At least three of those flood across the road very time it rains hard – ie 10-20 times a year.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

21 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Construction, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Dunedin, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Town planning, Transportation, Urban design, What stadium

Tagged as Citifleet, Council debt CRISIS, DCC, Delta at Noble, Disreputable claim, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, DVML subsidies, Lack of accountability, Lack of budgeting, Lack of fiscal prudence, Lack of transparency, Mayor Cull, Rates, Rates rises, Stadium fiasco, Street improvement disasters, Tendering nighmares

by Elizabeth | September 21, 2015 · 8:07 pm

DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL

BAD UTTERLY BALD moral decrepitude —roll on corruption/rorts/rorters Delta, Luggate/Jacks Point, Noble Village, Carisbrook Stadium, Otago Rugby Football Union, Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust, Town Hall Redevelopment, Wall Street, High Performance Sport NZ, Taieri Community Facilities Trust, et al.

—

In future, property matters could be referred to the new board of Dunedin Venues Ltd, the company which owned the stadium building.

The group would advise council on its $89million investment property portfolio, including Wall Street mall, although council would still make final decisions about the portfolio’s future.

### ODT Online Mon, 21 Sep 2015
Wider advisory role mooted for stadium board
By Chris Morris
A new board being recruited to oversee Forsyth Barr Stadium’s physical requirements could also advise the Dunedin City Council on its $89 million investment property portfolio, it has been suggested. Council staff have been referring significant property matters to the full council in recent years, after an earlier property subcommittee lapsed after the last local body elections in 2013. But a council staff report, to be considered at today’s full council meeting, suggested that could be about to change.
Read more

█ Report – Council – 21/09/2015 (PDF, 118.9 KB)
Proposal for new Property Governance Arrangements (Sandy! wth ?)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

5 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Construction, CST, DCC, Economics, Media, New Zealand, OAG, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Politics, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums

Tagged as Council debt CRISIS, Councillors, Crime, DCC, DCC GM Corporate Services, DCC Staff recommendation, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Venues Ltd, DVL, Governance, Irresponsible, Lack of accountability, Lack of transparency, Mayor of Dunedin, Property, Property Portfolio, Ratepayers and Residents, Reporting, Usual subjects, Wastrels

by Elizabeth | September 18, 2015 · 6:45 pm

Tsunami stadium #DUD

ODT 17.9.15 Wave surge warning for Otago
New Zealand’s southern marine and beach areas can expect strong currents and unpredictable water flows from wave surges following the earthquake.
Coastal Otago residents are being urged to watch out for wave surges from a tsunami generated by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake near Chile today.
Read more

Well done!
Submitted by Albert Square on Thu, 17/09/2015 – 7:16pm

What most people don’t realise is that Dunedin probably wouldn’t be able to attract an international tsunami of this size if we didn’t have the FB Stadium. So well done to Mr Davies and all those at the DVML/DVL for all your hard work.

It looks like the tide is finally turning. . .

—

█ ‘Bread and Circuses – The Shady, Slimy and Corrupt World of Taxpayer Funded Sports Stadiums’ | posted by Michael Krieger at libertyblitzkrieg.com
[via zerohedge.com —see comments]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image merge by whatifdunedin: tsunami [commonsenseevaluation.com] + fubar stadium [trendsideas.com]

3 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Construction, CST, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Design, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Geography, Hot air, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, Ombudsman, ORC, ORFU, People, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as Council debt CRISIS, DCC, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Venues Ltd, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, fubar stadium, Loss-making stadiums, ORC, Otago Regional Council, Otago Stadium, Ratepayers and Residents, Rorts, Stadium costs +$20million pa, Stadiums, Terry Davies, Tsunami warning

by Elizabeth | September 16, 2015 · 10:51 pm

DCC: Know your council ‘chair-leaders’ #pillowtalk

It’s with some fascination if not repulsion that Whatiffers can observe bullying by standing committee chairmen continuing unabated on the mayor’s watch.

Cr Thomson’s historical on camera stunts of addressing or referring to Cr Vandervis as “my good friend” are, how shall I say, unchaste and deceptive in the context of what follows below.

Two emails received tonight.

—

Received from Lee Vandervis
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 at 9:26 p.m.

█ Message: Differing Councillor views that may be of interest.
Cheers, Lee

—

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:41:19 +1200
To: Richard Thomson, Grace Ockwell, Sue Bidrose, Sandy Graham
Cc: Dave Cull, Kate Wilson, Chris Staynes, Jinty MacTavish, David Benson-Pope, Hilary Calvert, Aaron Hawkins, Mike Lord, Andrew Whiley, John Bezett, Doug Hall, Neville Peat, Andrew Noone, Ruth Stokes
Conversation: OIA Request
Subject: Re: OIA Request

Actually Richard, the Lamborghini has become symbolic of many other very visible excesses, but let us stick to Council issues.

For many years I used to make all the information I had available in very candid discussions with staff, who often then failed to investigate appropriately. Citifleet is a prime example, and this and other examples has taught me that a publicly funded organisation is poorly motivated to investigate itself.
Without my LGOIMA requests the incredibly belated Citifleet ‘investigation’ might never have happened, as it did not happen for over a decade before. Have you counted the cost of that multimillion dollar fraud as a percentage of the cost of processing my LGOIMA requests?
Do you not realise that most of my LGOIMA request arise from questions and allegations from members of the public that I represent?

Even when an internal investigation does prove that for instance over quarter of a million of public funds was paid to a contractor to clear mudtanks and none were cleared, nothing appropriate seems to happen at the DCC without publicity. Hence my now having to get the public involved when things are not sorted internally.
When you claim that needing information “of how the information relates to possible wrong doing” is necessary to get information, this is absurd. It is much easier to simply search ‘Stihl chainsaws’ and forward what DCC files information appears. Similarly a vehicle registration number. Just search the registration number and forward the files – easy, quick, no thinking required, little time wasted considering whether ‘particular staff have been involved in possible wrong doing’ etc.

Why is it that our staff can have all this information, but not want to share it with us the supposed decision makers when we request it?
Answer – information is power – and bureaucracies generally do not want to share it, especially with supposed decision makers.

Don’t you dare suggest that I do not give a toss, as you have no way of knowing the state of my mind or the work that I do, and don’t you dare suggest that my approach has failed to identify fraudulent behaviour, as you similarly do not know what has gone into, for instance, Citifleet, Jacks Point/Luggate, mudtanks, Noble, Town Hall redevelopment, or the almost complete turnover of senior managers at the DCC in the last few years.

I will continue to carry on in the manner I believe to be appropriate, and I do not seek any advice on my manner from of you.

Regards,
Cr. Vandervis

———————————

On 15/09/15 9:48 pm, “Richard Thomson” wrote:

Actually Lee my concern is quite the opposite. If there is fraud taking place I want to see it caught. That is why in the Otago DHB when someone came to me with an anonymous tip off and no evidence to back it I initiated a full investigation within half an hour. And I know what some of the consequences are of taking action. They include having to have endless questioning of your integrity/intelligence/ etc by people such as yourself and your fellow travellers on the likes of What If. You have no idea how terribly amusing it is to regularly be accused, because you did the right thing, of “failing to notice the Lamborghini in the carpark”. Never mind that I never had a carpark so didn’t go in the carpark building, or that the fabled Lamborgini was only owned for a few days. Or indeed, had I gone in the carpark building for a random look around and spotted a Lamborghini I would probably have assumed it belonged to a surgeon anyway. So bearing that personal history in mind here is what really pisses me off.

When you make accusations but when virtually begged to make the information available to the CEO so it can be investigated you respond that the “only way you will be making the information available will be through the pages of the ODT”. As you did at the Audit Committee meeting.

When you put in OIA requests and refuse to give any indication of how the information relates to possible wrong doing. Lets think chain saws here. So in the end the only way the OIA can be responded to is to make general inquiries all over the place thereby pretty much ensuring that if there has been dishonesty the person involved will have plenty of time to bury any evidence.

When you seek “all documentation” about a motor vehicle without giving a toss whether the inquiries around that might harm any investigation if there has been wrong doing because the people responding to the request will have no idea if they are going to tip off unknowingly a suspect.

It ought to be of some concern to you by now that your methods and approach have failed to catch any fraudulent behaviour but that the methods of Mr McKenzie that you so disparage have caught a number. Perhaps the fact that people do come to you with info might actually result in people being caught if you worked with people instead of carrying on in the manner you do.

R

[contacts deleted]

———————————

From: Lee Vandervis
To: Richard Thomson; Grace Ockwell; Sue Bidrose; Sandy Graham
Cc: Dave Cull; Kate Wilson; Chris Staynes; Jinty MacTavish; David Benson-Pope; Hilary Calvert; Aaron Hawkins; Mike Lord; Andrew Whiley; John Bezett; Doug Hall; Neville Peat; Andrew Noone
Sent: Tuesday, 15 September 2015 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: OIA Request

Re: OIA Request

I note Richard, that you and some others are quite happy to get on with running a city without knowing who is stealing what or how much things cost to run the city.
My regular voting against Council spending motions often arises because there is simply not enough information made available to justify voting for.
If staff reports provided adequate relevant information, and if rate-paid reports like the $300,000 Deloitte investigation information were made available to us who need to make related decisions, none of this tedious LGOIMA process would be necessary. It is a shame that I have to go to so much effort just get basic information, and that so few others can be bothered.

Cr. Vandervis

———————————

On 15/09/15 5:27 pm, “Richard Thomson” wrote:

Hi,

Could I please file an official information act request asking what the cost to Council has been of answering Cr Vandervis’s official information act requests over the last year.

on second thoughts, please don’t. I’d prefer you got on with running a city..

R

[contacts deleted]

—— End of Forwarded Message

—

Received from Lee Vandervis
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 at 9:27 p.m.

█ Message: And this…

—

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 21:50:07 +1200
To: David Benson-Pope, Richard Thomson, Grace Ockwell, Sue Bidrose, Sandy Graham
Cc: Dave Cull, Kate Wilson, Chris Staynes, Jinty MacTavish, Hilary Calvert, Aaron Hawkins, Mike Lord, Andrew Whiley, John Bezett, Doug Hall, Neville Peat, Andrew Noone
Conversation: OIA Request
Subject: Re: OIA Request

You might well have stopped for a moment David, to consider the cost of not making LGOIMA requests, or of the enormous savings to ratepayers had LGOIMA requests been honestly and promptly complied with as required by the LGOIMA Act.
It has been recently proven that ex CEO Harland misled Councillors making LGOIMA requests to find out what Farry and Co were up to with Stadium planning/funding, by falsely claiming that the Carisbrook Stadium Trust were not subject to LGOIMA information disclosure requirements. Ex-CEO Harland did this despite having two legal opinions, one local and one ex Wellington, saying that the CST were absolutely subject to LGOIMA information requests. Harland’s deceptions have only come to light as a result of many subsequent LGOIMA requests.
Had Harland processed LGOIMA requests as legally required during his tenure it would highly likely have saved ratepayers many millions in a variety of areas, if not hundreds of millions wasted on our Stadium liability.
If all my 2011 LGOIMA requests for Citifleet information, including all credit card information had been made available as requested under LGOIMA, think how many subsequently stolen vehicles would have been saved and perhaps even the life of a bent manager. Put a price on that David and make sure to request the full cost thereof.
The horrendous cost of not having required relevant information on which to make decisions is the reason we have LGOIMA.
In my opinion, not using the LGOIMA process suggests that you are not doing your job as an elected representative.

Regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis

———————————

On 15/09/15 6:04 pm, “David Benson-Pope” wrote:

While I agree with the sentiment … If he won’t I wil

This is therefore a request for full details of all lgoima requests made to the dcc by any councillor in the current triennium and the full cost thereof
Yours etc
David Benson-Pope
Sent from my Windows Phone

———————————

From: Richard Thomson
Sent: 15/09/2015 5:27 p.m.
To: Grace Ockwell; Sue Bidrose; Sandy Graham
Cc: Dave Cull; Kate Wilson; Chris Staynes; Lee Vandervis; Jinty MacTavish; David Benson-Pope; Hilary Calvert; Aaron Hawkins; Mike Lord; Andrew Whiley; John Bezett; Doug Hall; Neville Peat; Andrew Noone
Subject: OIA Request

Hi,

Could I please file an official information act request asking what the cost to Council has been of answering Cr Vandervis’s official information act requests over the last year.

on second thoughts, please don’t. I’d prefer you got on with running a city.

R

[contacts deleted]

—— End of Forwarded Message

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: toonpool.com – Cat Whisperer by Goodwyn (tweaked by whatifdunedin)

25 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, COC (Otago), Concerts, Construction, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, DIA, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Events, Highlanders, Hot air, Hotel, LGNZ, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, OAG, OCA, Ombudsman, ORFU, Otago Polytechnic, People, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, SDHB, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as Bullying, Chairmen, Citifleet, Council debt CRISIS, Councillors, Crime, DCC, DCC Financial Year to 30 June 2015, DCC Infrastructure Services, DCC senior managers, Deloitte reports, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Town Hall Redevelopment Project, Emails, Insurance scam, Lack of accountability, Lack of transparency, Lamborghini in carpark, LGOIMA requests, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, Mosgiel Pool, Noble, Ratepayer LOSSES, South Dunedin flood, Stadium, Zero-rated properties

by Elizabeth | September 6, 2015 · 3:16 am

Piss-take (?!) | DCC non comprende ORC and POL

[cold night shrinkage]

ODT brings WHAT EXACTLY to the working desktop —(surprise!)

The city council with one of the largest per capita ratepayer debt levels in New Zealand, and a superlative track record of POOR BUSINESS DECISIONS (costing ratepayers HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in the last 10 years), thinks it can preach to Otago Regional Council and Port Otago Ltd.

Sheer folly – tied to the MISGUIDED mission to sell out to the 1%er Chinese. CARGO CUL_TISM. [Would someone be pushing something small down the throat again, to secure yet another dowry for a hotel.]

—

### ODT Online Sat, 5 Sep 2015
Waterfront the next big thing?
By Chris Morris
Dunedin’s waterfront is the city’s biggest missed opportunity, but the planets could be aligning for development, advocates say. Depending on who you talk to, the waterfront around Dunedin’s Steamer Basin is either a cold, windswept industrial hub or the city’s next big thing. Where some see room for only the existing cluster of industrial businesses and dilapidated buildings, others imagine a waterfront like Wellington’s – populated by cafes, bars, restaurants, apartments and hotels.
Read more

● ODT: Harbourside views in conflict
● ODT: ORC denies hindering development

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

37 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, COC (Otago), Construction, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, Design, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Geography, Heritage, Hot air, Hotel, LGNZ, Media, Museums, Name, New Zealand, Ngai Tahu, NZRU, NZTA, OCA, ORC, ORFU, Otago Polytechnic, People, POL, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, University of Otago, Urban design

Tagged as (Hahaha Taieri industrial estate), Citifleet, Commissioners, Council debt CRISIS, Cycleway BUNGLES, DCC, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Harbourside horror, Lack of accountability, Lack of transparency, Piss-takes, Prudential limits, STADIUM tatters - DEBT forever, The Pope, Urban design botchups

by Elizabeth | August 10, 2015 · 1:19 pm

DCC AMAZE —oh, more fraud

DCC CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT
‘Enormously disappointing’ —And Enormously Expected.
‘ONE MAN’ did it. An outright fairytale.
DOLLY didn’t, either. More to come !!

—

### ODT Online Mon, 10 Aug 2015
Further cases of fraud at council
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council says the discovery of five more examples of fraud and theft inside the organisation is “enormously” disappointing. […] Details of the smaller incidents emerged last week, in response to Otago Daily Times questions, a year after the discovery of the Citifleet fraud.
Read more

█ ODT blocks public comments to this item.

ODT 10.8.15 [Source: DCC]

[screenshot]

—

█ For more, enter the terms *deloitte*, *citifleet*, *fraud*, *conduct*, *vandervis*, *delta*, *orfu* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

17 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Construction, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, LGNZ, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, NZTA, OAG, OCA, Ombudsman, ORFU, People, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, SFO, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Town planning, Transportation, Urban design

Tagged as Audit and Risk Subcommittee, Audit New Zealand, Backhanders, Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust, Cars, Cemeteries, Chief executive Sue Bidrose, Citifleet, Citipark, Code of Conduct, Conduct Hearing, Council staff, Councillors, Cr Lee Vandervis, CST, DCC, DCC Committee Structure and Delegations Manual, DCC Corporate Services, DCC GM Corporate Services, DCC legal advice, Deloitte, Deloitte report, Deloitte reports, Delta, Disclosure, Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Town Hall Redevelopment Project, Electronic copy, Fleet service, fubar stadium, Gigatown, Information sharing, Investigation, Jim Harland, LGOIMA requests, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, Mayor Cull, Mayor of Dunedin, Mosgiel Pool, Natural justice, New Zealand Police, Noble Village Subdivision, Office of the Ombudsmen, Official information, Ombudsman, ORFU, Otago Cricket Association, Otago Daily Times, Otago Rugby Football Union, Otago Stadium, Paul Orders, Police, Policy, Pooling Together, Privacy, Procurement policy, Sensitive Expenditure Policy and Procedures, SFO, Stadium review, Stadiums, Standing orders, Stonewalling, Taieri Community Facilities Trust, TCFT, Tendering, Vehicle fleet, What is OPEN government?

by Elizabeth | August 8, 2015 · 3:07 pm

Cr Whiley on offensive at Build Dunedin #fb

Updated post

It’s naïve and self-promoting —Cr Andrew Whiley is after the new chairship Mayor Dave Cull might establish to meet a particular contingency (as sourced from council staff a few weeks back).

—

Facebook.com | BuildTheHotel <<< …
Sat, 8 Aug 2015 at 3:30 p.m. [screenshot]

█ For more, enter the terms *citifleet*, *vandervis*, *conduct*, *long term plan* or *mosgiel* in the search box at right.

Ode to Whiley…. Pick me Pick me

LennyKravitzVEVO Uploaded on May 6, 2011
Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way
Official video of Lenny Kravitz performing Are You Gonna Go My Way from the album Are You Gonna Go My Way. Directed by Mark Romanek.
Music: “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz (Google Play • iTunes)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

7 Comments

Filed under Business, Carisbrook, Citifleet, Construction, CST, Cycle network, DCC, DCHL, DCTL, Delta, Democracy, DVL, DVML, Economics, Enterprise Dunedin, Hot air, Hotel, LGNZ, Media, Name, New Zealand, NZRU, NZTA, OCA, Offshore drilling, ORFU, People, Pics, Police, Politics, Pools, Project management, Property, Site, Sport, Stadiums, Tourism, Town planning, Transportation, Urban design

Tagged as Build Dunedin, Chairships, Councillors, Cr Andrew Whiley, Cr Jinty MacTavish, Cr Lee Vandervis, DCC, Dirty politics, Dunedin City Council, Facebook, Greater Dunedin GREENIES, Mayor Cull, Memorandom of Understanding, Mosgiel Pool, MOU, Short men, Taieri Community Facilities Trust, TCFT, Vote catching, Words

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Category Archives: Carisbrook

City Property . . . .

thoughts and faces #loosematerial

No Integrity | Cull’s FULL INSULT to Ratepayers and Residents

How to drop Crombie and the mafia from City boards

Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview with Kathryn Ryan #RNZ

Stadium : Used car and underwear sales down #missdpopularitycontest

DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling

COMPLETE Dis-satisfaction with DCC, DCHL, DVML, DVL, Delta….

WHO says ‘heritage rules are too restrictive’ —What’s their agenda in the Heritage City

Calder Stewart playing games at Carisbrook

Calder Stewart pay up #Carisbrook

STADIUM LOSSES +$20M Ratepayer Subsidy each year : Not a Community Asset while Our Money flows OUT

“Civic administration” reacts to hard hitting Listener article

CELEBRATE !!! Greater Dunedin has DIED #boombustcycle

Rugby Stadium flat passion

New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption

Dunedin Venues’ (DVML) clandestine operations for Rugby-Business

City council “justifiably proud of its fiscal discipline” —Cull The Delusional

DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL

Tsunami stadium #DUD

DCC: Know your council ‘chair-leaders’ #pillowtalk

Piss-take (?!) | DCC non comprende ORC and POL

Cr Whiley on offensive at Build Dunedin #fb

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