Vogel Street parking on a quiet Sunday afternoon #petroltheft

A colleague and I decided to go to the ‘street’ kitchen on Sunday afternoon. We parked in front of the back doors to Sammy’s. At the kitchen we ordered tea and coffee and talked for a couple of hours. In that time someone unseen by us siphoned off about half of what remained in the petrol tank of my companion’s specially modified vehicle. Whoever did the job didn’t put the fuel flap down carefully before exit.

Naturally, some dusting to do…. was it an opportunistic one-off, or ?

We shall see. A few weird things going on lately. The driver and owner of the vehicle has only had it for about 6 days; they’re monitoring fuel consumption as well as other things in their daily life quite carefully just now.

Then too, there’s someone acting weirdly about town, who has an expired licence (not talking driver’s licence). Check this out at the Justice website. They coffee at Marbecks (Wall Street mall) despite protestations they do not.

Just putting it out there.

Small world.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

‘GNS study’ story lacks all credibility

### NZ Herald Sun, 21 May 2017 at 8:55 AM
Higher seas may force New Zealand towns to retreat inland: GNS Science study to investigate
By Jamie Morton
Researchers have begun investigating how some New Zealand communities could be pulled back from hazard zones in the face of flooding driven by climate change and sea level rise. A new study, to be led by GNS Science as part of a near million-dollar wider research programme, will look at ways authorities and communities can plan for homes to be moved to safer ground. It is estimated two thirds of Kiwis live in areas prone to flooding. At least 43,000 homes lie within 1.5 metres of the present average spring high tide, and nearly 9000 within 50cm. The most optimistic emissions scenario has global average sea levels likely to rise between 44cm and 55cm by 2100. One way to meet this threat is with what’s called “managed retreat” – shifting back houses and infrastructure and allowing the shoreline to move inland. “In New Zealand, there have always been communities in hazard areas, particularly on the coast, and this is something that’s always been an option,” said GNS researcher Emily Grace, who is leading the study. “But it’s definitely had more prominence in the last few years with people becoming more aware of sea level rise and the effects of global warming.” While there were measures within the Resource Management Act that authorities could use to help plan for shifting homes or roads, the issue was fraught with complexity. There were conflicts between what actions regional and district councils could take, and private property rights also posed barriers for planners, Ms Grace said. “It’s the kind of thing that goes in the too-hard basket, really – and part of the point of the research is to find out why it has not been carried out by councils in New Zealand and what could help change that.” With the exception of Christchurch’s post-quake red zone, she could cite just a few examples of such moves being taken. NZME.
Read more

[The propaganda]
NZ and climate change (via NZ Herald)
• Under present projections, the sea level around New Zealand is expected to rise between 50cm and 100cm this century, while temperatures could also increase by several degrees by 2100.
• Climate change would bring more floods (about two-thirds of Kiwis live in areas prone to flooding); make our freshwater problems worse and put more pressure on rivers and lakes; acidify our oceans; put even more species at risk and bring problems from the rest of the world.
• Climate change is also expected to result in more large storms, compounding the effects of sea level rise.
• New Zealand, which reported a 23% increase in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2014, has pledged to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% from 2005 levels and 11% from 1990 levels by 2030.

12.5.17 ODT: Higher floor levels for some houses
From today, floors in houses to be built in low-lying areas of Dunedin could be up to 1m off the ground following the introduction of new “interim” minimum floor levels.

****

Interesting opinion piece in the ODT today: ‘Left showed the Right the way’ by Andrew Waterworth. He says:

Postmodernism’s critique of science has paved the way for a broader questioning of whether empirical truths established through scientific method can be trusted. This has created fertile ground for the far Right to assert that science is a matter of opinion, to challenge scientific evidence for climate change, for example and to propose “alternative facts”. (ODT 22.5.17)

Instead, I would have said ‘this has created fertile ground for right thinking people to assert that computer-modelled science on climate change is just a box of fluffy ducks’. Because the ‘righters’ been stung by the evil tentacles, oh so many tentacles.

Obviously, the whole point is that the climate changers, vast numbers of them, ie millions of lemmings, have been riding high on false data for too long; false data initiated and supported by global corporates hand in hand with scrumpy academics, who both create and clip the tickets to gobble up Your Money and Assets. See too, what numbing expectations Central Government and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment are placing on local authorities across New Zealand – and how those ‘with power’ around us are swallowing the cc distortions whole, applying mandates with fuzzy zeal in the complete absence of scientifically factual critical contest.

I think Mr Waterworth reads Dellers at Breitbart.

****

Donald Trump | Pope Francis [salon.com]

### breitbart.com 18 May 2017
Delingpole: Pope Will Convert Trump on Climate Change, Claims Bishop
By James Delingpole
When President Trump visits the Vatican next week, he will be transformed by the radiant wisdom of His Holiness, the Pope, into a fully fledged climate change believer. Or so – somewhat optimistically – the bishop in charge of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Sciences has claimed. Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, the Academies’ chancellor, said in an interview:

They will come to an agreement, since the president claims to be a Christian, and so he [Trump] will listen to him [the Pope].

Actually, you can bet your bottom dollar that this won’t happen, not least because the Pope’s views on climate change are in many ways profoundly unChristian. This was why the Pope’s 2015 encyclical on environmental issues Laudato Si was so controversial. It bought into the extreme environmentalist view which sees mankind as a blight on the planet rather than a blessing, and sees the industrial progress which brings jobs and prosperity as a curse.
Here is a sample of the encyclical.

But a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves.

It also took at face value all the climate scaremongering which alarmists have been dishonestly propagating these last few decades, against all scientific evidence.

The melting in the polar ice caps and in high altitude plains can lead to the dangerous release of methane gas, while the decomposition of frozen organic material can further increase the emission of carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide pollution increases the acidification of the oceans and compromises the marine food chain.

One U.S. Congressman – Rep Paul Gozar – complained it made the Pope sound like a “leftist politician”.
Read more

****

elevating climate change [freakingnews.com via pinterest]

### breitbart.com 20 May 2017
Delingpole: ‘Penises Cause Climate Change’; Progressives Fooled by Peer-Reviewed Hoax Study
By James Delingpole
Gender studies is a fake academic industry populated by charlatans, deranged activists and gullible idiots. Now, a pair of enterprising hoaxers has proved it scientifically by persuading an academic journal to peer-review and publish their paper claiming that the penis is not really a male genital organ but a social construct. The paper, published by Cogent Social Sciences – “a multidisciplinary open access journal offering high quality peer review across the social sciences” – also claims that penises are responsible for causing climate change.
The two hoaxers are Peter Boghossian, a full-time faculty member in the Philosophy department at Portland State University, and James Lindsay, who has a doctorate in math and a background in physics.
They were hoping to emulate probably the most famous academic hoax in recent years: the Sokal Hoax – named after NYU and UCL physics professor Alan Sokal – who in 1996 persuaded an academic journal called Social Text to accept a paper titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”.
Sokal’s paper – comprising pages of impressive-sounding but meaningless pseudo-academic jargon – was written in part to demonstrate that humanities journals will publish pretty much anything so long as it sounds like “proper leftist thought;” and partly in order to send up the absurdity of so much post-modernist social science. So, for this new spoof, Boghossian and Lindsay were careful to throw in lots of signifier phrases to indicate fashionable anti-male bias:

We intended to test the hypothesis that flattery of the academic Left’s moral architecture in general, and of the moral orthodoxy in gender studies in particular, is the overwhelming determiner of publication in an academic journal in the field. That is, we sought to demonstrate that a desire for a certain moral view of the world to be validated could overcome the critical assessment required for legitimate scholarship. Particularly, we suspected that gender studies is crippled academically by an overriding almost-religious belief that maleness is the root of all evil. On the evidence, our suspicion was justified.

They also took care to make it completely incomprehensible.

We didn’t try to make the paper coherent; instead, we stuffed it full of jargon (like “discursive” and “isomorphism”), nonsense (like arguing that hypermasculine men are both inside and outside of certain discourses at the same time), red-flag phrases (like “pre-post-patriarchal society”), lewd references to slang terms for the penis, insulting phrasing regarding men (including referring to some men who choose not to have children as being “unable to coerce a mate”), and allusions to rape (we stated that “manspreading,” a complaint levied against men for sitting with their legs spread wide, is “akin to raping the empty space around him”). After completing the paper, we read it carefully to ensure it didn’t say anything meaningful, and as neither one of us could determine what it is actually about, we deemed it a success.

Some of it was written with the help of the Postmodern Generator – “a website coded in the 1990s by Andrew Bulhak featuring an algorithm, based on NYU physicist Alan Sokal’s method of hoaxing a cultural studies journal called Social Text, that returns a different fake postmodern ‘paper’ every time the page is reloaded.” […] None of it should have survived more than a moment’s scrutiny by serious academics. But it was peer-reviewed by two experts in the field who, after suggesting only a few changes, passed it for publication.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Condition of Warrington Domain screwed by DCC lack of enforcement #CampingControlBylaw23

Freedom campers are ignoring closed signs at Warrington Domain.

Photographs and accompanying letter received from a Warrington resident (name withheld) on Monday, 8 May 2017 at 10:52 a.m.

● All comments to the photographs are by whatifdunedin.

APPALLING
Dunedin City Council trashes Warrington ratepayers’ and residents’ recreational amenity asset:

Warrington Domain 2 May 2017, ground condition before the domain closed.

Damage to the village green is all down to the deliberate decision by Dunedin City Council to allow uncontrolled freedom camping at the Domain over the 2016/17 summer period (read no enforcement of Camping Control Bylaw 23); this for reduction and avoidance of freedom camping happening in metropolitan Dunedin. Out of sight, out of mind. The Warrington community receives no proper help from the scrubbers on the politicised local community board, to protect the asset.

It’s a bloody scandal – someone (plural) should lose their job.

In these photos freedom campers continue to park outside the closed domain totally ignoring the DCC signage but with apparently no repercussions:

Due to email file size limits a video recording was not forwarded to What if? Dunedin. Hopefully this will come available shortly via YouTube.

—

Warrington resident receives no reply to their polite yet pointed email sent to Waikouaiti Coast Community Board (WCCB) and DCC. How surprising!

From: [Warrington resident]
Sent: Saturday, 6 May 2017 8:50 p.m.
To: Waikouaiti Coast Community Board; Dunedin City Council Customer Services; Ashley Reid [DCC]; Jendi Paterson [DCC]
Subject: Freedom campers ignore closed signs

Hi DCC and WCCB,

I became aware there are freedom camper vehicles outside the domain this evening from their music and the noise of car doors.

FYI 13 non-self-contained freedom camper vehicles are parked outside the Warrington domain tonight and a 14th is parked in the surf club carpark.

When asked they denied seeing the signs that clearly state the domain is closed to camping.

Our points are:
– the freedom campers are clearly ignoring your signs
– there doesn’t seem to be anyone controlling the area at night
– it is unreasonable for local residents that the freedom campers choose to park wherever they like

Regards
[Warrington resident]

****

Dunedin City Council
█ 23. Camping Control Bylaw 2015 (PDF, 2.5 MB)
The purpose of this bylaw is to protect, promote, and maintain public health and safety by regulating freedom camping within the district; and restrict freedom camping in public places within the district. Link
Date approved: 01 November 2015

DCC 23. Camping Control Bylaw 2015

Related Posts and Comments:
● 9.4.17 DCC obfuscates : Open slather for freedom campers at Warrington
● 16.3.17 WE have the information, unreasonable delay providing it #LGOIMA
● 15.2.17 Warrington : DCC dictates loss of community’s grassed recreation reserve to freeloaders
8.2.17 Hands Off Enjoyment of OUR Beaches #DCC
● 6.2.17 Uncontrolled freedom camping at Warrington Domain this weekend —DCC ‘hell model’ [no enforcement]
● 1.2.17 “Fake news” from DCC boffins & Community Board re freedom camping at Warrington Domain #TheBlight
10.2.16 Dunedin freedom camping #DCC #enforcement
16.12.14 DCC: Freedom Camping issues
7.12.09 Coastal protection zones

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Pike River realities surface . . .

At Twitter:

New Pike River mine footage 'extraordinary and alarming' https://t.co/znH2ARoJWt'

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) April 30, 2017

****

Video at ODT Online:

The father of one of the men killed in the Pike River mining disaster says the families have always believed the Government wasn’t telling the truth about mine safety.

Mon, 1 May 2017
ODT: Pike video shows men in mine after blast
The Government has long said high concentrations of methane inside the mine make it too risky to re-enter to retrieve the bodies of the 29 men killed in the November 2010 blast, because the gas could explode. But footage leaked to Newshub yesterday showed two Mines Rescue workers inside the mine three months after the explosion, with no gloves, apparently relaxed as they fashioned a makeshift cover for a robot out of cardboard and tape. The robot is seen to be steaming or smoking well inside the mine, but the workers do not panic – and nothing explodes. Bernie Monk, whose son Michael was killed in the November 2010 explosion in the West Coast coal mine, said the newly leaked footage did not come as a surprise. Cont/

****

At Twitter:

Never-before-seen footage from a robot inside Pike River shows men working, smoke or steam emitting from the robot https://t.co/4ST8LcktZc pic.twitter.com/cjo5rLWgxo

— Newshub Breaking (@NewshubBreaking) April 30, 2017

Incredible footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel from March 2011 showing two men inside + a smokey robot https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/8yKQKhvS51

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

This is the loader Russell Smith was driving when Pike River exploded. He was 1570m up mine's access tunnel https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/V7wIvAWHVe

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

Here's the raw new footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel, which shows two Mines Rescue staff calmly working https://t.co/RUw0tWuZ4o

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

.@pmbillenglish says he didn't know about the existence of Pike River footage released by Newshub https://t.co/zQnuN02Szd

— Newshub (@NewshubNZ) April 30, 2017

.@RadioLIVENZ's @SAINSO: PM Bill English needs to grow a pair over Pike River https://t.co/dh88rP5DtZ pic.twitter.com/6QoQV6LHLK

— Newshub Features (@NewshubFeatures) April 30, 2017

****

nzherald.co.nz Uploaded on Nov 23, 2010
Raw video: Robot camera inside Pike River mine
First pictures from inside the Pike River mine which show the miner’s helmet and mine damage.

Business Leaders’ Health & Safety Forum Published on Oct 21, 2013
Case Study: Pike River
View the full case study here:
http://www.zeroharm.org.nz/leadership/case-studies/pike-river/

Graeme Axford Published on Oct 31, 2014
Pike River families believe photos show bodies
Friday 31 Oct 2014 8:06 p.m.
It is understood that a decision from Solid Energy on whether it will allow recovery teams to re-enter the drift of the Pike River mine is imminent. The drift is not the mine itself, but the two-kilometre tunnel that leads to the mine.
Families of the victims are desperate for a mission to collect evidence and to see if there are any bodies in the drift.
They say if Solid Energy won’t do it, they will. They say they know there are bodies in the mine, and tonight, with their blessing and for the first time, we can show you their evidence. Dean Dunbar, the father of lost miner Joseph Dunbar, spoke with Campbell Live producer Kate McCallum. Watch the full interview with Dean Dunbar.

Division of Humanities, University of Otago Published on Jul 4, 2016
███ Pike River – How could this happen in this day and age?
Colin Smith, Chairman on the Pike River Families Group Committee and the Pike River 29 Legacy Trust, talks about the Pike River disaster and asks ‘how could this happen in this day and age’? Find out why the Pike River Families have fought so hard and for so long. Colin Smith is a law graduate from the University of Otago and is a partner with the Greymouth Law Firm Hannan & Seddon.

RNZ Published on Jan 23, 2017
Pike River survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes it’s safe to enter: RNZ Checkpoint
Pike River mine survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes the mine’s drift is safe to enter, and is willing to be among the first party that goes in.

****

davedobbynmusic Published on Dec 15, 2014
Dave Dobbyn – This Love (Live Perfomance)
‘This Love’ by Dave Dobbyn with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington is a moving tribute to the 29 men who died in the Pike River Mine explosion.
The piece was first performed at a concert attended by members of the miners’ bereaved families and was recorded by Radio NZ Concert. The choral arrangement is by Mark Dorrell. Also performing are Wellington Young Voices, Mark Vanilau (piano), Jo Barus (bass), Ross Burge (drums) and Chris Clark (cornet). With special thanks to TVNZ and Satellite Media – taken from the TVNZ documentary ‘Dreams Lie Deeper’.

—

Related Post and Comments:
24.1.13 Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

One of the reasons I ❤ NYC

[economist.com]

Installed to celebrate International Women’s Day, the four-foot statue of a young girl staring down Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” was scheduled to be removed this weekend. But sculptor Kristen Visbal created both a symbol of the necessity of female leadership and a sensation. Crowds are flocking to pose with the statue; a petition calling for its permanent installation has attracted over 30,000 signatures. The mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio has said that in “standing up to fear, standing up to power”, the statue “spoke to the moment”. This week he announced that “Fearless Girl” will stay until March 2018. Boston-based investment firm State Street Global Advisors commissioned the statue.

The New York Times Published on Mar 8, 2017
Statue of Courageous Girl Faces Wall Street Bull | The New York Times
As many American women prepare to draw attention to their role in the workplace, a Wall Street firm on Tuesday put up a statue of a girl in front of Lower Manhattan’s bronze bull, fearlessly staring it down.

CNNMoney Published on Mar 8, 2017
State Street: Why we commissioned Wall St. ‘Fearless Girl’
CNNMoney’s Maggie Lake talks with State Street’s Lori Heinel about the importance of diversity on corporate boards and in leadership positions. “What more iconic symbol than to put a young girl as a symbol of women” facing off against The Bull.

****

From Twitter feed:

.@NYCMayor @BillDeBlasio Will Defend #FearlessGirl Statue Against #ChargingBull Sculptor https://t.co/6Xy5aCVSao via @DNAInfoNY @nickr15

— NYC ALL DAY 24/7 (@nycallday247) April 14, 2017

NYC mayor to 'Charging Bull' artist: 'Fearless Girl is staying put' https://t.co/T2zTMfgZP4 pic.twitter.com/t0NYKMgkQv

— WLWT.com (@WLWT) April 14, 2017

Unlike the Charging Bull, which has become a symbol of Wall Street, Fearless Girl is becoming a beacon for the fight against injustice.

— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 13, 2017

Fox News Published on Apr 14, 2017
‘Charging Bull’ vs ‘Fearless Girl’: Sculptor wants her gone
Sculptor of the New York City’s iconic ‘Charging Bull’ statue is demanding the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue be removed, claiming she is violating his legal rights

The artist behind the Charging Bull is charging NYC for violating his rights. https://t.co/rhMiCTqjpl

— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) April 13, 2017

'Charging Bull' artist says NYC is violating his rights by installing 'Fearless Girl' without his permission. https://t.co/ssWOpD5WSb pic.twitter.com/zFBYQda9kN

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 12, 2017

Who would have though that the artist who made the Wall Street charging bull statue was such a…capitalist. https://t.co/HXbRhhh514 pic.twitter.com/tAx5dupuKj

— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) April 13, 2017

The man who sculpted Wall Street's "Charging Bull" is accusing NYC of infringing on his artistic copyright with "Fearless Girl"'s placement. pic.twitter.com/5tjWlbn0lI

— Fusion (@Fusion) April 12, 2017

We wouldn't move the Charging Bull statue if it offended someone. The Fearless Girl is staying put. https://t.co/Qu7CSbrmQw

— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 12, 2017

It is perfectly symbolic that Arturo DiModica – who put up the Charging Bull in NYC WITHOUT PERMISSION – is offended by the Fearless Girl.

— Ian Dickerson (@RicardusIoannes) April 12, 2017

Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl. https://t.co/D2OZl4ituJ

— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 12, 2017

"Charging Bull" sculptor accuses NYC of violating his legal rights by allowing "Fearless Girl" statue installation. https://t.co/tX1oee5IdH pic.twitter.com/xWQv1k4U0D

— ABC News (@ABC) April 12, 2017

Fearless Girl Statue Charging Bull Wall Street New York City – NYC Picture https://t.co/k8QI8zwajh pic.twitter.com/VfJoI6uoNg

— NYC Informer (@newyorkcityinfo) April 1, 2017

NYC's ‘Fearless Girl’ statue will continue to defiantly stare down Wall Street’s ‘Charging Bull’ until 2018: https://t.co/xQg0EoKtTE

— Gillian Rich (@IBD_GRich) March 28, 2017

'Fearless Girl' statue will stay face to face with Charging Bull through February 2018.#travel #fearlessgirl #NYC pic.twitter.com/6Ah4R6TDPh

— Newyorcanka (@Newyorcanka17) March 27, 2017

@Wemma24 Emma, Thanks for following. You’ll get daily news on NYC travel and tourism, bike news too, plus a photo.

Charging Bull pic.twitter.com/Lx91RJN1qn

— New York City Guide (@TourguideStan) March 24, 2017

Charging Bull creator fumes that #FearlessGirl statue is just an ‘advertising trick’ https://t.co/3IcbGdwepc @MakeMePermanent #NYC pic.twitter.com/hSNtHl8Iqp

— Lori Neuhardt (@LoriNeuhardt) March 22, 2017

Why McCann Dropped a Statue of a ‘Fearless Girl’ Next to Wall Street’s Charging Bull Overnight – Adweek #nyc https://t.co/cbP8qxAKUz

— Teresa Ciccarelli (@Teresa3c) March 12, 2017

First stop in NYC with Status of Women Minister @MaryamMonsef to see Fearless Girl on Wall Street facing down the charging bull pic.twitter.com/6GH4PsQrqC

— Terry Duguid (@TerryDuguid) March 12, 2017

On #InternationalWomensDay, State Street installed a statue of a Fearless Girl staring down the Charging Bull in NYC https://t.co/TbDg5oIh4q

— The ARTery (@WBURartery) March 9, 2017

NYC just got a little bit more awesome. New statue of defiant girl in front of Wall Street charging bull. https://t.co/dgWpPAr2EX pic.twitter.com/DcPAdoBtQo

— Jan Schaumann (@jschauma) March 8, 2017

New this week – facing the famous charging bull at NYC's Bowling Green, a statue of a 'Feisty Girl.' pic.twitter.com/5DBq9qdXc9

— Michael Li (@mcpli) March 8, 2017

****

CBS New York Published on Apr 12, 2017
Artistic Showdown Over ‘Fearless Girl’ Statue
CBS2’s Jessica Moore reports.

Associated Press Published on Mar 27, 2017
‘Fearless Girl’ Statue Stays Through Feb. 2018
New York City has decided that the globally popular statue of a young girl staring down Wall Street’s famous “Charging Bull” will remain in place through February 2018. (March 27)
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.

Storyful News Published on Mar 8, 2017
Ad Agency Puts ‘Fearless Girl’ Statue Opposite Wall Street’s Charging Bull
Courtesy: State Street Global Advisors/McCann

Dagbladet Published on Mar 7, 2017
Slik ble «Den flyktløse jenta» laget
KVINNEKAMPANJE: Det gigantiske reklamebyrået McCann oppfordrer mer enn 3500 selskaper – som SSGA investerer i på vegne av klienter -til å iverksette tiltak for å øke antall kvinner i styrene. Video: McCann

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

[storyful.com]

Proposed hotel *height and design* —the very least of it #sellingoursouls

At Facebook:

[screenshot]

Channel 39 via YouTube [screenshot]

—

Related Post and Comments:
5.6.17 Application lodged for FIASCO Hotel by Tosswill #DunedinWrecks

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Famous Fat Bros’ Aurora/Delta news trickles in…. but can the sisters divorce

### channel39.co.nz Wed, 29 Mar 2017
Delta and Aurora Energy to separate
About 95 Delta employees are expected to transfer to Aurora Energy by mid-year as the two companies separate. The business divorce is one of the recommendations from an independent review by Dunedin City Holdings Limited. Delta and Aurora Energy Chair Steve Thompson says they expect no redundancies from either business. Delta will employ just over 500 staff following the transition. Aurora Energy will be a network company with network renewal as its priority, while Delta will provide electricity distribution, green-space and solid waste services.
Ch39 Link

█ Review of Aurora Energy Limited / Delta Utility Services Limited – Network Safety Concerns (December 2016). Deloitte.

****

### radionz.co.nz 9:22 pm on 29 March 2017
Dunedin’s Aurora Energy to take on Delta workers
Almost 100 employees from Dunedin power lines company Delta will transfer to its sister company Aurora Energy as the two firms separate.
The split of the council-owned companies was sparked by the discovery that thousands of power poles in Otago were rotting.
A whistleblower last year revealed thousands of power poles managed by Delta and Aurora were failing.
The Dunedin City Council released a report in December that recommended splitting the council-owned companies into separate entities, after three official inquiries.
A report by Deloitte recommended separate board management structures.
In a statement today, Delta said 95 employees would transfer to Aurora by mid-year, and there were no expected redundancies.
RNZ Link

****

DCHL/DCC farming of the conjoined twins deserves a break….

█ The devilish ongoing loss of one billion dollars of Otago line user and ratepayer funds. And Steve Thompson can’t be contacted. Oh brother.

Yes we really believe the two council-owned companies have great governance and superb management!? We also totally believe DCHL is a solid grounded entity!? Pity about the number of executive and staff resignations from Delta to date, and the resulting inability to fill job vacancies. Would you touch these blighted babies. Oink.

At Facebook:

****

### ODT Online Thu, 30 Mar 2017
Restructure proceeds
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin City Council-owned companies Delta and Aurora are a step closer to becoming separate entities. Aurora and Delta announced in a joint press release yesterday about 95 Delta staff were expected to transfer to Aurora Energy by mid-year as part of the companies’ transition to standalone entities. The transition comes after a Deloitte report into accusations Aurora dangerously mismanaged its power network and failed to replace compromised poles recommended the two companies be split. According to Aurora’s annual report, it employs no staff and the management of the company is carried out by Delta, which is also contracted to carry out network maintenance. The Deloitte report said the closely linked arrangement was “fraught” with challenges, but acknowledged Aurora had been working on a restructuring programme which would have split the two companies in any case. Delta and Aurora chairman Steve Thompson, who was not available to answer questions about the press release, said significant progress had been made in the reorganisation of both businesses.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
11.3.17 How Safe Are We/Our Businesses with the Corporate Disaster that’s Aurora, owned by DCC ? #reliability
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
12.11.16 Delta/Aurora : Current strategy to “fix on failure” [extreme neglect]
22.10.16 DCC struggles with Governance…. Delta/Aurora/DCHL in slipslidy mode
● 9.6.16 Aurora Energy Ltd warned by regulator

█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *grady*, *poles*, *asset management plan*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *epicpolefail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: monsters international via blogspot.com – Siamese Twin Pigs by Alicia B Lim, ink on watercolour paper (US), tweaked by whatifdunedin

Delta ute attends Church on Sunday 27 November at 8:00 p.m.

Worship or work on a Sunday evening ? @ Knox Church, 449 George St

Full personal use of the ‘tool-of-trade’ vehicle ?
Is the company truck factored into the employee’s total remuneration package ?

Was the employee the driver ?

Images supplied.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

“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.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Crashed demobilised: picked a bone

This short thread is relocated from another post.

Made a great job of this last Wednesday, during the flood.
Here’s the splintered base of what was once a good bone, oh well. I didn’t even have the pleasure of going skiing to make it happen. The excitement was caused at home, in the dry!

Xray Urgent Doctors – EJ Kerr 6.6.15 Splintered fibula surrounded by swollen tissue (scan of photocopy)

Taking a flash drive with me this week for jpg file from next Xray(s).

Wikipedia: Fibula

. . . .

No sandbagging at South Dunedin for me —just like Mayor Cull!?

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/06 at 5:50 pm | In reply to Calvin Oaten.
Calvin, welcome back to HAVOC.
To this I will add one item that is none of your concern at all. Totally off topic. I have been rendered stationary for 2-3 months (!!!) as a result of what I thought was just an ankle inversion sprain on Wednesday morning – nope, Xray today shows very unstable fracture, a splintered base to left fibula (Xray picture is outstanding). No-one seems to know why I feel no pain. Hooray. Now wearing moonboot fulltime, using crutches – classic stuff, not flooded maybe, but upstairs apartment dweller hell. Up/down stairs is by seat of pants, literally, for weekly Xrays. ACC claim for household help and more ahead. If I don’t follow orders and the thing splinters apart then I’m to be hospitalised – that sort of week at Dunners. A first, no previous breaks – for me quite funny as challenges go. This will keep me up to speed at What if? and other sites – and my research reading is going to be ACE undisturbed for months. Semi-hibernation.
Not the same, nor nearly as bad, as dealing to a flooded home(s) with vulnerable families and residents of South Dunedin.

Hype O’Thermia
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 2:22 am
Are you in plaster of paris type plaster? Maximum inconvenience! Fibreglass rocks, soon as I was f’glassed I was driving and doing normal things like making a drink and being able to carry it away from the kitchen bench……
Sounds like a nasty break. There’s not a lot to be said in favour of splintering bone. Mine – same bone but uncomplicated.
I hope you heal up as well as I did. I was lucky. Here’s hoping you are too.]

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 3:35 am | In reply to Hype O’Thermia.
No they decided against plaster and gave me very cool black figlas-strengthened moonboot that must not come off. Not allowed to put any weight on left foot at all for 2-3 months, very nasty splinter/shatter, graphic even. Caused by full torsion on impact with floor, quite the worst landing I’ve ever made. Lucky that the bone splinters haven’t sheered off, not yet anyway. Crutches and mobile armless desk chair is the only driving I’ll be doing for next months, wheel chair for longer journeys!

Hype O’Thermia
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 3:49 am | In reply to Elizabeth.
Ooh aah, not fun.
Showering’s a riot, wanna put out a request for plastic bags for the foot-swathing that’s necessary?

Mike
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 9:53 am | In reply to Hype O’Thermia.
If she has a moonboot likely she can slip it off for showers with care

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 10:59 am | In reply to Mike.
Mike, can’t remove boot, very unstable fracture – doctors orders. Maybe if after bone mend clearly advancing, on instruction of fracture clinic (weekly visits).

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 9:57 am | In reply to Hype O’Thermia.
No showering allowed, sponge bathing from here on out.

Mike
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 9:51 am | In reply to Elizabeth.
Having been there relatively recently I recommend getting ACC to rent you a “knee scooter” to get around the house (assuming you are all on one level) they are silly looking things and more useful than you can imagine.
When the time comes to start putting weight on it spend some of your ACC physio resources to get someone to spend a couple of sessions at the physio pool giving you exercises to do. The pool’s great advantage is that you can easily control the amount of weight you place on the foot by how far you are in the pool from next to nothing when you start to almost nothing at the end. I went everyday for three months.

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 11:00 am | In reply to Mike.
Great advice, will check all this out !! Have prior experience at pool for back and foot injuries requiring no weight loading, twenty years ago. Normally robust individual, good to share ideas in case others find themselves in similar situations and grounding :)

Hype O’Thermia
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 12:01 pm
When I was supposed to spend as much time as poss with foot elevated I took food & thermos back to bed (radio, books, TV all within reach) and propped leg on a beanbag cushion. It was good for sleeping too, the leg nestles into it and didn’t slip off while I was asleep.

Mike
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 1:38 pm | In reply to Mike.
I should add that I recently gave the physio pool fund a 4-figure donation – they were so useful to me in my recovery they were worth far more than that to me – really ACC should be dropping some cash on their appeal – the alternative is the movie trope of the person learning to walk again on the parallel bars, and being caught by the physio when they fall …. if the pool goes they’ll essentially have to replace it with lots of physios catching people ….
The “Moana will do” people misunderstand that Moana has no careful stairway access (where you can abandon your crutches on your way down) and the wrong depth profiles for self supported exercise – the physio pool is 1/2 gentle slope so you can carefully match the support you need from the water with 1/4 of the pool essentially available for rehabilitation while sharing it with people using it for exercise of various types.
I don’t much care about how pretty the changing rooms are – that’s not why I used the pool – the existing ones are perfectly serviceable, the showers are hard to navigate on one foot (but use the disabled ones) – IMHO a few more hand rails are all they need.

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2015/06/07 at 2:00 pm | In reply to Mike.
Another great breakdown for the physio pool merits. Thanks.

—

One day I might get to the Physio Pool —hopefully, with avoidance of hospitalisation in the meantime.

Dunedin Physio Pool, 140 Hanover Street. Photo: radionz.co.nz

ODT 7.6.15 Comradeship and health benefits too
For Dunedin twins Stephen and Allan Facer, the Otago Therapeutic Pool is about more than injury recovery. It’s a place to heal and keep fit, but also to socialise as part of a keen group of regulars hitting the water at the pool.
Read more

Related Posts and Comments
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital
21.8.14 Dirty pool? #SDHB #University

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Leave Otago white collar criminals ALONE, and other unfairness

Ministers: Anne Tolley & Paula Bennett

### ODT Online Mon, 15 Jul 2013
Proceeds of crime forfeited
By Hamish McNeilly
Police have seized millions of dollars worth of assets – including almost $1 million from criminals in Otago and Southland – since a tough new law came into force. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act took effect on December 1, 2009. Assets worth an estimated $29 million have been forfeited, including cash ($10.48 million), properties ($13.67 million) and vehicles ($2 million). […] Figures released to the ODT under the Official Information Act show 14 assets with an estimated value of $862,105.22 have been forfeited in the Southern district.
Read more

● Whereabouts of Michael Swann assets?
People can contact Dunedin police on (03) 471-4800 or via the anonymous Crimestoppers line, 0800-555-111.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: 3news.co.nz – Anne Tolley, zimbio.com – Paula Bennett

Public service causing “paralysis of democracy” with OIA requests

The following article is reproduced here in full, in the public interest.

—

### NZ Herald Online 5:30 AM Thursday Mar 21, 2013
Ombudsman to investigate OIA response
By David Fisher
The agency charged with reining in the power of government is to investigate the way public bodies are releasing information as citizens complain of being shut out. The Office of the Ombudsman is to begin its own investigation into the way the public service is responding to the Official Information Act as allegations are made of a “paralysis of democracy”.

The office is struggling to cope with a large increase in complaints from the public who have sought help. Deputy Ombudsman Leo Donnelly has begun writing to those who have complained saying it doesn’t have enough staff to handle the work load.

In response to a complaint from The Herald, Mr Donnelly said the office had 450 complaints it had been unable to assign to investigators because of the volume of work. He said staff were dealing with 2800 complaints.

In contrast, the Ombudsman’s office told a parliamentary select committee it finished the 2011 year with 1359 complaints and the 2012 year with 1746 complaints. Mr Donnelly said this will be a factor in an investigation into the way the act was handled across the public service.

He said the inquiry would aim to discover if the delay was caused by the way public agencies responded to requests.
He said the law stated information should be released unless there was good reason to withhold it.

A recent investigation into the Ministry of Education’s handling of requests to do with Christchurch schools raised questions about the processes used by government agencies to deal with requests.

Constitutional lawyer Mai Chen said the problems raised questions about how well public servants understood a law intended to give balance to the “David and Goliath” inequality between citizen and government. “I am concerned that officials sometimes reflect their ministers. I’m concerned some of the reticence may reflect the priorities that ministers give to compliance with legislation.” She said the government expected citizens to comply with laws and it should do so with the act. “If they don’t mean to do it, they should repeal it.”

Both the Green Party and Labour Party have spokeswomen for open government – with Labour’s Clare Curran, saying it would become a ministerial responsibility when the party was next in office. “There is an emerging crisis with our watchdog agencies,” she said. “It is a paralysis of democracy.”
NZH Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Council meeting agenda and reports for 25 February 2013

Includes DCC Draft Annual Plan 2013/14

Agenda – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 76.1 KB)

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 105.7 KB)
Statement of Proposal for the 2013/14 Draft Annual Plan

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 3.8 MB)
Statement of Proposal for the 2013/14 Draft Annual Plan – Attachment

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 1.5 MB)
South Dunedin Cycle Network

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 1.7 MB)
Tourism Dunedin 2012-2013 Half Yearly Report

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 750.9 KB)
Tourism Dunedin Statement of Intent 2012-2015

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 3.0 MB)
Statements of Intent of Group Companies

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 3.5 MB)
Resource Management Act Reform Bill Submission

Report – Council – 25/02/2013 (PDF, 76.0 KB)
Recording of Meetings – Proposed Change to Standing Order 3.3.7

Resolution to Exclude the Public
To be moved: “That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting, namely, Items 18 -19.

[As relates to the previous and current meeting rounds, Property Matters and FIFA under-20 World Cup 2015.]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Standard issue for ALL staff and hangers-on

To be worn with corporate wash-and-wear crimplene pants. All heavy neck jewellery is banned, removing distraction from weak chins.

Thanks to Source.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill

Comment received.

Anonymous
Submitted on 2012/06/03 at 10:48 pm

Yes and in the face of all these rorts the big trusts, Lion Foundation and Pub Charity are rallying support – encouraging their favoured grant applicants to make submissions to Govt on the new pokie bill which if passed intends doing away with all pokie trusts (and their rorts) within 12 months.

When Francis Weavers, the ex CEO of the Community Gaming Association (CGA), an organisation set up by and for the benefit of Pokie Trusts, submits an official report to the Govt claiming endemic non compliance and corruption within the industry you have got to wonder just how bad it has all become and wonder why this Govt has not shown more leadership with DIA and the industry.

Seriously, this has now grown into a serious law and order issue involving “white collar” criminals – something this Govt said it was tough on.

[ends]

See comment below to read Weavers’ report.

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The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill is a private member’s bill that was proposed by Maori Party MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell.

It was drawn from the ballot in September 2010 and concluded its first parliamentary reading on Wednesday 9 May 2012. Parliament voted to send the bill to the Commerce Select Committee for consideration. The committee has six months to consider submissions before it must report back to parliament. The matter is scheduled to be heard in the House on 9 November 2012.

The purpose of the bill is:
a) To prevent and minimise the harm caused by gambling, including problem gambling.
b) To ensure that money from gambling benefits the community.
c) To facilitate community involvement in decisions about the provision of gambling.

Submissions close on Thursday, 21 June 2012
Have your say in creating better gambling laws by making a written submission to the Select Committee.

Submissions can be mailed to:

Secretariat
Commerce Committee
Select Committee Office
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON 6011

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http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/Daily/5/e/e/50HansD_20120509-Volume-679-Week-10-Wednesday-9-May-2012.htm

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/3/9/d/50HansD_20120509_00000024-Gambling-Gambling-Harm-Reduction-Amendment.htm

### 3news.co.nz Thu, 10 May 2012 5:30a.m.
Pokie reduction bill passes first reading
A bill giving local authorities the power to cut back on pokie machines in pubs and clubs, or get rid of them altogether, has passed its first reading in Parliament with strong support.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Animal welfare #eqnz #chch

The following services are available. However, it was reported on TV3’s Nightline tonight that Christchurch animal welfare services are overwhelmed by the number of animals – many not microchipped – they have received for care. They are hoping to move some animals to alternative shelters and facilities in other centres.

Animal Control
For lost or found dogs please contact Animal Control on 021 240 8310 or visit 10 Metro Place – Open 8:00am to 6:00pm #eqnz

Microchipped animals
There is now a good microchip register in New Zealand.

Paw Justice
Text “HELP” to 4662 to donate $3 to Paw Justice towards pet food for Chch Animal Quake victims ♥

Pets on the Net
Pets on the Net http://www.petsonthenet.co.nz/ is working with the SPCA to save lives, this is a free community service. Earthquake: Petsonthenet is the nationwide database for lost and found pets, as phone service resumes please report and search for lost, found or deceased pets here. Phone reports will be accepted for those without internet access on 07 868 5581

SPCA animal emergencies
@RNZSPCA Canterbury SPCA animal emergencies 9am-4pm call 03 349 7057 ext 201 or 205; after hours call 03 366 3886 #eqnz

SPCA pet listings
Information about animal welfare and lost/found pets is available on the SPCA NZ website http://bit.ly/he8SKU #eqnz #chch

Trade Me pet listings
Go to the Trade Me home page for information on missing and found pets.

Vets Clinics
The majority of Christchurch vets clinics are now operating #chch
The veterinary clinic in Hornby is operating an After Hours service – the clinic has temporarily relocated to: Hornby Vet Centre, 7 Tower Street, Hornby
Phone 03 366 1052
Weekdays 7pm to 8am
Weekends are Saturday from 12pm thru to 8am on Monday

****

@Baxter_man (RT @OtagoLad) A foto of my new mate Sammyman Sams Nose – new @blipfoto journal entry – http://bit.ly/eWSGJD

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

In defence of STV

“or How I learned to stop living the past and learned to love the vote.”

This posting is in response to the submission of Jeremy Belcher and Calvin Oaten to the DCC Electoral Review Committee, in February 2005, in which they criticise “Meeks NZ STV” and put forward their own Belcher/Oaten Method, which they claim is better than STV in several ways. A comment from Mr Oaten (with a link to the submission) was posted by Elizabeth Kerr on 22 August.

In his submission, Mr Oaten attacks single-seat STV, on the basis that it is the second preference votes of the least successful candidates that determine the outcome, and that the second preference votes of the highest polling candidates play no part in determining the final result. He calls this a “travesty of representation”.

What he fails to understand is that, under STV (in both the single- and multi-seat cases), second and subsequent preferences are merely contingency choices only; they are not additional votes having the same value (the value of unity) as first-preference votes. The system is called the single transferable vote for a reason – everyone has just one vote, which is transferable if necessary. If second preferences given for all the candidates were taken into account, i.e. if each voter had two votes, of equal value, even though only one vacancy was being filled (that were then merely tallied and the candidate with the highest combined total of first and second preferences was declared the winner), many voters would discover, too late, that their second preferences had served only to help defeat the candidate they had actually voted for, being the candidate for whom they had given their first preference. Now that would be a travesty of representation.

Mr Oaten then launches into multi-seat STV, again not realising that second and subsequent preferences are contingency choices only, not additional votes. He is critical of the fact that, in a three-seat ward, voters do not have three votes (of equal value) under STV, completely overlooking the reason why – if voters had three votes, in a worst-case scenario, the largest minority grouping (perhaps comprising only 35% of all voters), could use their three votes to elect the three candidates they wanted, with the remaining 65% of voters getting nothing. Clearly, Mr Oaten wants STV to, in effect, be the system it replaced – multiple-FPP.

Mr Oaten proposes his Belcher-Oaten Method, that he claims would correct NZ STV’s deficiencies. It is, in fact, a clumsy version of multiple-FPP. In a 3-seat ward, he wants the first three preferences to have the same weight, being the value of unity. As previously stated, this would enable the largest minority grouping to use their three votes to elect the three candidates they want, with everyone else missing out. Taking his example of Cargill 2004 on page 6 of his paper, he has determined that the total number of first, second and third preferences is 5210 + 5178+ 5127 = 15,515. To him, this is the number of valid votes. His Quota formula (on page 5) is 15515 / 3 = 5171.67 times 4 (the number of vacancies, plus 1) divided by 10 (the number of candidates), i.e. 40%, which equals 2068.668, which he has rounded up to 2069.

If the required three candidates have not attained this quota, then the total number of fourth preferences are assigned to the candidates on a pro rata basis according to his formula (on page 7). For Teresa Stevenson, therefore, the calculation is 327 / 4927 = 0.0663689 times 327 = 21.702, which he has rounded up to 22. In other words, voters have multiple votes (value 1), equal to the number of vacancies, plus further votes, if necessary, assigned on a pro rata basis, i.e. at less than the value of unity (327 votes, that he now calls preference votes, become 22 votes).

He calls his method “Proportional STV that reveals the true will of the People”. Surely he jests. First, it is not STV – it is a multiple-vote system (not a single vote system), and no votes are transferred; preferences are merely tallied.

Second, it is not proportional representation, because it is essentially multiple-FPP (with additional pro rata votes beyond the nth preference in a n-seat ward). Taking his example, three people he dislikes, because they share “political, social, lifestyle, or cultural associations or sympathies” (page 4, fourth bullet point), being Stevenson, Doug Hall and Paul McMullen, fill the three seats. In Cargill 2004, under STV, the three winners each obtained 25% of the votes, meaning 75% of the total of votes were effective in helping to elect a candidate, and they were quite different from each other. Under the Belcher-Oaten Method, the three winners are politically / socially aligned (according to him), but are elected with a total of only 7216 votes (plus 217 pro rata votes [22 + 195]) out of a total of 15,515 votes (plus 217 pro rata votes), i.e. on only 46.51% of the total of votes!! This means his Quota formula has no rational electoral basis, which leads to a concomitant conclusion that his method is well short of being mathematically rigorous.

Consequently, third, far from revealing the true will of the people, his method grotesquely distorts that will. He simply hasn’t clicked to the fact that the 987 voters who gave a second preference, and the 876 voters who gave a third preference, to McMullen (for example), would have, in many cases, helped to defeat their most preferred candidate, such as Paul Hudson or Michael Guest. Although it would be transparent, it is hardly fair, accurate or democratic. And once those voters see what they’ve done (because of the transparency), they’ll never express second or subsequent preferences again, and then we’ll be back to FPP – actually, we would have, by default, a close approximation of the Single NON-Transferable Vote in a multi-seat ward (a system, previously used in Japan, that produces unequal representation, or no representation at all, for voters).

Mr Oaten states that the first preferences of the highest polling candidates are never looked at (page 3, paragraph immediately above the table, and in a posting dated 22 August (at 11.35 a.m.)). That is simply not true. For example, once Stevenson attained the quota, her keep value was recalculated (at iteration 3) as 0.98857…, and was recalculated as the count progressed. Her final keep value was 0.66775… That means, at the conclusion of the count, she had kept 66.78% of all her votes, and the remaining 33.22% had been transferred to the second and subsequent preferences on her votes (both her first-preference votes, and those votes she acquired along the way), to help elect other candidates.

I suspect Mr Oaten laments the fact that, in Cargill in 2004, he was excluded from the count at the same time Stevenson was elected (at iteration 2), which meant he was unable to benefit from any second preferences given for him on her 1,313 papers. But, at iteration 3, Alan McDonald only received 104 papers from her (value 1.89 votes), Steve Young only received 156 papers from her (value 1.78 votes) and even Jo Galer and Nicola Holman only received 202 and 200 papers, respectively, from her (value 2.31 votes and 2.28 votes, respectively). The simple fact of the matter is, Mr Oaten was always destined for an early exit, because only 142 people (out of 5,210) voted for him. Not even the Belcher-Oaten Method would have saved him.

In conclusion, I commend the DCC for creating the 11-seat Central Ward. What this means is that any candidate who receives one-twelfth (8.33%) of all votes cast [45% of (say) 65,000 electors = 29,250 x 0.833 = (say) 2,400 votes] will be elected. Any group of voters, comprising 8.33% of all voters, will elect a candidate to represent them, regardless of who larger groups of voters may want.

Click here for a paper that explains how single-seat STV works, and the rationale behind the system. (PDF)

Click here to see a paper that describes multi-seat STV, and the rationale hehind the system. (PDF)

Click here to see a paper that describes how single transferable votes are counted, and how individual voters can work out how their vote was used. (PDF)

Click here to see a paper that explains STV to voters (PDF).

Click here to see a paper that reconstructs in meticulous detail how the votes cast in the Cargill Ward in 2004 were counted. (PDF)

Click here to see the guide prepared for the Department of Internal Affairs, the Society of Local Government Managers Electoral Working Party and Local Government New Zealand (PDF)

Author: Steve.

Posted by Paul Le Comte

A timely reminder

For those who visit and/or participate in this public forum on the Stadium, you will appreciate that I will accept a wide range of opinions from both sides of the camp. This is good for a robust conversation about this development.

However this is a timely reminder that although I set this site up as a forum for free and frank discussion, I do not have the time to check every single comment made on this site, and thus it is a place for people to moderate their own conversations – just as you would if you were talking face to face with people.

Unless you have the facts 100% correct about someone in particular (with the result that your comments could be defamatory), I would respectfully request that you keep your comments and thoughts to yourself. If you have checked these facts and continue to believe them to be true, and then in the public interest you wish these to be published, by all means contact me first.

I do not have the time to fend off lawyers because some are prepared to make cheap throw away lines. Unfortunately if we are unable to do so, I will be forced to close comments on this site.

Come on folks, you are all aware of the rules of life.

Have a great day, cheers

Paul

And we love talking

Hi all,

I’m not much into back-room secrets here at What if?, there are some things that go no further than Elizabeth and I who are the only two who administer this site such as email addresses etc (just for your piece of mind), but some stuff I am more than happy to share with you.

The statistics are one thing we are very happy to share with you folk. As you all know I started this as a place for criticism and discussion around the design and architecture of the building. It bubbled along nicely for a long time, then the day politics entered the fray, all hell broke loose. Some time over the last day or two we have reached a milestone for a single issue small city issue – 50,000 visitors.

Some folk can’t believe I haven’t had advertising on this site given the traffic it generates (still pretty small really), others have accused me of being in the pocket of the CST. Unfortunately I haven’t made a single dime from this site, and I’d hate to think of the time Elizabeth and I have put in (not to mention the contributions you have all made).

The chart is generated by WordPress on the statistics of visitor numbers. As you can see over the last few months things really have taken off and this site is now averaging a stunning 7500+ visitors a month (we haven’t yet finished this month either!).

So in the light of reaching 50,000 visitors to a site about a single issue (well not lately) in a small part of the world, cheers all and hope you are getting as much out of it as we are.

Thanks

Paul Le Comte
Founder & co-AdminP

Woodlouse bloat + Farry foam

### D Scene 6-5-09 (page 3)
Michael’s boast
By Ryan Keen

If the new stadium gets built and is the rampant success for the city that all its supporters hope it will be, we’ll all know who to thank – Michael Woodhouse, National MP. Let’s just be clear – that’s according to him. In one of the most shamelessly self-serving press releases (and that’s saying something) to be press released in recent memory, Woodhouse heaps plenty of credit on himself for the stadium getting as far as it has.
{continues}

### Media release (Apr 30, 2009) Stadium Great Opportunity for Dunedin

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

### D Scene 6-5-09 (page 8)
Stadium in court again
By Michelle Sutton

Former Queenstown property developer – and stadium opponent – Basil Walker is ready to argue Otago ratepayers have been “conned”. He takes his argument to the High Court in Dunedin today.
{story continues}

### D Scene 6-5-09 (page 9)
The Insider: Interview by Michelle Sutton
Farry’s full steam ahead

Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry has often likened the pursuit of the project to climbing Everest. Despite signing a construction contract last week, he still feels like he’s only halfway to the top.
{interview continues}

Where to for What if?

First of all I would like to thank every single person who has contributed to this blog/forum on the debate surrounding the development of a new multi-purpose stadium in our town. From those whose opinions I don’t agree with, I thank you for voicing your concerns. For those who have contributed actual expert knowledge, and those who just wanted to put their two cents worth in, again thank you very much, this is your forum. More latterly we must all thank the StS for imploding (several times) and allowing us to have Elizabeth Kerr on board as the resident dissenting voice. I think you will all agree that this site is much richer for the range of material now presented on the topic, and that is in no small part down to the hard work of Elizabeth.

When I first started this blog (and some with their heads up their neither regions won’t remember this), the original intention was to start a discussion around the design and function of the building. I was critical of the form (and thus function) of the thing, and while it is not our Sydney Opera House or even Water Cube, the subsequent refining of the concept has resulted in a much greater product (although still far from my wishes – but then I don’t have half a billion to give to the project). The site was exclusively about the design, I wanted to keep the politics out of it altogether, as I had seen the exceedingly unpleasant fights that take place on the NZ political blog scene. But this didn’t really interest anyone, or perhaps the debate wasn’t hot enough back then, and the site kept turning over with 5-20 interested souls a day visiting the site (bless them). However as soon as I took the bait from Peter Entwisle one day (thanks Peter) and the site took on a political feel, things went a little crazy. I remember looking at the stats one day, thinking 85 people looked at this today – madness. This may also surprise many, but it wasn’t until I was pigeon holed as ‘the pro-stadium guy’ that I actually took on the role, I was for the idea but still wasn’t convinced of the merits of it.

Well that is long in the past, and while the discussions have come and gone, there has been thrust and parry, jibes and compliments, on the whole this site has been one of the main stopping points for reasoned argument on the merits and concerns of the stadium development. Once public opinion really got heated up by the frenzied campaign of the StS, the stats went through the roof, and journalists, experts and politicians also referenced and visited this site, contributing from time to time (thanks Richard).

I guess what I have been most proud of, has been the fact that this site has become a forum for ideas, to be debated, applauded, shot down, chewed through, rejected, acclaimed, and it’s all been about Dunedin. I can’t remember another site like this, about Dunedin exclusively, and many of you may well know that there is another venture on the way. This has enabled Dunedin folk (or concerned and informed citizens of NZ) to contribute a voice, whether I like it or not. Unlike the StS site which has engaged in banning and censoring those whom it doesn’t agree with, this site, despite its obvious Pro Stadium stance, has been a place where free and frank discussions can take place, about the place we love to live in.

This isn’t the end of What if?. It is however me finally having the time to thank everyone for their contribution to this argument, whatever side of the fence you sit on. Below is a chart of the stats for this site. If you are involved in any of the big weblogs in NZ, these are laughable, but to me and for such a single issue site, I think this is pretty bloody impressive. I could hardly see Kiwiblog surviving for over 2 years and actually increasing the numbers on a SINGLE ISSUE only.

Thanks very much everyone, it’s been a blast, I hope you have all taken something from this site, be it that South Dunedin isn’t going to float away (I can honestly assure you all of that), through to the still tight economics of the development.

This graph shows the cumulative monthly ‘unique’ visitors to this site. Going from 155 average visitors in the very first month March 2007, through to an average of 6,500 April 2009. There have been 308 Posts, which were commented on 1,409 times over 21 Categories, using 1,006 Tags.

And what does this all show us, that you want to talk about the town you all live in, that is a great thing, cheers all.

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Posted by Paul Le Comte

Sports development in limbo following court action

Unbelievably this isn’t Dunedin but in the Hawkes Bay. I had to really watch the news hard, because I thought I was listening to new news about Forsyth Bar Stadium, but no, seems the NIMBYS (yes reductionism for the sake of argument) want their day in court.

http://www.3news.co.nz/News/Region/HawkesBay/Hastings-sports-development-in-limbo-following-court-action/tabid/753/articleID/100573/cat/148/Default.aspx

Go figure. I wonder if these are the same orchardists who wish to dump 10m trays of Kiwifruit?

Crs Acklin and Collins not keen to meet

### ODT Online Sat, 11 Apr 2009
Councillors reject stadium meeting

By Chris Morris

Two Dunedin city councillors invited to explain the merits of the planned $198 million Awatea St stadium at a public meeting in South Dunedin have rebuffed the offer, saying their views would not be listened to.

Read more online here;

Read more

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The Caversham Presbyterian Hall is located at 61 Thorn Street.

"People: work very hard NOW"

MAINTAIN MOMENTUM

YOU SHOULD – everybody for or against the stadium – LOBBY HARD by going public at every opportunity there is to tell DCC, ORC, CST and (maybe) those in central government about the benefits or non benefits of the Otago stadium project.

Some of you are very vocal, you’re writing lots of letters, speaking to lots of people and working on other strategies in the greater city, continuously so. Thank you. Your energy is remarkable.

MORE WORK TO DO, because the stadium project is still fluid.

How does the stadium project affect you and the people you know or have responsibility for?
SPELL IT OUT

Your arguments should not be based on HOT AIR. Your arguments should be well stated: plainly stated and based on FACT or LACK OF FACT you have discovered about the project. Either way you will help to show what the exact status of the project is in your local community.

Do you feel you have been consulted properly on the stadium project?
SPELL IT OUT

If you haven’t stopped reading this, SAY WHY the stadium project will or won’t work practically, economically and or socially for the city.

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Special note to those against the stadium:
A rates revolt is possibly too slow and too late to make a difference to what will unfold at DCC before and after Easter 2009.

REPEAT QUESTION: StS are you heading to judicial review. If we ask often enough it could happen, right?

StS Public Meeting 29 March Town Hall

### ODT Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Stadium meeting to allow ‘a wider range of perspectives’

By David Loughrey

A line-up of “unscripted” speakers at a meeting staged by the Stop the Stadium group will provide a wider range of perspectives on the stadium issue, organiser Bev Butler says.

Read More Online Here…

Read more