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]

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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

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Related Posts and Comments:
29.11.15 Lively dialogue with DVML’s Terry Davies —Not ! #LGOIMA #Stadium
1.3.15 DCC: DCHL/DVL/DVML limited half year result | Term borrowings $586.5M
28.2.15 Blonde ‘lawyer’ takes over DVML —expect no change
1.12.14 Stadium Review: LGOIMA request and 2009 Town Hall speeches
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
8.10.14 Stadium: Liability Cull warns ratepayers could pay more to DVML
6.10.14 Stadium misses —like it would ever happen, Terry
25.9.14 DVML on Otago Rugby and Rod
13.9.14 DVML and ORFU refuse to disclose 2012 Otago Rugby deal
1.8.14 DVML and the “Otago Rugby” deal (sponsorship and payments)

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.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium costs +$20M per annum, against one Fleetwood Mac concert….

THIS DOESN’T SINK NEWS OF LATEST DELTA FINANCIAL BLOWOUT – NOBLE VILLAGE SUBDIVISION

I experienced Fleetwood Mac at Western Springs, Auckland in the 1980s, there is no way I want to see them live now in a crap-for-sound covered stadium at Dunedin. This cat has already eaten the cream. I might see them at Mt Smart, however.

How much has DCC/DVML paid to the promoter to get the band here?
They’ve spent $350,000 on tired roller Rod Stewart, who has yet to perform.

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### ODT Online Fri, 20 Mar 2015
Fleetwood Mac to play Stadium
By Chris Morris
The rumours are true — Fleetwood Mac is coming to Dunedin. It was confirmed yesterday the group, one of the world’s best-selling bands, will perform its only South Island show at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Wednesday, November 18. Tickets costing between $100 and $300 plus fees will go on public sale from 10am on April 1, and a bumper crowd is predicted to pump millions of dollars into Dunedin’s economy. The British-American group’s Dunedin show will feature all five original band members, with Christine McVie having reunited with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Read more

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 26, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – The Dance -1997 – Gypsy

CroNix99 Uploaded on Jul 2, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon – The Dance -1997

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 27, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide – 2004
Live In Boston – Say You Will Tour

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Fleetwood Mac – Christine McVie rejoining Fleetwood Mac 12.1.14 [pitchfork.com]

‘Stadium liability’, from the ODT unprintable letters file

Received from Lee Vandervis
Sun, 14 Dec 2014 at 10:42 a.m.

Message: I have been advised by Nick Smith that the ODT Editor will not print my letter as below.
You may well have ideas on what the reasons for rejection may be.
Cheers,
Lee

ODT 10.12.14 Letter to the editor (page 14)

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 15:43:28 +1300
To: EditorODT, Nicholas G S Smith [ODT], Dave Cannan [ODT]
Conversation: Stadium liability
Subject: Stadium liability

Dear Editor,
Despite all the evidence, contributors like Bev Diehl still have everything wrong regarding the Stadium.
We do not “have it” – it has us till it is paid for. In the meantime the lenders have it and us by the debt short and curlies.
It is not “an asset” but a rates liability. We are not having major artists, they occasionally have us, as in the estimated $6 million Elton took back overseas for his one-off no-charge use of the Stadium. The mostly empty stadium has other events, mostly rugby, which are heavily subsidised by rates bail-outs and differential, Community Access fund, Event Attraction fund, and millions in interest, staff and maintenance payments. The DCC Stadium Review Committee was stacked with Stadium Management who recently succeeded in again increasing funding for their already wasteful operational spending.
Everything can never “fall into place”, until Stadium operational costs are reduced to the bare minimum required for the rare large events that only the Stadium can host, now that Carisbrook has been levelled.

Cr. Lee Vandervis

—— End of Forwarded Message

—

Perhaps an inkling here, Lee ?

Ch39 News (11.12.14) talks to Phil Somerville about the ODT Opinion page.
We’re told it’s about bringing forth ideas. Different views from different perspectives – but STOP.

What are some of the main recurring topics?

“Often they tend to be on the main news of the day. For a while of course they were on the stadium, try to avoid that now, most views are extremely entrenched. Probably could run something on climate change every week….”
Link to comment

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML, ‘Money for jam…..fig jam’

Why does no-one want to discuss invoices created by DVML commercial manager Guy Hedderwick on his extensive travels, except for Dunedin campaigner Bev Butler? Who signed them off? Neville Frost (DVML finance manager) and Darren Burden (ex DVML chief executive). Why is Hedderwick at Adelaide working part-time for DVML when there’s an empty, brand new multimillion-dollar stadium sinking into the mire at Dunedin? Doesn’t Hedderwick also work for the Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU)? What’s really happening?

This morning we have seen media reaction to Bev Butler’s investigation into Guy Hedderwick’s expenses using the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) to obtain invoices —we have also seen Otago Daily Times reporting various replies it has sought from the local burghers about this.

Some invoices show stays in five-star hotel rooms costing up to US$300 per night. There is a swathe of rib-eye steaks and expensive bottles of wine attending Hedderwick’s travel across the world and domestic.

█ What did Butler say in her Media Release to upset DVML finance manager Neville Frost (ex ORFU)? Find out below.

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### ODT Online Sat, 22 Mar 2014
DVML head slams Butler’s allegations
By Chris Morris
Allegations of inappropriate spending by a former manager at Forsyth Barr Stadium have prompted an angry retort from the company running the venue. The claims came from former Stop the Stadium president Bev Butler in response to invoices and other documents released to her by Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, which runs the stadium. The material showed DVML’s former commercial manager, Guy Hedderwick, had accrued nearly $80,000 in travel costs and expenses while taking 51 work-related trips since 2010.
Read more

### ODT Online Sat, 22 Mar 2014
Company threatening to charge for OIA answers
By Chris Morris
The company running Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium is threatening to charge for future responses to official information requests after being inundated with questions from stadium critic Bev Butler. The move by Dunedin Venues Management Ltd was immediately slammed by Ms Butler yesterday, who said it was ”an attempt to keep me off their trail”.
Read more

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█ MEDIA RELEASE Sunday 23 March 2014
By Bev Butler

MONEY FOR JAM…..FIG JAM

Ratepayers of Dunedin will once again be amazed with the news that they have paid over $80,000 for the activities of the “departed” commercial manager of DVML, Guy Hedderwick, to travel the world leading the life of Riley with little noticeable benefit.

Readers of some newspapers will have learned recently that Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML), the Dunedin City Council owned company that runs the stadium, paid out over $54,000 in entitlements to former chief executive David Davies when he returned to Wales, and just on $30,000 when CEO Darren Burden left to run the Christchurch stadium after a year’s work with DVML. The amounts and details of any “entitlements” paid to DVML’s commercial manager were refused on the basis of Mr Hedderwick’s privacy after the DVML board chairman, Canterbury resident, Sir John Hansen was advised by DVML staff that Mr Hedderwick’s privacy outweighed public interest.

While these details remain hidden, what has surfaced is just what it has cost Dunedin ratepayers to keep Mr Hedderwick in the manner to which he clearly has become accustomed.

Mr Hedderwick left Dunedin around August of 2013 to pursue a role with DVML in Adelaide similar to the one he had in Dunedin; with arrangements in place that see DVML continuing to employ Mr Hedderwick and meet his expenses while he pursues his role of attracting acts and sponsors to the stadium. His efforts have been almost totally in vain. The only act to appear at the stadium since Mr Hedderwick has been living in Adelaide has been an Australian based franchised Abba look-alike band, Bjorn Again, who in their previous visit to Dunedin appeared at the Regent Theatre. The act attracted 3500 people to the stadium. It was reported at the time that while a similar event the year before had attracted twice this number, DVML were “pleased” at this response. The rationale for this pleasure is hard to fathom.

But the cost of Mr Hedderwick’s “work” has been, in contrast to his work achievements, simply staggering. The facts behind Mr Hedderwick’s spending have been revealed after constant requests for information by Bev Butler to Neville Frost, financial manager of DVML. The information has had to be teased out over a significant period of time, but now is starting to be revealed in some sunlight.

Mr Hedderwick’s travel, in his quest for acts and sponsors for the stadium, has taken him to:

● Italy
● Singapore
● USA
● Brisbane
● Gold Coast
● Sydney
● Melbourne
● Adelaide
● Auckland
● Wellington
● Christchurch
● Napier
● New Plymouth
● Rotorua
● Hamilton

The vast number of these visits has been listed as “seeking potential sponsors”. Sufficient to say that few new sponsors for the stadium have been notified by DVML or DCC. Mr Hedderwick also seems keen on attending “conferences” around the world. There is no indication or record of any significant contributions that Mr Hedderwick has made to such conferences, nor of any benefit whatsoever to DVML for such attendances.

But it is in Mr Hedderwick’s spending that some light shines upon what appears to be a lavish lifestyle endorsed and approved by Mr Neville Frost and Mr Darren Burden. It is neither reasonable nor justifiable for expenditure down to chewing gum and shaving gear at one end of the spending paradigm, to the luxury of five-star hotels and pursuit of fine wines – an interest of Mr Hedderwick according to his Facebook page* – that really takes the cake.

Mr Hedderwick has visited many of the above destinations on several occasions. The list supplied by Mr Frost for Mr Hedderwick’s travel outside Dunedin numbers 55 trips. However, there appear to be numerous invoices missing from the almost 300 invoices already supplied. Some invoices are for trips not actually listed; and some invoices are for five-star hotel bills (including The Hilton, The Sheraton, and Radisson Resort Gold Coast for as much as $US300 per night in some instances) and rental cars, but no flights to get to the destination. Yet other invoices include expensive meals, blocks of chocolate, boy’s t-shirts, hat and gloves.

With the recent Dunedin City Council announcement of a review of the governance and management of DVML, it would well be advised, in the interests of Dunedin ratepayers, for the council to include a full investigation of all the DVML finances especially the excessive personal expenditure of the DVML management.

Contact for further information:
Bev Butler
Ph (03) 477 6861

[ends]

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*The Facebook page is in dispute, only because Neville Frost went to the wrong page. We refer our readers to Hedderwick’s recent writing (February 2014) for International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM):

### venuenet.iavm.org Mon, Feb 10, 2014 07:15 PM
I am number 9344728427550
By Guy Hedderwick, AEVP
I am number 9344728427550 or at least that is what my loyalty rewards card at my local food store says I am. I presume that large scale food stores issue customers with loyalty cards so they can reward them for their loyalty. I also imagine that it is a great way to collect buying habit information of individual customers so they can target them with relevant advertising, know exactly what products customers buy, when they buy them, monitor their buying patterns and treat them as individuals. […] We live in a small village outside Adelaide […] I am a Million dollar customer […] I wonder how I would be treated as a million dollar customer if I walked into your business.
Venues, along with their teams and ticket providers, have huge amounts of personal data and should understand the emotional reasons guest [sic] attend their events. I don’t really expect my local food store to know me by name, but I do expect to be treated with the dignity “my spend” should demand. There is a huge discussion about big data and the use thereof. How understanding buying patterns and buyer behaviour can be used to sell tickets, merchandise, seat upgrade and improve the customer experience. […] People no longer buy products or services, they buy experiences. We sell the live experience but we need to understand people’s motivations for coming, their behaviours and touch points in order to make the experience truly personal. Then I will happily part with my hard earned dollars. At the end of the day, entertainment and sport (along with good wine) is what makes life worth living.
I am not number 9344728427550, I am Guy Hedderwick and I want to feel like a million dollar customer.
Read full article

● Guy Hedderwick at LinkdIn
● Guy Hedderwick at Twitter @GuyHedd
● Guy Hedderwick (GuyHedd) at Facebook

█ Guy Hedderwick is now General Manager of Arena Stadium Management Pty Ltd (ASM). He took up the appointment at the privately owned Adelaide Arena in 2013. ASM is Adelaide Arena’s new management company formed by joint owners Scouts Stadium Incorporated and Savethearena Pty Ltd. (Link)

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Related Post and Comments:
5.3.14 Stadium: Mayor Cull stuck in his rut, ‘going forward’
4.3.14 Bev Butler: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package (LGOIMA)
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass… [stadium review]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray
14.11.11 DVML, Guy, wth ?
26.9.11 Donations – the quest for clarification
26.9.11 Private sector funding (donations) to stadium construction
12.9.11 Stadium: Private sector funding
9.2.11 DCC and DCHL, was there ever any doubt?
5.11.10 International connections
16.2.10 Owing $45.5 million in private sector funding
5.2.10 Commercial manager Guy Hedderwick on stadium sponsorship

For more, enter *dvml*, *hedderwick*, *burden*, *davies*, or *stadium* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Bev Butler: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package (LGOIMA)

Received from Bev Butler
Tuesday, 4 March 2014 12:21 p.m.

Subject: LGOIMA request: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package

Feel free to put up my LGOIMA requests below and attached re Hedderwick’s departure package and the subsequent responses.
I noticed MikeStk at ODT comments said Hedderwick may have been paid a performance payment.

{Some personal contact details have been removed. -Eds}

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From: Bev Butler
Sent: Friday, 24 January 2014 10:05 AM
To: Neville Frost [DVML]
Subject: LGOIMA request: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package

Friday 24th January 2014

Dear Neville

I request the following:

1. On what date did Mr Guy Hedderwick depart from his full time position as Commercial Director of DVML?

2. How much did Mr Guy Hedderwick receive as a payout on his departure? Please itemise the reasons for each portion of his payout.

3. How much of Mr Guy Hedderwick’s departure payout was extra to the entitlements outlined in his contract?

4. Who authorised Mr Guy Hedderwick’s departure payout?

5. Did the DVML board also authorise the departure payout and if so was the departure payout authorised by the full DVML board or just the board Chair, Sir John Hansen?

6. Please supply the minutes of the DVML board meeting (including the names of all present) where Mr Guy Hedderwick’s departure payout was authorised.

Yours sincerely

Bev Butler

——————————————

From: Kim Barnes [DVML]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Neville Frost [DVML]
Subject: LGOIMA request: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:31:56 +0000

Dear Bev

Thank you for your email dated 24 January 2014. Please find attached a copy of the original letter which will be posted to you.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

Yours sincerely

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager

DDI +64 3 4794399 • M +64 27 5452545
E kim.barnes @ dunedinvenues.co.nz
130 Anzac Avenue, PO Box 5506, Dunedin 9058
T +64 3 479 2823 • F +64 3 471 7436 • www. dunedinvenues.co.nz

——————————————

From: Bev Butler
Sent: Sunday, 2 February 2014 10:09 p.m.
To: Neville Frost [DVML]
Cc: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA request: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package

Monday 3 February 2014

Dear Neville

Thank you for your letter dated 31 January 2014 re Guy Hedderwick’s departure package.

Just a few points of clarification required.

In Question 3: “How much of Mr Guy Hedderwick’s departure payout was extra to the entitlements outlined in his contract?”

Your response was “Mr Hedderwick received his contractual salary entitlement and holiday pay.”

Would you please clarify whether

(a) Mr Guy Hedderwick received any payments extra to the entitlements outlined in his contract;

(b) If so, how much were these extra payments and what were the reasons for these extra payments;

(c) Who authorised these extra payments?

In Question 2: “How much did Mr Guy Hedderwick receive as a payout on his departure? Please itemise the reasons for each portion of his payout.”

Your response was “Mr Hedderwick received his contractual salary entitlement and holiday pay.”

Your response has not answered the request for the amount Mr Guy Hedderwick received as a payout on his departure so please state the amount and reason for each amount as requested.

I remind you that as an organisation accountable for public money there is a keen public interest in how this public money is spent. I also remind you that the final payment to Mr Shamrith Paul, CEO Otago Museum, was made public so there is no reason why Mr Guy Hedderwick’s departure package is not also made public.

Yours sincerely

Bev Butler

——————————————

From: Kim Barnes [DVML]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Neville Frost [DVML]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA request: Guy Hedderwick’s departure package
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 21:01:51 +0000

Dear Bev

Thank you for your email dated 2 February 2014. Please find attached a copy of the original letter which will be posted to you.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

Yours sincerely

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager

DDI +64 3 4794399 • M +64 27 5452545
E kim.barnes @ dunedinvenues.co.nz
130 Anzac Avenue, PO Box 5506, Dunedin 9058
T +64 3 479 2823 • F +64 3 471 7436 • www. dunedinvenues.co.nz

Download: BButler 180214

[ends]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML in disarray

● DVML chief executive Darren Burden leaves 24 December, takes up rival role in Christchurch.
● Former DVML commercial manager Guy Hedderwick now part-time contractor, works from Adelaide.

### ODT Online Sat, 30 Nov 2013
Stadium defections, bookings prompt review
By Chris Morris
The board overseeing Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium has launched a management review amid high-profile defections and concerns the entertainment cupboard for this summer is ”a little bit bare”. Dunedin Venues Management Ltd board chairman Sir John Hansen, speaking to the Otago Daily Times, had a blunt message for music fans hoping for a stadium-filling concert this summer.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments: (updated 28.2.14)
26.2.14 Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . .
20.12.13 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure, really?
3.12.13 DVML issues and rankles [Burden’s reply]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray
18.11.13 DVML: Burden heads to Christchurch #EntirelyPredictable
1.11.13 Council appointments (rumbles) [see comment]
12.10.13 DVML works media/DCC to spend more ratepayer money
4.10.13 DVML . . . | ‘Make the stadium work’ losses continue
20.8.13 DVML foists invoices on DCC
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt
8.6.13 Stadium: Insurmountable debt but gosh, look at our numbers!
25.2.13 Darren Burden’s ratepayer subsidy bubble and other Fubar myths
29.1.13 Pecuniary interest: Crs Wilson and Thomson in events fund debate
30.12.12 To DVML Board, from Ian Tayor [sic]
11.12.12 Stadium: DCC runs amok with $750K annual subsidy to DVML
2.11.12 Stadium financials: Calvin Oaten on DVML, DVL and DCHL
2.11.12 Stadium financials: JimmyJones v Peter Hutchison (DVML) on accounting method
25.10.12 Council bid lacks cost/benefit analysis: Fifa under-20 World Cup 2015
19.10.12 LGOIMA request: Breakdown of DVML recruitment costs [emails]
19.10.12 Weak boys, Cull and Burden on rugby stadium
11.10.12 Darren Burden plays LGOIMA game like Davies #DVML #PsychoAnswer
22.8.12 DVML: North vs South game profit/loss [email]
26.7.12 Cull’s council thinks $750,000 per annum to DVML represents good value?
29.6.12 DCC recruitment process: DVML chief executive position
22.6.12 DVML chief executive recruitment
9.5.12 DVML report: $1.9 million loss
30.3.12 DCC refuses to release DVML six-monthly report until “most suitable time and forum” is found
14.12.11 Davies “in the middle of a conversation” – how to fudge DVML, DCC, ORFU and Highlanders
2.12.11 DVML gets into bed with ORFU
14.11.11 DVML, Guy, wth ?
28.10.11 DVML, DVL and DCHL annual reports
18.2.11 Audit New Zealand requires DCC to write to DVML

OLD NEWS

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 03/06/2012
Dunedin’s House of Blame
By Steve Kilgallon
The prospect of yet more glittering new stadiums being constructed by ambitious city fathers – as being debated right now in Christchurch and Auckland – is met with scorn by some in Dunedin, where the saga of the Forsyth Barr Stadium has left a city divided and its ratepayers facing vast debts.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Russell Garbutt: DCC, stadium failings

Comment received.

—

Russell Garbutt
Submitted on November 26, 2013 at 9:31 am

I submitted this to the ODT as an Opinion Piece following their editorial, but I have been told that it has not been selected for publication. Up to you to judge why.

“The ODT Editorial of Friday, 22nd November, 2013 headed “Stadium’s hard act to follow” is another stage in what has turned out to be a sorry chapter in Dunedin’s history.

Many residents of Dunedin were dismayed and astonished that the decision to build the new rugby stadium proceeded despite wide-spread protests and well-researched submissions detailing the experiences of other city’s decisions to build stadia which invariably had led to construction cost blow-outs, below budgeted incomes and over budgeted expenditures. As it turns out, these submitters have been proved right time and time again. What is patently obvious to all of those that have read the various reports into this project including the Larsen Report and the PWC report, the project was predicated upon counting future income as private construction costs, and assuming income levels and costs that would have resulted in an actual profit from Year one of operation.

The reality is a great deal different.

The DCC, and the ratepayers of the City, have been forced, through a complex set of financial arrangements, to provide substantial financial support by way of a payment of $7.25m per year to enable the debt to be paid off faster, a payment of $750,000 per year for “promotion of the stadium for community events”, a payment of $725,000 for other stadium debt round seats and pitch machinery, another annual $400,000 to subsidise or attract large events, and ongoing additional costs for financial advice and the like. All this on top of the huge costs for construction and the associated debt which is a very large component of the $12,000 debt owed by each and every ratepayer to the DCC.
Read more

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“On the eastern coast of New Zealand lies a world-first architectural icon – where 30,000 excited fans are drawn together to watch the action, be entertained, and celebrate. Welcome to Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza: New Zealand’s newest, largest and most versatile indoor events arena.”
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Facebook 22 July 2011 at 17:06

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML works media/DCC to spend more ratepayer money

Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) has been testing the stadium sound system since February, and has discovered it is only working at 20% of what is needed.

Queries about the sound system were only some of a barrage of questions from Dunedin city councillors before they adopted the annual reports of DVML and Dunedin Venues Ltd this week.

### ODT Online Sat, 12 Oct 2013
Stadium PA fix up to $800,000
By Debbie Porteous
Permanently fixing problems with Forsyth Barr Stadium’s public address system would cost between $500,000 and $800,000.
DVML chief executive Darren Burden said the cost did not include permanently fixing sound issues with the wider auditorium, such as those experienced at concerts. They would continue to be addressed by temporary measures installed by promoters.
He said DVML had been working with acoustic engineers and sound system experts, including the company that installed the system. There were problems with the transmission of sound from microphones on the pitch to the sound box that delivered sound to speakers around the stadium.
The solutions, which ranged in price depending on what standard of sound delivery was wanted, involved improving the sound transmission from the field and installing more speakers around the stadium.
The cost of fixing it had to be dealt with internally by DVML.
Read more

****

Head in the Sand Award?
Cr Richard Thomson said he appreciated Mr Burden (pictured) might wonder why he bothered when faced with such a barrage of questions from councillors. ”But it is really important for the city that this delivers as much revenue as possible.” (via ODT)

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Comment at ODT Online:

Who is accountable?
Submitted by russandbev on Sat, 12/10/2013 – 9:06am.

Just another example of the difference between reality and hype. Ratepayers have been assured since the building of this rugby stadium that the PA system was state of the art. Indeed, the hype from the Carisbrook Stadium Trust before the build indicated that it was even better than that. Now ratepayers are told that it will cost the best part of a million to get right for the most basic of requirements, and that the costs of running the stadium will rise. Who is being held accountable? Not those responsible for this ongoing shambles, but only the ratepayers.

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Related Posts and Comments:
7.10.13 DCC councillors, no idea of annual cost of owning and operating…
4.10.13 DVML . . . | ‘Make the stadium work’ losses continue
20.8.13 DVML foists invoices on DCC
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt
30.12.12 To DVML Board, from Ian Tayor [sic]
11.12.12 Stadium: DCC runs amok with $750K annual subsidy to DVML
2.11.12 Stadium financials: Calvin Oaten on DVML, DVL and DCHL
2.11.12 Stadium financials: JimmyJones v Peter Hutchison (DVML)…
19.10.12 LGOIMA request: Breakdown of DVML recruitment costs [emails]
19.10.12 Weak boys, Cull and Burden on rugby stadium
11.10.12 Darren Burden plays LGOIMA game like Davies #DVML #PsychoAnswer

For more, enter the terms *dvml*, *darren burden* or *stadium* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Leonard Cohen not coming

Leonard Cohen plans to visit New Zealand in December. Photo / AP

### nzherald.co.nz 6:45 AM Tuesday Jul 30, 2013
Tour news: Leonard Cohen to play three NZ shows
Leonard Cohen has announced a full New Zealand tour in December, taking in the country’s three major cities. Cohen – who last played here in October, 2010 to packed venues – will perform in Christchurch on December 14, Wellington on December 17, and Auckland on December 21. Cohen will be performing with his nine-piece band that includes Sharon Robinson, the Webb Sisters and musical director Roscoe Beck.
Read more

ODT 30.7.13 Leonard Cohen announces NZ dates

NZH 28.1.12 Leonard Cohen: In his own good time
NZH 21.8.10 Essence of Leonard Cohen

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr