Dunedin Santa Parade 4 December (tomorrow) at 3pm

Hopefully the rain will clear….

Dunedin’s Annual Santa Parade is now in its 19th year. This is Otago’s largest free public event! A dedicated team of volunteers are delighted to bring this Parade to Families and Children.
The Dunedin Santa Parade announces the Arrival of Christmas in Dunedin.
Exciting floats, many bands, marching, Fire Engines, animals, Clowns and of course –Santa. The Parade is followed by a family concert in the lower Octagon.

The parade route starts at The Regent 24 hour Night and Day Store on George street, at 3pm, and travels straight down the main street through the Octagon centre and finishes in Moray Place South by The First Church.

█ More information at http://www.dunedinsantaparade.co.nz/index.php

Proudly brought to you by the Dunedin Santa Parade Trust (DSPT) and their Generous Local Sponsors.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Leunig xmas

Dunedin and the Accessible Journey —it’s hard work! #fixit

An uplifting educational element to election campaign pressures, an event involving the public too – Great going guys!

Channel 39 Published on Oct 4, 2016

### channel39.co.nz Wed, 5 Oct 2016
Mayor hopefuls tackle wheelchair challenge
Disability access is on the minds of some of Dunedin’s mayoral candidates. They’ve been participating in a wheelchair challenge orchestrated by a city council candidate with cerebral palsy. And it’s raised questions about the city’s accessibility.
Ch39 Link

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### ODT Online Thu, 6 Oct 2016
Wheelchair experience enlightening
Dunedin mayoral candidates got to experience life in a wheelchair yesterday, and immediately discovered difficult cambers, bus limitations and the problem of negotiating crowds. Jim O’Malley, Cr Andrew Whiley, Barry Timmings and Abe Gray joined council candidate Joshua Perry on a challenge to take a wheelchair two blocks down George St and back, a mission that proved harder than it sounded. The challenge was organised by Mr Perry, who uses a wheelchair.
Read more

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Published by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Dunedin Santa Parade (6 Dec 2015)

DCC Link

█ Proudly brought to you by the Dunedin Santa Parade Trust and Sponsors.

The Dunedin Santa Parade announces the Arrival of Christmas in Dunedin.
Dunedin’s Annual Santa Parade is now in its 18th year. This is Otago’s largest free public event! A dedicated team of volunteers are delighted to bring this Parade to Families and Children.
Exciting floats, many bands, marching, Fire Engines, animals, Clowns and of course – Santa. The Parade is followed by a family concert in the lower Octagon.
The parade route starts at The Regent 24 hour Night and Day Store on George street, at 3pm, and travels straight down the main street through the Octagon centre and finishes in Moray Place South by The First Church.
For more information including route map, go to the Trust website at http://www.dunedinsantaparade.co.nz/

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Related Posts and Comments:
7.12.15 Santa Parade, Dunedin (6 Dec 2015)
8.12.14 Santa Parade, Dunedin (7 Dec 2014) ● [photo gallery]
24.12.13 Daaave’s $47 million Christmas present to Jinty. We’re paying.
1.12.13 Santa Parade, Dunedin (1 Dec 2013) ● [photo gallery]
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
25.12.11 Christmas time
5.12.10 Santa’s sleigh broke down…

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DPAG exhibition talk, Sunday 20 Sept —Jonathan Howard on Dunedin 1865

Jonathan Howard, Heritage New Zealand’s Otago Southland Area Manager, will talk on the exhibition now showing Dunedin 1865: A City Rises. This is a 2015 Dunedin Heritage Festival event.

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[screenshot – click to enlarge]

http://dunedin.art.museum/events/date/2015-09-20
http://dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions/now/a_city_rises

█ The exhibition closes on Sunday, 27 September 2015.

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EXHIBITION NOTICE
Archives New Zealand Dunedin Regional Office currently has an exhibition on display, until 16 October 2015, featuring the Testimonial presented by the citizens of Dunedin to the Dunedin Volunteer Fire Brigade to thank them for all their work in the fires of early 1865. Also on display, there are archives showing the work of the Dunedin Sanitary Commission, about the conversion of the Exhibition Building for the Dunedin Hospital and a proposal for new Provincial Government Buildings.

Archives New Zealand Dunedin Regional Office at 556 George Street

█ Open weekdays from 9.30am to 5.00pm. For more information, contact dunedin.archives @dia.govt.nz —or telephone 477 0404

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.8.15 DPAG exhibition | Dunedin 1865: A City Rises…
30.8.15 La Maison House of Pleasure, Queens Gardens —then and today
29.8.15 Standard Building, 201 Princes Street —then and today
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ … 29 Aug
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Archives New Zealand Dunedin Regional Office at 556 George Street via Google Street View (Feb 2010)

DPAG exhibition | Dunedin 1865: A City Rises (29 Aug – 27 Sep 2015)

2015 marks 150 years of the city of Dunedin
With the benefit of William Meluish’s magnificent panorama of 1865 this exhibition centres on the year Dunedin becomes a city. Drawing on other contemporary and pre- and post-dated images we see where Dunedin had come from and was going to. Fuelled by the Otago goldrushes and driven by the acumen, tenacity and aspiration of its citizens Dunedin rapidly rises. This exhibition is brought to you by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga with support from the Southern Heritage Trust.

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[screenshot]

█ View more of Meluish’s panorama by clicking the arrows at http://www.dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions/now/a_city_rises

█ Encyclopedia of New Zealand | Story: Meluish, William

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.8.15 La Maison House of Pleasure, Queens Gardens —then and today
30.8.15 Standard Building, 201 Princes Street —then and today
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ Sat 29 August
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

La Maison House of Pleasure, Queens Gardens —then and today

Service Gibson & Co Building (1866) – former Dunedin Savings Bank
Architect: Robert A Lawson

La Maison House of Pleasure at 5 Queens Gardens is co-owned by city councillor and former Act MP Hilary Calvert. In 2011, her eyes featured on a sign at the top of the building (the image is still evident).

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La Maison’s ground-floor ceiling was ornate and perfectly preserved, its below-ground vault still intact – original door included – although now it houses a “dungeon” stocked with items considerably different to those the vault was designed for. Upstairs, the building’s origin was harder to spot, although staff promised today’s tour would be comprehensive, including an all-access walk-through and details of the building’s changes through its 149 years. ODT 29.8.15

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 15:12, August 29 2015
Open day at Dunedin’s House of Pleasure
By Hamish McNeilly
It was a happy ending for the dozens of visitors who attended an open day at La Maison House of Pleasure in Dunedin. Business owner turned tour guide, Teena Ingersoll, doesn’t like the word “brothel” to described her Queens Garden based business, which opened its doors on Saturday morning as part of a Heritage Festival open day. “I hate the word brothel, this is a house of pleasure.” Read more + Images

● Stuff: Dunedin brothel set to open doors to public

Related Posts and Comments:
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ Sat 29 August
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch

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Post and 6 smartphone images by Elizabeth Kerr

Standard Building, 201 Princes Street —then and today

Standard Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New Zealand Building (1875)
Architect: Mason and Wales

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█ Ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/throughjo/staircasing/

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### ODT Online Sat, 29 Aug 2015
Surprises in old buildings
By Craig Borley
The doors to some of Dunedin’s historic buildings will be opened to the public today as the city’s heritage festival continues. The Dunedin Heritage Festival began yesterday with the “Dunedin 1865: A City Rises” photographic exhibition in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The festival finishes tomorrow. A major draw is the tours today and tomorrow of 64 historic buildings, which will be raising their customary barriers to the public […] the festival would also include a children’s heritage trail at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, a walking trail following Dunedin’s original shoreline and a special service in First Church.
Read more

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### ODT Online Tue, 2 Jun 2015
‘Absolutely incredible’ revamp of heritage building
By John Gibb
An “absolutely incredible” conservation and adaptive reuse project is nearing completion in Dunedin. This work on the Standard Building in Princes St, including extensive earthquake strengthening [and restoration of the Italian-style facade] has been undertaken as momentum grows to further revitalise the Exchange area, and a wave of adaptive reuse work continues to transform the nearby warehouse precinct. […] The project also includes the Stanton Building, situated behind the Standard Building, and backing on to the council’s Dowling St car park. A crucial – and previously largely hidden – feature of the redevelopment is an innovative, light-filled multilevel internal atrium, making extensive use of glass, which will link the two buildings and provide access to the various floors.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ Sat 29 August
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch
17.3.12 Call for photographs or building plans – Standard Building….
24.10.11 Former Standard Insurance building, 201 Princes St, Dunedin

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Post and 4 smartphone images by Elizabeth Kerr

1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ Saturday 29 August

1865 DUNEDIN | Dunedin Heritage Festival 2015
Friday 28 August – Sunday 30 August
Celebrating 150 years of building our great small city

█ Events Programme at http://www.heritagefestival.org.nz/

█ The Open City
The Open City will be held on Saturday 29 August with as many as 60 Dunedin buildings opening their doors to the public, encouraging festival-goers to explore and discover more about their city; choose from the massive list of open buildings and businesses including the Anatomy Museum, the Garrison Hall, Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics’ Institute or travel to Quarantine Island.
● Venues indicated with the bookings essential symbol, can be booked by contacting the venue.

The Open City Map has been published Link

[click to enlarge]

█ Scalable Open City Map (Google) available at http://www.heritagefestival.org.nz/main/index.php/the-open-city

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch

1865 DUNEDIN | Dunedin Heritage Festival 2015
Friday 28 August – Sunday 30 August
Celebrating 150 years of building our great small city

█ Events Programme at http://www.heritagefestival.org.nz/

█ Dunedin Shoreline Trail
The Dunedin 1865 Shoreline Trail will be launched by Dr Matt Schmidt (Heritage New Zealand) and Paul Pope (Dunedin Amenities Society) next Sunday, August 30, at 11.30am. The free hour-long walk will depart from the early settlers’ plaque at the top of Water St and proceed along the early shoreline to St Andrew St, with descriptions of interesting archaeological and built heritage features along the way.

[click to enlarge]

The Dunedin Shoreline Trail brings together years of research into the city’s history, above and below ground.

### ODT Online Sun, 23 Aug 2015
Dunedin’s early shorelines explored
By Brenda Harwood
The extraordinary feat of pick-and-shovel engineering that altered Dunedin’s shoreline by up to 700 metres in the 1860s is highlighted in a new walking trail. The Dunedin Shoreline Trail, which marks the city’s harbour boundary in 1865, will be launched next week during the Dunedin Heritage Festival, which celebrates 150 years since Dunedin became a city.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Random tweet

(12.33am) @10PARK RT @goseki so the rumour is that #chch cbd is to become a film studio lot. with clip on facades so we can be any city we like! after #eqnz

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin too small – I don't think so.

Confirmation today of AC/DC coming to both Wellington and Auckland illustrates the money that is involved in these things, and blows a few myths out of the water.

“The top-selling Australian rock band, which has sold more than 200 million albums, will play Westpac Stadium on January 30 and Auckland on February 6.”

Right bang smack in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere concert schedule. But the next paragraph was the most interesting, telling and pertinent to Dunedin and our stunning new stadium.

“Wellington City Council events manager John Dawson said because of AC/DC’s wide appeal the band had the potential to sell more than 35,000 tickets. Based on concerts at the stadium, including The Rolling Stones in 2006, up to 50 per cent of ticket buyers would be from outside the region. A Saturday concert meant many fans would stay the weekend. Overall, it could contribute about $10 million to the capital’s economy.

Mr Dawson said the estimate was based on analysis of the Neil Diamond concert in 2005, which sold 32,000 tickets and injected about $8 million into the city.”

The most important things we can take from this is the fact that they are looking for up to 50% of the tickets coming from outside the region – that’s right 50%. We’ve been told time and time again by some that Dunedin is too small and that people don’t travel to concerts, this shows us that this simply isn’t the case. When we have the likes of these sorts of concerts we are looking for only 15,000 to come from the city of the immediate region. In the light of the All Blacks – France test selling about 20,000 tickets to the locals only, this doesn’t seem insurmountable (even more so when we are told that Rugby is in crisis and that people aren’t going any more).

But as I have stated time and time again in this forum, the appeal of a top act will see people come from all around the country. Also if we time these concerts right, they will be attractive to the tens of thousands of people on holiday in the South – if you are like me and have lived in Wgtn for a decent length of time, you will appreciate what a relative Ghost Town it is in Jan. But then so is Dunedin, so it has to be around the time when tourists are still on the go and the 22,000 students are back in town, well that’s not hard a couple of weeks later in middle Feb.

Then there is the seemingly other insurmountable issues of transport to the city. Not sure if you’ve lived in Wgtn, it’s a shocker of a place to get to, a 3.5hr ferry ride after a 4hr drive from CHCH, an 8hr drive from Auck (pushing it) or flights only. As I would imagine the majority of these people would actually be flying into the city, then as we all know Dunedin is perfectly situated to meet these needs. Further if we are to capture the tourists (yes tourists do go to concerts internal and foreign) then rather than a flight or an 8hr drive from Auk, it’s a leisurely couple of hr drive from Central Otago to here.

Other possibilities, and I know how the nay-sayers don’t like talking about possibilities, how about selling these things as packages. We all know there is a train that goes right past the stadium, and that we have one heck of a world class Taieri Train, how about selling a travel – stay – concert package to train in from Central to Dunedin, likewise from CHCH or even as far as Picton.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have some of that $8-$10 million dollars injected into the economy too!

It’s simply a matter of getting the right acts to come to the south (we know they already relax and holiday in the luxury resorts of Central Otago sometimes), at the right time and these concerts in Wgtn show people will come, and from far a field.

Full Story found at Stuff.co.nz

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