Channel 39 : Mayoral Candidates #NightlyInterviews

O V E R V I E W
Kicking things off, Ch39 talks to University of Otago Associate Professor Janine Hayward, head of the Department of Politics.

Thu, 1 Sep 2016

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Interviews with the 11 Dunedin mayoral candidates

Conrad Stedman | Fri, 2 Sep 2016

Athol Bayne | Mon, 5 Sep 2016

Scout Barbour-Evans | Tue, 6 Sep 2016

Abe Gray | Wed, 7 Sep 2016

Aaron Hawkins | Thu, 8 Sep 2016

Jim O’Malley | Fri, 9 Sep 2016

Rachel Elder | Mon, 12 Sep 2016

Barry Timmings | Tue, 13 Sep 2016

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██ Who’s left…………. Andrew Whiley, Lee Vandervis and Dave Cull

Lee Vandervis | Wed, 14 Sep 2016

Andrew Whiley | Thu, 15 Sep 2016

Dave Cull | Fri, 16 Sep 2016

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Dunedin: Erosion issues at St Clair and Ocean Beach

Received from Paul Pope
Fri, 25 Mar 2016 at 3:01 p.m.

█ Message: I filmed this short video the other day and spliced in some information on how the erosion at St Clair actually happens. I don’t often use video, but it looks very compelling. I put it into the Beginners Guide to Coastal Conservation on Facebook yesterday and it’s had more than 7000 views, so people are interested in what’s going on.

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[view full screen]
Paul Pope Published on Mar 24, 2016
The Physics of Erosion
The erosion issues at St Clair Beach and the whole of Ocean Beach in Dunedin have become more and more serious in recent years. Understanding the reasons behind what people see at St Clair is very important. The community need to be able to make informed decisions about these damaging processes.

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Related Posts and Comments:
● 11.9.15 RAPID dune erosion continues —Council doesn’t give a toss
● 19.8.15 Paul Pope’s strategic overview of coastal conservation #Dunedin
● 11.8.15 DCC’s unmanaged retreat for South Dunedin
● 22.7.15 DCC Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25
10.4.15 DCC: Natural Hazards
28.3.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 to 2024/25 —Consultation Open
23.11.13 DCC: St Clair esplanade and seawall [public forum] 27 November
18.10.13 DCC: Final vote tally + St Clair boat ramp
18.8.13 South Dunedin and other low lying areas
26.5.13 [bad news] St Clair seawall #FAIL
10.9.12 John Wilson Ocean Drive … reminder to all of DCC incompetence
30.7.12 ORC on hazard risks and land use controls
28.11.11 St Clair seawall and beach access

█ For more, enter the term *coastal* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

RAPID dune erosion continues —Council doesn’t give a toss

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Alex Gilks replies to article St Clair dunes ‘in no danger’ (ODT 3.9.15)

Published at ODT Online
Wed, 9 Sep 2015

Your say: Urgent action is needed
By Alex Gilks
Wayne Stephenson’s comments here, assuming they were reported accurately, seem quite a way off the mark. I’m no expert, but grew up near the dunes, and walk on the beach often.
I visited this morning, and the big sea earlier this week has carved off more of the top of the dune. The two big pines are about 5m and 10m from the edge of the erosion. Bill Brown is right: urgent action is needed. Big-scale protection at the bottom.
Putting aside the throwaway comment about the asteroid, here are the troubling things about this article:

• ‘no risk to property this year’ – this super short-term thinking should be criticized

• ‘if the dune’s foot was staying in place’ – the dune’s foot is absolutely not staying in place! The immediate reason for the dramatic erosion is that the toe of the dune has been completely hammered since the sand sausages were ruined. How can he not see that? Is he not actually visiting the site?

• the idea that the enemy is ‘winter’s storms’, and the implication that it will be ok again until next winter. Where does this come from? The south coast can get powerful southerlies at any time of year. Is there some data that you can use to show the frequency and time of year of southerly/easterly storms and high tides?

• sand sausages and sand replenishment as interim solutions, before ‘more permanent features in coming years’. Shouldn’t this receive more criticism? The previous sands sausages and sand replenishment worked for only what, a handful of years? Wouldn’t you just urgently undertake some more long-term solution?

For this to get real I think decision-makers need to walk along the ridge track from the Kettle Park area, see the shifting edge and the remaining area at the apex of the dune.
I’d take a botanist along too, to get a good gauge on the age of the trees that have been uprooted. The bigger ones must be 50-80 years old, yet you hear some people saying things like ‘this happened in the 70s/90s/a few years back’.
No. We need to get past this complacent idea that this is a seasonal thing, that it’ll replenish itself soon and will start working normally again in the near future.
ODT Link

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Received from Hype O’Thermia
Tue, 8 Sep 2015 at 10:36 a.m.

The sea does not adapt to humans

Increased storms and extreme weather – get off yer bike! Just for fun I googled “British houses that fell into the sea”, not a helluva rigorous search……..

One dark night in 1664, while local people were attending a wake, the whole village of Runswick slipped into the sea…
Thankfully, all the villagers escaped but by morning there was only one house left standing… the house of the dead man!
http://www.visitengland.com/experience/discover-village-fell-sea

As late as 1817 when George Young, the Whitby historian, wrote of the incident, articles including a silver spoon and coins which had been carried from the rubble by the tide were still being washed back.
http://www.chrisscottwilson.co.uk/runswick-bay/4551457861

It wasn’t always so peaceful – one night in 1664 the entire village slid into the sea! Returning from a wake, one of the villagers noticed the steps of his house slipping away beneath his feet. He gave the alarm and most of the village fled to safety. By morning only one house remained standing- the house of the deceased man. The village was rebuilt further around the shore but land slippage continued to be a problem. In 1970 a new sea wall was finally built, thankfully securing the village’s future.
http://www.simonseeks.com/travel-guides/hands-all-those-whove-heard-runswick-bay__167571

In medieval times, when Dunwich was first accorded representation in Parliament, it was a flourishing port and market town about thirty miles from Ipswich. However, by 1670 the sea had encroached upon the town, destroying the port and swallowing up all but a few houses so that nothing was left but a tiny village. The borough had once consisted of eight parishes, but all that was left was part of the parish of All Saints, Dunwich – which by 1831 had a population of 232, and only 44 houses (“and half a church”, as Oldfield recorded in 1816).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunwich_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire
The raging storms have taken their toll, claiming many buildings as the limestone cliffs erode. In 1780, 22 cottages fell into the sea. Today a rock seawall helps protect the picturesque village.
http://www.britainexpress.com/villages/robinhood.htm

[ends]

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Related Posts and Comments:
● 19.8.15 Paul Pope’s strategic overview of coastal conservation #Dunedin
● 11.8.15 DCC’s unmanaged retreat for South Dunedin
● 22.7.15 DCC Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25
10.4.15 DCC: Natural Hazards
28.3.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 to 2024/25 —Consultation Open
23.11.13 DCC: St Clair esplanade and seawall [public forum] 27 November
18.10.13 DCC: Final vote tally + St Clair boat ramp
18.8.13 South Dunedin and other low lying areas
26.5.13 [bad news] St Clair seawall #FAIL
10.9.12 John Wilson Ocean Drive … reminder to all of DCC incompetence
30.7.12 ORC on hazard risks and land use controls
28.11.11 St Clair seawall and beach access

█ For more, enter the term *coastal* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: dunedinisforlovers.blogspot.co.nz – Majestic Mansions (April 2010); world50th.files.wordpress.com – dunes (February 2015)

Paul Pope’s strategic overview of coastal conservation #Dunedin

Received from Paul Pope
Wed, 19 Aug 2015 at 10:52 a.m.

█ Message: I see sand dunes and erosion are a hot topic on the What if? website. I thought I would send you a submission I made to the City Council on Ocean Beach Domain in 2008/2009 which gives a detailed strategic overview of coastal issues and provides a basis for a variety of solutions to a number of problems including land occupation. Also I have created a Facebook page under my personal account called: The beginners guide to coastal conservation.
I created it to provide people with information on coastal issues.

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[screenshot]

█ Download: Paul Pope: Ocean Beach Domain Submission (PDF, 1 MB)

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Related Post and Comments:
● 11.8.15 DCC’s unmanaged retreat for South Dunedin
● 22.7.15 DCC Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25
18.7.15 DCC Cycleways: SEEING RED, apology NOT accepted
14.7.15 DCC strategies needed like a hole in the head
12.6.15 Fairfax: DCC has no insurance cover for flood-damaged roads
5.6.15 WEATHER is not climate change; this is not the 100-year flood
4.6.15 Exchange makeover —or pumps and pipe renewals, um
3.6.15 Civil Defence response to Dunedin FLOODING
10.4.15 DCC: Natural Hazards
28.3.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 to 2024/25 —Consultation Open
14.10.14 ORC: New strategic plan fosters Otago prosperity
12.9.14 ORC: City bus services, submissions
10.12.13 ORC restructures directorates
23.11.13 DCC: St Clair esplanade and seawall [public forum] 27 November
18.10.13 DCC: Final vote tally + St Clair boat ramp
18.8.13 South Dunedin and other low lying areas
26.5.13 [bad news] St Clair seawall #FAIL
26.2.13 DCC binge spending alert: Proposed South Dunedin cycle network
10.9.12 John Wilson Ocean Drive … reminder to all of DCC incompetence
30.7.12 ORC on hazard risks and land use controls
7.6.12 Dunedin stormwater: more differences between ORC and DCC
28.11.11 St Clair seawall and beach access
25.11.11 South Dunedin and other flood zones
7.12.09 Coastal protection zones
14.11.09 From the log books of a twenty-year distress #DCC
24.8.09 1. STS response – appeal 2. Coastal protection – comments

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC’s unmanaged retreat for South Dunedin #naturalhazards

█ SOME BUILDINGS NOW JUST 12M FROM DUNE’S FACE

Bill Brown, who initially raised his concerns in the Otago Daily Times last month, feared no urgency had been shown by council staff since then.

Spring’s king tides were still to come and could bring dramatic further erosion, he said in his written submission.

### ODT Online Tue, 11 Aug 2015
Disappearing dunes ‘an immediate problem’
By Craig Borley
Dunes along Dunedin’s Ocean Beach have receded nearly 9m in the past four weeks and will continue to disappear unless immediate action is taken, a St Clair resident told the Dunedin City Council yesterday …. [Bill Brown] took those concerns to the council’s community and environment committee, where he presented several aerial photographs showing the extent of recent erosion.
Read more

● ODT: ORC has role to play
Responsibility for erosion repairs at Dunedin’s Ocean Beach may not lie solely with the Dunedin City Council, its community and environment committee heard yesterday

● ODT: Erosion problem for rugby club
The Dunedin Rugby Football Club has made no decision on where its future lies but its training lights have been out of use because of costal erosion and sand is encroaching on to its main ground.

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### ODT Online Fri, 10 Jul 2015
Beach erosion: ‘For God’s sake, it’s time to take action’
By Craig Borley
Permanently fix the erosion of St Clair’s sand dunes or give up on most of South Dunedin – there are no other options, a St Clair resident believes. Heavy seas in the past month have washed out several metres of sand dunes.
Read more

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St Clair Beach / Esplanade
(top) wikimedia.org – historical view | uniquelynz.com – 2014 view

### ODT Online
Sea wall plan ‘not about savings’
By Chris Morris on Mon, 24 Nov 2014
A squeeze on Dunedin City Council finances is not behind a push to defer multimillion-dollar options to protect the St Clair sea wall, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull insists. A council staff report recommends any plans for major capital works – such as a groyne to protect the sea wall and properties behind it – be put on hold.
Read more

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Managed retreat….

### ODT Online Thu, 23 Feb 2012
Engineer says let erosion take South Dunedin
By Chris Morris
Allowing coastal erosion to reclaim Kettle Park should be the start of a wider retreat from South Dunedin, a Dunedin City Council hearings committee has heard. The call came from Sustainable Dunedin City co-chairman Phillip Cole – a former civil engineer of 31 years’ experience – as the committee considered a second day of submissions on its draft management plan for Ocean Beach.
Read more

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DCC Webmap – South Dunedin Jan/Feb 2013 [click to enlarge]

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DCC Natural Hazard Maps
Note: These maps are DRAFT only. The boundaries of hazard areas and hazard risk classification may be subject to change based on consultation feedback and further assessment ahead of notification. We strongly encourage feedback on any adjustments that may be required.
You also can use the interactive District plan map in the related information section, to see the current District Plan zoning, and the potential 2GP zoning, including the proposed hazard overlay zones, for your property

██ http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/whats-on/2gp/natural-hazards-phase/natural-hazard-maps

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The maps identified “extreme risk” land in red, which some Dunedin homeowners had “instantly associated with red-zoning in Christchurch”. –Sally Dicey, DCC policy planner

### ODT Online Thu, 25 Sep 2014
Concerns raised over natural hazards plan
By Chris Morris
Homeowners worried about being left in a Christchurch-style red zone – at least on paper – are calling for changes to the Dunedin City Council’s natural hazards plan. Their concerns come as council staff wade through nearly 200 submissions received since the council’s plan to tighten its grip on some city properties, to better protect against natural hazards, was announced in June.
Read more

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### ODT Online Mon, 12 Jan 2009
Council weighs costly Esplanade options
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council is weighing several “quite expensive” options aimed at preventing improvements to the Esplanade, at St Clair, crumbling in the next big storm. Parts of the Esplanade upgrade, which has so far cost more than $6 million, have had repeated structural problems since being largely completed in 2004.
Read more

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### ODT Online Fri, 19 Sep 2014
ODT: 100 Years Ago
St Clair to St Kilda esplanade proposed –ODT, 19.9.1914
The Amenities Committee of the Dunedin Expansion League is displaying a laudable energy in urging upon the Ocean Beach Domain Board the desirability of adopting a scheme for the construction of an esplanade along the sea-front from St Clair to St Kilda. Plans have been secured from the city engineer, and the Committee has fortified itself by obtaining a report upon Mr McCurdie’s proposals from the engineer of the Harbour Board, the advice of a marine engineer being justly considered to be of importance in connection with such an undertaking.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
10.4.15 DCC: Natural Hazards
10.12.13 ORC restructures directorates
23.11.13 DCC: St Clair esplanade and seawall [public forum] 27 November
18.10.13 DCC: Final vote tally + St Clair boat ramp
26.5.13 [bad news] St Clair seawall #FAIL
10.9.12 John Wilson Ocean Drive … reminder to all of DCC incompetence
30.7.12 ORC on hazard risks and land use controls
28.11.11 St Clair seawall and beach access
7.12.09 Coastal protection zones
14.11.09 From the log books of a twenty-year distress #DCC
24.8.09 1. STS response – appeal 2. Coastal protection – comments

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC pedalling to…… #hell

Received from Jeff Dickie
Sat, 7 Jun 2014 at 3:41 pm

You could be forgiven for thinking Cull, Bidrose, the Finance Committee, and the majority of compliant councillors don’t have a vision for Dunedin’s future. That to believe that, not hearing bad news, smiling and riding a bike, will make the financial mire we are now in go away. That to continue to spend huge amounts on yet more foolish projects will somehow fix things. That to embrace a culture of no accountability will magically preclude the idiots who have cocked up so many DCC things in the recent past, doing EXACTLY the same thing again.

Just look at how many of the idiots who have foisted this debt and the numerous foolish failed projects are still on council. These people do have a vision, and here it is!

Hopefully the cycle trail will lead there.

Jeff Dickie
Woodhaugh

****

An opinion piece from 28.9.12, written by Calvin Oaten, continues to have currency.

The End of The Golden Weather?
Are we coming to the end of the ‘Golden Weather’? I say this, not in the meteorological sense, but rather in the sense that perhaps our society and its economic construct might be on the verge of a catastrophic change. Why? Well it seems that many signposts are pointing to an approaching collapse of the present model of the economy as constructed. This requires constant growth in order to sustain an ever increasing social budget.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image supplied.

DCC: Final vote tally + St Clair boat ramp

### ODT Online Fri, 18 Oct 2013
Final tally increases mayor’s vote margin
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull extended his victory margin slightly when the Dunedin City Council’s final election results were released yesterday.
The figures, which added about 340 special votes not previously included, saw Mr Cull’s tally in the mayoral race rise by 158 votes, from 18,446 to 18,604. That meant his winning margin was extended by 113 votes, from 12,017 to 12,130, over nearest rivals Hilary Calvert (now with 6474 votes) and Cr Lee Vandervis (5872).
The final results saw small increases in the votes cast for all nine mayoral candidates, as well as the city’s 14 elected councillors.
Read more

Related Posts and Comments:
13.10.13 Pressuring Cull and his GD Party . . .
3.10.13 Exercise your right to VOTE
29.9.13 Alert: Dunedin voters —Mayors gain more powers

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Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring said the first rock placement was included in the already documented $500,000 cost of immediately fixing [the] problem. The rocks placed this week cost about $60,000. Consultants hired by the council to look into the problem plan to report to the council next week, and may be required to do more work.

### ODT Online Fri, 18 Oct 2013
Start on Esplanade boat ramp close
By Debbie Porteous
The Dunedin City Council will begin building a temporary rescue boat launching ramp at the north end of the St Clair Beach sea wall next week, after this week dumping another 1000 tonnes of rock along the wall. The ramp is to run from the north end of the Esplanade down to the beach, and will be used by the St Clair Surf Lifesaving Club to get its inflatable rescue boats to the water. The club lost its original concrete ramp after the sea wall near the ramp was undermined and the fill behind the wall sucked out to sea earlier this year.
A consent application was lodged, but the ramp would be built at the same time as the application progressed, as it needed to be in place for the start of beach patrols at the end of this month.
Read more

Related Posts and Comments:
26.5.13 [bad news] St Clair seawall #FAIL
25.6.13 DCC Annual Plan 2013/14

St Clair sea wall, Campbell Live (TV3) 17.6.13 [screenshots]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image (top) – Emperors new clothes [catherinewhite.files.wordpress.com] re-imaged by whatifdunedin

Exercise your right to VOTE

### ODT Online Thu, 3 Oct 2013
Alarm at low voter turnout
By Chris Morris
There are calls for online voting to be fast-tracked as Dunedin City Council voting returns slump towards a record low in this year’s local body elections. The idea was raised by Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule as voter returns for the DCC election crawled to 11.7% by yesterday afternoon.
With 10 days until postal voting closes at noon on October 12, the figure is well down on the same point in the past two DCC elections.
In 2010, 21.12% of voters had responded by now, and in 2007, returns stood at 18.09%. In both cases, last-minute rushes saw returns reaching 52.96% (2010) and 47.47% (2007).
However, this year’s results were shaping as a record low, at least in recent memory, although another last-minute rush was possible, Dunedin electoral officer Pam Jordan said.
Mr Yule told the Otago Daily Times the returns to date in Dunedin were a ”worry” and underscored the need to move towards online voting.
Dunedin’s results appear to be at odds with most other local authorities across Otago, where returns to date are similar to the 2010 election.
Read more

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Dunedin electoral information via the DCC website:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/electoral-information

● DCC Candidates —Mayor, Councillors, Community Boards

● ORC Candidates

● SDHB Candidates

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cull’s political party caucuses ‘in term’. Lost best chief executive we could find.

Fact.

****

ODT 28.9.13 Employment – Chief Executive City of Dunedin (page 59)

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Related Posts and Comments:
29.9.13 Alert: Dunedin voters —Mayors gain more powers
26.9.13 DCC: Council consolidated debt $623 million
24.9.13 Mediocrity and lack of critical awareness at DCC
24.9.13 DCC chief executive Paul Orders recommended for Cardiff
22.9.13 Newspaper errs . . . #Dunedin #Elections
20.9.13 Friday hit parade

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Alert: Dunedin voters —Mayors gain more powers

Following the 2013 local body elections . . .
THERE IS A MASSIVE GAME CHANGE

Is this why Greater Debt Dunedin’s campaigning so hard, with help from ‘friends’? Read on.

Firstly, ‘overthinking’ an image, and an opinion piece from the Nelson Mail (June 2013). Followed by ‘Friday news’ from New Zealand Herald, reproduced in Saturday’s Otago Daily Times (page 3). Lastly, importantly, you’re urged to VOTE – a plea appearing in the ODT, indicating 9 October is the last date by which to safely post your completed voting papers.

VOTE carefully oh so carefully, please

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### nelsonmail.co.nz Last updated 13:39 12/06/2013
New accountability for mayors
By Keith Marshall
OPINION New law changes passed at the end of last year created some major changes ahead for local government. One of the most important changes, in my view, arises from legally and politically empowering mayors to do the job we expect of them. And, along with that legal empowerment comes some genuine public accountability to perform.
After the coming election, mayors nationwide gain new powers. A mayor will be able to legally appoint their own deputy mayor, appoint all committee chairs and determine the structure of council committees, including which elected councillors are appointed on to those. The legal power to decide their own political teams, structures and processes means that mayors will gain a huge level of political control over councils that they currently do not legally have.
Adding to this direct political control, mayors from the next election onward will also legally be personally responsible for driving the setting of council plans and budgets. This, alone, is a huge change.

Indeed, it may be surprising to learn that currently mayors around the country have no real substantive legal powers – largely the current legal role is one of a “first citizen” and in chairing meetings of the elected council.
Mayors, currently, do not have the legal authority to choose their own political teams nor structures, they do not determine council agendas and nor do they drive council budgets or plans. Right now, those decisions are made by the whole of the elected council and in those decisions, as in all others, mayors have just one vote at the council table, the same as all councillors.
In some ways being a mayor under the current law is a potentially thankless task – one in which they are the public face of the council, and get to be “blamed” for any and all decisions made by the elected council whether or not they personally supported or voted against those decisions.
On the other hand, the current situation also makes it very difficult for us voters to hold our current mayors, and councillors, individually accountable for the decision-making of the whole of the elected council (and the subject of a future column).

In the future, just what and how issues are dealt with will be determined by the mayors themselves; maybe in conjunction with their councillor supporters, or perhaps sometimes even just off their own cognisance.

All decisions of the council will be directly influenced by the mayor through the exercise of their new powers. This is very real political power never before seen in local government in New Zealand – something much more akin to the “presidential” type of mayor as seen in the United States.
Accordingly, at the next council elections, whoever we elect as mayors of Tasman District Council and Nelson City Council will have the legal ability to carry out any election promises they may have made. Any mayoral candidate can set out a vision for us and, unlike at any other time in the past, be in a position to bring that vision into reality if they become mayor. This is a new legal environment for local government.

So what? Well, for one thing, the new law change means that mayors (and their councillor supporters who the mayor will appoint to key roles) will now be more obviously accountable for all decisions. Along with the ability/responsibility to make things happen (via legal powers) goes some true accountability.
Read more

● Keith Marshall is a company director and the former Nelson City Council chief executive. Previously, he has owned Thrifty Rental Cars NZ, managed the last nationwide health reforms and participated in the NZ-China FTA negotiations.

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### nzherald.co.nz 1:35 PM Friday Sep 27, 2013
Mayors given extra powers
By Rebecca Quilliam
Mayors throughout the country will become more powerful under new law changes set to come into action after October’s local elections. The changes will allow mayors to appoint their own deputies, set the structure of committees and appoint committee chairpeople.
Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule said the changes had the potential to bring real benefits. It enabled new councils to “hit the ground running” and for councillors to work more effectively together, Mr Yule said.

Mayors would become responsible for driving the set up of major plans and budgets, which included long-term and annual plans.

They would also be more accountable for their decisions, Mr Yule said.
The law changes bring all the country’s councils in line with the powers already granted to the Auckland Mayor under the Super City process. The new powers would encourage cross-council collaboration because, in order to use them, a mayor needed the majority support of councillors, he said.
Voting papers for city, district and regional councils have now been sent out. These must be returned posted or hand-delivered in time to reach the relevant electoral officer by noon on October 12. APNZ
NZH Link

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DUNEDIN
Participation in electoral process urged (ODT 18.9.13)
http://www.odt.co.nz/elections-2013/dunedin/273671/participation-electoral-process-urged

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image via catherinewhite.files.wordpress.com – ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ re-spun by Whatifdunedin

DCC: Council consolidated debt $623 million

If taken together, core council and stadium debt has increased $130 million, from $240 million to $370 million, during the past three years.

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Sep 2013
Varied stances on question of debt
By Chris Morris
Dunedin’s debt mountain is reaching new heights, but the Dunedin City Council says everything is under control. Reporter Chris Morris speaks to the city’s mayoral candidates about whether they would do anything differently. The eight men and one woman who want to be Dunedin’s next mayor are divided over debt. They are divided over the figures, divided over the plan and divided over what they would do differently.
Some have declared themselves happy with the Dunedin City Council’s approach to debt repayments. Others remain opposed, and have called for cost-cutting, more money from the council’s companies and even for assets to be sold, including Wall Street mall and Forsyth Barr Stadium. And, in the meantime, the debt mountain continues to climb towards a projected peak that is still two years away.

As it stands, the council’s consolidated debt – shared between the council, its companies and the stadium – has reached $623 million, council staff confirmed yesterday.

That was up $125 million since the start of incumbent Mayor Dave Cull’s term in mid-2010, albeit mostly – but not completely – as a result of spending on major capital projects agreed to by previous councils.
Within the debt mountain, core council debt – the bit ratepayers are directly responsible for servicing – stands at $225 million. That has actually gone down $15 million, from $240 million in 2010, but only because stadium debt – totalling $145 million – has been split from the core council debt tally, to become its own category, since 2010. Add the $253 million in debt held by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries – the council’s group of companies – and the total reaches $623 million.
Read more + Mayoral Candidate Views

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Dunedin Mayoral Candidates 2013
Left to right, (top) Hilary Calvert, Dave Cull, Kevin Dwyer, (middle) Pete George, Aaron Hawkins, Olivier Lequeux, (bottom) Steve McGregor, Lee Vandervis, Andrew Whiley

DCC website — electoral information

Council Elections: STV Q&A – see Legal Beagle by Graeme Edgelar

Faces appearing – and disappearing – in all manner of places (ODT 26.9.13)

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Sep 2013
Editorial: Rights and responsibilities
While the eyes of some people glaze over at the mention of local body elections, the fact is they offer the biggest opportunity for the average citizen to influence the direction of their community for the next three years – and often much further into the future.
Postal voting papers should now have been delivered to households, and voters have until Saturday, October 12, to make decisions about who they want to represent them as mayor, on city or district councils, community boards, licensing trusts, regional councils and health boards.
The choices we make in these local body elections will affect us, and others in our community. They influence everything from the health services we receive, to roading, water and sewerage infrastructure, social, cultural and sporting and recreational amenities, and planning and development. There are services we take for granted, those we believe are fundamental to our lives, those we bemoan the lack of, and inefficiencies we believe frustrating or unnecessary.
The choices should not be made lightly. Voters are encouraged to carefully read their supplied candidate and voting information and as much other material as they can source in order to make informed decisions about those who will then be expected to make educated decisions on behalf of us.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Broadcast Notice: [RNZ National] Dunedin Local Body Elections

Received.
Friday, 13 September 2013 2:31 p.m.

National Radio is concentrating on the Dunedin Local Body Elections this Sunday at 5:30 PM.

Radio New Zealand National
Sunday 15 September 2013
4 ’til 8 with Katrina Batten
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/4til8
A selection of special interest programmes, including:

5:32 Outspoken: Current affairs presented by some of RNZ’s most experienced correspondents
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/outspoken

Audio files —
Outspoken for 15 September 2013 ( 27′ 55″ )
17:35 Steve Wilde continues his preview of the approaching local body elections with a close-up look at the metropolitan centres. This time it’s Dunedin… the main issues and what the voters are thinking.
Audio | Downloads: Ogg MP3

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: spectrum.ieee.org – Radio boombox reimaged by Whatifdunedin

Cull on senility (firing up graduates)

HOW TO CAPTURE THE UNIVERSITY VOTE ?!?

[Mayor Cull] also noted the “mental sclerosis and settled habits that so often accompany age”.

F***erama! The Old Fool Codpiece spins towards his grave, with the Jinty espied as Angel.

Ageist: A person who discriminates based on age…usually an old dude or a dumb blonde [Urban Dictionary]

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### ODT Online Mon, 19 Aug 2013
Graduates urged to take place as leaders
By John Gibb
Planet Earth and its inhabitants are facing a “perfect storm” of extreme climatic and environmental challenges and the future will have “no precedent in the past”, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has warned. The pace of change was now so great that University of Otago graduates should not wait to become what was “sometimes patronisingly” termed “the leaders of tomorrow”, but should start leading now. That was Mr Cull’s message in an address to about 350 graduates, in a wide range of disciplines, during the university’s latest graduation ceremony, at the Dunedin Town Hall at 3pm on Saturday.
Mr Cull said that over the past few years he had “learned more from younger people than older”. And, including while hearing submissions on various plans and strategies, he had been ”incredibly impressed by the commitment, intelligence, passion and values of so many of the young people”, particularly those in the city’s tertiary education sector. “That’s not undervaluing the wisdom of age, just appreciating the vibrant pertinence of so many younger voices and minds.” And he also noted the “mental sclerosis and settled habits that so often accompany age”.
Read more

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Related Post and Comments:
16.8.13 DCC nominations —All the mops, brooms and feather dusters

● Ageism, or age discrimination is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination. This may be casual or systematic.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Photomerge by Whatifdunedin – Mayor Cull explains the loss-making sale of Carisbrook to Calder Stewart (stills from Channel 39 footage)

Busted hacks! Media rates Cull and shiny-arsed suit brigade

Comment received.

ODT Watch
Submitted on 2013/08/06 at 2:01 pm

I see Robin Charteris, former ODT editor, has written a letter to today’s ODT concerning the proposal for a regional political party of some description. What a woeful, intellectually light letter it is too. Unbelievable for a man who once was an editor of a city daily.
He would like Ian Taylor to head it and to include Stuart McLauchlan, Dave Cull, Peter McIntyre and Richard Thomson. Talk about a less than subtle plug for the election coming up. Sorry, Robin, you have overplayed this one.

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SMELL THAT SWEET SUCCESS
The stadium, ORFU, Delta, Hillside, lack of core infrastructure investment, St Clair seawall, +$650M council consolidated debt, storm damage, multimillion-dollar cycleways, ratepayer subsidy to DVML/attraction fund, NZ Post, SH88 realignment, Invermay, centralisation of health board jobs, on it goes . . . Cull drops out of the race to take up L(l)ama farming. [Thanks, Critic]

Ineffectuals like Cull lap up the current job-loss situation, grandstanding in the pre-election period wearing nothing but dull leaden boots. Where are Eion Edgar’s ‘men’? —are they really Sir J’s scrubby old team? The club armchairs have lost their stuffing.

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### ODT Online Tue, 6 Aug 2013
Call to action goes out
By Rebecca Fox
A “call to action” has been issued to southern business, local government, agricultural and tertiary education leaders from Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull as part of the fight against job losses at AgResearch’s Invermay campus. Mr Cull has organised a “summit” meeting on August 14 to discuss the announcement proposing that 85 jobs are to go from Invermay by 2016. Mr Joyce confirmed in Saturday’s Otago Daily Times he was happy to arrange for the board and executives of AgResearch to meet local representatives and said he was prepared to meet a delegation of civic and business leaders to talk about regional development.
Read more

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Other ODT ‘bait’:
5.8.13 Call for South to form own party
3.8.13 Editorial: Time for South to fight

Related Posts and Comments:
2.8.13 DCC, Stadium —sorry picture
8.6.13 DCC electoral candidates 2013
22.5.13 Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: odt.co.nz – Opinion 6.8.13, critic.co.nz – Critic culls Cull 5.5.13

Nominations, TWO WEEKS to go !!!

Nominations for Dunedin City councillorships and the mayoralty close on Friday 16 August.

So far, VERY POOR turnout —about the same for individual nominees’ expertise and capability.

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Related Posts and Comments:
8.6.13 DCC electoral candidates 2013
22.5.13 Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: 123rf.com – voting

Dunedin, ‘small government’ —Calvert

Previous exploits, Hilary Calvert with ACT’s Rodney Hide [Photo: Stuff]

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### ODT Online Wed, 17 Jul 2013
City where the real world meets the hypothetical
By Hilary Calvert
OPINION We heard through the Otago Daily Times that Dunedin must prepare for life in a changing world through an energy plan. Apparently, according to the Dunedin City Council, we need a plan to boost our ability to adapt to future change and to take advantage of economic opportunities in a changing energy context. We also must save costs and enhance quality of life resulting from energy-efficient improvements and reduce our climate change and environmental effects.
Currently, our debt is unsustainable, and it is likely, with the good job Paul Orders has been doing, we have reduced spending as much as we usefully can without making some hard decisions. We have high debt, rates running at much more than the CPI increase, which funds many households, and little understanding, it would appear, of the economic reality within which we are operating.

The council does not have capital sitting around looking for inspirational or aspirational projects to back.

Throughout New Zealand, a new group has been formed called Affordablecity. The basic idea of Affordablecity is that each candidate, or each local party with these ideas, agrees to support five core principles:

1. Lower rates.
2. Balanced budgets.
3. Making housing affordable.
4. Spending only on the basics.
5. Restoring private property rights.

They are also focused on core activities of councils, as described in section 11A of the Local Government Act; namely infrastructure, public transport, sewage, avoidance or mitigation of natural hazards, and libraries, museums reserves etc.
Read more

● Hilary Calvert is a Dunedin resident with an interest in small government.

[Does she mean ‘local government’? But hey! there’s nothing small about Dunedin, right? We’re “punching above our weight”, say the Old Boys.]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC electoral candidates 2013

Update 16.8.13
The full nominations list is published today at
DCC nominations —All the mops, brooms and feather dusters

So far . . .
14.8.13 Mayoral candidates expand to five
14.8.13 Cr Bill Acklin (stadium supporter) not standing
10.8.13 DCC nominations on a par with 2010
19.6.13 Cr Syd Brown, FSD Chairman (stadium supporter) leaving council
8.6.13 Electoral challenge to Brown intensifies

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Mayoral candidates confirmed:
Hilary Calvert (independent), Mayor Dave Cull (Greater Dunedin), Kevin Dwyer (independent), Aaron Hawkins (Green Party), Andrew Whiley (independent)

Mayoral nominations not received:
Olivier Lequeux (independent), Cr Lee Vandervis (independent)

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Central Ward candidates confirmed:
David Benson-Pope (independent), Cr John Bezett (independent), Hilary Calvert (independent), Ali Copeman (Greater Dunedin), Kevin Dwyer (independent), Pete George (indendent), Aaron Hawkins (Green Party), Francisco Hernandez (independent), Tat Loo (?), Cr Jinty MacTavish (Greater Dunedin), Kevin Neill (?), Neville Peat (independent), Deputy Mayor Chris Staynes (Greater Dunedin), Cr Teresa Stevenson (independent), Cr Richard Thomson (Greater Dunedin), Warren Voight (?), Andrew Whiley (independent)

Mosgiel-Taieri Ward candidates confirmed:
Martin Dillon (independent), Mike Lord (Greater Dunedin), Cr Kate Wilson (Greater Dunedin)

Waikouaiti Coast-Chalmers Ward candidates confirmed:
Cr Andrew Noone (independent)

Stepping down:
Cr Bill Acklin, Cr Syd Brown, Cr Fliss Butcher, Cr Neil Collins, Cr Colin Weatherall

Nominations not received:
Calvin Fisher (union official), Doug Hall (businessman), Cr Paul Hudson (independent), Irene Mosley (Greater Dunedin), Letisha Nicholas (Greater Dunedin), Cr Lee Vandervis (independent)

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Related Post and Comments:
12.8.13 ELECTION NEWS: Stadium councillors getting the message!
6.8.13 Busted hacks! Media rates Cull and shiny-arsed suit brigade
3.8.13 Nominations, TWO WEEKS to go !!!
24.7.13 DCC / DCHL shake up !!!
17.7.13 Dunedin, ‘small government’ —Calvert
15.7.13 Delta, Carisbrook, Fubar Stadium —Councillors “weak”, or worse
12.7.13 Hudson, DCC (ex DCHL)
22.5.13 Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

Update 16.8.13
The full nominations list is published today at
DCC nominations —All the mops, brooms and feather dusters

Sir and Friends brought you the stadium and DCC’s MASSIVE consolidated debt.

How much more control do you want to give them ???

### ODT Online Wed, 22 May 2013
Mayoral contest heats up
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull faces a political challenge – possibly from all sides – as the race for the city’s robe and chains later this year begins to heat up.
Queenstown businessman and philanthropist Sir Eion Edgar yesterday confirmed he was behind a push to resurrect a Citizens Association-style group that could support candidates in October’s local body elections.
The idea had been raised with potential backers in Dunedin and, if confirmed, could see the group’s mayoral or council candidates offered financial support by the group, including from interested businessmen, he said. Sir Eion said he was prepared to help finance the right candidates’ campaigns himself, saying the city needed ”good leadership”.
Read more

[ODT Graphic]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Shrinkwrap the Mayor of Dunedin —Cull snubs Dalai Lama #shame

Shortsighted removal of diplomacy by ‘city leader’.

There were also no plans to stage a civic reception for the Dalai Lama, Mr Cull said yesterday. He defended both decisions, describing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as “a representative of a minority religious faith” and questioning the benefit of engaging with him. –ODT

Politically awkward, after DCC/COC flying visits to Shanghai.

The decision was confirmed publicly just days after Mr Cull led a Dunedin delegation to Shanghai to help foster closer ties with one of the communist powerhouse’s major economic centres. –ODT

British Prime Minister David Cameron met the Dalai Lama last year. He was duly scolded by China and later cancelled a state visit after strong indications he would not be granted meetings with senior figures. –ODT

Good on former mayor Sukhi Turner for speaking up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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### ODT Online Tue, 30 Apr 2013
Mayor denies bowing to wishes of China over Dalai Lama’s visit
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull’s decision to sidestep a speaking engagement with the Dalai Lama appears to be aimed at avoiding the ire of China, a University of Otago academic, Dr Nicholas Khoo, says. However, the move has backfired in the eyes of former Dunedin mayor Sukhi Turner, who said the city was in danger of adopting a ”cargo cult mentality” and becoming ”supplicants to China”. It was confirmed yesterday Mr Cull had declined an invitation by tour organisers to introduce the Dalai Lama at a public talk in the Dunedin Town Hall, before up to 2000 people, on June 11.
Read more

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### ODT Online Tue, 30 Apr 2013
Who else has sidestepped the Dalai Lama?
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has some high-profile company when it comes to sidestepping the Dalai Lama. US President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard are among political leaders who have declined to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Read more

[St Farry suggested the Dalai Lama could be a use for the stadium, wtf]

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The Royal Society carries news coverage of THAT ‘cargo cult’ address:

Turner slams business mentality in ‘state of city’ speech
Posted: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 under Science in the News

Dunedin, April 23 – Dunedin should abandon its “big industry fetish” and encourage smaller, environmentally-friendly businesses, Dunedin Mayor Sukhi Turner said in her first “State of the City” speech last night.

Addressing combined members of Dunedin Lions Clubs, she pushed a strong “green” message in her vision of Dunedin’s economic future. The city’s first obligation was to stop behaving like primitive tribespeople, expecting foreigners to bring jobs and prosperity into the town, she said.

She rejected recent public accusations of being seen as opposed to development and “a very poor advocate” for Dunedin. But she said the cargo-cult mentality among Dunedin’s business community was a major obstacle to any serious discussion of the city’s future.

“Whether it be an aluminium smelter at Aramoana, a meat-processing plant on the Taieri or an environmentally suspect timber mill… the message is the same: only monstrous, ecologically damaging and socially destructive projects, preferably foreign-owned and financed, can rescue Dunedin’s fortunes.”

Many people saw environmental and developmental concerns as diametrically opposed. But in modern thinking the two were integrated imperatives.

“An industry that throws chemically stable toxic waste into our ecosystems is storing up disaster for us all.

“It is not a question of the environment versus development, it is simply a question of how much we are going to pay and when.”

Dunedin City Council and Otago Chamber of Commerce and Industry should be helping out small, knowledge-based businesses such as Animation Research Ltd which had developed computer graphic technology for America’s Cup races.

Dunedin would never again dominate New Zealand’s economy and its residents must stop trying to recapture a past which had gone forever, she said.

Education and health were two crucial industries under-pinning the city’s economy. Both could help generate whole clusters of subsidiary enterprises based on knowledge resources ready-to-hand at tertiary institutions.

“Small-scale, knowledge-based, high-tech and environmentally-friendly industries do not only open up the prospect of lucrative export contracts, they play to the strengths of the Dunedin community with its solid tradition of smallness and deep-seated love of learning,” Mrs Turner said.

After the speech she said she was not opposed to large-scale industry, as long as it “made sense”, was pollution-free and met Resource Management Act regulations.

However, the belief that salvation would come from large businesses was simplified reasoning. “It doesn’t work like that,” she said.
NZPA ODT ps 23/04/96 09-38NZ
RS Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Day 3 in office: Mayor-elect Dave Cull

Mayor Cull says he wants to review all city assets, projects and debt, but his first priority will be to look at operating costs rather than existing capital expenditure.

### ODT Online Sat, 16 Oct 2010
Dave Cull: A chain and a city
By Mark Price
He has presented television programmes such as Renovators, Open Home, Town and Country and Master Builders’ House of the Year Awards. He has written and published many books, including Big Weather South. He was born in Invercargill, remains a fan of Yes Minister and has a taste for Central Otago wine. His name is Dave Cull and, on October 26, he will be sworn in as the 57th mayor of Dunedin. Mark Price spoke to him this week.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Again? Not again?

Cartoonist’s view – Tremain 28/6/10

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Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Super ward at Dunedin?

UPDATED

### ODT Online Tue, 8 Sep 2009
Councillors vote for Dunedin super ward
By David Loughrey

Dunedin looks set for a major change to its local government voting system, with the city council opting for a super ward that will mean the four wards taking in most of the urban area get dumped. Councillors foreshadowed what they said was an eventual move to a single unitary authority for the city, with a merged regional and city council.
Read more

### Channel 9 News Monday, September 7th, 2009
DCC votes to change the ward system

The Dunedin City Council voted this afternoon to change the ward system that will effect the 2010 Local Body elections.
Read more

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The Mayor recommended the change.

Does it help or hinder then, to know Michael Guest is already pitching fast and loose for the development of scenic sites around the city? (ODT Link)

He, the developer’s friend, obviously wants to stay on council. Should we give him the opportunity? Does he still want to be a mayoral contender?

These are the million dollar questions.

Yes, some development of scenic sites should happen but not at the mercy of shredding the central city further of its charm and vitality.

Increasingly, the main street is looking like (facadist) Dunedin disneyland.

More encroachments on our heritage city fabric are planned and in the wings, in the absence of a well-thought out master plan for the city.

Under Cr Guest’s watch as Chair of Planning and Environment we’re losing too much of value in the built environment – and the heritage strategy is turning out to be an unrequited farce.

Comments?

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### ODT Online Mon, 7 Sep 2009
Opinion: Buildings were expected to last
By Peter Entwisle

Do Victorian buildings have a use-by date conveniently just expired? It would be significant for Dunedin if they did. Some people are seriously asserting this.
Read more

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### ODT Online Thu, 10 Sep 2009
Opinion: City has no difficulty in ignoring its history

An awareness of history is the key to support for heritage buildings, Jo Galer of Dunedin, believes. The threat to a row of historic buildings in Princes Street shows how, despite the frequently regretted loss of so much of Dunedin’s early architecture, the lessons of our past keep being ignored.
Read more

– Jo Galer researched the story of the Stock Exchange Building for her BA (hons) dissertation in history at the University of Otago.

Loughrey on Chin – ODT

UPDATED

### ODT Online Thu, 6 Aug 2009
Mayor bullish on council record
By David Loughrey

The Dunedin City Council may be reeling from a barrage of criticism from an angry public, but Mayor Peter Chin says the decisions it has made to support major multimillion-dollar projects are the right ones.
Read more

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Why keep plugging Facebook group The DCC has lost the plot. Sorry ODT, what’s your fascination there. It’s a minor thing of little substance and is not a true reflection of the public view – get out and speak to Dunedin citizens and group leaders if you want the real picture.

I’m still trying to picture Peter Chin as “bullish”… sly perhaps.