Stupid ORC Bus Hub : DCC notifies requirement for designation #Dunedin

Proposed ORC Bus Hub, Great King St – concept image [supplied]

CALL FOR PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS

DIS-2017-1 – Central City Bus Hub
Open for submissions. Closes 5pm 18 August 2017

Public notice of requirement for a designation
Sections 168 and 169 of the Resource Management Act 1991

The Dunedin City Council has received notice of a requirement for a new designation from the Otago Regional Council.

Notice of Requirement No: DIS-2017-1

The requirement is for: A Central City Bus Hub for Dunedin’s transport network, and includes all buildings, structures and associated facilities and activities for the carrying out of the public transport system by the Otago Regional Council. With the exception of no public parking, the designation will not prevent the use of Great King Street, between Moray Place and St Andrew Street, being used as a public road.

The designation is to provide for the establishment, operation, maintenance and upgrading of the Central City Bus Hub for Dunedin public transport service purposes and will provide public transport services described in the Otago Regional Council’s Public Transport Plan, and to provide for any site works, buildings or structures, integral and ancillary to the Dunedin public transport system, including but not limited to: Bus shelters and seating; timetable and information displays; bus stops; public amenities, including toilets; landscaping including structures; pedestrian footpaths and accessways; drainage; technology; lighting; security; vehicle priority; signage; passenger comfort initiatives and facilities; passenger information facilities; and all other structures and facilities associated with, or incidental to, a comprehensive facility for the performances of functions of the Central City Bus Hub and support of the Dunedin Public Transport Network for the Otago Regional Council.

The nature of the functions is that these activities will initially occur from approximately 05:30am to 12:30am, 7 days a week, year-round.

The sites to which the requirement applies are as follows:
● Great King Street Road Reserve, between Moray Place and St Andrew Street, Dunedin;
● Moray Place Road Reserve (part of);
● 12.4m² (approx.) within 157 St Andrew Street, legally described as Lot 1 DP 486801;
● Two areas within the Countdown car park adjoining Great King Street – one comprising 58.8m² and the second comprising 50.4m² (approx.) legally described as Lots 2 and 3, DP 6552 and Section 29, Town of Dunedin.
● 19.5m² (approx.) within the Countdown car park adjoining Moray Place, legally described as part Sections 27 and 28, Block XVI, Town Survey District;
● 63m² (approx.) within the Community House car park at 301 Moray Place, legally described as part Town Section 26, Block XVI, Town of Dunedin; and
● 60.8m² (approx.) within the Wilsons car park at 30-36 Great King Street, legally described as Lot 2 DP 338932.

The Notice of Requirement, plans showing the extent of the requirement, and the assessment of environmental effects may be inspected at the following locations:
● City Planning Enquiries, Customer Services Centre, Ground Floor, Civic Centre, 50 The Octagon, Dunedin
● The Dunedin Central Public Library
● The Mosgiel Service Centre
● Online

Please contact Paul Freeland on 477 4000 if you have any questions about the Notice of Requirement.

█ Go to this DCC webpage for all the information pertaining to the Notice of Requirement (NoR):
DIS-2017-1 – Central City Bus Hub
Closing date for submissions: Friday 18 August 2017 at 5pm.
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/district-plan/district-plan-changes/dis-2017-1-central-city-bus-hub

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█ Supplementary Reading
From the ‘RMA Quality Planning Resource’ (NZ):

Notices of requirement and requiring authorities

To begin the process of designating land, a requiring authority must serve a notice of requirement on the relevant territorial authority (s168 of the RMA) or lodge it with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) (s145(3)).  A notice of requirement is a proposal for a designation. 

The notice of requirement has an interim effect, in that it protects the land for the designated purpose until the designation is confirmed and included in an operative district plan (s178).  If the designation is confirmed it overrides the provisions of the district plan so the project or the works may be implemented by the requiring authority in accordance with that designation and any conditions attached to it.  However, the underlying plan provisions continue to apply if the land is used for a purpose other than the designated purpose.

When processing a notice of requirement Part 8 of the RMA requires the territorial authority to consider the requirement and any submissions received (if the requirement was notified), and then make a recommendation to the requiring authority. The territorial authority is only able to make a recommendation to the requiring authority and the requiring authority has the final decision on the matter. Refer to the flowchart for steps in the new designation process.

An alternative process is available under Part 6AA of the RMA for notices of requirement that are for proposals of national significance. Sections 198A – 198M of the RMA also provide for the direct referral of notices of requirement to the Environment Court for a decision.  The direct referral provisions under the RMA allow for requiring authorities to request that notified notices of requirement be directly referred to the Environment Court for a decision, instead of a recommendation by a territorial authority and a decision by a requiring authority.

The designation provides for the long-term ‘approval’ of the work. Because details of the work may not be known at the time of lodging the notice of requirement, s176A provides for further detail or subsequent changes and updates to the work through an outline plan. An outline plan is required to be submitted to the territorial authority, showing details of the work or project to be constructed on the designated land.

As for the notice of requirement process, the territorial authority only has a recommendation role for outline plans. The territorial authority is only able to request changes of the requiring authority and cannot turn down an outline plan. 

A notice of requirement and an outline plan describing the works proposed can be served/submitted at the same time. This approach can be helpful to allow the territorial authority to understand the designation, and can speed up the overall process allowing works to begin sooner. Alternatively, the requirement for an outline plan can be waived by the territorial authority if sufficient information was submitted with the notice of requirement.

Read more: http://www.qualityplanning.org.nz/index.php/plan-development-components/designations/overview/notices-of-requirements

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All we want is …. [possibly?]

No highly coloured tarseal or paving materials not in keeping with Dunedin’s built environment.

NO Bus Hub in Great King St.

And….
smaller more frequent shuttle buses, suburban areas properly serviced with well-spaced bus stops and shelters, easy transfer cards, on-board EFTPOS card top-ups ($5 minimum), digital readouts for next bus at all stops, wifi buses, direct pick-up drop-off in George and Princes streets, well serviced peak hours and school runs, bus inspectors, highly trained drivers, mechanically well serviced buses, plenty of mobility access for all comers.

Or to just call an affordable version of Uber or Lyft.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

[whatifdunedin]

#OldHat Dunedin bus system hard to use and unaffordable

Lynley Hood is a positive advocate for her area, no doubt – but hopefully she can think more widely than Corstorphine, to the provision of fair and equitable public transport for The Many, wherever they live in Dunedin, who struggle to pay standard fares or top up the ‘dumb’ Go Card —or who have no bus service to their streets at decent intervals with timely transfer options for necessary travel destinations [the currently ‘immovable’ ORC system].

Or thank god, there’s hail apps.

[Is Otago Regional Council up with the technology about to change public transport @ New Zealand —thereby cancelling any profit from the ill-thought diesel-breathing bus hub planned for Great King St in Central Dunedin.]

Black car service [uberinternal.com]

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When a new flexible bus ticketing system is introduced early next year in Dunedin and the Queenstown area, consideration would be given to introducing a lower $5 top-up for Go Cards for online payments. –ORC

### ODT Online Tue, 6 Jun 2017
Bus discounts asked of ORC
By John Gibb
Kew resident Lynley Hood is urging the Otago Regional Council to introduce a community services card bus discount to help “transport disadvantaged” people in Dunedin. “Public transport is important for all sorts of reasons, certainly for inclusiveness and giving everybody a chance,” Dr Hood said. If you’re going to proceed with education and get a job, you’ve got to have transport. It’s got to be attractive to everybody, so it works for the people who need it.” She often saw bus users checking their small change to see if they could afford to use the bus, and clearly not everyone could. She has been suggesting this extension of the bus discount system, and other improvements in the Corstorphine bus service, for several years, and made a detailed submission to the council in 2014. More Corstorphine residents would be encouraged to switch to Go Cards by providing the suggested discount for community services card holders, and cutting the minimum Go Card top-up payment from $10 to $5, she said.
Read more

Radiohead Published on Jun 2, 2017
Radiohead – I Promise
I Promise is one of 3 previously unreleased tracks from the album OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 – 2017.

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“Transportation companies compete for customers, and ultimately it is the consumer who makes the choice.” –Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection

“Were the old deemed to have a constitutional right to preclude the entry of the new into the markets of the old, economic progress might grind to a halt,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the 7th Circuit decision. “Instead of taxis we might have horse and buggies; instead of the telephone, the telegraph; instead of computers, slide rules.”

### usatoday.com 4:47 p.m. ET 5 Jun 2017 | Updated
Chicago cabbies say industry is teetering toward collapse
By Aamer Madhani
CHICAGO — Operators of the nation’s second-biggest taxi fleet are now accelerating toward their long-rumoured extinction, edging towards becoming virtual dinosaurs in the era of ride-sharing monsters Uber and Lyft. Cabbies have long grumbled that the sky is falling as they lose ground to ride-sharing companies. Now, cabbies in Chicago are pointing to new data that suggests the decline could be speeding up. About 42% of Chicago’s taxi fleet was not operating in the month of March, and cabbies have seen their revenue slide for their long-beleaguered industry by nearly 40% over the last three years as riders are increasingly ditching cabs for ride-hailing apps Uber, Lyft and Via, according to a study released Monday by the Chicago cab drivers union. More than 2,900 of Chicago’s nearly 7,000 licensed taxis were inactive in March 2017 — meaning they had not picked up a fare in a month, according to the Cab Drivers United/AFSCME Local 2500 report. The average monthly income per active medallion — the permit that gives cabbies the exclusive right to pick up passengers who hail them on the street — has dipped from $5,276 in January 2014 to $3,206 this year. The number of riders in Chicago hailing cabs has also plummeted during that same period from 2.3 million monthly riders to about 1.1 million. Declining ridership for Chicago’s taxi industry comes as foreclosures are piling up for taxi medallion owners who aren’t generating enough fares to keep up with their loan payments and meet their expenses.
….Chicago cabbies aren’t alone in feeling the pinch. In New York, ridership in the city’s iconic yellow cabs has fallen about 30% over the last three years. Last year, San Francisco’s Yellow Cab — the city’s largest taxi company — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Los Angeles taxi ridership fell 43%, and revenue was down 24%, between 2013 and 2016.
Read more

█ Medallion Report (FINAL)

[watch video] Fox 32 : Chicago taxi drivers: Industry is teetering toward collapse
Posted: Jun 05 2017 09:50PM CDT | Updated

New York, the new normal….

Motherboard Published on May 27, 2016
Is Uber Killing the Yellow Taxi in New York City?
As Uber’s stranglehold over the taxi industry increases, some New York yellow cab dispatchers have found themselves in an unprecedented predicament: sitting on millions of dollars worth of medallion yellow cabs, but not enough drivers to drive them.

█ Wikipedia: Taxicab regulation

Related Post and Cimments
8.12.16 Our loss-making public bus system, as for the colours *spew
20.11.16 Dunedin Buses – Route planners don’t consider effects on local business
11.8.16 Tesla Motors to open new location every four days #electrictravel
21.3.16 Uber travel

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Otago students at Pitt St: No longer drunk possums in trees

Last night I heard (muted) sirens about, nothing more – not realising what was happening a few houses away up Pitt St. My place is tucked in off the road, nothing seemed out of the usual for a Thursday night, ‘student party night’ —just typical city noise that often includes sirens and choppers. Reading through a consent file for 97 Filleul St collected from DCC that afternoon, I was absorbed, completely missing the street action…. On waking this morning, I opened the first message on my phone, from a journalist asking if I’d heard the party on Pitt St last night? Hmm

18 Pitt Street, Dunedin [Google Street View Nov 2009] tweaked

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:50, April 29 2016
Dunedin student seriously injured after jumping from roof
By Laura Walters and Hamish McNeilly
A Dunedin student in hospital with life-threatening injuries jumped from a roof just minutes after party-goers were told to turn their music down by noise control officers. Dunedin District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Brian Benn said police were called to the house on Pitt St about 11.30pm on Thursday. “A drunken student tried to jump off a roof. That didn’t end too well for him.” Benn said no one at the party saw the 21-year-old land after jumping from the roof, but when partygoers went to find out what happened they found him with “reasonably serious injuries”. Neighbours said the flat had been quiet during 2016 until Thursday night’s party. “It was a terrible racket,” one neighbour said. St John ambulance spokesman Andy Gray said the student’s condition was updated from serious to critical due to his “life threatening injuries”. He was taken to Dunedin Hospital but the large party continued.
Read more

Fri, 29 Apr 2016
ODT: Student ‘critical’ after jump off roof
A student is fighting for his life after jumping off the roof of a two-storey house at a large Dunedin flat party last night. Senior Sergeant Brian Benn, of Dunedin, said the 21-year-old was seriously injured after “an aerial stunt” at the Pitt St party went wrong.

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Not for the first time.
Last year, it began with the male students at 53 Royal Tce….

Comment by Elizabeth
2016/04/07 at 2:38 am
An associate caught sight of a particularly juvenile and UNSAFE act that occurred next door [at 53]….
The scene.
Two storeyed house with dormer windows in the City Rise, tenanted by university 3rd or 4th year male students.
Constant noise and behavioural issues…. well-known to Noise Control, Campus Watch and Proctor [Police attention very much the next step – these young idiots have been told].

One of them had earlier broken his leg. Following recovery and some time later…. his so-called ‘friends’ egged him on to jump from a dormer roof (at second floor level) into a shallow paddling pool at ground level. He had to think about it for quite a while…. obviously he was facing serious injury or worse if he got it wrong, given the building height and shallowness of the water. Being a mental statistic he jumped – by luck not good management he did not need an ambulance.

What was that about safety nets – let the morons kill themselves, one less noise complaint.

Recent student idiocy:
● 53 Royal Tce – Dunedin [no injury, not recorded] Late 2015
● 598 Castle St – Dunedin [multiple crowd injuries] 4 Mar 2016 Link
● 124 Dundas St – Dunedin [serious head injury] 12 Mar 2016 Link
● 18 Pitt St – Dunedin 2016 [critical injury] 28 Apr 2016

Related Post and Comments:
7.3.16 Balcony Collapse at Six60 concert, 598 Castle Street, Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: red_cross_joshua_dwire_03.svg 2 | creativebloq.com – falling dude
[whatifdunedin overlay]

Hong Sheng Chiong : Design Insights to preventable blindness —Smartphone retinal imaging

Sun, 24 Apr 2016
ODT: App a real eye opener
An award-winning Dunedin junior doctor has produced a world-first smartphone app to help diagnose people who may have sight-threatening illnesses. Dr Hong Sheng Chiong’s medical company oDocs Eye Care has created an app-kit that performs a similar function to $50,000 worth of eye-examination equipment. Already, 200 units have been sold around the world and the open-source product downloaded by more than 2000 people in countries including the United States, Indonesia, Mexico, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria and Britain.

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oDocs Eye Care will save the sight of millions by making affordable and accessible ophthalmic equipment.

“We care deeply about preventing blindness. We have committed to using half of our net profit toward saving sight in the regions where it is needed most. Its time to revolutionize eye health by building accurate equipment that is accessible and affordable. Visual impairment and blindness is a global problem, with 285 million people suffering with this disability around the world, 80% of these cases were preventable or treatable. It is unfortunate that a 90% of those cases are found in developing areas. Established in 2014 by Dr. Hong Sheng Chiong and Dr. Benjamin O’Keeffe, oDocs Eye Care (formerly OphthalmicDocs) is an innovative company in the field of portable eye care. With thousands of users, our social approach has inspired many others to join the initiative. You can contact us at info @odocs-tech.com or come have a coffee with us here at GridAKL, 101 Pakenham St West, Auckland, NZ.”

Website: http://www.odocs-tech.com/
About + Team: http://www.odocs-tech.com/about/
Facebook: ophthalmicdocs

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[last year]

“We believe everyone deserves access to quality eye care. It’s supposed to be cheap, to help people in developing nations. So why would you put a label on it or mark up the price by 300-400%? Those things really make me sick.”
–Dr Hong Sheng Chiong

### idealog.co.nz 22 Oct 2015
One in the eye for blindness: the free app that thinks it’s an eye doctor
By Hannah Bartlett
A Kiwi eye specialist has invented a simple tool that turns a smartphone into a diagnostic tool – and now it has won the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Innovators Awards. In early May, ophthalmologist Dr Hong Sheng Chiong released a cunning 3D printable gadget that turns a smartphone into a retinal camera for eye examinations. Twenty four hours later, he woke to 150 emails. Another three days, and there had been more than a thousand downloads of his adapter, the OphthalmicDocs Fundus. It hadn’t cost anyone (except him) a penny.
And that’s just how Hong likes it.
By day, Hong runs the eye clinic at Gisborne Hospital. But in his spare time, he is working towards a wider goal: giving doctors in the third world the tools to detect – and therefore treat – preventable blindness.
The OphthalmicDocs Fundus (OphthalmicDocs is the name of Hong’s company; fundus is a scientific name for the retina) is a 3D printable gadget; basically a small arm which holds a condensing lens at one end and attaches to the camera part of a smartphone at the other. It turns a mobile phone into a retinal camera, which can look into the back of the eye, the most difficult area to view. Combined with the OphthalmicDocs Eye App, free eye-testing software containing tests and imaging, the camera puts a portable eye clinic in the hands of a doctor.
Hong says even eye charts on the wall of a clinic can cost thousands of dollars, so he’s converted all the basic vision tests into a smartphone-friendly app format.
Hong believes he has built the first, free, open-source eye equipment in the world. And that’s just how he likes it too.
Read more

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TEDx Talks Published on May 22, 2015
Fighting blindness with $20 and a smart phone | Hong Sheng Chiong | TEDxAuckland
How Hong has managed to fight blindness with 20$ and a smart phone and in the process is changing how we think and create medical equipment.
Dr Hong Sheng Chiong is currently an eye doctor in Gisborne hospital. He completed his clinical training in Ireland before he crossed over to New Zealand where he initially worked as a registrar in neurosurgery and general surgery before he stepped into the world of eye. His main interests are eye regenerative medicine, bioengineering and telemedicine. His exposure to third world medicine in Kenya, Nepal and Malaysia have given him the insight to the burden of preventable blindness. He believes the problem lies in the access to quality eye care. In 2014, he founded OphthalmicDocs, an R&D company that focuses on the development of ultra mobile and economical eye tests and diagnostics devices. He has invented several eye imaging adapters that can be used in conjunction with a mobile application to diagnose and monitor eye diseases. Fighting preventable blindness is his career’s primary mission.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organised by a local community.
Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images:
idealog.co.nz – slide 3 | smartphone retinal camera | TEDx 22 May 2015
odocs-tech.com – website image
globalwomensforumdubai.com – Hong Sheng Chiong

Uber travel

1 day ago
MSN Motoring: The incredible rise of Uber

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Uber founders: Garrett Camp (left) and Travis Kalanick

What started out as a simple idea seven years ago to get a ride around the city is now a business worth $62.5 billion (£44.6bn). In October 2010, UberCab changed its name to Uber and went live on the Android smartphone operating system. In mid-2011, Uber went live in New York City. Since then it’s provided 80,000 rides per day! In July 2012, Uber unveiled Uber X. Using hybrid vehicles like the Prius, rides are 35% cheaper than Uber’s original black car service. In late 2014 Uber launched UberPOOL, which gives users the option of splitting the ride and cost with another person on a similar route. There’s so much more….

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Uber – a mobile service where passengers can book rides – has become popular in Auckland and Wellington, and use of ride sharing apps is expected to become more common in the future.

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 19:01, December 14 2015
Uber set to face tighter rules, but not in-car cameras, Govt recommends
By Hamish Rutherford
Uber could be forced to check drivers’ log books and vehicle safety, after the Government recommended forcing it to become an approved transport operator. However drivers which use the mobile platform to find passengers appear set to continue to operate without being forced to install in-vehicle cameras, which are required in taxis. A review of regulations covering small passenger services, released on Monday [14.12.15], acknowledged that the existing rules, developed in the 1980s, had not kept pace with changes in technology.

Uber, the US-based company which was recently valued at around US$62.5 billion (NZ$93.2b) slammed the Government’s proposals as counter to its role to “open up” the economy, and did nothing to reduce regulation.

….The emergence of Uber has raised a global battle with taxis, which tend to face more rigorous regulations. Uber maintains that it is not a taxi service, but instead simply a technology platform, linking passengers with drivers who are private contractors. On Monday the Government released a consultation paper recommending that instead of maintaining a two-tier system for taxis and private hire providers, it would create a new single class system, where operators are responsible for safety and compliance. It comes almost a year after Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss announced a review of the rules.
Read more

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Wikipedia: Uber (company)
Founded: March 2009; 7 years ago
Services: Taxi, vehicles for hire
Slogan: Where lifestyle meets logistics
Website: uber.com

Uber Technologies Inc is an American multinational online transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. As of May 28, 2015, the service was available in 58 [today: 60] countries and 300 cities worldwide. Since Uber’s launch, several other companies have copied its business model, a trend that has come to be referred to as “Uberification”. Uber was founded as “UberCab” by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 and the app was released the following June. Beginning in 2012, Uber expanded internationally. In 2014, it experimented with carpooling features and made other updates. Klout ranked the San Francisco-based company as the 48th-most powerful company in America in 2014. By late-2015, Uber was estimated to be worth $62.5 billion. Cont/

█ The legality of Uber has been challenged by governments and taxi companies, who allege that its use of drivers who are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal.

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### ODT Online Sun, 20 Mar 2016
Residents on board with petition
The wider Green Island community is jumping on board in its support for changing the controversial Concord bus routes. A petition will be presented to the Otago Regional Council next Wednesday.
Greater Green Island Community Network co-ordinator Lynda Davidson said the petition, which has more than 300 signatures, asked the ORC to consider returning the Concord bus system to its original route through South Dunedin, while also keeping some of the express services direct to the University of Otago. […] Without the direct routes, people wanting to get to South Dunedin had to bus into the central city and then catch another bus south, which was taking longer and also costing people more.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Shutterstock via msn.com

Balcony Collapse at Six60 concert, 598 Castle Street, Dunedin

Tweet:

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Paul Henry
Monday 7 Mar 2016 8:02 a.m. (via newshub.co.nz)
Key: More police wouldn’t have prevented balcony collapse Updated

Paul Henry
Monday 7 Mar 2016 12:42 p.m. (via newshub.co.nz)
Police should have been given more notice of Six60 concert – O’Connor

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Six60 outside Castle Street flat that inspired their name. Photo: Instagram/Six60 (via RNZ News)

its SLiK Published on Mar 4, 2016
Balcony collapses near Six60 gig

Otago Daily Times Published on Mar 4, 2016
Balcony collapse on Dunedin’s Castle Street

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### radionz.co.nz Updated at 11:33 am today
RNZ News
No criminal inquiry into balcony collapse
The police have decided against opening a criminal investigation into a balcony collapse at a concert in Dunedin. […] A young woman studying at Otago University has been transferred to Christchurch Hospital, with what have been reported as spinal injuries. A young male student from Otago Polytechnic has undergone surgery at Dunedin Hospital. […] While police did not intend to investigate further from a criminal point of view, they would work with the reviews being carried out by Worksafe New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Action was urgently needed to ensure people’s safety and preserve the reputations of the city and Otago University, [Mayor Cull] said.

Other events during this year’s orientation week, such as couch burning and concern about verbal abuse, including a rape threat and racial slurs, have prompted students themselves to call for action.

[Mayor Cull:] The council had no power to control the event at which the balcony collapsed as it was held on private property, and that might need to change. […]

Balcony ‘met building standards’
Mr Cull said the council’s chief building inspector had examined the balcony yesterday, and said it met the requirements of the building code. “I welcome the [Department of Building and Housing’s] further investigation to make it absolutely clear what caused it.” He said whether the partygoers were jumping up and down on the balcony was not the issue; it was that hundreds of people turned up to an event that would not normally be held in a domestic venue. “It’s just not acceptable to expect those kind of situations to not present more risk than if it’s professionally organised.”
Read more

### radionz.co.nz Updated at 8:00 am today
New footage of balcony collapse concert
By Ian Telfer – Dunedin
High-tech footage of a balcony collapse at a student concert has revealed no-one was jumping on it when it fell.
Read more + Photos

HARLENE KNOWS NOT HOW TO RULE [23 February 2012]
RNZ: University vice-chancellor seeking to halt wild parties

█ Listen to Ian Telfer on Morning Report

█ Listen to the interview with Dave Cull on Morning Report

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Stuff.co.nz stories:

● 7.3.16 Performer warned people to ‘get off the balcony’…
● 6.3.16 Harrowing injuries after balcony collapse…
● 6.3.16 Dunedin balcony collapse – Government orders investigation
● 5.3.16 Balcony collapse: Concerns raised about stability…
● 5.3.16 Balcony collapses at Six60 gig…

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Comment at What if? Dunedin:

Anonymous 2016/03/06 at 11:05 pm
Dealing with some issues here:

– on the claim that “the concert was impromptu” – it was “announced” via social media on Monday and the University was aware prior (Campus Watch were detailed). Animation Research Ltd had a 360 degree motion camera rig in operation (and captured footage of the collapse). A stage was erected and sound gear installed. This is not impromptu.

– an “impromptu” event would still need to be notified
see here: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/Frefor/pdf/event-safety-guidelines-osh-200104.pdfhttp://www.waitakere.govt.nz/Frefor/pdf/event-safety-guidelines-osh-200104.pdf
“Any planned activity where any structure, open area, roadway or other area will contain more people than normally found in that location at one time.”

– the venue was unsafe. Egress, crush barriers and evacuation were inadequate (a van was parked across the leg-in blocking access) as the band were performing (and ARL were working, and news media were reporting), this meets the definition of a “workplace” and both HSA and Worksafe legislation apply.

The event organizer has strict liability here. Those suggesting that the balcony collapse was the fault of those on it and that they should take “personal responsibility” are unfortunately misguided. It is up to the event organizer and those assessing the management plan to identify and control these risks. This was clearly inadequate in this case.

I would not want to be standing anywhere near the event organizers once the detailed investigation starts.

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Related Post and Comments:
3.11.15 Dunedin: University students into excess alcohol, party drugs, sexual abuse, vandalism #CRIME —Balcony collapse discussed from comment 71132

█ For more, enter the terms *students*, *university*, *harlene* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

University of Otago student mayhem continues, another LOSS for Harls

Star reporter David Beck notes feral practices and bully-tactics.

### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Students undergo hazing rituals for flats
By David Beck – The Star
Dunedin tertiary students who have secured flats in popular areas such as Castle St and Hyde St are being put through hazing rituals by tenants leaving the flats. Flat initiations are particularly common for students securing a flat for their second year of study and generally involve excessive amounts of alcohol.
Read more

█ Students needing support and advice in this area can contact Student Health, Campus Watch and staff at the university colleges.

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### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Red cards a booze-fuelled tradition
By David Beck – The Star
The scarfie tradition of red cards is all about doing something new and having a good time, a university graduate says. Each person in a flat is allowed to pull one red card during the year. On the day they decide to use it, the rest of the flat has to participate in whatever alcohol-fuelled activity the holder has decided on.
Read more

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### ODT Online Sun, 1 Nov 2015
Police out in numbers in student area
Police have turned out in numbers in the student area of Dunedin this morning after a disruptive night combining Halloween and Rugby World Cup final celebrations.
Read more

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One practice David Beck has missed (see various
student-authored social media reports) is sexual predation visited on young women by feral young men, read Students —recently brought to the attention of What if? Dunedin.

(Frankly, practically) None of this is helped by ultra short skirts and visible G-strings worn by ‘accessible’ young women, to Dunedin night venues and popup parties. YES that is a non-PC statement but hey.

It’s hard to report sexual assault if you’ve been surrounded (while you’re drunk or drugged, or not) on the dance floor by young men exercising pack instinct and intent. The case of whose finger was it anyway. YES, this in Your Swill Town.

The University, Police and Council authorities wouldn’t have a clue about what/who/how to manage the manifold risks posed to vulnerable young people studying at Dunedin —outstanding ignorance, blindness and naïveté pertain within the Establishment, whose business (MARKETING) it has been to play down the more unsavoury aspects of Student party life here.

The University of Otago and NZ Police FAIL to monitor, DO NOT investigate, and DO NOT offer strong guidance on Student use of social media at Dunedin. These ‘encounters’ make the recent Roast Busters case at Auckland seem trivial if not ephemeral. The ‘Stewards of Dunedin’ reside in the Dark Ages, a place not enlightened by smartphone use for good or bad. There is BAD. Despite the law change based on the outcome of the Roast Busters investigation, sadistic criminal behaviours at Dunedin go unpoliced. And unreported to Police.

Keep partying why not. Sell more drinks, more party drugs?
No-one wants to talk about it. Jolly the young sweet things along.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: samsunghdwallpaper.com – The Best Doll wallpaper for Samsung smartphone

Otago Regional Council: Buses —Journey Planner (now online)

ANOTHER REASON ORC SHOULD KEEP MANAGING THE DUNEDIN BUS SYSTEM

### ODT Online Wed, 28 May 2014
Internet bus trip planner
Bus users can now find the best route to travel using a new internet-based journey planner. The planner is available on the Otago Regional Council’s website and uses Google transit information. Council corporate services director Wayne Scott said the planner was introduced to make the council’s bus timetable more accessible. Users of the journey planner enter a bus journey starting point and destination.
Read more

█ Website: http://www.orc.govt.nz/Information-and-Services/Buses/

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Defibrillators – where are they?

“There’s no point in people dying when a potential piece of life-saving equipment is 50m away. And that happens regularly. We need to make people aware of where they are.”

### ODT Online Sat, 19 Jan 2013
Defibrillators easy to find by phone
By Shawn McAvinue
Life-saving defibrillators are sitting idle as people nearby needlessly die, says the creator of a defibrillator locator. AED Locations founder Gareth Jenkin said he had taught thousands of people how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) when working as a resuscitation co-ordinator at Auckland City Hospital, but could not give his students information on where to find one. Many people died because a defibrillator could not be found, he said.

He had the idea to build a website to locate a defibrillator but had no money or knowledge to build it. But Able Technology heard of his vision and built Mr Jenkin the website at no charge.

At www.aedlocations.co.nz, 2500 defibrillator locations are mapped and a smartphone application can locate the nearest defibrillator using GPS.

In an emergency, people should dial 111 and then use the application on their smartphone, which included a function to speed dial the defibrillator location so it could be rushed to the emergency.

Any defibrillator owners should contact him with the locations because the larger the database, the more chance a life could be saved.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin company iVisit develops free iPhone app

Mobile tourism information service

### ODT Online Wed, 29 Dec 2010
Are phones the new guidebooks?
By Hamish McNeilly
Guidebooks may be a thing of the past, thanks to an innovative Dunedin company which turns smartphones into a mobile tourism information service. Smartphone applications represented the most exciting possibilities for the fast moving tourism industry since the introduction of maps and guidebooks, AA Tourism online general manager Roger Slater said.

At the forefront of this technology was Dunedin company iVisit, which has spent nearly a year creating the smartphone application XplrNZ.

Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
23.12.10 ODT on the “the phoenix of design and innovation”
12.11.10 FREE wireless internet in Dunedin …now that’s wicked!
12.11.10 WIC NZ Ltd announces Innovate 100 programme
11.10.10 The Distiller + WIC — Dunedin entrepreneurs
28.9.10 AugmentedReality @ Dunedin
25.8.10 New hotspot in Anzac Ave, Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr