DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research

SOMEBODY please work out how many individual car parks stand to be LOST from the CBD —all down to Council making things TOUGH for vehicle users in the Central City.

Starter list via Central City Plan and other developments:
(calculate how many individual car parks lost for each proposal)

1) Rerouting of SH1 one-way through Warehouse area and Queens Gardens ?
2) New segregated cycleways on SH1 one-way system from Warehouse area to North Dunedin ?
3) Pedestrianisation affecting Octagon, lower Stuart St and sections of George St ?
4) Hotel and apartment building, Filleul St/Moray Place ?
5) ORC Headquarters for Dowling St Carpark ? [a great site for ACC]
6) ACC office building for Frederick St Carpark ?
7) New Hospital, block bounded by Cumberland, Frederick, Castle and Hanover Sts ?
8) ORC bus hub (interchange) for Great King St and vicinity ?
9) Other ???

DCC Webmap or Google Earth will give the relative range of car park numbers. A quick sum will do.

—

Mayor Cull might wonder why there’s little or no “growth” likely for Dunedin.

Apart from lack of on street car parking, another starter : the city’s ‘health and position’ is undermined by the degraded Aurora power network that offers NO security of supply ahead. What does this mean for Businesses and Ratepayers via increased Rates and Line Charges, how many Business and Ratepayer defaults ??

After 25-30 years of deliberate neglect to the Aurora network, striving for “economic development” at Dunedin is nigh “Mission Impossible”.

DCC can’t afford to bring the Aurora network up to compliance —as Mayor Cull was told last Tuesday in a private meeting, it will cost a Billion Dollars to do renewals in Dunedin and Central Otago (not counting new build facilities to meet demand in Central Otago).

DCC are well and truly caught with their pants down.

THE BEST THING Central Otago people can do is buy their power network. Once made Safe, their network will generate revenue for expansion across CODC and QLDC growth areas ….Leaving sorry old Dunedin to an impecunious spiral of doom and disaster. How to rid the Dunedin millstone should be uppermost in Central Otago leaders’ minds right now.

—

DCC Webmap – Frederick St Carpark JanFeb 2013 (highlighted)

DCC Webmap – Dunedin Hospital and University health sciences JanFeb 2013

The Mayor and Councillors might think it’s AOK to skip out of an agreement with Southern Partnership Group, the Government-appointed hospital rebuild group…. SDHB and University of Otago had hoped to coordinate their future use of Frederick St carpark; it was a practical and logical proposal for university health sciences and the hospital precinct. Until…. the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) came along, with DCC then deciding to go for a quick buck. Why didn’t DCC offer ACC the Dowling St carpark, instead ? —a better centrally located construction site for the Corporation office building would be hard to find, one that could include public parking on its lower levels (and say BYE to ‘ORC imperialism’).

Squirrelling the Frederick St plum to ACC is the dumbest thing this Council could do. Student graduates – if that is the Mayor’s excuse for the Frederick St debacle – are quite capabable of walking to Queens Gardens for future employ.

Really, there never was a more useless ineffectual Southern town on the map. It has every deterrent sign needed for raccoons and new business. Tumbleweeds, cloned by Mayor Cull.

****

But wait.

Is Southern Partnership Group running scared after finding out how much it costs (a massive sum) to deal to Aurora’s transformer installation located inside the block bounded by Cumberland, Frederick, Castle and Hanover Sts – first site option for the hospital rebuild ?

The network facility comprises old transformers that could blow at any time. Of poor design, the transformers are not isolated from each other : if one transformer blows, they all do. To fuel the fireball, the transformers sit in a pool of oil. The cost to replace or relocate the facility is enough to ‘blow’ the hospital rebuild budget.

OTHER site options for the hospital rebuild rapidly gather impetus.

****

Wakari Hospital [affinityservices.co.nz]

The “somewhere else” option is likely to be Wakari Hospital.
No final decisions will be made until 2018.

### ODT Online Sat, 17 Dec 2016
Hospital may be relocated
By Eileen Goodwin
The Government is considering shifting Dunedin Hospital away from Great King St. A “long list” of site options for the $300 million hospital rebuild includes shifting “all hospital facilities” to a different part of the city. While there has long been speculation about another site, the possibility was revealed in a press statement from the Government-appointed rebuild group. Southern Partnership Group chairman Andrew Blair declined to release the long-list document to the Otago Daily Times, saying it was a “work in progress” … The list was written by consultants, the Ministry of Health, the Southern District Health Board and the partnership group.
Read more

[click to enlarge]
Google Earth – Wakari Hospital 2016

****

If the public hospital was to move from the CBD…..
IMPACTS include:

● Reduced Inner City Vibrancy
● Less Easy Repore and Connection with University of Otago Health Sciences, including Schools of Medicine and Dentistry
● Less Opportunity for NEW Complementary Business Activity/Support in CBD
● Loss of existing Complementary Business Activity and Support in CBD
● Potentially, (ahem) MORE carparks available in the CBD !!
● Distance/Isolation Problem for Hospital patients, their families and supports
● Distance/Isolation Problem for Hospital shift staff between their place of work, homes and CBD
Etc Etc.

—

THE NEWS

ACC given 12-month exclusive due diligence period with view to buying Frederick St Carpark to build multi-storey building. DCC reneged on previous undertaking to earmark site for Dunedin Hospital redevelopment.

15.12.16
ODT: Councillors ‘railroaded’ into carpark decision
Dunedin city councillors were “railroaded” into their decision about the Frederick St car park, and given inadequate information about the risk of pulling out, Cr Lee Vandervis says. Cr Vandervis has taken issue with the Dunedin City Council for presenting the decision last week as “unanimous”, and the council has admitted that was wrong. […] The discussion and decision were held behind closed doors, and councillors were prevented from speaking publicly. Two councillors – Andrew Whiley and Damian Newell – were informally reprimanded for speaking to the Otago Daily Times about the deal. Cont/

****

University of Otago Chief Operating Officer Stephen Willis says proposed ACC building in the middle of area envisaged for health and education precinct. “You’ve got the two book-end anchor institutes and then you bring another one right in the middle that has nothing really to do with health, education, or research.”

11.12.16
ODT: DCC’s ACC building deal criticised
Reneging on an undertaking to earmark a strategic piece of land for the Dunedin Hospital rebuild has undermined the city’s two leading institutions, former Dunedin City councillor Hilary Calvert says. Ms Calvert has criticised the decision to give the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) an exclusive 12-month period to explore options for the Frederick St car park. The council had earlier said it would earmark the site for the health precinct envisaged by the University of Otago. The precinct depends on  Government decisions on the $300 million hospital rebuild, which will not be made until 2018. Cont/

****

8.12.16
ODT: Council backs off land deal
The Dunedin City Council has backed out of its undertaking to allow the Frederick St car park to be used for the $300 million redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital. Instead, the site has been promised to the Accident Compensation Corporation, which is considering consolidating its operations to a proposed multi-storey building there. “That was then,” Mayor Dave Cull said of the council’s change of heart since October when it said the land was earmarked for the hospital. […] ACC has a significant presence in the city, with about 430 roles across the three sites. Cont/

****

15.11.16
ODT: Upgrade on hold till land swap clearer
A planned $8.1 million refurbishment of Hayward College has been postponed because the residential hall might be part of a land-swap with the Southern District Health Board so the area can be used for the Dunedin Hospital rebuild. Yesterday, the University of Otago confirmed it had put off the refurbishment until next year so that it does not go ahead while the Frederick St building’s future is unclear. Cont/

****

“We are aware that it might be important, and that’s why we’re having discussions with them to make sure that we don’t do anything that rules out any use for the site.” –Sue Bidrose, DCC

15.10.16
ODT: Health precinct mooted
Dunedin Hospital could be partly rebuilt on land owned by the University of Otago and become part of a university health precinct under a potential land swap. The university has confirmed it is willing to consider a land swap, whereby it  would own the clinical services building. The Dunedin City Council confirmed it has earmarked the Frederick St car park as a potential part of the plan. The university owns land in the Fraser building block, and on two other sides of the hospital campus. If approved by the Government, it could remove the logistical headache of building on a cramped clinical site. The first business case will go to the Cabinet next year, followed by a detailed one in 2018. Cont/

****

11.2.16
ODT: Green light for $8m cycleways
Construction could begin this year on Dunedin’s $8 million separated cycleways along the city’s one-way system. The New Zealand Transport Agency, which will fund the work, has signed off on a detailed business case setting out the need and basic design of the cycleways. They will be separated from traffic by concrete kerbing and will run along the right-hand side of both the northbound and southbound one-way routes. […] While car parking issues were a potential negative, business owners along the route had offered clever and positive ideas about how those problems could be minimised. Converting the council’s Frederick St car park to a multistorey facility was also “on our radar”, Cr Wilson said. Cont/

****

22.4.14
ODT: DCC mulls Frederick St development
A multi-storey development housing parking and businesses is being considered for the Dunedin City Council-owned Frederick St car park site. A report sent to councillors this week reveals council staff have already had discussions with several parties interested, as tenants or developers, in a development on the site. The report discusses three options for a separated cycle lane through the central city, and a parking study done in the area. It also considers possible ways to mitigate the potential loss of car parks – the major public concern about any new lanes – including possibly providing more commercial parking, such as a parking building. If the council chooses to provide about 100 extra parks on side streets as suggested, the total number of car parks lost to the lane would range from between 80 and 284 under the various options. Cont/

****

20.6.12
ODT: Council seeks $15 million portfolio boost
The Dunedin City Council is sitting on a half-billion-dollar property empire, but the man charged with managing it has big plans to expand … [City Property manager Robert Clark] was appointed to his post in late 2008 … Mr Clark was eyeing several potential projects in Dunedin, including a partnership with an interested private developer to build a $15 million hotel and car-park complex, or one of several variations, on the council’s Dowling St car park. Other plans included an $8 million four-storey car park and retail complex on the existing Frederick St car park. Neither project had been signed off by councillors, but both were expected to be considered later this year, with a possibility one, but not both, would proceed. Cont/

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

The EVIL Blend: Delta, Aurora, Fubar Stadium, Our Rates

Received from nick
2016/11/22 at 11:06 pm

DELTA
Think Rundown Infrastructure
Think Pigs in Troughs
Think High Living at Ratepayers Expense
Think Cynical PR Spin
Think Appalling Attitude to Public Safety
Think Expendable Linesmen
Think Bloody Hard about What Comes Next
Think Richard Healey has Shown Us Up
Think the Game Might Be Over.

****

Angina attack.

Oh my lord! Nooooo. The DCC can’t be ‘surprised’ after ALL these years (each and every year) of information slung at it about ongoing stadium spending and subvention payments (particularly by the likes of Calvin Oaten!), Not after the (effortless?) Stadium Review…. Which planet are you on, DCC ?

Some backside covering ERUPTS at ‘city hall’.

Then there’s poor Grady Cameron, he’s someone just not coping with Questions these days. Mr Cameron has turned into quite the veritable rapidly depreciating, $417M cracked record. After the ‘concretising’ Drifting event, let’s see him Put Out To Pasture at the Stadium —once DVML restores the hallowed Otago Rugby turf, of course.

—

“It is patently clear that Delta/Aurora/Dunedin City Holdings Ltd’s priority over the last few years has been to support a rugby stadium at the expense of public safety by way of subsidies/subvention payments.” –Bev Butler

### ODT Online Mon, 28 Nov 2016
Delta payments to stadium queried
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin councillor charged with overseeing Delta and Aurora says the beleaguered companies should be concentrating on their business and health and safety before pouring money into the Forsyth Barr Stadium. That came after it was revealed the companies have paid $29.9 million in subvention payments to the stadium in the past five years. It also appears a Deloitte investigation into the companies will consider the payments issue.

“In no way should people’s health and safety be compromised because we’re trying to pay for a stadium.” –Cr Mike Lord

A Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request from stadium critic Bev Butler, passed to the Otago Daily Times, showed the extent of the payments. It also showed Delta had paid $392,499 on its corporate suite and other costs at the stadium since 2010. The details of the spending come after weeks of criticism of the companies in which it has been revealed infrastructure has not been maintained, leaving thousands of power poles compromised and potentially dangerous.
Read more

● ODT: Stadium drifting track build ‘ambitious’
The turf at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin handles 1600kg scrums with ease but it is now bearing a load 500 times heavier….

—

On the issue of the corporate suite, Mr Cameron said like any large business, “from time to time we host our customers to strengthen the working relationships”. (ODT)

So, Grady:
Question, you splurge Many Dollars on your main customer – Aurora Energy – by entertaining them at the Stadium? The champagne lifestyle. On Our Money.

—

Related Post and Comments: [THE CHEAPIE INVOICES]
22.11.16 Delta/Aurora spend-up at Stadium —Degraded electricity network, Us ? (said the GOBs) #LGOIMA #Rugby

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *dchl*, *grady*, *cameron*, *crombie*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Douglas Field 18.11.16 [click to enlarge]

Delta poles : CODC beats DCC to the safety gun, SO not surprising

Tomorrow’s ODT….

At Channel 39 News this evening editor Barry Stewart says:

“Central Otago District Council has turned up the heat on Delta over unsafe poles. So they’re calling for a report on all their endangered poles, and they want to get that sorted.”

Well. It’s not like DCC is nearly so proactive. Mayor Cull’s dwindling idea of Leadership does not accord with Social Responsibility. What. No, at Dunedin there is only THE PERCEPTION of a problem, worth $30M.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Bullswool at Delta never ends

Far from being bullet proof – the credibility is by now well and truly SCORCHED and in tatters. Time to walk, or be pushed. A liability to all power users in Dunedin and Central Otago.

It’s not just about the poles. The Aurora Energy electricity network, managed by Delta Utility Services, is degraded and downright dangerous.

—

“I rejected the claim that shareholder [Dunedin City Council] demands were impacting safety outcomes.” –Grady Cameron (email)

### ODT Online Wed, 23 Nov 2016
Delta/Aurora ‘in good hands with advisers’
By Vaughan Elder
Aurora Energy chief executive Grady Cameron was told to keep his head up and “not get too stressed” as accusations mounted over rotten power poles. The email exchange between Mr Cameron and an unnamed person from another lines company was one of a number of documents provided to the Otago Daily Times after a Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act request. The short exchange on October 21 came only days after former Delta worker Richard Healey went public with his concerns, setting off a chain of events which culminated in multiple investigations and an accelerated plan to replace ageing poles.
Read more

34% of staff thought senior management were honest and straightforward in their dealings with staff. (Which is 19 percentage points below average) –The Survey (Cerno)

—

Spotted ….allegedly, ‘loud-mouthed’ and under the influence in Dunedin’s main street the same day Richard Healey went public…. the executive cares so much for the companies, the staff, and the general public. Epitaph to a young fool with no management expertise or health and safety learning.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *dchl*, *poles*, *epic fraud* or *noble* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta’s PR consultant

WHEN Delta’s ‘award winning’ young executive Grady Cameron, the Delta Board – woebegone* directors Ian Parton (from 25 Oct 2012), Stuart McLauchlan (1 Jun 2007), David Frow (25 Oct 2012), Trevor Kempton (1 Nov 2013) and Stephen Thompson [Deloitte!] (1 Jun 2016) – the rotten-tooth chair of DCHL Graham Crombie, and the Mayor of City Liabilities and Risk Dave Cull FAIL to Communicate Honestly with the concerned public on Delta’s utter degradation and collapse of Our electricity network —What Do You Do ?

You send in the crows or, a PR clown.

None other than public relations consultant and former broadcaster Spiro Anastasiou. Mr Ana-sneeze rates himself as “a strategic communications specialist with extensive experience in managing issues of public and political sensitivity”. The newest partner in SenateSHJ’s Wellington office, who heads their government relations practice. He returns to consulting “from a role leading strategic communications at the Ministry of Health where he managed the Ministry’s public information programme during the Swine Flu pandemic and was seconded to the Canterbury earthquake response in the All of Government communications role during the two and half month state of national emergency”. Ana-sneeze joined the Ministry of Health “….after more than 10 years consulting in a range of sectors where he provided strategic advice and tactical support to CEOs and senior leaders. This included specialist projects such as industrial relations and change, many with a very high public profile.” Ana-sneeze’s strength is his experience in “….building successful working relationships and a proven track record in government relations. He has excellent media and communication skills developed during a 15 year career in broadcast journalism before he entered consultancy….a native Wellingtonian [blahblah] He enjoys reading and cooking, is a keen fisherman and an enthusiastic golfer.”

Let’s see where this goes —and if Grady and Spiro darling, are to be seen golfing together or co-occupying Delta’s corporate box at the Stadium – on which we have cameras trained. It was bad enough having to secret-squirrel GPS trackers to All (excessive numbers of) company vehicles two weeks ago.

*Understatement, meaning incompetent and grossly negligent.

—

The Varmints:

● Delta Utility Services Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/453486

● Aurora Energy Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/471661
[Mr Thompson of Deloitte appointed 20 Jun 2016]

● Dunedin City Holdings Ltd http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/559098

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta mobile substation, Willis St [industrial/port area]

Sat, 12 Nov 2016 at 3.13 p.m.
Christchurch Driver [CD] phones in a query about the Delta truck parked at Dunedin harbourside: “This jury rig set-up has been in place for at least 6 months – Richard may have more info.”

Photos received at 10:21 p.m.

Images: CD

—

What if? query to Richard
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 at 5:42 p.m.
Someone is about to send me photos (not sure when today), of what I think from their description must be a mobile substation? There’s a Delta truck hooked into the network on Willis St, Dunedin harbourside, it’s been there for a few months – can you tell me what the truck is and what it’s there for? – Presumably delivering for local businesses in the industrial zone ? Typically these trucks (if a substation?) are used for continuous supply while maintenance is carried out but given how long this one’s been parked we wonder why the lengthy deployment.

DCC Webmap – Location of Delta mobile substation (arrowed), 24 Willis St

—

Reply from Richard Healey
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 at 6:03 p.m.

Yes, that is a mobile substation. It was installed to take the load of a failed transformer nearby. Classic Delta story.
The network refuse to keep strategic spares. Transformers have a 12-week lead time. In this case we ordered a transformer and installed it near that mobile sub but another transformer failed just as we were about to liven it and we pulled it out again to replace the new failure.

A short while ago we had five transformers fail in one night (lightning). Because there are no spares we ended up going to the scrap pile and pulling out five discarded transformers. After painting over the letter s on the side of each one we changed the oil, tested them and put them back on poles.

The second failed transformer was on the corner of Strathallen Street and Andy Bay Road. It was hit by a car.
That means waiting another 12 weeks for a replacement.

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.