Baldwin Street - Steepest? The fat lady ain't sung yet

Dunedin surveyor Toby Stoff recently undertook a fact-finding mission to Wales, where he visited Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech...

Cr Lee Vandervis: Pedestrianisation

Still trying to introduce evidence-based pragmatism in place of what is currently fashionable in green circles, Cr Lee Vandervis wrote to "decision-makers and Councillors". 

[my bolding for emphasis]

Why ‘Pedestrianisation’ works in ancient European capital Downtowns but won’t work here.

Subject: Re: Cycleways and pedestrianisation [#ABE06C]

Dear decision-makers and Councillors,

As well as reading the suggested stories about pedestrianisation in Oslo – Norway’s Capital of nearly 700,000 of the most oil-rich people in Europe, or reading similar stories of equally dissimilar to Dunedin ancient Capitals like Copenhagen, Berlin etc. it would be in the interests of relevance to consider the pedestrianisation experiments of two small English University cities of similar population to Dunedin – Ipswich and Norwich.

Here, even after decades of pedestrianisation the results have been much more mixed, with many regrets about the downsides of pedestrianisation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/…/pedestrianised-towns-say-we…

Closer to home, the pedestrianisation of Christchurch’s Cathedral Square had already banished the vibrancy and character that existed in the Square before the earthquakes permanently unsettled the whole city centre.
Christchurch’s Square was the functional equivalent of our Octagon, the intersection and crossroads of the cities’ two main central streets, a portent of what is to come for Dunedin if our most successful George st is to become a cycleway using the biggest debt-funded street ‘surface treatments’ budget in our history.

I caution careful consideration, not of population-dense ancient European capital city centres designed before automobiles, but of how much we will certainly lose financially, as well as lose functionally, by removing parking and motorised transport from the heart of Dunedin.

Kind regards,
Lee

His follow-up Facebook post, 22 December 2019:

PEDESTRIANISATION,

George st, soon the Octagon, then lower Stuart st, to the new Hospital positioned to further choke One-Way traffic flow.
Party politics in the DCC has an agenda to take Dunedin back to the 1950s...

Bollarding road risks added in pursuit of safety

Those of a Pollyanna disposition may be glad that this was a cheap (80 bucks each) try-out ahead of permanent kerb. So much has been learned since Hargest Island - or has it? 

"Tightening turning radii" is not without its own risks as Ian Smith points out, though taken too far i.e. even farther than it is now, it will result in a flock of Oozlum birds adding to Dunedin's avian diversity.

Wayne Butson is fed up with traffic micro-managing too. His letter to the editor was in yesterday's ODT (19 Dec 2019):

YMCA - What If's Christmas show

Christopher: 54-Year-Old Performer Recreates the Village People's "YMCA"

Invermay

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

Invermay staff seek details on their future

By Chris Morris

1. Rural life
2. Other News

Jock Allison

AgResearch is refusing to answer questions about its commitment to keeping key staff at Invermay, as concern mounts that staff at the Dunedin research campus are being kept in the dark. Former Invermay head Jock Allison said yesterday he was aware staff at Invermay had been told the campus was safe, but not specifically that sheep genetics and genomics staff would remain in Dunedin.
‘‘Some of the staff are pretty cynical about where we are, as there has been no communication with any staff, saying they will not have to shift to Lincoln,’’ Dr Allison said.
It appeared AgResearch was still ‘‘hell-bent’’ on building a new facility at Lincoln, and there was no detail on whether the building plan was being scaled due to the decision to keep staff in Dunedin, he said.
If the Crown Research Institute continued to ‘‘obfuscate’’ over the issue, that would ‘‘indicate the need for more political action’’, Dr Allison said.
‘‘There is enormous obfuscation from AgResearch who have refused to discuss their [Future Footprint plan] with all and sundry for years.’’
Despite that, AgResearch would not answer specific questions from the Otago Daily Times last week or again yesterday.
The questions included exactly how many staff remained at Invermay, whether they had been specifically told they would no longer have to move, or under what circumstances they could yet be asked to relocate.
The organisation’s media liaison person declined the ‘‘offer’’ to answer questions, saying AgResearch did not have ‘‘anything further to add’’.
On Friday, the ODT reported a letter of expectation sent to AgResearch by Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, stressed the need to maintain Invermay as ‘‘a centre of research for the primary sector, especially in respect of sheep genetics and genomics’’.
‘‘I expect you to maintain human and physical capital already developed at this site,’’ she wrote.
AgResearch acting chairman Dr Paul Reynolds wrote back to the minister, confirming the organisation was ‘‘committed to maintaining our human and physical capital’’ at Invermay.
Dr Allison said yesterday the letter of expectation had gone to AgResearch in July, but only recently emerged on its website, and months later staff at Invermay were ‘‘still being given the mushroom treatment’’.
He said it was ‘‘disgraceful’’ that AgResearch’s management and board ‘‘have not, and do not seem able to, communicate with staff [about] what the Megan Woods letter means to them’’.
It was a continuation of poor communication with staff in the six years since the proposal to relocate up to 85 Invermay staff to other campuses, as part of the Future Footprint plan, was first revealed, he said.
‘‘This has resulted in considerable staff unrest, and has meant that many staff have moved on, and the uncertainty has also cause problems with recruitment ... all of this eroding any career structure in Science with particularly toxic effects down here.’’
chris.morris@odt.co.nz

Comment now

Friday, 29 November 2019

‘Invermay is here to stay’

By Chris Morris

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/%E2%80%98invermay-here-stay%E2%80%99 

Jock Allison, asked what

 lessons there were for the

future, replied: "Do what
 common sense tells you."

 .....Campaigners are declaring victory in the six-year fight to save Dunedin’s Invermay research campus and the dozens of top science jobs still based there.

Dunedin North Labour MP David Clark yesterday revealed a letter of expectation sent to AgResearch — which runs Invermay — by Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods.
AgResearch, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln.
But, after years of campaigning in Dunedin and in Parliament, the letter of expectation from Dr Woods stressed the need to maintain Invermay as "a centre of research for the primary sector, especially in respect of sheep genetics and genomics".
"I expect you to maintain human and physical capital already developed at this site," she wrote.
AgResearch acting chairman Dr Paul Reynolds wrote back to the minister, confirming the organisation was "committed to maintaining our human and physical capital" at Invermay.
Dr Clark said the letter was "as clear as the Crown gets about its intentions", and AgResearch’s response showed it got the message.
He was "delighted" by the outcome, which meant Invermay "has been saved".
"The Coalition Government has made its position on Invermay clear as day — Invermay is here to stay," he said.
AgResearch acting chief executive Tony Hickmott said Invermay would "remain integral" to land-based research and "crucial" to AgResearch’s four-campus plans.
And, if AgResearch continued to collaborate and deliver "quality research", "the future looks really bright for Invermay, as it does for all of our research centres".
The developments came too late for more than 40 staff who had already quit Invermay since the Future Footprint plan was announced in 2013.....

The "Get Vandervis" game continues, post-Cull

Talk of judicial review

By Chris Morris

.......... Councillors at Tuesday’s full council meeting voted 13-0 to censure Cr Vandervis, after an investigation concluded he had been "loud, aggressive and intimidating" towards a Dunedin City Council staff member.
Cr Vandervis has continued to dispute the investigation’s findings, saying the complaint was "trumped-up" and politically motivated.
He also told Tuesday’s meeting his legal adviser, Len Andersen QC, had "advised me that I have good grounds for applying for a judicial review of any adverse decision made by the council".
That was because of "the failure of the investigator to adhere to the basic principles of natural justice".
It was a view rejected by council legal representative Michael Garbett, who was "satisfied that the process has been fair and consistent with the code of conduct"......

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/talk-judicial-review 

--------------------------
 Apparently the video does not capture sound, which is convenient when it comes to playing the Get Vandervis game and explains Cr Jules Radich's otherwise odd term "loud-looking behaviour".

It's refreshing to see a member of the public objecting to the word "violence", which conjures mental pictures of blood, bruises, broken bones and ambulances, to mean "words that upset" someone. 

 

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Vandervis censured over 'aggressive' parking ticket exchange

By Chris Morris

Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis has been censured by his colleagues after a investigation found he engaged in "loud, aggressive and intimidating behaviour" towards a staff member.

Lee Vandervis

Councillors at today's full council meeting voted unanimously in favour of issuing Cr Vandervis with a written censure to demonstrate his conduct was unacceptable. That was despite Cr Vandervis continuing to dispute key parts of the investigation’s findings, insisting he had not been afforded "natural justice" and maintaining the complaint against him was politically motivated.
...
..The Code of Conduct complaint against Cr Vandervis alleged he had engaged in "an uncalled-for verbal attack" on a DCC customer services staff member during an exchange at the Civic Centre reception on September 13.
  ....
The resolution to censure him at yesterday’s meeting came from Cr Mike Lord, who said he had also spoken to a trusted staff member who detailed the exchange.
Cr Vandervis had been "loud", and the situation "embarrassing" ...

Cr Jules Radich spoke in support of Cr Vandervis, saying if the exchange was over a $12 parking ticket — as the complainant had claimed and Cr Vandervis had denied — then it was "a very small matter".
He also questioned whether the video showed "much shouting or loud-looking" behaviour, and said he was "very reluctant" to censure Cr Vandervis over the incident.
"We have quite a lot of complaint going on here about not very much," he said.

Cr Marie Laufiso ...[said]... His conduct "is violence — and we should have no tolerance for violence of any kind", she said.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/vandervis-censured-over-aggressive-parking-ticket-exchange 

Comments

KeithMcC Tue, 10/12/2019 - 4:36pm #

Once again DCC focusing attention on a verbal spat that occurred 3 - 4 months ago. I had hoped the new council would focus on current issues and bring some openness to council workings. But then seemingly we are stuck with the same internally focused stuff while keeping real decisions hidden as much as possible.
A new broom with the same old bristles.

. Tue, 10/12/2019 - 7:33pm #

His conduct "is violence — and we should have no tolerance for violence of any kind", she said.
Violence: 'behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something'
In case it needs to be pointed out, hurting someone's feelings is not violence, so please stop misusing the term.

----------------------------- 

Swann the $16.9M fraudster, his boat, his kind friend Harold 13/12/19

If I trousered $16.9million I would have rather a lot to show for it by the time Mr Plod put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come quietly, sunshine. You've been nabbed."
My bubble: "Curses! If only I had more friends."

Friday, 13 December 2019

Boat once linked to fraudster puzzles harbour master

By Hamish MacLean

.....In 2014, the Otago Daily Times reported the then Dunedin-based vessel was used in work on a harbour basin slip. And at that time, it was reported Kapala was owned by Harold Cave, of Christchurch.
Mr Cave had appeared at Mr Swann's parole hearing in 2013. Mr Cave drove Mr Swann from prison on his release a month later.
The ODT then received a tip-off that Mr Swann could be sailing the vessel to Christchurch to live on.
Mr Swann spent four years and eight months in jail for his part in defrauding the former Otago District Health Board of $16.9million.
Social media reports last month identified Glen Perham as the owner of the boat; Mr Perham did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday.......

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/north-otago/boat-once-linked-fraudster-puzzles-harbour-master

Tremain - THAT cartoon

The thing that first puzzled then infuriated me was accusations of racism.

That's taking determination to be offended to insane levels. If the epidemic had been in Tasmania how would they have managed to obtain their "fix" of outrage - yet it would have been the same cartoon.

On facebook, many comments along the lines of  "How would you feel if it was your baby that died?"

Devastated, and guilty as hell at my own stupidity for not getting the poor little babe vaccinated ... but it's so much easier to shift the anger onto a cartoonist by screaming "Racist! Ban! Apologise!"

I was disappointed that the ODT's response to this was to double down on apologising for hurting people's feelings, without giving the causes of the epidemic a thorough examination. The need for governments and individuals to admit responsibility for suffering and death from preventable diseases should not be ignored. Intelligent mature examination, with the aim of informing so as to learn from the Samoan tragedies, is what the dead deserve as a tribute, not cowering at an onslaught of emotionalism and misplaced blame.

Easier to scream for vengeance against a cartoonist and a newspaper editor than against the anti-vaxxers who had disproportionate success spreading their lethal message in Samoa, compared with other Pacific Islands. They have done well in parts of NZ too:

The Northland town where parents refuse immunisation, despite kids dying

Nikki Macdonald09:58, Dec 07 2019

 ...In 2018, parents of about one in seven Hikurangi kids declined one or more jabs, or opted to remove their children from the immunisation register altogether....
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/117265334/the-northland-town-where-parents-refuse-immunisation-despite-kids-dying 

-------------------------------------------------------

Podcast: The Detail

Drawing a line of decency

The Detail today talks to two editorial cartoonists about the fine line they tread between satire and offensiveness 


On Twitter, Tremain’s Otago Daily Times piece was dubbed insensitive, offensive, and racist. ... Tremain himself was initially less apologetic.
“In this politically correct atmosphere that we’re now being bloody suffocated by, you have to be aware there’s a growing number of people who wake up every morning and their first intention is to find something to be offended about.”

“Being contentious – there’s no value in that. You want people to think and you want to stimulate some sort of debate,” says Rod Emmerson, the New Zealand Herald’s editorial cartoonist.
If he’s drawing a piece he suspects some will take umbrage to, he makes sure he knows why he’s pursuing that angle and is prepared to defend it, before it goes to print.
...
The editorial cartoonist for Stuff newspapers, Jeff Bell, disagrees with Tremain’s notion that political correctness is hampering cartoonists.
“I feel like the biggest problem there is is that Tremain’s possibly just gotten a little bit out of touch with how society has moved forward. I don’t think that’s about political correctness, I just think it was a bad cartoon.
“I don’t think at all that cartoonists are overly restrained by political correctness I just think there’s a lot more sensitivity on certain issues.”

 more:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@podcast-card/2019/12/12/944038/drawing-a-line-of-decency

Aurora - Healey: "pricing strategy is entirely a creation of Aurora"

If you have noticed an unusual number of tufty-headed people within Aurora's (monopoly) region look at the occasions for tearing hair out.
Frinstance "an ancient and dangerous substation (or anything else) gets awarded the same nominal value as a brand new one". 
Take a deep breath and read on....... 

 Richard Healey,  posting on Facebook:

17 December 2019

Today, three years too late, CODC Mayor Tim Cadogen has finally woken up to the disaster that is Aurora. It occurs to me that he would have reached this point long before now if he had simply answered my emails or phone calls.
Cadogan has called for the people of Central Otago to go to Aurora's drop in sessions. Here is my reply to his post.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nice to see you finally comment. The fact is that the published Aurora "guestimates" are completely meaningless. Why? Because Aurora haven't told us what they have used as a starting point for calculating the price rise and they haven't defined what an "average consumer" is.
Line charges are volumetric. This is not a "fixed sum" price rise. What we do know is that the projected rise in line charges for the three years is circa 80% - so far. The document in circulation right now is "only for discussion", the reality will be quite different.
At the time Aurora created these projections, the Commerce Commission had announced that this years price rise (for Aurora) would be 9%. It has since trimmed that back to 3%. It is worth noting that every other consumer in New Zealand affected by the Commissions price setting mechanism will get a price CUT.
You seem to have missed a few crucial facts when describing Aurora's pricing policy. Aurora have CHOSEN to separate pricing according to GXP's ( effectively regionally). It's important to note that the pricing strategy is entirely a creation of Aurora. There is nothing in either legislation or regulation that dictates this methodology.
That decision by Aurora impacts severely on Central Otago consumers - as I have consistently pointed out for three years. The way in which Aurora calculate charges is however even worse than it seems. Aurora don't look at the actual value of the network in each area - which is how the Commission determines the overall line charges - they effectively look at what a new network would cost and then compare each area.
That means that an ancient and dangerous substation ( or anything else) gets awarded the same nominal value as a brand new one. Effectively Central Otago is paying the same price for a clapped out Morris Minor as Queenstown is paying for a Range Rover.
Because Aurora haven't told us what the percentage price rises will be, or what they think the starting point will be in 2022, it is impossible to accurately calculate the effect of the price rise for any individual. If you are a Pioneer customer however you can have a good crack.
Pioneer are the only company who publish the actual line charges on their accounts. If you accept that Aurora has used the provisional ComCom rise of 9% at April 1 2020 as their starting point then the price rise at April 1 2023 will be circa 90%. Look at your current line charges for any given month and multiply that by 1.9, you now know what the increase would be in that month. Remember, the more power you use, the more line charges you pay.
But what happens when the three year period comes to an end? That's up to the Commerce Commission - and they can't tell you. There are no rules around this, but they have told me what they think might happen.
At the end of three years they think the process will be similar to the process they used for Orion. That is not good news. That would mean that Aurora would keep all of the price rises at that date AND it would get the same PERCENTAGE rise that it would have received if the new, massive, rises had never been put in place. In effect, from the end of the price rises they have already told you about, Aurora will get the standard price rise plus a bonus 80% of that figure each year.
I've looked at a few bills from Alex and the figures are frightening.
Are the price rises justified and inevitable? They are not. You have a right to expect that any repair is well targeted and performed in a cost effective manner. Aurora's systems are simply incapable of identifying the condition of the asset and repair costs are out of control. Events in Alexandra are the perfect proof of that.
Look at the number of poles which have fallen in your town in the last year, the last one was at the netball courts, one earlier was at the gates of Clyde Primary, does that indicate to you that Aurora accurately monitor the condition of its asset? The pole at Clyde had been tested only weeks before collapse.
Aside from the fact that Aurora has proven over and over that it is prepared to put the lives of you and your family at risk, it has also proven that it can't identify the most at risk assets reliably. That means that poles, and other equipment, that are in good condition are being replaced while dangerous equipment is left to fail.
And you are paying for it - handsomely.
Central Otago, you are three years behind in this argument. Time to get out there and have your voices heard.

https://www.facebook.com/richard.healey.522/posts/10159767591649848

Comments

John Evans Incompetence, Overpaid salaries, the DCC extracting $100 million annually, DCC councillors, DCHL Directors, Auroral Chief executives and Aurora chairmen all must be held to account. If we do not hold those public figures responsible for breaches of fiduciary duty we allow future public figures to rob us continuously and without repercussions. Start now, lobby the commerce commission and National. Labour and the greens don’t want public servants criminalised thats their bread and butter.

DRAFTS