Councils Holding the Country to Ransom

[Maccachic]

Wonder what qualifications the assessor needs?

[Davo36]

Wonder what qualifications the assessor needs?

What assessor?

[elguapo]

What assessor?

Can't you see?

a cultural impact assessment was not equivalent
to consultation, but similar to a requirement to supply specialist
reports, such as from an engineer

This now means we need a whole new profession such as engineers to produce cultural impact assessments. These people will need years of training, maybe even a phd. Of course, that then means that they will be few in number and will just have to charge fees in line with the other professions.

I must add that I'm sure that Dr Roger Blakeley will not profit from this at all.

[Perry]

What assessor?

The cuzzie cultural
claptrap corporals.

[Davo36]

Can't you see?

a cultural impact assessment was not equivalent
to consultation, but similar to a requirement to supply specialist
reports, such as from an engineer

This now means we need a whole new profession such as engineers to produce cultural impact assessments. These people will need years of training, maybe even a phd. Of course, that then means that they will be few in number and will just have to charge fees in line with the other professions.

I must add that I'm sure that Dr Roger Blakeley will not profit from this at all.

Oh silly me, of course.

I can imagine some of the papers they'd have to take like

• "The Art of the Shakedown",
• "Keeping a Straight Face Whilst Fleecing your Target"
• "You Don't Have to be Maori to Profit from CIAs - But it Helps."
• "Cultural Impact Assessments - How to Write Cogent Arguments for Money when Evidence is Lacking"
• "Cultural Impact Assessments - What the Money Should be Spent On - Wahoo!"

And so on.

[elguapo]

lol, well I'm sure that's not quite the title they will have, but not a bad summary of the content!

The funny thing is by taking that approach, the good Doctor has changed something from a consultation process into something that is now an expert ruling that will be mandatory. While the consultation would have been drawn out and painful, having a system like is required for engineering applied to cultural heritage is on a whole other level.

At least with engineering the laws of physics are generally well defined and understood, with a cultural assessment, what framework could there possibly be? The sky is the limit.

[speights boy]

Anyone else have a problem with funding priorities ?
While the rescue chopper has their funding cut 70% over 6 years, the arts generally get increases.

As the guy at NBR commented.

As a rate payer if i want to go to the Opera i will pay at the door, but if i have an accident i won't be able to pay at the helicopter door to get in, will i?

Len Brown calls for review of amenities funding, asks helicopter rescue trust to drop plans for litigation

Who gets what this year*
•Auckland Arts Festival: $2.305 million, up $75,000 on last year
•Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra: $2.942 million, up $125,000
•Auckland Regional Rescue Helicopter: $450,000, down $450,000
•Auckland Theatre Company: $1.415 million, up $85,000
•Coastguard Northern Region: $670,000, up $20,000
•New Zealand Opera: $800,000, no change
•Stardome Observatory and Planetarium: $1.269m, up $150,000
•Surf Life Saving Northern Region: $1.2 million, up $60,000
•Voyager Maritime Museum: $1.975 million, up $100,000
•Watersafe Auckland: $970,000, up $50,000

Yes, Davo. re your Motat comment below...$12m.
My post # 1049 has an article about the problems at that place.

[Davo36]

Crikey when you look at the list and see how much each of them get, you wonder don't you? $3m nearly for the orchestra? I've never been and I bet 99% of Aucklanders haven't either.

They're building a $22m art gallery out our way. Ridiculous.

And this doesn't include MOTAT or the Zoo, which would both get more than these guys. $12m for MOTAT I think.

[Davo36]

A couple of council stories this morning:

Firstly, the government are forcing councils to be more accountable with ratepayers money:

New regs to test council performance

4:15 AM Wednesday Mar 26, 2014


Lawrence Yule, Local Government NZ president. Photo / APN
Local authority cost blowouts will be flagged much earlier under Government changes being introduced, says a leader in the sector.
Lawrence Yule, Local Government NZ president, said situations like Kaipara District Council's controversial Mangawhai EcoCare wastewater treatment scheme should be avoided in future because of the Local Government (Financial Reporting and Prudence) Regulations 2014.
The regulations will ensure councils measure their financial performance using seven benchmarks - rates affordability, debt affordability, balanced budget, essential services, debt servicing, debt control and operations control.
The Kaipara scheme left ratepayers there among the most indebted in the country and a judicial review, lodged by the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers' Association, went to the High Court at Whangarei last month.

Rest of Article

And the second one is on my blog. It concerns varandas, something I'm very familiar with!

[Perry]

Click here to go to the discussion on Rental WoFs.
Posts on that subject have been moved there, from here.

[Perry]

Winners And Losers In Auckland Recovery
Michael Foreman
10/04/2014

Auckland's economy is recovering but not everyone is benefiting, new
figures show. A report by Auckland Council chief economist Geoff
Cooper shows unemployment in the Auckland region dropped to 6.3 per
cent in the December quarter. That was down from 7.2 per cent a year
earlier and the lowest rate since 2008.

Chief economist? How many Indian economists?
And just why would a council employ such after-
the-fact soothsayer econo-mists, anyway?

[eri]

i see lenny wants to start new rates funded job creation schemes

wish he'd leave it to central gov.

imho the city is too deep in debt

to look for new ways to blow out the budget

[Perry]

. . . even further, you mean?
It's already ballooned, David
has told us.

[elguapo]

imho the city is too deep in debt

to look for new ways to blow out the budget

They know that, that's why the sudden 'need' for councils to find new cows to milk, cha-ching!

http://www.interest.co.nz/property/69388/local-government-nz-launches-council-funding-review-says-property-rates-may-not-be-su

Yule referred to the challenges of funding expensive new infrastructure when councils also faced an ageing population where the burden of paying rates fell more on retirees who were asset rich but income poor. He also pointed to council areas south of Auckland who faced stable or falling populations.

Of course a sane person might question why a council with a stable or falling population need's to fund much in the way of expensive new infrastructure, but that would be silly.

[Davo36]

They seem to be constantly looking at ways to get more money out of people. They have said they want a slice of the GST tax FFS.

Useless greedy bastards just feathering their own nests.