Councils Holding the Country to Ransom

[eri]

cites the example of an Auckland City Council decision around 2006 that required central city apartment developers to pay a development levy towards public spaces.

"It had a catastrophic effect," says Townsend. Developers disappeared overnight.

Too often clever ideas such as this by local and central government kill off the goose that lays the golden egg, he adds.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11809269

[Perry]

I wondered about this part:

There is a critical lack of skills on the ground with such a lack of numeracy and literacy skills that individual workers may not be able to calculate, for example, the right amount of concrete to lay or the ability to read warning signs in English, says Townsend. This can affect the build quality.

. . . a by-product of the no one's allowed to fail philosophy, perhaps?

Real World Rule No 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools passing and failing has been abolished and you’ll be given as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

[eri]

A home builder claims he has been stung an estimated $100,000 by Auckland Council delays.

Brendan Gray said the delays, relating to his construction site in Castor Bay on Auckland's North Shore, were symptomatic of an "inefficient, unhelpful" council.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prop...pection-delays

[sidinz]

I wondered about this part: . . . a by-product of the no one's allowed to fail philosophy, perhaps?

No - it's the foreign imports. I was chatting to a builder yesterday who works on big projects in the CBD. According to him, it's all about teams of plasterers from Russia/the Philippines who don't speak English, and Islander labourers/hammerhands who outnumber the actual qualified builders by 5:1 and have little education but who are willing and work hard.

He's just come back to Akld after several years away and is shocked at how few builders there are on sites, these days. Those that are are pushed into de facto supervisory roles to make sure that the hammerhands do things properly.

[Davo36]

I have a family member trying to build a house just now. Southern part of Auckland.

The plans were put with council for a building consent on 22 Dec 2017. A few days ago:

1) It turns out the council hadn't started on them. Even if you take out 3-4 weeks for Christmas, that's still over 4 weeks in the council - and they hadn't even started.
2) When they tried to find the plans etc. they couldn't, they had lost them.
3) That consent has now been taken off of that office and put with another council office (different one within Auckland still) to be completed under urgency.

And people wonder why there's a housing shortage.

[Davo36]

A home builder claims he has been stung an estimated $100,000 by Auckland Council delays.

Brendan Gray said the delays, relating to his construction site in Castor Bay on Auckland's North Shore, were symptomatic of an "inefficient, unhelpful" council.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prop...pection-delays

Yep, this is what it's like.

[flyernzl]

Not quite the Council, but close:

"The U.S. government has a "boneyard" for storing unused military aircraft. Fearing looting and theft, the U.S. Congress decided to place a night watchman on the property.

After the guard had been working for a while, an oversight committee realized the man had no instructions. So they hired two new people, one to research security procedures, the other to write them up.

Realizing that these two admin types couldn't do their job without supervision, it was decided to hire a department head and a manager.

The department head asked the oversight committee, "How are these people going to get paid and how are we going to know if they're doing their jobs correctly?"
The committee immediately hired a payroll person and a compliance officer. At the end of the year the GAO audited the department and found them to be $250,000 over budget.

So they fired the night watchman."

[Davo36]

How to go about getting your vanity project completed: https://wairarapa.org/2017/03/05/the...nese-pavilion/

[Perry]

Marlborough to make resource consent process digital
20 March 2017

A $2 million scheme to overhaul Marlborough's resource consent system has been designed to help the council deal with the demands of the technological age. The Marlborough District Council will be digitising its resource consent system in a bid to use resources more efficiently. Two years ago the council became the first council in New Zealand to digitise its property files.

[Perry]

Council attitudes!

Island Bay cycleway nail in coffin for Wellington dairy owners
22 March 2017

After 27 years of running Chappies Dairy in Wellington, owners Sandy and Ken Patel are shutting up shop due to declining business they say is partly due to the controversial Island Bay cycleway. A lack of short-term parking outside their shop on The Parade in Island Bay has proved to be the "nail in the coffin" for their business, they say. Four short-term parking spaces directly outside the dairy were removed to accommodate the $1.2 million cycleway, which was built between late 2015 and early 2016. It left the Patels with just a single car park. "We were really grateful to get that one park because some other businesses have none. But unfortunately, in the end, it wasn't enough. People just keep driving."

[Perry]

Interesting and slightly weird case

Geeks on Wheels win parking stoush with Tauranga City Council
22 March 2017

It is far too broad and obviously so. No local authority acting reasonably could have enacted it, the court judgment said. Councils do have the power to make bylaws relating to parking places and transport stations, he said, but the bylaw went beyond that by claiming to cover all roads and public places under council jurisdiction. Mabey quashed the fines and, in March 2017, awarded $5000 in costs to Geeks on Wheels.

Council spent $24,931 on legal fees relating to the case and appeal.

Don't worry - it's OK
The ratepayers can pay.

[Davo36]

Yep, they're New Zealand's mafia.

Shakin' down the public wherever possible.

[Perry]

They get the Rates, no matter what, so no need for any performance standards as it's not as if someone's pay would get garnished.

[eri]

in ak

goff's starting

something brown refused to do

a value for money audit

pity it will take 3 years

Newman said it was difficult when the mayor presented the review proposal to media before it came to the committee.

"I don't know if the mayor has an agenda or if he's just confused, he's got a bit on, but the problem is the messaging becomes very contorted when it goes out to talkback land ...

...I believe the mayor is going to over-egg this and completely under deliver on the savings that he's talking about."

He felt for council and CCO staff, who will be subject to a number of reviews "cascading over time".

"But at least the mayor will be able to go to Wellington and say he's doing something.

He's having a big review."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11822265

[Davo36]

Double speak...

It was not a cost-cutting exercise - it was a value for money exercise - and findings could be that more money needs to be spent on services.