Capture: Two Tales of a City
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Hebe,
I am fearful that the govt will use the appalling shemozzle about building consents in Christchurch as an excuse to send commissioners in, thereby nuking what looks to be an increasing likelihood of Lianne Dalziel becoming mayor later this year.
ipredict.co.nz has Dalziel at 57% today (up 11.24) and Bob Parker at 41.7% (down 8.3%). And those trade figures sheesh. -
Hebe,
Breaking:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/local-elections-2013/8872999/Marryatt-takes-leave-from-councilRead this story carefully: Parker has made a show of throwing Marryatt overboard in order to save himself. Maryatt has not resigned, just that negotiations (ie big fat payout) will happen.
And this is Absolutely Fucking Scandalous:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8870193/ICNZ-can-t-rule-out-Chch-demolitionsParticularly this part:
Recently-consented buildings should be audited on a case-by-case basis by an independent authority, he said.
‘’If insurers have started work on developing a new property, rebuilding a house or repairing a house, and then part way through that construction period there’s a delay because they find out later the building consent was issued incorrectly, then that’s going to stop that project,’’ Lucas said.
‘’It may a lot cost the parties a lot of money because the project may have to be demolished and rebuilt again, or there may be some very expensive remediation costs involved.’’
Non-compliant foundations were the most likely to be an issue, he said.
Forty thousand houses have been repaired by EQC so far. Many, many have foundation damage and owners have been told by the council that it's okay for most of those not to have building consent. And this is despite the huge expansion of Flood Management Areas in early 2011 to include 200-year flood risks. Add to that the fact that Lidar has revealed that much of the city land has sunk . This means the repairs have been unconsented when if consented the houses would have had to have foundations raised by up to a metre to comply with building codes.
This not a few commercial buildings: the issue involves much of the housing stock in the city and whether after repair it is insurable (therefore acceptable as a mortgage for banks).
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
Marryatt wont be worried nor Parker as they have a choice by taking off and getting out. We are stuck with the fallout. Oh, but not before we pay Marryatt what will be at least a million in my opinion. Those are our representatives. We are heading for truly interesting times.
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He will probably insist on a statue in his honour.
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Marryatt spreads mayhem wherever he goes. His time as Hamilton City Council CEO is not fondly remembered.
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
I hate to say it but i fear he is tight with central government and his job is to stall anything that is proposed. His only function.
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Hebe, in reply to
There is no love lost between the National govt and Marryatt and Parker . Why do you think the council was sidelined by the establishment of Cera?
Marryatt declared his intention from day one in the job to bend the council and councillors to his will. He found the perfect ally in Parker. Now they have fallen out and both will find supporters in this city difficult to find.
Cera is an interesting question too: is its five-year life (two years already gone) to be extended? If the council is still so appallingly dysfunctional in its management and governance roles, it cannot be trusted to oversee the rebuild.
I comment because the awful situation at the council doesn't need embellishing by conspiracy rumours.
The under-insurance, incompetent quake response after September, and the near-total disengagement with the residential and business community and any councillors who do not toe the line along with the latest debacle are bad enough. And it all stems from the leadership -- governance and management enabled by certain key senior councillors and executives.
I feel sorry for the many. many people I know who work at the council in this chaos, doing their best in a stinking situation.
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Hebe,
It is bad being taken over by the government down here, but it is a betrayal of our city and our people that the Christchurch City Council has come to this. Parker said yesterday he was embarrassed: the word he needed was "ashamed".
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Sacha, in reply to
it is a betrayal of our city and our people that the Christchurch City Council has come to this
vote differently
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
Sacha you can bet on it.
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Bob Parker declares to the nation he no longer wants to run for major in the next election. We will perhaps learn in years to come what transpired in the past few years behind those closed doors why things have dis functioned they way they have.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Talk about gardening leave in the Garden City.
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
Would have to be a huge garden..
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You know that Card Board Cathedral?
I've heard a whisper ....
But that's just a rumour and baseless, right? -
Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
What is the rumour ?
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Is this even legal? It’s censorship by stealth either way, and can only aggravate a leaks culture.
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Unbelievable. If you want information, you as the client have to pay for it ? They are hoping there are no resources available to the mere ratepayer and therefor crank up any number you can think of and hopefully they are unable to come up with it. No information will be given.. Well, i have the notion the worm is turning. In adversity people unite and start to fight back.
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Interior shot of Art Centre , The Registry.
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The Registry, on Montreal Street - Worcester Blvd. Corner.
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View from the upstairs of The Registry.
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Christchurch artist Rhonda Campbell popped in the newly opened space of the Registry in the Art Centre. Unfortunately not able to rent a space as it has been promised to a design group . http://www.rhondacampbell.com/
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Warning: long articles for Chch politic geeks :)
Puddleglum with part 1 and two of a three-part series on the rebuild, issues around, and how things are playing out... Mostly written before the Parker announcement, but interesting ideas on how- and for whom- the 'new city' will be created.
Part 3 on 'the frame' to come. -
Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
Thank you for sharing.
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Hebe, in reply to
Puddleglum says :"Most obviously, there is the question of how the ‘left-right’ alliance that appears to be backing Lianne Dalziel as an independent candidate will be affected. Now that the ‘common enemy’ has quit will the blocks quickly revert to ‘normal transmission’?"
No; Puddleglum fails to understand that Bob Parker alone is not the problem. The problem is the culture fostered by CEO Tony Marryatt and Parker among elected members and among mid and senior level management, and the appalling financial handcuffing of the city finances perpetrated by Marryat and CFO Paul 'Put it on tick' Anderson and rubber-stamped by most of the councillors.
Those people have installed a time-bomb of ballooning debt that will shackle the city for generations -- with no room for absorbing the cost of another major "seismic event" when scientists forecast the current quake series to last at least 30 years.
Amid all that the councillors have had the audacity to vote themselves a fund of $50 million to fund projects they like the look of -- $10m already going to a walkway along the beach from Sumner to Ferrymead. In other words: the fattest local body pork barrel in this country's history is now in place.
The alliance of left and right is not about personalities, it is about grabbing the council machine by the scruff of the neck and forcing it to face up to the economic, social and political realities that it is not "business as usual" in Christchurch, it never will be again if we are to have a viable city for our children, never mind our grandchildren.
Puddleglum may deride the idea of a non-partisan alliance to save the city but many people with "skin in the game" see no alternative.
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
I have the impression that we are looking more at questions than statements.
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