You would think that a long-haul jet that uses 100,000 to litres of jet fuel to get from London to Christchurch is a bad thing but in fact it’s not. Global tourism is about the lesser of two evils. The evil we are trying to avoid is war which is far more taxing on the…
Right now I’m seeing market failure that requires government intervention. Time and time again we have seen private investors promise hotels which should have been built by now and have not been delivered. The stadium, the swimming pool, the town hall, the library, the convention centre and many other public assets have now been either…
Knowing the rules is only a fraction of the battle. Candidates also have to know how to use the processes to get things done, or not done. Some elected members do, some members of the community do. Many don’t. Getting information out of the council is an art form. Some might argue it’s a dark…
“Right-wing” council candidates cares about over spending on needless bus lanes, cycleways and speedhumps. The mantra we have seen from “left-wing” Labour has been “nothing is safe, cars need to be gone, slow down everything, spend baby spend”. When you’re learning about who your candidates are take some time to understand if they’re left or…
Do you have confidence in the answers given to Cr Pauline Cotter in this video? Does this all sound like the undelivered pledges that we’ve all heard about the cathedral? Does this sound like more of the rhetoric we have been hearing from the Christchurch Foundation, that there is this magical pool of high value…
Tim put the central question to the museum chairman, who went on to say that it was the first question that MPs asked at a recent visit. Should we fund the next $21m, on top of the $9m we already pay each year? My answer is simply no unless the museum commit to a charge…
Local council candidates are asking why staff aren’t developing a full range is options on issues. This article highlight was talking about the Deans Ave speed humps, and was highlighted by a local council candidate. But why wasn’t direction for this project sort years ago, when the funding became available? Deans Ave isn’t the only…
Local journalist Chris Lynch wrote an article about pollution in Lyttleton today. It reminded me that the council received a briefing on these issues just recently but I really think the boat has sailed. With almost $100 million dollars of investment haven’t been made in the area we’re now going to unfortunately have to accept…
Cr Andrei Moore has complained publicly about not getting timely answers to questions from CCC information staff. In the following clip from the mayor’s interview this morning with John MacDonald, Newstalk ZB, John just expresses frustration with the mayor not having knowledge of the topic despite questions being prepared yesterday.
Why are there only 4 staff to answer information requests from 400,000 people and 37 elected members? Many elected members have been complaining about the amount of time it takes to get information. Cr Tyla Harrison-Hunt asked some good questions in a recent finance and performance committee meeting. But why didn’t he bring a motion…