Christchurch City Council

What a bugger, Sam Johnson would have been a good councillor for Christchurch. He is a genuine top bloke.

I hope Lianne Dalziel finds someone equally as good because Bob Parker has to go.

Student Volunteer Army founder Sam Johnson will not challenge Mayor Bob Parker in the upcoming Christchurch elections, despite agonising over an offer to team up with Labour MP Lianne Dalziel.

The Weekend Press revealed Dalziel – the MP for Christchurch East and Labour’s earthquake recovery spokeswoman – invited Johnson to be her running mate and would-be deputy mayor in October’s local body elections.

Neither Dalziel nor Johnson would comment on Friday, but Johnson admitted last night he “very seriously did consider” the offer. He finally decided against it on Saturday afternoon.

“I really wanted to do it,” he said. “It was a really difficult decision to make, but I don’t think it is the right thing for me right now.”  Read more »

Six weeks ago I called for Lianne Dalziel to run for Mayor of Christchurch. The MSM have finally caught up with her plans and the Press has a story about Lianne’s campaign.

Labour MP Lianne Dalziel has asked the founder of Christchurch’s Student Volunteer Army, Sam Johnson, to stand together to challenge Mayor Bob Parker in this year’s local body elections, The Press understands.

Speculation has been mounting as to who will run against Parker in October. And The Press can now reveal Labour’s Canterbury Earthquake Recovery spokeswoman Dalziel has asked Johnson, 24, to be her running mate and would-be deputy mayor.

Johnson himself would have to be elected as a councillor to assume the deputy’s position, and Dalziel is believed to have sounded out other running mates too.  Read more »

Lianne Dalziel

Across at David Farrar’s pinko blog Lianne Dalziel says she has a 1% chance of running for Mayor of Christchurch.

The silly infighting in the Christchurch City Council has been and continues to be bad for Christchurch. The continued appointment of a highly controversial chief executive means that Christchurch did not reflect well on the council, and has caused more problems than it was worth. Having the current mayor called a clown by the Earthquake Recovery minister didn’t help either.

Christchurch needs a new mayor, and new faces around the council table. It needs someone who can build a large team and a good rapport with everyone in Christchurch, rather than lording it from the Executive suite.

Lianne has a had a very successful career as a politician in Christchurch over a long period of time. This reputation has to be earned, and Lianne has earned it. She is well liked and well-respected in her electorate, and wins a massive number of votes from people who vote National. She works exceptionally hard, and always has time for her constituents. She has cross over appeal because she is a genuine person who is not afraid of hard work, and because she believes in building broad coalitions, not a dictatorship.  Read more »

ᔥ NZ Herald

As just about everyone in Christchurch knows their council is bloody useless. To demonstrate how useless they are they paid $80k to get someone to tell them they are unbelievably useless.

Christchurch City Council is an isolated “fortress” which is “culturally reluctant” to communicate openly with its city’s inhabitants, a new report concludes.

An $80,000 independent audit of the council’s communication systems was commissioned by council chief executive Tony Marryatt in January after mounting criticism that it was failing to inform residents what it was doing post-earthquakes.

The final report, released today, found people unhappy with information surrounding key council moves resulting in confusion over the decision-making process

It said there was “widespread agreement” that the council was not customer focused and had developed a “can’t do attitude”.

They are so useless that the only way to change the culture is for people to resign. The Mayor and the CE would be a good start.

It is a tragedy that the Earthquake Recovery Minister is such a lazy bastard or he could use his dictatorial powers and sack a few people.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

Jim Anderton and various other busy bodies have had a rally to tell the Anglican Church what they think should be done with a rooted cathedral. They conveniently ignore that they don’t own it, the Church does.

The rally came on the day an opinion poll showed the fate of the Anglican cathedral has divided the region, with 54 per cent of those polled favouring demolition and 42 per cent calling for it to be saved.

Former MP Jim Anderton told the crowd that 100 engineers had confirmed the Cathedral could be saved and restoration should go ahead regardless of the cost. If the city could afford to spend money on a new rugby stadium it could afford to restore the city’s most iconic building.

Long-time heritage campaigner and former city councillor Anna Crighton said the Anglican Church should take heed of both the New Zealand Historic Places Trust’s and the Christchurch City Council’s call for a pause to demolition work.

“Pause, consult the experts and let the public … have a say about their Cathedral,” Crighton said.

Jim Anderton wants to spend council money on a private building and Anna Crighton thinks the whole of Christchurch owns the cathedral…newsflash folks….it ain’t yours to decide.

ᔥ The Press

It seems John Key is channeling Trevor Mallard and backing a proposal for  a gold plated covered stadium for Christchurch. At least he is suggesting that they pay for it themselves. I expect Trevor Mallard to issue a press release anytime soon committing labour to spending over a billion dollars of government money for it like he did for Auckland.

Prime Minister John Key has backed the idea of a “world-class” covered stadium in Christchurch.

The size and design of a long-term replacement for the quake-hit AMI Stadium has been the subject of much debate in the city.

The Christchurch City Council’s draft annual plan, which is open for public feedback, has indicated a preference for an uncovered 35,000-seat stadium.

However, the council says the option would not rule out “the later addition of a roof structure to make the ground fully covered”.

Key told The Press yesterday he supported the idea of a covered stadium in the city.

“There’s a long and proud sporting history in Canterbury, and Christchurch needs a stadium that reflects that.

“I really believe that Christchurch can support a world-class covered stadium.”

Key said the insurance payout from AMI Stadium would “help the replacement fund”, but was unlikely to fund the whole project.

There had not been any talk of government funding for the stadium, and Christchurch residents would need to decide whether the cost of a roof was worthwhile.

“In the end, what’s built and how it’s paid for is largely a matter for Cantabrians.”

ᔥ NZ Herald

How will this help with the rebuild?

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker is to visit South Korea and Israel for eight days.

He will leave this Thursday, returning to Christchurch on Friday May 11.

While in South Korea, Mr Parker will travel to Christchurch’s sister city Songpa-Gu and also speak at a business breakfast in Seoul hosted by the Kiwi Chamber of Commerce.

A highlight is a visit to the Korean Antarctic Programme.

After Korea, he will travel to Israel for the International Mayors’ Conference, to be attended by 73 mayors from around the world. The invitation to Mr Parker follows a visit to Christchurch in April last year by Israel’s Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin.

Mr Parker returns to South Korea on May 10 where he is a guest speaker at the 2012 Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Conference in Seoul.

Christchurch City Council said the cost of Mr Parker’s travel was being met by the conference organisers. His wife will accompany him and Mr Parker is paying for the cost of her travel.

The tipline is running hot with stories that highly unpopular and highly overpaid CE Tony Maryatt has “employment issues”.

I am trying to corroborate details, and I am wondering whether it is to do with staff being dismissed for not getting along with staff, elected representatives and others, and being paid substantial hush money.

Interesting times.

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

The Bob and Tony Show is more like bad imitation of Laurel and Hardy, in that they are trying to be comedians but just aren’t funny.

Protests made Tony offer to pay back his 14.4% pay increase. Now he is using a weasel clause to get out of it.

Christchurch City Council chief executive Tony Marryatt will not make a decision on whether to return part of his controversial $68,000 pay hike until a Government observer leaves.

The council awarded Marryatt a 14.4 per cent increase last December, sparking a wave of public criticism.

In January, he said he had asked the council to stop paying the increase. However, he held on to more than $25,000 already received and said he would return the money only if councillors worked together.

“The councillors said they would work together collegially,” he said in January. “If they can be true to this commitment, I will make a similar commitment in the same spirit of good faith and will give back any increase I’ve received to date.”

Criticism of the Christchurch City Council is due to a “basic culture deficiency” within the organisation rather than communication problems, a council committee has been told.

The council’s communications committee met yesterday to discuss the draft terms of reference for an $80,000 review of the organisation’s communication problems.

Council chief executive Tony Marryatt commissioned the review after increasing criticism of the council’s performance.

Court Theatre Trust chairwoman and communications consultant Felicity Price was chosen to do the review. Her report is due on June 30.

In a submission to the committee, public relations consultant David Lynch said the council’s problems were due to the culture within the organisation, rather than poor communication.

“No amount of good communication or examination of channels will change the fundamental problem.”

The review could be seen as “shifting the onus from the shoulders of the CEO, mayor and councillors onto the communications team”, Lynch said.

The Bob and Tony show have lead to more stupid decisions being made than by any other council in living memory. Some genius thought the following were good ideas:

• 22% rent increase for social housing, incorrectly implemented so reversed in a court case
• Buying up the Henderson properties after three days negotiation
• Building a modern music complex in the historic arts centre
• Re-employing Tony Marryatt
• Giving Tony Marryatt a $68,000 pay rise
• Giving New Zealand’s most unpopular mayoress her own office in council HQ

And that is before the Royal Commission reports back on how council failings lead to people dying in the earthquake.

You can’t polish a turd, unless of course you are myth busters.