Help WCC with their long-term plan
The Wellington City Council has set up a facebook group, where Wellingtonians can discuss what they want for Wellington, to feed into consideration of the ten year Long Term Council Community Plan.
So you can read the full plan if you are a policy wonk like me, or you can just go to the Facebook group and make a couple of comments. This is a good example of easy community outreach, so make use of it.
My high level principles would be:
- Rates should not increase faster than inflation, plus population growth.
- Library services should be the last area to reduce services, as access to information is vital in a free society
- Parks & Recreation also score highly as a priority
- Leave the Town Belt alone or perish
- Non public good activities should be user pays as much as possible.
- WCC should not provide services that are the role of central Government, unless they receive funding for them. This includes housing, welfare, education and health.
- Do everything you can to make it easy for companies to lay fibre in the city, and to connect it to people’s homes.
- Some modest funding is okay to areas important to Wellington’s brand – culture, Wellywood etc. We don’t want to be a Canberra.
- Smarter public transport services – Snapper is good start but too few buses accept it. GPS updates at bus stops would be good. Realise mainly WRC issue.
- Please do not give any more of our money to the Stock Exchange (NZX) for their external display ticker.
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Tags: Wellington City Council
January 13th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Incredible – When the interminable bitching about Auntie Helen and the dirty Greenie lefties is put to one side, it seems I actually find myself in full agreement with Mr Farrar’s political views!
Let’s see more constructive stuff like this!
January 13th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Library services should be the last area to reduce services . . .
I hate to sound anti-intellectual but if it comes to a call between libraries and sewerage I want them to fund sewerage.
[DPF: Heh. I just assume basic infrastructure will be maintained. I suspect you can't reduce sewerage costs like you can reduce the number of libraries.]
January 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Top marks to Welly for doing this. The new generation of public servants are making their mark.
My list :
1. Move the city to somewhere with a better climate.
2. Remove by force if necessary, the entire Government entity. Ekatahuna is nice and they could use the money.
3. Move Te Papa to somewhere people actually visit.
4. Franchise Westpac Stadium. Every city should have such a stadium.
5. Go ahead with the Airport remodelling. The world needs a good laugh.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
“Library services should be the last area to reduce services, as access to information is vital in a free society
Parks & Recreation also score highly as a priority ”
These items were funded by charity in the past and there is no reason for this to have changed.
I don’t understand the relationship between libraries and “access to information”. Libraries frequently ban or refuse to stock certain books, and anyway, information is available from a variety of sources.
I never use libraries. I do not want libraries. Why should I pay?
There is no need for rates to be collected for these unnecessary items, and if some deem it necessary or supported by majority vote, then there should be an opt out tick box on the rates notice. Such a measure would soon expose the myth of popular support. Leave people to spend the money they have earned as they want, not as a legion of self serving parasites might want.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
The plan should have as it’s primary goal the amalgamation of the WRC and all the other councils covered by the WRC into one council for the region as a whole.
Nine councils for 450, 000 people is wasteful and leads to parochial infighting.
We might then get some efficiencies and planning that works.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
What my buddy”Liberty Redbaiter” said!
Public libraries are for bludgers….fund ya own reading habits ….don’t steal from me et le to indulge in your pleasures…..
Vidoe Ezy,Civic etc don’t need public money to run their libraries…..let the market decide.
DPF gets negative karma for advocating socialiam….again!
“Non public good activities should be user pays as much as possible.”
Whats this “public good” shit? We’ll have to start calling you “Comrade F” if you keep this up….;-)
January 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
OMFG!!!!!
Video Ezy (note: video spelled incorrectly) extolled as the shining light, the perfect example of everything that is wrong with the public library.
If you have ever wondered why I appear to have trouble taking these threads seriously, look no further. I might just have to frame that comment in its entirety, for illustrative purposes whenever someone asks me why I read rightie political blogs for a laugh.
We have reached a very low ebb in western civilisation in January 2009, when a return to the intellectual dark ages is advocated as “what the market wants”. By people who can’t even spell correctly, yet they somehow know libraries are a waste of public money.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Wellington buys a new $250,000 Steinway Grand Piano every few years for its Town Hall, with Ratepayers money. Upper Hutt, on the other hand, just bought one for the first time, with the money having been raised privately in the community, largely from the people who actually attend the concerts in which it will be used.
Joel Kotkin, in “Back to Basics”, points out that it is the tendency for local governments to spend money on things that are NOT used by the struggling lower income family, and NOT spend money on things like roads, that everybody uses and that benefit the struggling lower income family disproportionately; is one main cause for the reductions in social mobility and increases in inequality in the last couple of decades.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
And regarding Public Libraries, we have a serious problem with an underclass, a legacy of neo-Marxist social engineering, who are more interested in vandalising libraries than going to the trouble of educating themselves via reading habits.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Philbest: Unlike Upper Bogan’s Piano, Wellington’s Steinway is situated in a venue that frequently attracts the kind of world-class players who can actually appreciate the difference between a Steinway and an Ordinary.
And whenever they play it, they tend to generate sell-out audiences for said venue…
January 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
The best thing the WCC could do for both Wellington and the rest of NZ is to assist nature in collapsing the reservoir up top there when parliament is in full swing – or better still when the left is holding a convention there.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Red
Welcome back.
Most of what you write I agree with however I find that we differ when it comes to library’s.
How can we ever hope to rid ourself of the low life Labour voting element unless they have access to education (the truth), the great things about Libraries is that one can look up information for oneself, for the young it means that they have access to facts and opinions that differ from the left wing shit they are taught at school.
Of course the left want and need these low life to remain uneducated or socialism dies but we should never take away the access to education for the few who want to better themselves.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Ratbiter, why should the struggling Rangi and Moana Hohepa and their kids in Newlands pay higher rates so that the upper classes and chardonnay socialists can have their concert attendances subsidised? Your argument is exactly back to front: if Wellington’s venue is so much better than Upper Hutt’s, and attracts such wonderful performers and audiences, why does it need ratepayers money to buy the piano, yet Upper Hutt even with much fewer upper-class concert attendees, DOESN’T need ratepayers money to be wasted on this.
I read somewhere recently that the major cities in Texas actually now have more orchestras per head of population than anywhere else in the world, BECAUSE OF, not in spite of, the fact that those cities are the only ones that do NOT subsidise such things. True “Renaissances” happen as a result of freedom and prosperity, not high taxes and government subsidies.
And I am speaking as someone whose appreciation of the performing arts is beyond reproach. You want to call me a Philistine, you couldn’t be more wrong. Whose side are you on, Shostakovich’s, or the Nomenklatura’s?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
And I would like to ask DPF if by the term “Smart Public Transport”, he intends the actual cost per passenger km to be scrutinised for each service. The crowning absurdity of the situation for public transport, is that MOST of it is actually worse for the consumption of resources and the emission of carbon, than if we didn’t have it at all.
A completely unsubsidised service, run by owner operators, with no Trade Union involvement, on routes and at times that made economic sense and made a profit; would ALSO be of benefit for resource conservation and emissions reductions. But the minute you introduce political objectives and public money, the alleged benefits for resources and emissions fly out the window.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
As a non-Wellington City resident, I am loathe to comment on what they should or shouldn’t do… but I can say I am glad they are not my council.
However, as an Upper Hutt resident though, I can comfortably say I have no interest in having my council amalgamated with Wellington City council, or even the Lower Hutt City Council.
Maybe if the UHCC was as inefficient and wasteful as the WCC and HCC I would differ in my view. However as it stands the residents of Upper Hutt would have nothing to gain, and everything to lose; by joining the bloated spendthrift councils to the south, that would view us as nothing more than a bunch of uncouth Bogans to the north.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Kudos to WCC for using online methods of consultation. I do hope they’re extending it beyond Facebook though? Some of us steadfastly remain un-Facebooked, ya know.
As for (10) (the stock ticker)… cheaper (and more accurate) just to paint a big red “down” arrow on the side of the building, no? If ratepayers are to give the Stock Exchange money, the best cost-benefit must surely come from installing that bouncy circus netting round the outside of the building. That way the Council’s street cleaning unit isn’t burdened with the cost of hosing the would-be fat cats off the city’s pavements.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
OMFG!!!!!
”
“Video Ezy (note: video spelled incorrectly) extolled as the shining light, the perfect example of everything that is wrong with the public library.”
Its called a typo fucknuts….like you never make them…? And no I never said Video Ezy etc were PERFECT examples…but they ARE working,prospering examples of the private sector doing what the public needn’t and shouldn’t. If the private sector can do it that means the State should not…the States job is objective,individual rights protection…nothing else.
“If you have ever wondered why I appear to have trouble taking these threads seriously, look no further. I might just have to frame that comment in its entirety, for illustrative purposes whenever someone asks me why I read rightie political blogs for a laugh.”
So you can’t mount a principled counter argument….? I accept your surrender on the issue then… ;-P
“We have reached a very low ebb in western civilisation in January 2009, when a return to the intellectual dark ages is advocated as “what the market wants”. By people who can’t even spell correctly, yet they somehow know libraries are a waste of public money.’
Its somehow a return to the dark ages when its pointed out that State theft is not nesessary for personal education? And its not a matter of “wasting public money’….theres no such thing.Its all stolen private money and it should never have become “public” in the first place… And referring to Western Civilization is a bit rich when the shining high point of that civilization was the recognition and respect for individual human rights (mostly…with some major hiccups)…of which the right to property (and therefore the right not to have it pinched by parasite socialist politicians for “public good” bullshit) is one.
If the people want libraries they will spend their money themselves to support them (Video Ezy)….if they don’t then they won’t…..and handwringing forcemongers who think they know better can go and get stuffed.
““what the market wants”. By people who can’t …..
Ahhhh….why the fullstop in the middle of this sentence? Having grammar issues?
January 13th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Hmm,
1. Yep
2. If this is so important, perhaps it should be a national issue (rather than a civic one) – which would nicely reduce much repetition of infrequently used holdings and service infrastructure…
…however… I suspect not…
3. Parks & Recreation are an important part of civic infrastructure, available for all citizens, and improve the urban environment whether or not all citizens use the spaces directly.
4. Hear hear…
5. Too vague – anything can be (and probably has been) argued to be for the public good
6. I agree with this, but am surprised that you argue that housing is the role of the central government…
7. Yep – in terms of facilitation, but I wouldn’t go as far as subsidization…
8. This is problematic when Wellington is billed as the Arts capital – where does the modest funding end…?
9. Again, am surprised that you see this as a public sector issue…
10. Hear hear…
January 13th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
What I want – recognition of the fact that well-designed and maintained street environments are public spaces. And that, if extended into the urban fabric beyond the so-called ‘golden mile’, could address the shortage of decent public spaces in Wellington CBD (not everyone can make it to the waterfront in their lunch-break) without the need for expensive new purpose-built urban parks…
January 13th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
James – you know, try as I might, I can’t think of a simple concise argument for why having great public libraries is better than refunding every small minded little dumb-arse ratepayer the price of another crate of Double Brown each year.
Something about the noble idea of preserving the collected knowledge of older generations somewhere that it is accessible to everyone, perhaps?
I guess I just kinda assumed that most people appreciated the benefits modern civilization offers… but maybe the don’t, and would rather have the dozen Double Browns instead?
January 13th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
The debate for chrissakes, is not about whether libraries are a good thing or not. It is about whether the should be funded by stealing money by means of “government” legislation, or by charity. I’ll say it again for the hard of reading. Libraries were initially funded by charity and there is no good reason for this to have changed.
Let those who wish to fund them do so, and those who wish to spend their money on “a crate of double brown” do so. Think of it this way you arrogant fucken thief. It is their money. They worked for it, earned it, and why the fuck should some knuckle dragging fuckwit like you, who no doubt fancies himself as a superior being, be able to take it from them and spend it as you see fit??
Why???
Merely because you abuse democracy by voting so??
Put opt out check boxes on the rate forms. That will soon put paid to your claims of majority support. Won’t do it of course. Too scared.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“rates should not increase faster then inflation or population growth”, Ha ha ha ha, good one and the moon is made out of Swiss cheese. By their very nature councils are parasitic worms that would suck their victims dry given half a chance. Pulling the reins in on local councils in New Zealand would be akin to parting the Read Sea.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The first 2 wall posts on the Facebook Page:
“More baby friendly cafes!”
“More dog friendly cafes!”
Firstly, it’s not the WCC (or any councils) job to tell cafe owners who they can and can’t serve in their place of business
Secondly, that is almost as stupid as me saying I want a dinosaur friendly cafe.
Sounds like some Aucklanders have invaded.
But bravo WCC on trying to engage the public in any constructive way possible.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
What Red said Rat boy……and why not an “opt out” option along the lines of “tick a box” for services that you want to use with a coresponding reduction in rates/tax the less you use? There must be a simple system that could allow people to use the services they paid for without freeloaders bludging on it.Ticket booths at libraries,swimming pools,parks etc where you show your “council card” or similar…If you opted out but want to use a service then its a flat fee higher than if you had signed up to start with….theres all sorts of ways this could work and its fair.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I think the big issue for Wellington is the growth of the admin branch of the public sector over the last nine years. It has priced most other business out of the commercial real estate market and driven up salaries so that non-government economic activity has fled the city. To Auckland if we’re lucky, or Australia if we’re not. A single-industry city isn’t an exciting place to live. Canberra is all the evidence you need for that.
So, I’d like WCC to encourage central government to reduce the number of public servants based in Wellington. Most government activity could quite happily be located elsewhere in the country. Commercial real estate would be cheaper, housing would be more affordable, and the pressure would be taken off salaries. Then the council could encourage a range of businesses and other organisations to grow themselves in the city and, in the long term, it would be a more diverse and interesting place to live.
National could start off by canceling the proposed changes to the National Library on Molesworth St. Not only do the changes destroy a perfectly good building, it would give the Library to establish a branch somewhere else. National Library South in Christchurch or Dunedin, perhaps?
January 31st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Just a quick reply on Rex’s point – the Council is doing more than facebook. There is a website (www.wellingtonlongtermplan.co.nz) with information about the draft plan and places for discussions.