Capture: Two Tales of a City
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Hebe,
Hardball: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/8787756/Council-could-lose-consenting-powers
Will Christchurch have any form of local body election this year, or is this the softener for an Ecan-type junta at the CCC? -
Lilith __, in reply to
Who needs democracy anyway? It just gets in the way of getting things done.
And it's not like building standards are important. We're never gonna have another quake.....
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Hebe, in reply to
Who needs democracy anyway? It just gets in the way of getting things done
Yeah, big things. Democracy is little people stuff.
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Lilith __, in reply to
I also think it’s pretty ironic for the Minister in charge of EQC and CERA to be calling other people too slow!
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Coming to Gerry's defence doesn't come naturally to me, but is he actually behind this? If I understand the article correctly, it's this lot who make that decision. Brownlee's not making the threat here.
I heard Glen Livingstone on the radio last night saying that the fateful letter from IANZ was received by council staff some days ago but most councillors only found out via the media last night. There seemed to be a suggestion that the relevant council committee had been sitting on the news.
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Hebe, in reply to
Sue Wells, who is head of that committee did not know (see today's Press) of the letter. So senior council officials, and presumably the mayor (who is not squaking with the requisite outrage had he not been informed), would have known.. And shut down any further release. Brownl;ee has outed the secrecy.
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Sacha, in reply to
And it's not like building standards are important. We're never gonna have another quake
nor any more disabled folk using your downgraded buildings, in the name of profits and speed
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Did the council CEO manage any brewery pissups in his previous job? Not impressing on this front.
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Lilith __, in reply to
Did the council CEO manage any brewery pissups in his previous job? Not impressing on this front.
He's not beloved by the public. There was a street protest a while back specifically asking for his removal.
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I fear there is a culture of secrecy that they assume is the way to run a council. . If you withhold information from some people and deny access to others you are seen as the powerful kahuna that counselors have to come to to do their work. Every one of those, Marryatt and Parker and Brownlee and Roger Sutton all play games the one to lose is the good citizen of this place and most likely future generations.
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Lilith __, in reply to
Coming to Gerry’s defence doesn’t come naturally to me, but is he actually behind this? If I understand the article correctly, it’s this lot who make that decision. Brownlee’s not making the threat here.
Brownlee was the one who made the letter public, rather than taking the issue up directly with the council. And as Eugenie Sage says,
“Sage said practical help to increase the council’s capacity to process consents would be ‘’ a more constructive measure than engaging in a blame game’’. [ article ]
I imagine the IANZ is just doing its job. But the CCC consents staff is struggling with an extraordinary number of applications, in the aftermath of a major disaster...I don't think noncompliance with the usual processing targets is very surprising.
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Sacha, in reply to
Coming to Gerry's defence doesn't come naturally to me, but is he actually behind this?
Same. But it is clearly Council's job to have the right staff and systems to handle consents that they knew would be higher.
That is Marryatt's job as CEO. It is the Mayor and Councillors' job to hold him to account. Keeping information from some of them is not likely to help that. Hopefully citizens take action accordingly later in the year at local election time. If there is one.
Along with Council's previous abject failure to get their own social housing stock back into action, they're just strengthening Brownlee's hand. We get the leaders we tolerate. Don't vote for useless dicks.
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Sacha, in reply to
Ah, hang on. It's even worse. From that Press story
A report in November gave the council until February 1 this year to make improvements.
Mayor Bob Parker and councillors said they knew nothing of the letter, addressed to building consent authority manager Tina Donald, until yesterday.
I'd expect to fire managers for that if I were the CEO, or the Councillors if the CEO knew. And where are their risk management systems? Thought Kerry Burke was meant to have helped beef up Council's governance?
but Parker said the real issue was improving the consent process
Clown.
On Newstalk ZB today, Brownlee said the city council knew about the letter two weeks ago.
However, he said there may be a problem with the "information flow to the mayor" and a "culture there [at the council] that is not particularly healthy".
"[Parker] generally is doing his best to see the city recover, but I suspect that it's behind the scenes that problems occur."
Brownlee said planning committee chairwoman Sue Wells also seemed to be in the dark.
"There is clearly something just not working right,'' he said.
Hard to argue with. WTF are they up to?
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Hebe, in reply to
Kerry Burke
Is the former Head of Ecan and former Labour MP. Not him: Kerry Marshall of LGNZ.
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Hebe, in reply to
but Parker said the real issue was improving the consent process
Interesting. I would have thought Parker as mayor would have been breathing fire over such a massive failure of council employees to notify elected reps of a letter containing such a threat, no matter who stuffed up in not telling who.
The questions are: did Parker know? If so, why did he not inform Sue Wells as chair of the relevant committee and the rest of the councillors?
Did Tony Maryatt know of the letter? If not, why not? If he did, why did he not tell the mayor, and the councillors?
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Hebe, in reply to
Unfair to include Roger Sutton in this one.
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Sacha, in reply to
Doh. thanks
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Turkey - Trot.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
Coming to Gerry’s defence doesn’t come naturally to me
Oddly, I've been feeling the same about Parker. Not convinced by his claims that everything is on track. Can almost see Marriot's hand moving inside the sock :)
But he's right on several fronts: Brownlee blasting off publicly was a bully-tactic. Brownlee clearly doesn't talk to council. Brownlee and Cera forever side-line them- and it's starting to get up many of our noses.
I thought Brownlee sounded spectacularly dim on Morning Report. He blustered and threatened CCC with loosing accreditation. But clearly had no idea what to do if the threats came to pass.
Presumably that would mean NO consents were given, at all. Not a great 'solution' from anyone's perspective. And exactly zero constructive suggestions from the Minister For Everything In Chch.
Meh. -
I'm also unsure about Parker after watching him on Campbell Live tonight. Not taking his word about Council's consenting fitness if the independent accreditation agency doesn't. But Brownlee's behaviour is always worthy of suspicion.
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Council's planning committee chair confirms who decided not to tell Councillors.
Ms Wells says the council chief executive Tony Marryatt had seen the letter, but had failed to share it with her committee, which oversees the consenting process.
"Management team has advised us it was an internal management matter," she says. "Because they were dealing with things they didn't see the need to inform the governance group.
"We've had a free and frank conversation about what the governing body needs to see."
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker has also admitted finding out about the letter yesterday, telling Radio New Zealand that it "would have been nice to have known".
Nice? I'd fire the prick.
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Hebe, in reply to
Oh good. I'm not going soft in the head. I agreed with some of Parker's closing comments on Campbell Live tonight. Edited to: Snap Sacha for the rest...Marryatt knew about the letter and didn't tell councillors ...
From the story: Sue Wells: "Management team has advised us it was an internal management matter," she says. "Because they were dealing with things they didn't see the need to inform the governance group."What more will it take for the man to go?
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Lilith __, in reply to
Wait, "a free and frank discussion" is code for "a shouting match", yes? I should think so, too.
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an unread letter day...
The other question, for me, is how did Brownlee know the letter existed?
Was he CC'ed in the correspondence?
Was he told by the national consenting authority? (and if so why didn't they also follow up by checking with the council the 'important' letter had arrived?)- or (at a paranoid stretch) is Marryatt a tool of the Govt's long term plan to take more control from Councils - most of his actions speak of someone trying to destabilise something up rather than fix it...
(Hell, look at the state he left Hamilton in!)If there was a Concern Troll Oscars, he'd be in to win....
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