350 Campaign Flops

The highly-promoted "350" Day of Action on Climate Change was under-whelming, and drew little support both locally and internationally. They will not admit it publicly but I am sure that the organisers are disappointed. The ODT story is here: many of the 400 people in Railway Station were probably attracted by the Spring Food Festival and free plants, and there were only 50 surfers at St Clair, instead of the hoped-for 350.
The low turnout was similar world-wide as can be seen here on the "Whats Up With That?" website.
The tide seems to have turned in the Global Warming debate, as people see for themselves that temperatures are not increasing. Polls show that that widespread and increasing skepticism, and articles on the Global Cooling are appearing in the main-stream media e.g. "Whatever happened to global warming" on the BBC website
And the prestigious Wall Street Journal describes New Zealand's first-in-the-world Emissions Trading Scheme as "global warming lunacy".

Orokonui Ecosanctuary Opening Soon

The Orokonui Ecosanctuary will be opening soon. There was a open day on Saturday for members and volunteers to show off the new Visitors Centre and Cafe. It is an excellent building with stunning views over Waitati Valley and the Silverpeaks. There is a well-gravelled loop walk through the bush showing off the kanuka and podocarps, and birdlife. It will be many years before the benefits of being pest-free allows the bush and birds to fully return to their natural state, but the Ecosanctuary is already a wonderful asset to the City.
Congratulations to all those who have contributed to this project: it has been a real community effort, and done with little burden on ratepayers.
I hope that the Ecosanctuary becomes part of Dunedin's tourist circuit. What is really needed is a vehicle ferry from Portobello to Port Chalmers so that visitors can visit the Albatross colony and then cross over to Port Chalmers and then visit the Ecosanctuary.
The ODT story is now here.

Great Buddy Holly Show in Mosgiel

We went to the Taieri Musical Society's production of Buddy Holly in Mosgiel: one of the best shows we've seen in Dunedin for a long time. Local talent playing Buddy's early Rock and Roll classics with an old-style bass, girl backing singers and a brass section. A good night's entertainment.

Calvin Says Council Run By Bureaucrats

Calvin Oaten continues excellent analysis of Dunedin affairs with an opinion piece in the Otago Daily Times:
Is the DCC being driven by its bureaucrats?

Why Not "Polluter Pays"

The Blanket Bay residents pollute their own neighbourhood, and other ratepayers in the City are going to have to pay 80% of the cost of resolving the problem. Whatever happened to the principle that those who cause pollution should pay the full cost of cleaning it up?
The ODT story is here, or download the full Council Report (pdf).
Unfortunately a precedent was set when dealing with a similar situation at Allanton, as I discussed in a previous blog post.

$2.5 Million To Keep Public From Council Staff

The Dunedin City Council is going to spend $2.5 million to redevelop the Civic Centre to keep the public away from members of the public. This is after "near misses" with unhappy ratepayers. There is growing anger at the Council from the community, over issues including the cost of the new Stadium, big rates increases, and the parking debacle.
The irony is that this is yet another example of extravagance, and will only worsen the ill-feeling towards the Council.
The ODT article about this is here.

Lawyer's Head Fence Likely to Be Publicly Notified

I emailed the Dunedin City Council expressing my concerns that the proposed fence at Lawyer's Head will affect the iconic views from the area.
Business Development Team Leader, Greg Sligo, replied saying that no decision on a fence had yet been made.

Should the Council make that decision, the next step would be for an application (for resource consent to build the fence) to be made. Once an application for resource consent is lodged, there will be an opportunity for all affected parties to have a say. It is most likely that an application for a security fence in this location will be publicly notified; that is to say it will be publicly advertised, and anyone (ie. everyone) will have the opportunity to make a submission.

The Ad That The ODT Would Not Print

The National Business Review has a article about an advertisement for Queenstown restaurant threesixty which the Otago Daily Times decided was "too suggestive" to print.

Hattip: Kiwiblog