Big Bill For Bloated Bureaucracy

Times have been hard for many families and businesses in Dunedin over the last few years. Businesses have closed down, people have been made redundant, others have had reduced profits or wage-cuts or wage-freezes.
But, as the ODT reports, there has been no restraint on the Dunedin City Council bureaucracy: staff costs have increased by 34% in five years to $40 million per year. The generous pay raises have been accompanied by bungles such as the Parking debacle and the Harbourside zoning mistake. If big crowds don't flock to the Stadium as optimistically projected, and conferences to the upgraded Dunedin Centre, then these projects can be added to this list.
It is time for the Council tighten it's belt an share the economic pain that the City is experiencing.

[Councillor Kate Wilson] planned to ask "serious questions" about whether the amount being spent on an expanding bureaucracy was warranted.

A suggestion for a place to start:
Does the Council really need a "Safe and Sustainable Travel Co-ordinator"?

Harbourside Report Slams Council

The Otago Chamber of Commerce has released a Report(pdf) on the Harbourside Plan Change, which they commissioned from Paterson Pitts Resource Management Ltd. It documents the threats to businesses and jobs from the Dunedin City Council's planning activity.
It is well worth a read. This seems to be yet another example of Council bungling, and yet again it is property speculators who are benefiting.