Liu Yungeng in DScene

Dscene picked up this story from dunedinBlog.

If Peter Chin didn't know that Liu Yungeng was a human-rights abuser, then perhaps it was because he didn't want to know. People in Shanghai certainly know, and it is easy to find on Google.

The Dunedin City Council will be pleased that they sneaked Liu Yungeng in and out of the City to attend the police-guarded, invitation-only Chinese Garden opening, without attracting unwanted attention.

Equinox on Harbour Cone

I spent Tuesday with a small group celebrating the Spring Equinox by climbing Harbour Cone.
It was a warm evening with a blustery westerly wind blowing. After a steep climb, we watched the gathering dusk over the Peninsula and the Harbour and gave thanks for the wonderful place in which we live.
The marking of the Winter Solstice with the Lantern Parade has now become a Dunedin tradition. Now that Harbour Cone is publicly owned, maybe climbing our Magic Mountain on the Equinoxes can become another.

Liu Yungeng is a Human Rights Abuser

Chairman Liu Yungeng, head of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress
who was hosted in Dunedin last week for the official opening of the
Chinese Garden, has a record of Human Rights abuses. When he was
head of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in 2006, he directed
police persecution of political dissidents. Reports on the "Human
Rights in China" website make disturbing reading. Liu Yungeng's
victims, most of whom did no more than attempt to make unwanted
submissions to the Party Congress, were subjected to restrictions on
their activities such as attending Church, house arrest, detention,
beatings, or disappearance.
Dunedin should not be welcoming such nasty Communist bullies as part
of the Sister City arrangement.

These links report activities from 2006:

http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision_id=27873&item_id=27872

http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision_id=31088&item_id=31085

http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision_id=31436&item_id=31434

Liu Yungeng and Public Security Bureau:

http://english.cri.cn/2946/2008/01/30/189@318959.htm

The Question They Don't Ask

The Dunedin City Council has just done it's annual residents' opinion survey.
But there is one obvious question which is never asked:

Are you satisfied with the level of rates?

Director for Early Settlers

The Dunedin City Council has decided to employ a new director for the Early Settlers Museum, rather than being run by the same director as the Public Art Gallery.
What ever the merits of doing this, it will cost ratepayers an extra $213,000 a year.

Dodds Won't Talk About "The Street"

It is easy to see why Bevan Dodds doesn't want to talk about "The Street", in this report from the ODT. How can The Mall Plus store which has been closed for weeks be "still going well"?
The assurances that the investment is low risk are looking increasingly hollow. It is time to open the books and show the true state of affairs.

A Dunedin start-up company partly financed by the Dunedin City Council's holding company is still operating, its chairman says, despite one of its products, a virtual mall, being on hold.

Dunedin City Holding Ltd (DCHL) has 1.2 million shares in The Street, for which it paid $700,000.

The company's virtual mall project, The Mall Plus, is not running on the Internet at the moment, with a "re-opening soon" notice on its home page and a link to Dunedin company Zeddd Technology.

The National Business Review ran a story recently that said the company had abandoned the online mall.

An anonymous letter to the Otago Daily Times this week said the company and its website had "collapsed".

DCHL chief executive Bevan Dodds, a director of The Street, refused to comment on the article, saying the NBR reporter had a "bee in his bonnet" about the company.

Asked if the NBR article was correct, he said he was not going to argue with its writer.

"I'm not going to go there. It's not worth commenting on," he said.

But chairman Geoff Thomas said yesterday both suggestions were incorrect.

Mr Thomas said The Mall Plus was "still going well", and it was being developed under licence by an outside company.

It was true the site was not operating, but there had been some sales while it was operating on an experimental basis.

The site needed enhancement and that was being done, Mr Thomas said.

Asked when DCHL might get a return on its investment, Mr Thomas said the company already had three contracts and was hoping to get more.

"And that's only one of many products The Street has," he said.

Mr Dodds said in 2006 an expected time frame for a return was three to five years.

Excellent Questions on Stadium

Councillors Dave Cull, Chris Staynes and Kate Wilson have an article in today's ODT with some excellent questions on the proposed Stadium.
We await answers from the Stadium proponents : it is hard to see anything convincing coming.