puff 686 Wheeler's Corner

Wheeler’s CornerÓ

Connecting Citizens Who Care

"Broadcast every Thursday at 11.45am on Access Manawatu 999AM"

Contact Peter at wheeler@inspire.net.nz

32 9th August 2007

This Week: 1. Learning? 2. Dirty Water 3. Naylor’s love of community 4. ‘Community Well Being 5. ‘Fighting Fire at sea. 6. Wheeler’s Corner vindicated.

1. It is often said that we learn from our experiences but this is only half the story. The reality is that ‘some’ learn from their experiences whilst others don’t. Our collective council behaviour is a good example. They know for example that huge debt leads to huge interest charges, for they have experienced this in the past. Yet each year they produce grandiose plans, which require huge borrowings at ever rising interest rates, while ignoring the basics. This inability to comprehend the damaging effects down the track leads to future problems for all of us. The interest bill will rise from around $10 million this year to $21 million in two years time. One can understand rates rising by the rate of inflation, a factor the city has little control over, but what the council is doing is using its credit card to achieve goals that are way above its means. They seem to have forgotten that we are under a hundred thousand strong and that it is these citizens that must repay the ever expanding interest bill, plus the fact that we are a low income based city.

2. On Friday night at around 8.30pm an irate citizen phoned me at home to complain about the colour of his water. He informed me that he had tried to contact the councils call centre, four times in fact! He stated that the first time he was told, that all the lines were busy and to hold while awaiting a free line. He waited and waited and ten to twelve minutes later he gave up. He repeated this three times. The fourth time no one answered at all. He asked, what he should do. I replied, try again, and if you still get no response then ring your ward councillor. Since he lived in the Hokowhitu Ward I supplied him with Cr. Gordon Cruden’s, Naylor’s and Jefferies home phone numbers. He wasn’t keen to ring Cr. Cruden [he remembered him from his school days] he had little time for Cr. Naylor because he was put off by his general attitude, so I guess Cr. Jefferies was his pick…

3. Kevin Reilly is a well-known community worker around town. He wrote a letter to the editor, which failed to get published. Here is what he wrote,

"Dear Editor, It was interesting to read a flyer by mayoral candidate Jono Naylor, or a supporter of his, which was put in my letter box. What I found interesting was his avowed concern for the most venerable in our city. His actions to date as a city Councillor are in conflict with his purported concern for those venerable citizens. He supported the City Council exiting out of the provision of special needs housing [disabilities], the demise of the Community Development Section of the City Council, and also the shutting down of the Low income sub-committee, which provided valuable information on the social impact of council policies. Are these the actions of a councillor concerned for the vulnerable in our city?" Signed Kevin Reilly.

Well Kevin, I can’t understand why your letter wasn’t published. I’d suggest that you ring the editor and find out the reasons. Nothing you wrote is untrue, in fact I think you were being polite about Cr. Naylor’s obvious contradictions. By chance the next item in this issue of Wheeler’s Corner supports fully your valid points of fact. Don’t give up on the letters to the editor it may well have been that the editor or sub-editor had simply had a hard night out…at least I hope that was the reason…if it was a bias toward Cr. Naylor I would be most concerned.

4. The words "Community Well Being" create a sense of caring for the community and I suppose that’s why council uses them. Councillor Lew Findlay chairs that committee and does it very well I might add. On Monday night they had a massive agenda to get through. It ranged from a plea from Te Whare Akonga Open Learning Centre to a deputation from the hearing impaired community, Restorative Justice providers, a PR sop to the Youth Council. There were also a whole heap of community organisations making their required six monthly reports. Now there are not a lot of ‘Tight eight’ councillors on this committee so they can’t dominate it as they do others like, the CEO performance reviews committee etc. So the tight eight have to rely on their debating ability which sadly is rarely up to it.

After listening to the plea from the Open Learning Centre so well presented by Annette Nixon Cr. Peter Claridge moved that this committee seeks that the council review the canceling of the grant and seeks a way to correct a mistake by council regarding this matter.

This request brought to a halt the laughing and whispering between Cr. Podd and Naylor and they suddenly switched from bored listeners to active participants. I think they believed that this subject had been all wrapped up some weeks ago. What Cr. Podd said in real terms was that this funding was contestable and that the Open Learning Centre lost so too bad for them and that councillors should accept council staff recommendations without debate. This follows her usual behaviour of ‘Lets just get on with it’. It’s a version of democracy not welcomed by most concerned citizens.

Now Cr. Naylor after looking across to make sure the Manawatu Standard reporter was still present commenced to give a campaign speech. In his view this notice of motion was a sign of poor leadership and that he hoped one day soon he would put a stop this constant plea by losers to be re-heard. I thought for a second that this was his mayoral acceptance speech, any way he went on to add, that if council helped this group the sky would fall in and the council would have to cancel other projects… We must never forget that he voted to spend around the same amount of money to send Mark Bell-Booth on a holiday to China without blinking an eye. What is it about the Open Learning Centre, the Highbury Whanau Centre and the Youth One Stop Shop along with the PANIC organisation that troubles him so? Is it because they are not religious based? Or that a high percentage of the first two are Maori based, I hope not…Any way at long last he sat, proud I think of his dominating ‘when I’m mayor speech’ much to the relief of all those present, councillors, public and the press. The defeat was profound for the ‘tight eight’ team, for Cr. Broad voted against his self appointed leader. The meeting then voted on the issue and the good guys won eight to three in favour of the Cr. Peter Claridge motion. For: Cr. Claridge, Kelly, Ian Cruden, Craig, Etheridge, Findlay and Broad, plus Heather Tanguay. Against: Cr Dennison, Podd and Naylor. [Cr. Pope, Wall, Hornblow, Jefferies and Gordon Cruden all members of the tight eight team were not present, which without doubt proves their commitment to the community well being of our city.] It is clear that Kevin Reilly was correct and his letter deserved publication…

5. The Captain and crew of the Battle Ship ‘PNCC’ did a fine job when the turbines caught fire. They managed to man-the-life-boats as the big ship ground to a halt. The fire was thought to have been caused by computer over-load while the printing the rate demands which had reached a record peak because of the increases involved. A full report is expected in the near future. The crew found various ports of call to set up emergency operations while marine inspectors attempted repairs. Many crewmembers took their files, rowed ashore and worked from home. While others found shelter around the city for example, the Parking Wardens moved into Macdonald’s Café and from there commenced their patrol duties issuing parking tickets to wayward berthing defaulters. It was good to see that vital services were continued during this crisis. To all those involved we say thank you most sincerely. One naval rating was heard to utter, ‘Gee, I never realised how important we really are and that we can manage without flash new crews quarters…Another said, and I quote, ‘Yeah, this crisis made us tighter than the tight eight and you can’t get much tighter than that’. I can but agree.

6. Many months ago Wheeler’s Corner suggested that PNCC charges far to much for its services, its charge out rates for managers time was really huge at over one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars per hour. At the time the then CEO Paul Wylie complained about my comments… This latest report from the Manawatu Standard vindicates the Wheeler’s Corner report.

"At $350 Palmerston North City Council has the most expensive LIM reports in the country - and isn't about to cut the cost. City Contact general manager Peter Eathorne said the price was justified, because it was a user-pays system. "I don't apologise for the cost. Particularly because we actually have to recover most of that cost from the applicant." He said the charge covered staff time required to find all the information contained in a LIM, and while other councils may charge less, they used ratepayer subsidies, rather than making the applicant pay. In comparison, Tararua District Council charges $100 for a LIM report. Manager Mike Brown said it was a sufficient amount to cover the cost of staff uncovering the information. Manawatu District Council charges $102 for a LIM report". A local lawyer was most concerned because much of the time the LIM reports tell you little about what you wish to know, yet you are charged the same amount another factor is that the council takes no responsibility for the information given or if it is up to date. I agree that the cost seems really high when one considers that all the information is computer based.

My God says, Child abuse, in fact any abuse is wrong, and should be stopped, but talking about it, while not doing something about it is PR hype, all should report any abuse without fear of favour, she said, and I agree.

Wheeler’s Corner can now be read on www.accessmanawatu.co.nz Click on ‘shows’, then ‘current affairs. Lastly click on ‘more’




Peter J Wheeler

Wheeler@inspire.net.nz