Hot Off The Press

Update on Tukituki clean-up

March 12, 2010

With dead fish floating in the Tukituki recently, BayBuzz checked on the status of the much-heralded plan to build a system that would dispose of CHB’s treated effluent on land instead of into the river.

Inexcusably, it seems that the CHB District Council fell asleep on the consent paperwork, requiring the HB Regional Council to step in and “project manage” the process. BayBuzz understands that the resource consent application will now be filed by the end of April.

The Regional Council is still hoping to plant trees this winter on the pasture blocks they are purchasing near the CHB settlement ponds. Once the system is operational, effluent from these ponds would be used to fertilize the trees. The Regional Council must purchase more land for the scheme than originally expected, since they now realize that high volumes of stormwater infiltrate the CHB sewer system during the winter, which has caused the settlement ponds to overflow into the river in the past. More volume requires more land.

Assuming the Regional Council doesn’t embarrass itself by rejecting the resource consent application it has largely orchestrated for CHB, it will still be up to CHB to actually commit the funds (which are in its long term plan) to get the new infrastructure constructed.

The way things are going, the on-land effluent scheme appears unlikely to be operational before the deadline already stipulated by CHB’s current consent from the Regional Council (i.e., 2014). In other words, little or no appreciable step-up in the clean-up schedule.

Tom Belford

P.S. In case anyone is still uncertain, at last check Tim Gilbertson is still a Regional Councillor. I don’t know how rumours to the contrary got started!

Posted by tbelford  

Councillor Tim Gilbertson resigns!

March 10, 2010

In a move that shocked his fellow Councillors, Tim Gilbertson yesterday resigned from the Regional Council. In a meandering resignation soliloquy, here’s what Gilbertson had to say …

I can no longer pretend that I’m making a contribution on behalf of my CHB constituency to the conduct of the region’s governance. I had thought I might make it through a full three year term, but today’s point of order over who had the first right of reply on the amendment to the amendment pushed me over the edge.

I am happy to leave those matters to Eileen and Christine.

I have never really believed in the mission of the Regional Council and its ridiculous emphasis on protecting the environment. What nonsense! Time after time I have asked Council staff to produce just one dead body — from right here in Hawke’s Bay — as proof that people actually perish from sooty air or polluted water or contaminated soil … and not once has this evidence been produced.

And with the single possible exception of spending millions and millions of dollars in my district to harvest water — the best idea to hit Hawke’s Bay since refrigeration — I have yet to discover a Regional Council program that is worth spending a ratepayer dime on.

So for me to continue the charade of being a Regional Councillor is a burden I can no longer bear …

It’s like asking a vegetarian to be a butcher.

An atheist to be a pastor.

A drug dealer to be a babysitter.

Or in my case, an anarchist to be an elected official.

I apologize for deceiving the good citizens of Central Hawke’s Bay, who I might have inadvertently led to believe I was representing them as their Regional Councillor. Any reading of the proceedings of the Council will put that illusion to rest. I was just having fun.

I’ve now decided that the more honourable path would be to deride the Regional Council from the outside, rather than from within. Hopefully, I will be able to continue in my role as a columnist for BayBuzz Digest, although I suspect even they might find me over the edge.

I will also be available for hire as a salesman for super-phosphates, or as a lobbyist for water harvesting and irrigation. I hope in my lifetime to see the day when I can tramp down the middle of the Tukituki for its full length without getting my boots wet.

Naturally, I’ve thought about whether I would miss anything about being a Regional Councillor. Other than getting paid for marking time, and those terrific free lunches on Council meeting days, I can’t think of anything.”

I must confess that I am gutted to see Tim go. He was the Oscar Wilde of the Regional Council. A true wit and entertainer. But in these tough economic times, even Tim recognizes that his ratepayers deserve to get their hard-earned money’s worth.

Don’t worry Tim, there will always be a place for you at BayBuzz.

Tom Belford

Posted by tbelford  

Shameless pitch

March 9, 2010

It’s for an American band. But hey, it’s from a local HB boy … Paul Paynter.

Here’s what Paul says about the Old Crow Medicine Show, a country/bluegrass band performing March 20 at the HB Opera House. [As far as I know, he's not their manager.]

…

Heading north out of Atlanta, all I could find on the radio was Rap. It’s the testosterone metronome of urban indulgence and resentment. The unrelenting Hone Harawira vernacular was too much to bear and I was relieved on Route 365, north of Gainsville, when I entered another world.

To my dismay at the time, my radio became possessed by Country, Folk and Bluegrass.

This is a part of the U.S. that is not well known or travelled by New Zealanders. It’s the country featured in the movie Cold Mountain; the bottom end of the Appalachian Trail. It’s a remote and rugged place, where Eric Rudolph, the Altlanta Olympic bomber evaded U.S. authorities for more than 5 years.

The Declaration of Independence refers to ‘these united colonies’ and it struck me that’s it’s as true as it ever was. As you drive into the Great Smokey Mountains, you enter an eclectic time warp, into an old world of insular authenticity.

To call a something insular has such negative connotations. America is insular. Most of their young people seem to do their OE carrying an assault rifle, or not at all. But when it comes to art, insular is not so bad. Oscar Wilde once noted that England produced some of the greatest poets, because no one actually reads poetry. The wild rose in bloom does not need admirers to make it beautiful.

In all aspects of life, commercialism creeps in and mediocrity prevails. Italian food becomes Pizza Hut, the movies are soulless Hollywood remakes and the new musical phenomenon is just another Simon Cowell boy band. If you want an authentic experience, you have to look in the “out of the way” places.

The Smokey Mountains was that “out of the way” place in which I found Bluegrass and American Folk music and it’s worth getting excited about.

While the roots of this music might lie in Ireland, this part of America is a far cry from the cosmopolitan melting pot of Dublin. I can’t argue, there is something to be said for the hybrid vigour borne of melding musical styles. There’s also something to be said for sitting on the porch and playing a banjo, just for you and the critters.

This old time music has been brought to prominence by bands like Old Crow Medicine Show. Not since Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark has there been a band so worthy of an acronym. The young men in OCMS demonstrate the musicianship that is only borne of years of hard graft. At the core of their music you sense an uncommon passion to preserve and develop the music they love.

Hawke’s Bay is hardly a bastion for such fringe musical styles, but OCMS have courageously included Hastings on their current tour.

But before you think this might be nice folksy stuff you could recommend to your grandmother, I should warn you. These young men may have moved on from their snarling adolescence, but their themes still commonly include drugs, liquor and related misdemeanours. They are now at the peak of their talents, straddling the divide between tearaway youth and the seasoned craftsman.

They are not to be missed.

Paul Paynter

OCMS play the Hawke’s Bay Opera House Saturday 20 March.

Posted by tbelford  

Passions run high at Hastings Council

March 7, 2010

Last Thursday was an emotional day at the Hastings Council as Councillors weighed the trade-offs in the draft 2010/11 annual budget, soon to be issued for public consultation.

What was all the fuss about?

Well, it wasn’t over the 90% increase in staff costs over the last eight years.

No, it wasn’t over whether the new Clive sewage treatment plant will ever stop smelling.

Nor was it over closed-to-the-public consideration of a lobbying slush fund to help push the case for a velodrome at the sports park.

Nor was it any of the “big ticket” items in the $57 million in spending recommended by staff.

No, heavier issues weighed on the Councillors and fueled their passions …

  • Should photocopying fees at the library be increased from $0.10 to $0.20? After all, there’s $8,100 at stake.
  • Should there be an inflation adjustment made to Hastings’ 50% share of the costs of the HB Cultural Trust … I forget the exact fiscal implication … around $7k as I recall.
  • Should Councillors get more ratepayer subsidy for their “official business” computer and internet costs? [Although Councillors themselves are feeling the pinch on their household telecommunications bills, they didn't hesitate to sock elderly ratepayers living in Council flats with a proposed $5-$7 per week hike in rent!]
  • And what about disturbing complaints that urban residents who cut “The Council’s” curbside grass in front of their homes have no place to put the clippings? [I'm not kidding!]

This is a tragi-comic scene repeated each budget year.

The staff recommends a nearly $60 million operating budget (no depreciation or capital expense in that figure) and then — I think for the sheer delight of watching what ensues — provides a list of about $1 million worth of “maybe’s” for the Councillors to hyper-ventilate about.

It works every time. The Councillors are totally distracted — I’d say happily — from the big picture.

Now for some good news …

At Thursday’s session, the Chief Executive reported on efficiencies that had been achieved in Council operations — in areas like energy use, fewer rates notices, less dependence on outside engineering consultants, outsourcing of nursery activities — accounting for a 5% savings in operating costs.

More than any other Councillor, Wayne Bradshaw deserves some credit for this accomplishment. With most Councillors yawning and fidgeting, Councillor Bradshaw insisted that this target be set during last year’s budgeting process. I’m sure the Chief Executive would say that he’s always looking for savings. But it never hurts to have the incentive of a mandated public target!

Says Councillor Bradshaw: “It was very pleasing to see the list of Efficiencies Achieved since the 5% target was introduced in last year’s LTCCP. I would congratulate the CEO and all the HDC staff for their positive efforts in this area. Whilst some of the savings listed as efficiencies could be debated as prudent management, it is still a positive step forward.”

“Setting a target creates a need to look for efficiencies. This helps lead to better practices and a change in the culture of the Council. In past years, the practice seems to have been ‘let’s tell the Councillors what we are going to spend’ rather than the other way around.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Napier and Regional Councils  followed Hastings’ lead on this one?

Tom Belford

Posted by tbelford