Local Government

New Zealand should be the best country in the world .

The best country to live in.

Councils have played a major part in the history of  New Zealand and were once respected bodies and the Town Clerk and Mayor were key figures in communities.

The latest move by Government to shake up Local Government in New Zealand is a response to years of lobbying by those who believe bigger is better and that amalgamations and mergers and even cancelling will serve up a better dinner for the long suffering ratepayer.

In recent years we have seen the Auckland monster created by Rodney Hide (I  wonder if he still thinks it was a good idea) and rates that were supposed to be lower because of efficiencies and scale but instead have continued on the upward path.

In Local Government  bigger is not better. It's the nature of the beast.

NZ has a problem. Yes Local Government needs fixing .

Getting rid of Regional Councils and forcing amalgamations is not the answer. I repeat it is NOT the answer. 

So back to basics.

What is the problem.

The problem is the Local Government Act and to a lesser extent the Resource Management Act .

Why are people crying for Local Government to be fixed. Because rates keep going up.

That is the problem.

The problem is the Local Government Act and to a lesser  extent the Resource Management Act.

Developing a bespoke Act to try and change the quantum of rates increases is a flawed attempt to correct a problem and in fact I will speculate now and suggest that if these reforms are pushed through they will result in a worse situation and greater increases in rates.

There is a host of issues tied up in Local Government that will not be solved by bigger bodies and less representation.

I feel I will have to expand on this issue as more of the agenda is exposed.

Cycles, El Nino,  The Moon

It's great when it's fine and warm. No wind. Grass growing .Birds singing and everything about us glorious.

Other times when we curse the weather underline the web of life, the daily grind and the challenges we constantly face.

There is so much information available now to help us understand the weather and the importance it has in shaping our lives.

I have read some incredible articles on weather cycles. You have to adjust your thinking to accommodate the timelines of cycles but the latest referring to 60 year cycles could be playing out while we work away in our routines. 

Warming over a 6o year period and then cooling over another 60 years could put us in a cooling phase. Oh no .Global warming may not be happening anymore.

Another column discusses the moon and its influence  on the planet. Can people conceive that?  The moon that a team just flew around up their in the night sky  .  Could the moon influence the weather? Well we know about the tides so why not.

Then there is El Nino and La Nina. The Southern Oscillation.

Warning are starting to emerge about a strong El Nino coming to a valley near you this year.

I just mention these issues briefly to show how irrelevant we are. Anyone who thinks that throwing money at carbon arresting projects is going to change the weather either way, has to be dreaming.

We live .We learn. We adapt.

A never ending process. 

 

More Rain

It's almost like someone has decided that the West  Coast has been missing out on the rain front and a deluge has been arranged to challenge even more kiwis with a bit of thunder and lightening and rainfall that tests river channels and roadside drains that will enable them to divest themselves of months of accumulated plastic bottles and aluminium cans into the great flow to wherever. Probably the sea .

Wellington has had its problems of late but flooding will bring the politicians out and there will be calls to watch out for landslides and hi vis jackets from here to kingdom come as they survey the damage and ponder how much money it will take to stop the weather.

Stop the weather. I want to get off! 

Nearly every breathless report I have heard or read has parroted the line about these events becoming more common.

It's like they have never happened before. We have never had wet years, dry years , dry periods where the farmers were crying out for rain. 

Could the weather systems have something to do with El Nino or La Nina? That's what we used  to talk about.

Or maybe it's that rocket that raced to the moon and back .Surely that must have upset the applecart and shifted the clouds or seeded the clouds or changed there cycles around the earth.

As for becoming more common events the facts don't give that result. 

Whatever the answer is I feel for those impacted by flooding or disaster and I hope they all receive the help and assistance required to get back on their feet.

Rain , rain go away.         

 

The Weather

 One thing about the media these days is the incredible options available to us all to communicate especially at times of extraordinary events.

I have been able to peruse many sites and posts to ascertain the response to the current situation with the latest weather event.

Given all the expertise out their in the land of authority it remains impossible to precisely predict how a cyclone or depression will act once it turns up on our backdoor.

NZ is in a situation now where the authorities are running scared. They do not want to be accused of getting it wrong. Following Gabrielle and the BOP event with a landslide everyone is nervous.

I understand that. However the situation now needs careful thought.

I absolutely object to receiving these outrageous alerts via cellphone  issuing a state of emergency.

Reading posts on social media exposes how there have been alerts issued in many areas. My alert was about the coastal area miles away .Why? 

The problem is once these  alerts are issued it appears there is an immense shift in power to faceless people who then have the ability to force actions on the people.

This is unacceptable.

The alerts create major anxiety amongst many and as has become apparent today , create panic buying of goods from supermarkets which is totally unnecessary.

This is insanity.

I noted the result of this transfer in power following Gabrielle and could never find out who was responsible for life changing decisions.

Not good enough.

Terrifying people at this time is not the answer.

What is needed is information.

Information that is provided in a careful way to communities that can deal with situations relative to their particular circumstances.

Information that allows people to make decisions given their local knowledge and conditions.

The weather is constantly challenging us but we have to learn from history , learn from our mistakes and make our own decisions.

Sometimes people make mistakes. 

Fearmongering Headlines

The last few years has certainly shown a pattern of weather that has given NZ more easterly driven events that have differed in intensity.

I guess we have to get used to it until nature decides to choose another victim.

Unfortunately we now have a built in fear every time a depression develops in the Pacific and heads our way. Well at least someone is causing fear among the mainly East Coast inhabitants and I can't decide weather it is the media or a scared met service.

There is another cyclone on the way and the first headline I saw referred to "life threatening cyclone" and since then more scary headlines have greeted vulnerable  residents .

These cyclones are a pain in the backside but I think it is irresponsible to scare people given historic events.

The speculation on the latest event is premature and reading some articles is full of unknowns .

I can read these events fairly well after many years watching and this one is moving fast and looks to me as though it will  track down the middle of the North Island.

It is possible it will break up on hitting the land mass of NZ and splinter in to many wet areas that will dump and move on fast.

It is going to be another annoying, inconvenient wet period  , especially planned for the school holidays.

Calm heads should prevail  and be very careful about making alarming statements  unless really necessary.

Until then it's work until the rain comes.   

 Event Records

We are extremely lucky these days that at times of great distress there always appears to be someone around with a phone , a camera or drone.

While we do not want to capture personal moments of stress that are intrusive , it is useful to capture the truth.

The raw event recorded for future reference when the clouds have gone and the sun has emerged to show us the way.

I have been watching coverage of Gabrielle 3 years on .So much of the devastation  was  captured and some of the footage is valuable in reviewing scenes that were raw at the time but explain the event as it happened.

Of course once you have watched something on you tube the algorithms choose to stack up more of the same.

For a long time I could not watch the coverage as it was too raw, too effective in stirring the memory. too effective in taking me back to the tragic day.

Following the event I chose not to attend local meetings held to discuss the disaster and point the finger. I predicted that the meetings would not achieve much if emotions ran riot and misunderstandings boiled over .

There were so many factors to consider and personnel involved were  nervous about repercussions and over excited  ratepayers.

It was with great interest that I watched coverage of some of the meetings held in the local hall .Great attendance and a fractious atmosphere. I had lived here for 40 years and watched many people come and go but the number of strangers in the room surprised me.

A situation  like this  explained how knowledge and experience didn't count. Everyone was an expert .

Having been angry at the council staff for some time I suddenly felt a bit sorry for those in attendance. 

The angry mob wanted someone to blame. There is always someone with a lot to say and there is always someone with a loud voice that commands attention.

The staff explained away and  my predictions were confirmed  .In fact they had little understanding of what had happened and why. Already the solutions they were proffering I could see were faulty.

At this early stage there was fear that another event may happen. People were on edge.

I myself was trying to understand why we had been flooded as the scheme we generously funded for many years,  did not protect us.

It took considerably more searching on my part to put all the pieces together. I could not have imparted the understanding to the crowd  attending those meetings at that time and doubt I could now.

Frustrating.     

 

      

Common Threads

I guess algorithms can be good or bad.

I watched a  clip from 3 years ago covering the cyclone devastation in the local area. It is much easier to watch now but even this one hit home where it covered a number of rescues and close shaves for local families.

The case had a home owner talking of 17 people on her roof waiting to be rescued. Neighbors had somehow made it to her home and somehow clung on until help came.

Algorithms kicked in and more clips followed with tragedy after tragedy documented for history. I knew some of the folk in the clips and could relate to their situations.

What was good watching this coverage was to be able to establish a thread common to many affected persons and how they had reacted to authority and councils even at such an early time.

Unfortunately I don't think anyone is going to able to correlate all this information and develop an effective response.

Three years down the track  and so many have moved on .So many who had their lives turned upside down will be reluctant to get involved in any action that may attempt to establish accountability.

One guy from Esk Valley did stand out and hopefully I can catch up with him one day and see if he has changed his mind about what he said.

There was a common thread of dissatisfaction  and rightly so.

There are so many issues that need to be confronted head on. We don't need a witch hunt.We need answers to so many questions about what happened but the usual authorities are not going to provide the answers.