Posts by Sacha
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don't bother being an informed and active citizen
It's hardly surprising when lack of any tangible impact on decision-making puts people off, no matter how active and informed they have been. Improved transparency has been one of Hide's catchcries and I certainly look forward to seeing that manifested in Auckland's new arrangements.
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Information is Beautiful has statistics and a graph.
I believe there was disagreement recently in another thread about those figures. Probly the one that degenerated.
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Bitching about your rates bill is certainly futile in the face of an anti-democratic government prepared to do what this one has done in Canterbury and Auckland.
And you've seen how much "involvement" in those processes was offered by those who think it's theirs to withhold. In that clip, Hide seems to be acknowledging the value of the select committee process in tweaking the 3rd Auckland bill. Shame him and his Cabinet colleagues didn't see that for the first parts of the process.
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Hide sounded odd at the press conference. All that "it took me a while to get my head around the changes" stuff. Was he sulking?
I don't think anyone has posted the Herald's brief video snip. Interesting.
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There's an interesting line towards the end of that Orsman story about costs.
Mr Hide said that when the Government looked at the long-term plans of the existing councils, it took out a lot of spending on things such as information technology.
The Transition Agency is solely responsible for such LTCCP reviews according to the detailed first Bill. Either the Minister is admitting that major decisions were made by the government instead, or he was actually talking about the ATA and the journalist recorded it wrong.
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"we think the Council shouldn't run certain services on a day-to-day basis" is not the same as "let's structure the COOs for future sale".
True. My understanding is that there have been certain unique design features compared with all other Councils and their trading arms - such as the new Auckland Council not having any say in what CCOs it wants and at least some CCOs like Water and Transport having statutory protection from being changed much by the Council.
There is clearly some backing down in this latest version of the enabling Bill. I'm just not sure how far it actually goes and how much is time-starved journos buying the govt line that there's nothing to see here. For instance, Joshua has mentioned uncertainty about the extent of forced openness of CCO meetings, whereas Bernard Orsman says it's all open now.
I really need to find some time to read the damned thing.
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National Library's official posting.
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It's great we're getting passionate, because this stuff matters more than most people seem to realise so far. I am heartened by Joshua's comments because I respect his thorough and consistent engagement with this.
I agree with Graeme that the Royal Commission's recommendations were not all golden - most notably the tension an Auckland Minister would have introduced at the Cabinet table.
However their proposal of six strong second-tier councils to balance a regional focus from the top was well-reasoned. They also proposed more effective community engagement than has ever been offered by community boards.
All this was based on actual evidence about what has worked elsewhere, rather than tired ideology that hasn't - in places like Colorado and California. That's the main difference. Watch for Hide and co's next moves on local government nationwide. And don't think the Nats aren't supportive - he's just a convenient fall guy.
That Press op-ed is great, thank you Philip.
And Sofie, there's no transition agency for the area north of Rodney. Yet.
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and one from Julian at Seradigm
What I loved about Paul Reynolds was the way he brought texture and richness to the digital world. He had a unique way of connecting the beautiful, tactile, physical, and even musty nature of art galleries, museums, and libraries with the expression of knowledge in digital environments. He seemed to understand the innately human aspects of both, and bridge them in a way no one else could.
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Glad to see you here, Nigel