Posts by Sacha
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drat, got suckered into the wrong thread again - response over there instead, at the one with "Party Central" in its name..
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Perhaps someone should ask Scott Campbell :)
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I think it was implicit that the fan zones would include one on the water front
So why did Auckland City Council decide on Aotea Square?
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Today's light relief from sure-to-please Kerre Woodham:
I want a mayor who has a vision for the future and who understands that the city is comprised of many villages, each with its own character and parochial tribe.
Being a mayor of this city will be like being Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie - bringing together unrelated and diverse characters and blending them into a family.
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Yours faithfully,
Concerned of Grey Lynn -
Another burst from the 'warped sense of priorities' file.
The Automobile Association said yesterday it would be happy to extend its defensive driving programme into every school in the country.
The nine-hour course includes one hour driving with a professional instructor. With 47,247 Year 13 students nationally, and a $165 cost each student, the total cost implementing the plan would be only $7.8 million.
But Transport Minister Steven Joyce balked at the cost and called the proposal "simplistic". He said he agreed young people needed improved skills but "if we had $8 million to spare, we would spend it in different ways".
This from a deluded fool who maintains cars and trucks are king and nothing will ever change that.
There was an exchange during question time in parliament today between Labour MPs and the transport minister, Steven Joyce about the so-called holiday highway and the proposed Hamilton-Auckland commuter rail link.
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(Transport Minister) Steven Joyce: The member opposite once again shows a disturbing misunderstanding of economics and economic efficiency. The reality in this country is that 85 percent of passenger transport occurs in private vehicles, and that will continue to occur.
Read the comments for dissection of the actual numbers and the laments that the opposition failed to use them to.. oppose.
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yet wrote them in quite different ways
Quite
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Accidentally discussing that on another thread.
Is Snedden's RWC2011 organisation contractually obliged to provide a "party central"? No - not a piss up site the way it has been portrayed. As Russell has made clear, that's the Government's own idea on top of the RWC conditions.
Are RWC2011 obligated to provide a fan zone at the bottom of the CBD? Yes, says Snedden.
That counts as news, given that Auckland City Council were presumably briefed before they decided to invest public money in Aotea Square as the only CBD fanzone with its new, expensive big screen. Did something change, or did Councillors make a 7-figure decision without proper information?
Now wondering why the IRB would demand a fan zone 'on the waterfront' as opposed to just in the CBD. Still some investigative journalism required to clarify who has promised what to whom.
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Compare two identical Herald stories by the same journalist about how key campaign staff for Mayoral candidates are interacting with the communications staff of the Councils they currently head.
John Banks and Scott Campbell, 176 words:
Auckland City emails reveal the pattern of communication between former TV3 journalist Scott Campbell and council staff.
Banks pays Campbell to work as his media liaison.
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And councillor Glenda Fryer said: "It looks like the bureaucracy is there helping him not as mayor but for his mayoral campaign."
Len Brown and Conor Roberts, 462 words:
But the content of many of the emails will remain secret as Roberts insists he is a "private person" - even though he is campaign manager for the man who may become one of the most powerful politicians in the country.
The arrangement has attracted criticism and will come under close scrutiny as campaigning for the Auckland Supercity mayor heats up.
The Office of the Auditor General has strict instructions banning council staff from any involvement in campaigning, rules that are intended to make sure public servants are neutral.
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Roberts claimed that Manukau ratepayers got value out of his presence, and they didn't have to pay for it.
But he refused to say who was paying for his time. He knew the identities of the donors who paid his wage but refused to disclose their names.
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Manukau councillor Dick Quax, who supports John Banks, said any contact was time taken from the ratepayer. "There should be no contact between Conor Roberts and council staff. It's wrong."
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Not that deliberate, but revealing. If you only have a top-down "in charge" model of the world in your mental toolkit, any organisation must work that way - the minions do what they're told. The numerical error seems to have come from nostalgic Chris Trotter.
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Martin Snedden has provided a 180-degree 'clarification'
Not necessarily contradictory, but certainly worthy of journalistic follow-up (wonder who'll get there first this time?).
Is Snedden's RWC2011 organisation contractually obliged to provide a "party central"? No - not a piss up site the way it has been portrayed. As Russell has made clear, that's the Government's own idea on top of the RWC conditions.
Are RWC2011 obligated to provide a fan zone at the bottom of the CBD? Yes, says Snedden.
That counts as news, given that Auckland City Council were presumably briefed before they decided to invest public money in Aotea Square as the only CBD fanzone with its new, expensive big screen. Did something change, or did Councillors make a 7-figure decision without proper information?