Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hilary Calvert is an ex-Lawyer, ex-MP and ex-City Councillor and Regional Councillor..

The email line the ODT left out was my main reason for asking questions of the DCC CEO.“Looking at some local instances of the very young, some pre-teens now wanting sex-change surgery and hormones has made some parents I know … Continue reading →

Tonight my speech to an almost full crowd at the Northern Oaks Alhambra Club rooms included the following:

I voted against raising the debt cap from $1.2 BILLION TO $1.6 Billion last year, but indications are that even that may not be enough in two years time if we don’t sell Aurora.

tomorrow Friday 7pm at Northern Oaks Alhambra Club rooms that that will be covered by media this time. Look sideways for details…

That depends how much extra is borrowed to kick the can further down the road… https://www.youtube.com/live/OZIKjTTQ6Aw… DCC spending has long been out of control and often poor value in my view.

Read on blog or ReaderPoint of Order2023 campaign spending per votepoonzteam5443March 22 David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see … Continue reading →

“Town Hall may need scaffolding for years | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz) Construction hoardings and scaffolding around Dunedin’s town hall complex could be in place for more than five years while remediation work is carried out.” The Municipal … Continue reading →

Finally we now have a proposal to get a return from this long dysfunctional public investment. ODT 14/03/2024 “In 2021, Cr Lee Vandervis argued the council should consider selling some of its companies, including Aurora Energy. Cr Vandervis suggested the … Continue reading →

Rates 32        The draft operating budget for 2024/25 shows overall rates revenue increasing by $35.588 million, which is 17.5% higher than 2023/24.  It is also higher than the rate increase of 6.0% provided for in the 10 year plan. There … Continue reading →

Future borrowing [already costing $1 million per week assuming 5.2% interest] for our BILLION$ DCC Group Debt is going to cost even more with a newly negative S&P Outlook rating.Future budgets already planned show this debt increasing by ANOTHER HALF … Continue reading →

As I have been warning for several years already, the inevitable is upon us and is predicted to get steadily even worse this coming year, especially for those with high levels of debt. The ANZ is predicting the Official Cash … Continue reading →

On 1 February ODT readers were advised that DCC had purchased most of the former Forbury Park. No definitive purpose for the land was disclosed. I consider the purchase to be provisionally worthwhile, given the land’s potential to be used … Continue reading →

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/complaint-laid-against-vandervis https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/vandervis-complaint-second-attempt-censure Letters to the Editor printed yesterday… Vandervis complaint ‘pick on Lee time’ Here we go again, it’s pick on Cr Lee Vandervis time. As someone who grew up bilingual and coming from a heritage where there are three … Continue reading →

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-67818872 Beijing shivers through coldest December on record… Perhaps global climate history is due to repeat?