2022 Election Stand notes

Here’s a few notes from Election 2022 about where I stood on:

Three Waters. While I support the intent of Three Waters changes – to ensure safe drinking water and better environmental care of water – I do not agree with the models that are being touted and have strongly advocated for a pause and not to have this rushed through. I voted to join Communities for Local Democracy as I was very concerned that the Govt was not engaging with Councils and was forcing a pre-determined one size fits all model on Dunedin. I would support an Otago-Southland model

One Way George Street. I supported the one way option as it delivered more parks than the two way option, plus a safer intersection at Pitt/London/George/Fredrick St (One of the worst 100 intersections in NZ and the number one worst in Dunedin https://www.odt.co.nz/the-star/spotlight-worst-intersections ). It also will deliver a vibrant destination to enhance our main retail area – which we need to support as those businesses are important to Dunedin. Otago is one of the places where online shopping has grown the most, so we have to create an exciting place where people want to go – to combat sitting at home and buying online plus create excitement for our visitor market. There were a huge amount of reports to read to help inform this decision. I also took feedback from the Business South Retail Committee of which I’m a member.

One Way State Highway. I did not vote to change the one way SH1 to two way. I voted to have a conversation with Waka Kotahi (NZTA) about what was the best solution for a once in a generation spend when the new hospital is being built. My concern is to have people get to the hospital in the best, safest and lifesaving way! Plus have the city traffic on SH1 flow efficiently, while allowing for people to walk safely in the area around the hospital – a lot of complicated pieces to put together. In my opinion Waka Kotahi looked like they weren’t prepared to invest properly into a once in a generation spend on SH1, and hadn’t engaged with Council etc as much as they should have when considering that these roads are major arteries in Dunedin.

The actual wording of the resolution (which was changed from a suggested original) was

” a) Supports Programme 2 version 3 being advanced as the basis for future discussion noting the city’s desire for placemaking to be considered in transport infrastructure design

b) Acknowledges that the final programme design will evolve during discussions

c) Endorses the Health Impact Assessment and its findings

d) Continues to advocate to other parties (including ORC and WK) to ensure Shaping Future Dunedin Transport projects are adequately resourced to ensure the success of the overall programme”

ie. Talk with us Waka Kotahi, and make sure you invest enough to make the roads work for our city!

Rates Rises. Like everyone I’ve been unhappy about rates rises. We need to invest wisely so that our city is the best city to live in – but we also have to carefully re-examine our spending, make our investments pay and consider our future budgets. I took a stand against what I perceived as a lolly-scramble approach to annual budgets and am pleased that we now have more discipline around community requests. I also specifically targeted our Council Controlled Organisations (Aurora, City Forests etc) through their agreements with the DCC to focus on better outcomes and more control. This has resulted in a better process and also looking at our investment strategy. We need to keep rates at a sensible level, so we don’t go backwards as a city, but invest wisely in our future.

Infrastructure. Increasing our capital and operational spend on infrastructure is vital for a growing city (we’ve grown around 10,000 people since 2014) and for our standard of living. This is roads, pipes, pools, playgrounds, footpaths and amenities etc. While it makes the city work better it also means lots of orange cones! It also adds to debt as this is intergenerational investment. The key thing is – to make the city a better place to live!

Debt. It’s a four letter word. Both a negative and a positive. Our debt is increasing as we invest capital into our city, building better roads, pipes, pools, museums etc. Debt is capital spend, intergenerational spend, as we take a long investment into an assets life and affordability. Like everyone I’m concerned about the amount of debt, and our plan to decrease our exposure risk. We need to carefully consider any future debt and what it might be delivering for our city eg new playgrounds? new theatres? new bridges?