Four decades of water being pushed uphill
The Dunedin City Council has nearly chalked up four decades of moving beyond the legacy of the pre-1989 local body amalgamation.
With amalgamation of the St Kilda borough, it was promised a new South Dunedin Public Library would be established. What a battle that has been, to see this promise honoured.
Then, until 1989, with Green Island being a separate borough, the sewage from the Dunedin City hill suburbs, directed down Kaikorai Valley, could not continue on into another borough for treatment, so was (ingenious idea at the time) channelled through a pipe, via the original 1870s Caversham railway tunnel and through South Dunedin to Musselburgh.
Since 1989, the much larger Dunedin City Council has had the opportunity to rectify this anomaly. Even with the lobbying from the cycling fraternity in recent decades to upgrade the original 1870s Caversham railway tunnel and turn it into an integral part of a new cycle way, the lobbying has certainly not fast tracked the removal of the sewage pipe.
Come on DCC bureaucracy, stop treating the South Dunedin community with the blatant contempt that has become all too obvious. None of our local streets should be subjected to repeats of contaminated flood waters such as those of our respective residents in Surrey St, who have been putting up with this diabolical situation for several decades now. The cumulative four decades of bureaucratic culture in the DCC reminds one of the phrase: to push water uphill.
Heritage and housing
Re Lyndon Fairbairn’s comments (Opinion ODT 2.7.25) in "A masterclass in how to block progress" I would note that Dunedin is renowned for its heritage appeal. Christchurch, sadly, has very few heritage places to retrofit.
The current carbon copies of homes crammed in together, built in 10+ Dunedin suburbs, diminishes the streetscape of each suburb. They do not enhance the heritage look and feel of Dunedin as a whole.
As a past developer, I budgeted for the cost of "red tape", that you say, "stifle progress". As a prudent financier I totally concur with the councillor, who claimed we were "leading the industry". The checks and balances were made to protect others.
On one hand you say, "once New Zealand’s fourth largest city, Dunedin is falling behind" yet at the same time also urge, "the needs of a growing population". Which is it?
The comments about Dunedin having poor housing catastrophises, is unnecessary and harsh. As a prudent landlord who ensures that each apartment is totally Healthy Homes compliant, I find it alarming to read your evaluation of Dunedin rentals and see that as not becoming from a professional man like yourself.
I have seen so many two-storeyed wooden lookalike, little boxes. Are we creating the slums of the future?
We must make retrofitting our first option to protect our heritage established by the early pioneers (who fled from a lack of space, overcrowding and oppressive conditions) and give people appealing, interesting, architecture that will meet Healthy Home requirements, to live in.
[Abridged — length. Editor.]
Fitting session
How ironic that David Seymour accuses Te Pāti Māori of "insane views" and being in Parliament to "wreck it" (democracy) when it is his party's Regulatory Standards Bill that is the real wrecking ball for democracy. Likewise Shane Jones calling the Otago Regional Council the "Kremlin of the South Island" when it is his party trumpeting the fast-track legislation which is attempting to sideline the democratic process. When the cap fits.
Painting a reminder of respected literary figures
Congratulations to Quinn Bailey and others involved in the Connect[ed] exhibition at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. (ODT 3.6.25).
The painting that features prominently behind Quinn is worthy of a bit more mention than the title, Artist and Dunedin Writer Friends. This work by the late Dunedin artist Ivan Hill was featured at the Artists and Writers Exhibition back when the gallery was still located at Logan Park circa 1994. Ivan depicts himself floating downward with a glass of wine and surrounded by tumbling kereru to join his writer friends.Those featured include George Griffiths, Hone Tuwhare, Errick Olssen, Peter Olds, Cilla McQueen, Brian Turner and Roger Hall.
If Ivan were alive today he would take great pride in knowing his work would feature in this worthwhile health/art concept
It’s a scandal
Page 3 ODT 24.6.25: $16m support package for Ukraine. Headline below: Housing project cuts ‘perfect storm' for rise in homelessness. People living in tents locally while our government scatters money frivolously. Scandalous.
Mayor’s letter post-Gaza vote slap in face
Thank you for your article on the mayor’s letter (ODT 3.6.25): it does help mitigate the shock at this slap in the face for it not to be swept under the rug.
As one of those who got the ball rolling, the main thing I’d like readers to understand is that we came to the Dunedin City Council with this, to ask them for cross-party support.
To the question "is it appropriate for council to be requesting the government to ask their own MPs to support a minor opposition party’s Bill?" I’d say emphatically yes, it is. Because council were given a clear roadmap. They were told: "Only six more coalition MPs are needed to give this an urgent first reading at central government. Thanks to a new tool, Standing Order 288, MPs can vote their conscience. We don’t believe a good conscience stops deadlocked at political party lines. Here at local level, you’re also a broad political church. You have community backing. So you have an opportunity here, with somewhat lower stakes, to light the path for the higher-ups."
That’s why Cr Garey said the mayor’s letter undermined the whole idea. Councillors were directly asked to consider a conciliatory approach and they chose to make it party political and divisive.
Faced with the ethical dilemma of "might this give a party we disagree with a windfall?" versus "how can we help alleviate locals’ suffering?" detractors decided the former was more important.
It was irrelevant who had introduced this Bill. We all would have preferred the sitting government to put forward their own legislation well before more than the combined tonnage of Dresden, Hamburg and London in World War 2 was dropped on Gaza.
It is a small strip of land roughly the size of Invercargill but home to 2.1 million people, half of whom are children.
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