Gurgles from Guyton Street
A (remarkably well informed) anonymous commenter notes:
It's all around Council. The Foundation has donated the $1 million. Good on them and good on the mayor for asking them. The Splash Centre extension is suddenly very affordable.Indeed it has. But it's not quite as clear cut as the gloating from Guyton Street would have you believe, gentle readers - the Diva won't be walking across the pool when it's opened after all.
First up, some background. The Whanganui Community Foundation's focus is on families from low socio-economic demographics, with 80 to 90 percent of their grants going in that direction, a lot for schools initiatives.
They see the Splash Centre as a family oriented place so it fits their philosophy. In fact the Centre has been under consideration for some time (not just since the Diva and Unsworth turned up cap-in-hand yesterday).
The Foundation has operated under budget last two years so the $1 million isn't going to break the bank. The last annual report for 2004-05 shows total donations for year were $1,090,745 (including $250,000 set aside for the Sarjeant extension but not required) so the Foundation came in under the $1.4 million budget. Perhaps as well as a cheque, the Board could give Mickey some lessons about living within one's means.
Since the Foundation's inception it has given $20 million to various causes - earnings on the amount given when the Wanganui Savings Bank was wound up along with other trustee savings banks.
But what's not being made clear in all the hoopla is that it isn't a no strings $1 million handout to a triumphant Mayor. In fact it's half that.
- $500,000 is a straight donation.
- $300,000 is tagged to matching community donations, so John Unsworth still needs that bake sale.
- $200,000 won't go to the pool per se, but rather will be used to help disadvantaged families (region-wide) access the centre.
Of that, Council has committed $2,500,000 leaving a shortfall of $1,205,947. But let's not forget that costs are escalting by between $1,300 and $1,460 a day (depending on whether or not the hydroslide stays). So by the end of March - and assuming a best-case scenario - the shortfall will be $1,218,947. By the end of April, $1,257,947. And by the end of 2006, $1,575,147... and so on.
As fast as they fill the pool with money, it leaks out.
Comments on this post are now closed.
31 comments:
Hi again. Vision supporter here. This is just the sort of thing that puts me off. Why couldn't the Mayor give us the facts rather than this ludicrous spin? It plays right into the hands of the malcontents.
Good on the Community Foundation, but why does Michael have to misrepresent their contribution?
I'm woried about what Rob Vinsen said too. If the community can't talk about these things, if time isn't properly allocated for debate, that sits pretty uneasily next to the promise of "direct democracy."
Just my 2c worth.
So the whole point of that stupid press release yesterday was another "scary mayor" pile of e-coli? (Thx for the metaphor Watchers)
So that he could present himself as Mayorman today.
Michael, get some therapy, man. Or grow up, or something. You're like Jekyll & Hyde.
"Hi again. Vision supporter here."
(Anon 7.43pm)
Another bullshit post from some sad sack prtending to be something they aren't. Laws has got the Foundation to cough (great) and the Splash extension will be built (double great) but only the negative nonentities here protest. Don't go for a swim then when its built otherwise I'll personally drown you.
Michael Laws is doing his job and its great to have him upsetting you all so much. The best part he can do it all with impunity and nothing anybody can do to stop him.
Vinsen is such a loser that he's just watched $1 million go to a project the city want & none on his pathetic tram with no wheels.
What's all the fuss about. I've been to the council's site, read the press statements and am really pleased that Wanganui will get the pool that it needs and deserves. We sgould have built the 50 metre pool when it was first proposed but better late than never.
As for Rob V I'm very surprised at his negativity because it is such a popular project and one that has the whole community behind it. Rob lost his council seat in 2001 because he was seen as negative and he does not seem to have mellowed with the years.
"THe tram with no wheels"
That is a bit harsh.
9.27, 9.28, 9.32, Bob, Miss Lush or the little mean one .... get a life!
I'll be glad when the Splash Centre Extension is finished. We have to invest in our infrastructure at all levels or we haven't got a community at all.
That won't stop me from thinking that the Mickey Mouse Mayor is a complete waste of space.
Have I got this right? Mickey and the mice vowed and declared six months ago that the council would have nothing to do with the extension unless the cost was kept at $4.5 mill, and said they would not underwrite it. No way!
A million dollar blowout later, the Foundation has come up with $500K in readies. They’re not even back where they started six months ago and the total keeps rising by over a thousand bucks a day.
Unsworth and his so-called fundraising whizzes who have now had almost a year to get off their chuffs have come up with the princely sum of …. wait for it … $25,000 towards the $1.5 mill they were told they needed to raise for the project to go ahead. Now they are suddenly going to wave their magic wands and suck $300,000 out of this community to match the foundation’s tagged amount. Yeah right! How many RAVs can be raffled in this town before the everyone, man woman and child, has scored one?
Cr Bullock got the job of chairing the working party but was quickly shoved aside when Mickey smelt the whiff of a Comical headline saying “$1m boost for Splash project”.
Mickey now says to the gullible punters, forget what I said last year, if you ever even heard it among all the other bullshit, ‘cos if I don’t get myself out of this mess I’m a bloated corpse. The mice will squeak but up will go their little paws when the “underwrite” vote is taken today.
Will Cr Bullock do the only thing open to her if she’s got any self respect, and tell him where to stick his working party? Will Ray Stevens tell all (and will the Chron print it)? Will anyone ask who’s going to meet the $800,000 and rising extra operating costs for the pool?
Will pigs fly?
Will Baker Hogan suggest a special rate?
You betcha!
Mickey, insteads of spewing your hate and bile around here, instead of offering to drown people (anytime, puppy) why don't you back up your own gobshite and help John Unsworth with some community fundraising initiatives?
Because you're all mouth and no spine?
"Hi again. Vision supporter here."
(Anon 7.43pm)
Another bullshit post from some sad sack pretending to be something they aren't. Laws has got the Foundation to cough (great) and the Splash extension will be built (double great) but only the negative nonentities here protest. Don't go for a swim then when its built otherwise I'll personally drown you.
########################################
AND THIS IT A TRUE VISION SUPPORTER! THAT I BELIVE ! Everyone is entitled to their view point, get over it.
Oh dear. Seems that a leaky pool might not be the only worry our Mickey Mouse Mayor has soon enough.
"A landmark legal ruling ordering a woman to pay £10,000 in damages for defamatory comments posted on an internet chatroom site could trigger a rush of similar lawsuits, a leading libel lawyer warned today.
"Michael Smith, a Ukip activist who stood for the Portsmouth North seat last year, became the first person to win damages yesterday after being accused of being a "sex offender" and "racist blogger" on a Yahoo! discussion site..."
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1737001,00.html
That potty mouth might be about to come back and bite him.
Laws has got the Foundation to cough (great) and the Splash extension will be built (double great)... blah blah blah
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Let's get this straight. You did NOT get the foundation to cough, Mickey, as you so endearingly put it. The Foundation was not sitting waiting to be swayed by your charm offensive, and it's no wonder you cut Cr Bullock out of the loop because it would be ever so inconvenient for you to have a truth-teller in the loop.
Selling this crock of shit is going to be the ultimate test of your spin machine, and the extent of the gullibility of the Whanganui population.
To anon @ 11.45am
Vision supporters can spell!
"Laws has got the Foundation to cough..."
===================================
For anyone who doesn't already know - the above statement is a lie. Laws timed his bullshit to tie in with what they were going to do anyway.
No wonder Morgs has been sounding even more bitter and twisted than usual of late in his comments here. Seems he was overlooked when Sue P picked a bunch of yoof to be members of the Youth Committee. Perhaps Mickey whispered in her ear.
Anon @3.27pm
Even a fool wuld see that no submission from the mayor = no money from foundation/trust on both of them and what a shame that this is such a whiner's paradise because both trust and ML are doing a great job.
Funny how Barabara Bullock also praised the mayor in the Chronicle.
Vision supporters can spell!
-----------------------------------
Here are some words you can use to test their spelling:
Hypocrisy
Fraud
Corruption
Narcissism
Psychopathy
Incompetence
Has anyone else noticed that the mayor seems to have added councillors mCgregor and Dahya to Rangi Wills joining the vision camp? Where is the spine?
The whole copuncil, according to this mornin's Comical, went into confidence to discuss the Splash Centre. So it isn't just this mayor but the whole council that are the problem.
Perhaps( due to some ridiculous anon comments posted here), I should make my position clear on the Splash Centre.
I believe that the extension of the Splash Centre is the most important project that Council is currently undertaking. As a Board Member of Sport Wanganui, the managers of the pool, I am very aware of the overwhelming need for the extension - especially improved learn to swim facilities. The increasing trend by schools of closing their own pools ( due to cost, and OSH red tape)is placing pressure on the existing inadequate facilities. I believe that there is a strong case for Vote Education funding to help construct the extension, and that Council should pursue this avenue of funding.
My concern ,however, is the complete lack of real information that the Council( the Mayor)is prepared to feed to a rather naive( on this issue) public. Yes, the community needs this facility, but they should know and accept that it will come with a significant cost. The Mayor refuses to mention that the estimated increase( and this was based on the original cost and prior to borrowing)in the Community Facilities rate will be at least $57pa.per ratepayer, and that running costs will increase by more than $500,000 pa. There are ample examples in other cities where the cost of running their aquatic facility is becoming politically unpopular. Yesterdays meeting was a travesty of the democratic process - the Splash Centre item was pulled from the agenda to be discussed in secret. "Commercial Sensitivity" was the reason put forward by His Worship. Absolute lies- no Councillor( not even the Vision ones) knew this was going to happen. Even Denis McGowan( the pool designer) who I spoke to said" Well, thats the shortest meeting I've ever been to, I've been told to go home" Yesterdays exhibition was symptomatic of the lack of public information and manner the whole Splash Centre debate has been handled by the Council powerbrokers - including the dodgy referendum.
If the Council dont tell the ratepayers what it's going to cost them, then at some stage it will end in tears - and that could jeopardise this much needed facility.That is my major concern.
Dotty Dodo said:
Whilst attending a beautiful wedding out of town last weekend, I was delighted to hear so much interest in Wanganui. Guests from all over New Zealand were asking about our city – our Mayor, our gardens, our arts studios .... There was considerable pride amongst the Wanganui guests that we reside in such an 'out-there' city.
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Dotty spins and spins and spins some more.
No doubt she, like anyone who has ventured out of town recently, got hit with a barrage of anti-Laws comment -- unless of course out of town for her was the chimps tea party at Wellington Zoo. But then she'd hardly be able to tell the difference from the vision caucus anyway.
Oh and it was interesting to read the syncophantic piece of crap she refers to as a "sensational publication" announced that one Michael Walls is the mayor of Whangas. As she so squirmingly says: Thank you New Zealand Today.
With the current personnel and systems in place – and the increased transparency and accountability – council will only be able to blame itself, this time, if we get it wrong. - 23 February 2006 MAYOR'S E-COLUMN
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What a lot of shite. Today's Chronic has all the evidence we need of this council's increased transparency and accountability .... Mickey kicked out the public and the press while he dealt with the brown stuff hitting the fan over the Splash debacle and oh so conveniently made sure now Stevens, Bullock et al were silenced, so far as the suckers (ie ratepayers) were concerned, anyhow, and the Hindson report was buried.
Splash Centre commercially sensitive? What rubbish. Politically sensitive more like.
To Rob Vinsen;
Rob I saw your tram project on the agenda but then I heard today that the mayor has scuttled your govt funding in favour of the Splash centre. Is that the reason you're so bitter? And surely the mayor's mob read these postings so haven't you just done the tram project a grave disservice in dissing the same council you need to get funding & support. Own goal, mate.
Poor old RV. You lose two elections and end up posting here.
I agree with Rob V - neither I nor anyone I know disagrees that the Splash Centre extension is a laudable idea and of course, it predates Mickey's circus anyway.
As Rob says, it's the hypocrisy and bullshit woven around it by this mayor that is the problem.
After all that screeching about the gallery "Mythic Million" Mickey now is building his own myths around the foundation million, starting with the media release he vomited onto the council website within minutes of the decision this week -- not even a mention of the fact that only half a million was going to arrive in unconditional cash form for the building.
Mickey's Mythic Million, now that has a nice ring to it. Laws Legacy to this town is going to be horrendous. Wait for the commissioner to be brought in to try to sort it all out.
anonymayor said
Even a fool wuld see that no submission from the mayor = no money from foundation/trust ....
********
There are ten trustees on the foundation who know this is bullshit and they only need to tell ten people and they only need to tell ten more ... and as with just about everything else you claim, the whole town will soon know you are lying.
Has Mickey mayor developed Parkinson's? His increasingly bizarre comments here seem to come in clusters suggesting his fingers are as out of control as his gob.
Looks like even the tram project is on his hit list even though it seems to fulfil the "good for the economy" criteria that he's so het up about. Perhaps he sees Rob V as a possible political opponent so has no qualms about destroying such a worthwhile project.
This mayor is barking mad. He should be knackered and cyber chipped.
Here he goes:
Anonymous said...
To Rob Vinsen;
Rob I saw your tram project on the agenda but then I heard today that the mayor has scuttled your govt funding in favour of the Splash centre. Is that the reason you're so bitter? And surely the mayor's mob read these postings so haven't you just done the tram project a grave disservice in dissing the same council you need to get funding & support. Own goal, mate.
2:51 PM, March 24, 2006
Anonymous said...
Poor old RV. You lose two elections and end up posting here.
2:52 PM, March 24, 2006
So, Mickey, if your theory is that Vinsen only posts here because he has lost two elections, what's your excuse? Just getting in BEFORE you lost the next election, perhaps?
anonymous 10:47 PM 22 Mar. said...
We sgould have built the 50 metre pool when it was first proposed but better late than never.
You might be in for a big dissapointment, the only plan I have seen showed no changes to the main pool. They were just adding a bunch of 'necessities' like a wave pool, spa pools, water slide, etc. There might have been a learners pool, which would be good, but its hard to align the other stuff with the needs of a community so deeply in debt.
I wonder how people would respond to clearing our debt as one of the referendumb options?
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