Containing expenses
You've heard of those "Guess the Weight" contests that used to be popular at the seaside... well here's the LawsWatch version.
Guess the weight of the financial burden imposed on Wanganui's ratepayers by the necessity to have this wall of containers put in place to protect residents in the area from the noise of tired and emotional persons attending the Masters Gamers.
Of course this attractive amenity was never required for past Games, but the problem this year is that the "tent village" which is usually at the back of the stadium buildings can't be built there because that, of course, is home to the construction of Mickey’s Mega Splash Centre extension.
Last games here two years ago Mickey, in the first flush of his mayoral power trip, was heckled and booed by some sporty guys as he appeared at the opening ceremony. Here's hoping they'll appreciate his generosity this time (we're sure he'll take the credit, even though it's the ratepayers who are providing the barrier).
So Watchers, is the cost of this (no doubt kept well off the Splash Centre balance sheet) largesse:
- Hardly anything
- Not much at all
- $60,000 (yes, that's right, $60,000)
- Whatever Mickey says it is as he butt-covers on his website and Warburton looks for a reason to slip the account into the Public Excluded order paper.
61 comments:
Based on the soggy dog story, couldn't Warburton just produce a receipt for any old amount that takes his fancy?
I was at the opening ceremony for the Masters Games in 2005.
"Heckled and booed" was one guy who'd had too many Steinlagers and was promotly shooshed into silence by his mates. Laws was well received.
If you're going to criticise the guy, get your facts right.
What a stupid posting. The fate of Whanganui's glass education in the air and you complain about containers at the stadium? You are starting to lose the plot - over half of the city voted for the Splash extension as their #1 priority. Where did the Sarjeant extension get?
over half of the city
Are you confusing half of the city with half of those who bothered to vote because you don't understand the difference, or because you're trying to deliberately obfuscate the issue?
Heckled and booed is probably an exxageration but I observed him being politely tolerated by locals who were squirming uncomfortably in their seats as the Mayor showed his obvious disdain for the powhiri and then as an audible aside asked how much the Council was putting into the games while the principal sponsor was speaking.
When you gutless creeps stand yourself and do a better job than ML and his team? and will all those glass people who co-operate with city hall in getting things underway be regarded as traitors too??
#######################################
Of course, they will not be seen a traitors ( they all worked really hard to save the glass ) but if the Diva thinks he's won their votes, he needs to put his straight jacket back on. He's done too much large scale damage to the arts community to be forgiven.
Looks like LawsWatch was on the money with this one, with Mickey (@10.32 and 10.34) frantically trying to change the subject without addressing the point of the story. You know you’ve got him when he desperately pulls out his tired old referendumb Sarjeant vs Splash diversion and is dumb enough to think it will work anywhere but the RSA and with anyone smarter than diVisionites like the Pleasantses and their dogs.
Its a democracy you idiot Laws watch. only those who vote get their opinions taken into consideration. No-one counts the votes of those who don't vote for MPs, mayors, councillors. So if 55% of Wangas votes for the referendum and over half of those vote for the Splash Centre (and reject the Sarjeant categorically) then that is democracy. That is way the system has worked for the last 100 years - don't vote and your opinion is irrelevant.
What a stupid posting. The fate of Whanganui's glass education in the air and you complain about containers at the stadium? You are starting to lose the plot - over half of the city voted for the Splash extension as their #1 priority.
#######################################
No, half the city did not vote for the Splash extension , only about 4000 voted for the pool and of course the price has blown out way over the price on the referendum. So it was the most popular in the pile, hardly #1 priority. This tin shed will not mark the Diva's place in history.
The glass episode has been watched by a number of us and if we put aside our perceptions then the mayor deserves a lot of the credit.
He was the only person who provided a solution while the rest of us made some noise but we could not do anything to convince Ucol not to cancel the courses. As of Wednesday night students and staff were still being told that the courses would not go ahead by Ucol.
So something the mayor must have done on Wednesday night changed their mind and even if he did plunder Wanganui Gas then so what? Perhaps that is why the WDC bought out Vector last year?
We need to be generous where generosity is due. No-one has ever doubted that Michael Laws is intelligent and it was good seeing that intelligence positively used.
only those who vote get their opinions taken into consideration
We don't deny your precious White-Elephant-with-budget-diarrhoea won the largest number of votes of those who voted.
However, with almost half the town so uninspired by it - or the Sarjeant extension for that matter - that they couldn't be bothered ticking a few boxes, you can hardly imply - as most pro-Mickey commenters do - that this overpriced edifice is something the majority of Wanganui is breathlessly waiting for.
Perhaps what the people who didn't vote (and a fair few of those who did) would have liked to have seen was an option that read "stop squandering money on anything but necessary repairs and maintence, fix basic services like stormwater, and repay debt". But that was never going to be an option on a referendum run by a man obsessed with building a bricks-and-mortar legacy to obscure the pathetic state of his political one.
"but if the Diva thinks he's won their votes....."
.....................
Uh, he doesn't need their votes. He's not seeking re-election.
Emma Camden very quiet
ML wants the dog dead as much as anyone. That's siding with the Pleasants? I don't think so.
We need to be generous where generosity is due. No-one has ever doubted that Michael Laws is intelligent and it was good seeing that intelligence positively used.
*****************************************************
I'd have to agree with this posting, however, I would add that it would have been a sad day that any mayor did not go into fight for about the only thing that is a one-off for Wanganui, surely that's his job? Anyway, it's all the collective work of all the staff and artist over many years that have put the city into the position of having a great profile in glass, Laws could see the marketing potential, it's not like the artist having pointed this out before.
But it is good to see him working for the good rather than always dividing.
Well Done Mickey....
anonymickey said:
ML wants the dog dead as much as anyone. That's siding with the Pleasants? I don't think so.
12:18 PM, February 09, 2007
+++++++++
Then why did he suggest that the dog wasn't really at fault because something must have been done to provoke it ... ie try to blame the victim and look after his mates.
Mickey must have been pleased to hear his press release/right of reply read out on Close Up last night.... right up until Sainsbury asks why the mayor of wanganui continually broke parking laws.
You set yourself up for that one :)
Why do you shit on your own doorstep? Aren't broadcasters supposed to stay together?
Let me guess *this time* you weren't speaking as Michael Laws you were speaking as the Mayor of Wanganui. Wish I could switch alto egos depanding on what i wanted to say.
Credit where due though, well done on the Glass thing. Well done to Wanganui Gas too... even though you were given no option and were told you were doing it.
So now the teaching of glass in Wanganui is subject to Council funding - read political interference - the same way Mickey wants the Museum to be.
This solution is a potential disaster.
It's a ridiculous argument to suggest that non-voters be counted as anti-voters.
A person who does not engage in the democratic process has made a choice that the choices be made by others, and that he/she will abide by them.
There was no organised boycott of the referenda. That 55% voted was a ringing endorsement of the process.
By the way if the mayor is not standing again then how can his actions of yesterday be seen as courting votes? It makes his actions even the more remarkable if you ask me.
Anonymous said...
"but if the Diva thinks he's won their votes....."
.....................
Uh, he doesn't need their votes. He's not seeking re-election.
12:17 PM, February 09, 2007
__________________________________
Did it ever accord to you that he could change his mind?
So Keith (Lazarus) Smith is now appearing as a council spokesman on Virginia Lake pollution. Wasn’t he one of the lambs sacrificed on Mickey’s orders so he could have an extra $500,000 to spend on stuff like container walls and waterfronts for white elephants?
So where will the salaries for the likes of Smith who came back through the backdoor be hidden, Mickey? Or will you get Dr Death to front for you on that one, too?
Did it ever accord to you that he could change his mind?
5:52 PM, February 09, 2007
Did it ever "accord" (or maybe you mean occur) to YOU he could have staged the whole “I won’t stand because my family needs me” garbage as one last gasp publicity stunt using his family to get himself in Woman’s Daze before it was too late?
anon said
So where will the salaries for the likes of Smith who came back through the backdoor be hidden, Mickey?
Yes but just think what they’re “saving” in salaries for all those jobs (ie planners) they can’t fill because no one but Keith Smith and few other desperate and dateless drongoes want to work for Mad Mickey.
The new HR woman is going to need all the help she can get to “sell” a dysfunctional no-morale workplace to anyone with half a brain, let along any real interest in sustainable local government.
anon said
So where will the salaries for the likes of Smith who came back through the backdoor be hidden, Mickey?
Yes but just think what they’re “saving” in salaries for all those jobs (ie planners) they can’t fill because no one but Keith Smith and few other desperate and dateless drongoes want to work for Mad Mickey.
The new HR woman is going to need all the help she can get to “sell” a dysfunctional no-morale workplace to anyone with half a brain, let along any real interest in sustainable local government.
Yes but just think what they’re “saving” in salaries for all those jobs (i.e. planners) they can’t fill because no one but Keith Smith and few other desperate and dateless drongoes want to work for Mad Mickey.
########################################
Does anyone know how many vacancies the council has right now?
Anonymous said...
Did it ever accord to you that he could change his mind?
5:52 PM, February 09, 2007
Did it ever "accord" (or maybe you mean occur) to YOU he could have staged the whole “I won’t stand because my family needs me” garbage as one last gasp publicity stunt using his family to get himself in Woman’s Daze before it was too late?
8:57 PM, February 09, 2007
===================================
To commenter 8:57 PM, February 09, 2007.
What a wonderful display of question dodging.
Aside from the 5:52 PM, February 09, 2007 commenter's mis-use of grammar, your reply still didn't answer the question.
Many folks believe the Mickey will change his mind and stand for re-election. And, will not be convinced until after election day.
If you are capable of "reading between the lines" by listening to RadioLive with Michael Laws, reading the SST, and Wanganui Chronicle, Mickey is, and has been, campaigning for re-election.
Welcome to the Glorious Republic of Wanganui, the only place in New Zealand where citizens are taxed twice for education & health, not to mention their Glorious Leader’s grand building schemes.
Smart move, Mickey, to stay away from the Masters Games opening yesterday, because the way you were being talked by the visiting hoi polloi was less than complementary and might have led to a repeat of the booing.
But “Deputy Dot’s” comment that she hoped not to be deputy by the next games went down like a cup of cold sick.
went down like a cup of cold sick.
__________________________________
Yes, she looked red-faced and sweaty on the stage. I thought it must be the lighting but then I realised that everyone else looked normal. So crass, to be electioneering at such an event. Still, that's Dotty for you.
Says Mickey:
“It is a personal view, but I think that blah blah blah blah"
And then puts THIS headline on it:
COUNCIL CONFIRMS NEW PHILOSOPHY
Perhaps Mickey's loyal apologist can enlighten us as to where in the minutes of a council meeting the council "confirmed this new philosophy".
Or is it, yet again, just a big mayoral wank that will have come as a total surprise to the councillors we elected.
Still, that's Dotty for you.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
People are too familiar with Dot, they just don't take her seriously.
People are too familiar with Dot, they just don't take her seriously.
4:50 PM, February 10, 2007
It'll take more than an MBA, in view of her record, to convince anyone that she'd be any more able than the incompetent Mickey at running a $30m-plus business. She should get herself out of the running now.
I feel sorry for Dot, people I talk to all over the city just dismiss her as being too dumb for mayor.
Hey, nice picture of the containers.
Should leave a big size yellow (dead grass) spot on the area for awhile.
And, probably a good size depression in the ground from the weight of the containers sinking into the soil. Especially when it rains for quite awhile.
Oh yes, what was the cost to have the acoustical sound measurements?
Did the city flip the bill for the acoustical sound measurement technician's accomdations like the city flipped the bill for the for the out of town Heart of Wanganui architects and planners accomodations?
Dot Mckinnon too dumb for mayor?
COmpared to Laws maybe but to Chas poynter, John Martin and Alan anderson. They don't have a high school diploma between them. Their political abilities were similarly limited.
MickeyMayor in his latest rant on the tourism MRI:
”I think that’s another the problems. You’ve got 15 people who have to sign off on everything. It’s not the most efficient way of doing things.”
Yes, Mein Fuhrer. Let's export our Leader's version of "democracy" across the borders and create the glorious Second Reich where efficiency rules! Seig Heil!
Rory Smith, owner of Tamara Backpackers in Wanganui, said Mr Laws needed to understand tourism “but unfortunately he doesn’t”.
So, what is preventing worthless Mickey from gaining the understanding he lacks? Vanity. He appears so enormous to himself that he can't see anything else.
Meanwhile, in the real world he's a joke, a laughing stock. When you demonstrate your ignorance as much as the Wairoa Wanker, what would you expect?
Rory Smith sounds like he's joined the thousands of other Wanganuvians who have nothing but contempt for the Mayor. Meanwhile, Mickey's vanity is telling him not to worry, because 26 of us listen to his radio show. Sad, but true.
Dot Mckinnon too dumb for mayor?
COmpared to Laws maybe...
___________________________________
Oh right, and Laws is so smart he can fail to grasp: tourism, art, the worth of having a glass course (read his original "thoughts" on the matter), why you shouldn't call an employee a "useless c**t", etc. etc.
If he's so smart how come he was forced to resign his seat in parliament for being corrupt?
Still, I agree, Dot's dumber even than Mickey.
Eleven years ago and he wasn't "forced" - she-eet. Get over it. The rest of the country has. In fact as I remember it everyone thought he was honorable at the time and every scandal since and his act looks less and less selfish.
The glass community - with the notable exception of the Camdens - gave strong support to the mayor last week. Check out the WDC website and the WINC report. Isn't it ironic that both Wanganui AMND Lawswatch actually need Michael Laws to change his mind and stand again. Wanganui needs him and Lawswatch does too.
anonymickey lies:
as I remember it everyone thought he was honorable ...
Sorry Mickey but it's time you climbed down out of your own bottom and realised just what a little plonker "everyone" thinks you are. A bit like the dwarves who danced on the tables of the European royals, you're mildly amusing but only till the next midly amusing dwarf comes along. You filled a bit of a "vacuum" left by the exit of Johnny Banks but there are dozens of rabid little fools nipping at your heels, and some seriously talented, creative and intelligent people in the wings to mop your stain from Wanganui in about eight months.
So read our lips: Bugger off, find a nappy to change and go fix whatever in your life needs fixing.
"Feedback from the group was extremely positive and gratitude for the efforts of the Mayor in particular, and others involved, was expressed," said Mr Quigley.
******
Quiggles was last seen emerging from pharmacy, stooped and gaunt, and carrying copious supplies of vaseline.
he wasn't "forced"
__________________________________
yes he was - as a matter of historical fact - he only resigned after Winston Peters demanded it.
Everyone thought he was honourable at the time - except me and about 4 million other Kiwis who thought him grotesque and corrupt.
Looks like the cleanout at the Chronic is just about complete ... soon it'll be just Mickey and Mas and the class dunce Koubaridis ... oh and the chick from Invercargill sitting on Mickey's dic-- sorry, knee.
If you read all the coverage of the time (and we did during the election campaign in 2004) Laws insisted he resign and Peters relented. There were also the polls of the time with the majority saying Laws shouldn't resign - TV 3 and the HB herald-Tribune which was Laws' home newspaper.
It was John Martin and Ross Mitchell-Anyon who insisted that we investigate and we did. Far from crucifying Laws he came out of his resignation so well that he was able to rebuild his public and then political career. Get your facts right.
The interesting thing is that although Laws lost votes because of this controversy at the last local body elections, he still won easily and despite the fax and poster campaigns against him. Now we judge on what he has done these past two years and a lot of us are hoping he will reconsider because Wangas needs him.
Anonymous posters criticise Dot McKinnon. She has a successful business, 20 years of community service an MBA and a proven record of civic service. That puts her four points ahead of her nearest rival.
Thats a very unfair comment about John Quigley. With the notable exception of the Camdens the whole glass community and most in the wider arts community in Wanganui is totally behind the mayor on the independent Glass School concept.
Who was cnspicuously absent at the glass cluster meeting on Thursday night?
Should someone found guilty of an imprisonable offence 11 years ago be denied the opportunity for employment and public office in 2007?
Most reasonable people would say No, and that provided there has been no repeat then even the Clean Slate Act removes the stain.
So what of Michael Laws?
He was not found guilty of anything in 1996 and unlike Awatere-Huata, Tuariki Delamere, Nick Smith, John Banks and Philip Field he faced no Police charges at all and was found guilty of nothing.
Get over it, Everyone else has.
And wasn't one of the original creators of this blog actually extradited overseas for Police investigation? As it turned out he was found guilty of nothing but should that guy be stopped from having a job or standing for public office? Of course not.
soon it'll be just Mickey and Mas and the class dunce Koubaridis ... oh and the chick from Invercargill sitting on Mickey's dic-- sorry, knee.
---------------------------------
You're gross LW
Get over it, Everyone else has.
___________________________________
Touched a nerve, did I lowlife? Someone (surely Mickey isn't so pathetic as to have posted it himself) was saying Laws is clever. I merely used several examples of dumb behaviour to show that he's nothing of the sort.
Now you're busy trotting out the same tired old lies, exactly the same ones that Mickey does. Are you his parrot?
Polly wanna cracker?
"There has been no repeat"
___________________________________
What a load of shit. Laws has lied and lied and lied ever since. Business as usual. He even lies about his lies.
He has continued to exhibit exactly the corruption that earned the contempt of a nation in 1996. His book proves it, if you can believe any of it, or stomach the vanity therein.
For example, he was lying when he said he'd be a full-time mayor. He compounded it by claiming to work 60 hours a week as mayor.
Lies are his only strong suit.
So what of Michael Laws?
___________________________________
Don't forget that during the election campaign for the Wanganui Mayoralty, Mickey told the members of diVision to write letters and then sign other people's names to them. Joan Street and District Councillor Nicki Higgie refused to do so.
If that's not corruption what is? It's not just lying, of course, it's getting other people to conspire to tell lies as a group.
Compare and contrast this recent deceitful behaviour with this from Hansard, April 23rd 1996:
"John Carter: Is the Minister aware that Mr Alan Dick, the Mayor of Napier, has admitted on national radio this morning that he counselled Michael Brian Laws to provide a resignation to him only rather than to the city chief executive so that the resignation would not be accepted, and is he aware that this is the same Mr Alan Dick who benefited from being touted as a leading mayoral contender in another poll?"
Deceitful then, deceitful now.
At his age (60 or something) you'd think Michael Laws would have learned that little boys who tell fibs get found out.
I'm amused by your "challenges" to the mayor and the WDC.
If the only notification that you have challenged them is your website then how serious are you really?
Write to them for Chrissakes.
Can someone please tell Mickey he the Feb-March radio ratings survey has been canceled so he can his leaky building headline grabbing money and bullshit for the next survey.
Leave off Andrew Koubaridis, he's a bloody good journalist and a decent bloke, I should know I used to work with him. It's not his fault that the paper won't allow any criticism of Mental Mickey.
Bearhunter said...
Leave off Andrew Koubaridis, he's a bloody good journalist and a decent bloke, I should know I used to work with him. It's not his fault that the paper won't allow any criticism of Mental Mickey.
3:24 PM, February 13, 2007
******
So what IS in the water at Taupo Quay that puts otherwise effective journos to sleep and/or causes them to leave?
Bearhunter:
You're a liar. You didn't work with Andrew K and you've never worked for the Chronicle.
More made up BS from the same 2-3 Phobic Trust clients.
raw nerve? exactly the other way around. my "defence" of the bloke (as if he needs defending) was based upon its irrelevancy. i have no problem believing the guy works 60 hours a week on the mayoralty given the output.
Question again to LawsWatch:
Your "challenges".
Posting them on an obscure blog is not a challenge.
Why not ask both the mayor and his council direct?
Are you scared of the answers?
Q. What's one of the many things that Mayor Laws has in common with George W. Bush?
A. They're both liars.
Post a Comment