It is time to get Dunedin moving, candidate says
IN response to Bernice Armstrong (Letters, 27.9.19), Dunedin does need the best.
I’m running as an independent, not under any political party. I bring six years on council and significant experience to my candidacy through roles as deputy chairman of economic development and grants committees; I’m chairman of bylaw hearings, participate on various community boards, am a member of the Institute of Directors, certified RMA Commissioner, chairman of Volunteering Otago and copresident of the Rotary Club of Dunedin South.
Having owned and managed businesses for over 30 years, I have a practical, commonsense approach to decisionmaking.
We need to spend ratepayers’ money wisely, balancing future development with repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure.
My focus is ‘‘get Dunedin moving’’. Parking and traffic issues will only get worse as our population grows and the construction projects start.
Let’s get our business minds and developer community together to collaborate with council on solutions. We must be economically viable to be able to afford everything that needs to get done! Cr Andrew Whiley
Dunedin [DCC councillor and mayoral candidate.]
SAGE advice from your legal correspondent (ODT, 26.9.19) regarding voting strategy under our STV system.
To have any influence, all candidates must be included in a descending order of merit. This is vital for our council but not so for the mayoral vote, where I consider a single vote for a popular candidate will produce a better result. Dave Crooks
St Clair
DESPITE being accused of being rude and raising his voice, there is only one mayoral candidate who has consistently expressed concerns about runaway Dunedin City Council debt and spending.
Many mayoral aspirants and candidates for council are apparently fiscally illiterate and support increased spending as if there isn’t already a huge problem.
Consider this: for every $1 billion owed, it equates to about $20,000 for each DCCrated household.
Think of it as a mortgage. Aurora has that in immediate deferred maintenance — think power poles falling down. The DCC has a similar amount and rising by the week.
Jeff Dickie
Woodhaugh
I SEE that Dave Cull is endorsing Hawkins and Geary for mayor and council (ODT, 25.9.19).
All we will face under them is much more debt, higher rates, and more of the same rubbish that we have had under Cull.
We need to vote for people with common sense. This lot do not have that. R. Williams
Fairfield [Abridged]
Ian Pillans (Letters, 4.10.19) is mistaken. When I was describing the reduction of council’s core debt during my time as mayor, I included the transfer of stadium debt in my figures. The council’s current debt sits at about $218.9 million, plus about $87.8 million of debt left on the stadium — a total of $306.7 million. This is about $19 million less than the $325.9 million total debt at June 30, 2011 — the first published financial reports subsequent to me becoming mayor.
Dave Cull Dunedin Mayor