ICC role in CBD project challenged

I read somewhere that the definition of Communism is ‘‘When the means of production and distribution are controlled by the government’’. Which makes me wonder – what purpose (or right) does the Invercargill city government have in buying up properties that were once privately owned, in order to invest grandiose schemes in direct competition with private commerce? Let’s not forget that Free Enterprise must somehow fund itself (which means pay for its own mistakes) whereas communists simply increase the taxes on unwilling milch cows to pay for their communistic mistakes. I am not an Invercargill ratepayer. If I were I’d be baying for a back-up water supply before any glorifying ‘‘all singing, all dancing, state-of-the-art, razzle dazzle, envy of all shopping mall’’. Can we not predict that rates/taxes etc will rise hugely, and quite soon? Any estimations of costs for the lovely new ‘‘CBD’’ can only be guesswork. There will be huge (think massive) cost overruns. To be met by whom? Ratepayers? Taxpayers of any kind? Levies? Surcharges? Tollgates, with a charge for entering Invercargill from any direction? The councillors themselves? (Naaaaah, let’s not be too ridiculous.) The council needs to be advised that – as any farmer knows – sheep can only be shorn so far, after which we call it skinning them alive. And where in all of this are the various so-called Invercargill ratepayer/advocacy associations? Or the voices of the afflicted Kelvin St businesses?

John Hunter