Month: November 2014

Blogger? Politician? What does Forman think?

Foreman would have similar views in politics as I have, that being one of Social Liberalism. If you do not know what Social Liberalism then look it up in Wikipedia and while you are there Wiki ‘Common Good.’

But while I have made it long known that I am a Social Liberal some rather interesting situations come about.
Social Liberalism is Centre Left yet from 2003 until just before the election thanks to my electorate MP Judith Collins I was a member of the Young Nats, and the National Party. Just a note that when I resigned from National I left a clause in there leaving it open for me to return to the Party if two conditions were met. So far one has been met.

People find it odd of me being a Social Liberal belong to the National Party until recently. This is most likely I got along with other members well and they were more accommodating than those of the Labour and Green Parties. I don’t know what it was but something left me cold with Labour and the Greens and it still does today even with National ballsing up as is at the moment.

That said I also get along with Centre Left people as well but I have noticed more of recent that they have left Labour or the Greens just as I have left National. The point being my values allow me to interact with both sides and often forge solutions using Best of Both Worlds pragmatism. Hence while I do believe in a hand up for those in need I am also a believer of a good old fashioned boot up the arse to get them motivated as well as some days the boot is needed to give that person a realisation and break them out of self pittying wallowing.

So that leaves the question if I were to run for an Auckland Council Governing Body decision how would my political values play out.

It is complex as Local Government transcends the typical Left Right paradigm in Central Government politics. For one I would be quite a strict Fiscal Conservative and looking for new ways of boosting the revenue stream without resorting to constant rates rises. The method I am looking at seriously is through Council becoming more proactive in development and leaseholding to gain a good stream of rental income especially from Metropolitan Centres and City Centre sites (if they stop selling the damn Land off first).

City Building wise I factor both social and physical infrastructure in where as the right wing seems to be blind on the social stuff.

So this means balanced development across the city with roads, your rubbish services, your parks, your libraries, and some cultural events there and there. The Mayor’s Spatial Priorities to which I have looked at before I would serious run with in targeting the bulk of investment in Auckland Building but at the same time not forget everyone else. Of course the Spatial Priorities are rotated every 5-7 years.

As for Planning? Well another post as I am meant to be looking at on how I am a Social Liberal. Oh wait that means liberalisation of the Unitary Plan. Heh there you go.

So there you have it. I am a Social Liberal who gets on well with both sides but find National more warm than Labour and the Greens.

Oh and I think I just did a soft launch on my bid for Council 2016.

Professor Mayhem's avatarSlightly Left of Centre

“Where do you stand politically?” – Reader

Simple question? No. It is about the most complex question one can be asked, in a political sense, and I have found myself answering it a lot more since I stood up on my online soapbox and started giving the world my views.

Well, let me see. Overall I would classify myself, perhaps unsurprisingly, as slightly left of centre.

I have been called to the right of President Reagan by people on the hard left (thanks Kate Davis @ The Daily “Faily” Blog) and to the Left of Hone Harawira by my dear old right leaning brother.

I would call this a centrist victory, but I suppose, as has been put to me, it is not really for me to define the nature of my political views and to place myself on the spectrum. I, as a fledgling public figure am simply to…

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Council Website STILL Facing Issues

Unacceptable

 

From Auckland Council as the website still faces issues:

Auckland Council website update

 

Auckland Council’s website is continuing to experience intermittent technical issues as people try to access the new 2014 property valuations published yesterday.

 

Acting Chief Finance Officer Kevin Ramsay says the council apologises for the ongoing problem. The council is adding more IT resources and bandwidth to its website to help cope with the traffic.

 

The website yesterday experienced a more than 1,000% increase in page views for a single day. On an average the site gets between 80,000 to 90,000 daily page views and yesterday, despite the intermittent site fluctuations, there were 977,968 page views.

 

“IT staff are working long hours to try to make the site more stable and resolve any of the technical issues involved and we apologise for the inconvenience.”

 

The valuations, which are completed every three years, will be used to help determine the share of rates for each property for year beginning 1 July 2015, but have no impact on the amount of rates council collects overall

 

Council property valuations – key facts: 

  • Property valuations help determine the share of rates people pay but have no impact on the amount of rates money the council collects

 

  • This year’s property revaluation showed an average capital value increase of 29 per cent since 2011

 

  • The average residential capital value increase was 34.8 per cent

 

  • All property owners will also receive a notice in the mail in mid-November

 

  • All property owners have the right to object to their values and the objections process is now open.

 

aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/valuations/Pages/home.aspx

 

 

—ends—

 

Rather unacceptable and it seems it could have been avoidable as well after some rounds of coffees with friends in the IT sector.

The NBR has the responses from the Council Chief Financial Officer which can be seen here: http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/auckland-councils-property-value-website-crash-%E2%80%94-offline-problem

 

My Valuations Walk Through can be seen (or rather listened to) here: Run Through The Valuations

 

Follow up podcast on what could be done in response to the valuations will go up tomorrow.

 

Three Kings Submissions Extended

Submission Deadline Extended Owing to Website Issues

 

From Auckland Council:

Three Kings Quarry submissions extended

 

The closing date for public submissions on two private plan changes by Fletcher Residential Ltd for the redevelopment of Three Kings Quarry has been extended to 5pm Friday 14 November 2014. 

 

Submissions were due to close on Monday 10 November.

 

The extension is a result of difficulties experienced by some online submitters caused by technical issues on the Auckland Council website resulting from large number of people accessing information on property revaluations.

—ends—

 

Questions around the saga of the Council website crashing still need to be answered seeming $700m was spent “upgrading” it.

 

Podcast Issues

Update

 

After feedback in relation to people unable to listen to the Podcasts as the audio files were the .OGG type, I have decided the following:

  1. All previous podcasts will remain in their .OGG audio file classes.
  2. All podcasts as of last night and into the future will be done in MP3 audio format

 

I apologise for those who are unable to access the older Podcasts that have the .OGG audio classes. That said I noticed those who were unable to run that audio type either were on Corporate Networks most likely still on Windows XP and/or their IT departments dont allow a decent media player to run .OGG’s for which Radio NZ uses for their audio files as well, or using Apple products.

I suppose with the corporate situation it shows again that New Zealand businesses AND the Public Sector are behind the 8-ball again for the most part. As with Apple products? Never had the time for it.

 

So again apologies readers. All future podcasts will be in the MP3 format for more universal accessibility.

 

Council Notice on Website Issues

Ouch

 

From Auckland Council

Auckland Council apologises for difficulties accessing property valuations online

 

Auckland Council has apologised for difficulties accessing the new 2014 property valuations published on its website today.

Acting Chief Finance Officer Kevin Ramsay says council is working to resolve the issue but said that some people may still experience intermittent delays or difficulties accessing property valuations.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused,” Mr Ramsay said. “We are working to resolve this issue with our website as quickly as possible. We know there is huge interest in this year’s property valuations and had planned for a user-friendly experience, so it is regrettable these problems occurred.”

The valuations, which are completed every three years, will be used to help determine the share of rates for each property for year beginning 1 July 2015, but have no impact on the amount of rates council collects overall

Council property valuations – key facts:

 

  • Property valuations help determine the share of rates people pay but have no impact on the amount of rates money the council collects
  • This year’s property revaluation showed an average capital value increase of 29 per cent since 2011
  • The average residential capital value increase was 34.8 per cent
  • All property owners will also receive a notice in the mail in mid-November
  • All property owners have the right to object to their values and the objections process is now open.

More at: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/valuations/Pages/home.aspx

——-ends——

Note: the Residential Average I used for the base formula in my previous post is at 34.8% not 34% as I stated. I means I am up for a Rates rise of 7.1% not 7.9% as mentioned earlier. None the less it is still looking down the barrel of a stiff Rates rise on these approximates!

 

 

Podcast Technical Issues

Will reconvert later today

 

Myself and Radio NZ's Todd Nial hard at work reporting on the Budget Committee Photo Reference: Councillor Cathy Casey
Myself and Radio NZ’s Todd Nial hard at work reporting on the Budget Committee
Photo Reference: Councillor Cathy Casey

I have received feedback that people are having difficulties accessing the podcasts owing to the .OGG format I use. Those using Apple (argh), older corporate based networks (don’t ask for my opinions on businesses and public sectors being inefficient) or older mobile devices are having access difficulties resulting in the podcast not playing.

 

What I will do is reconvert the podcasts back to MP3 format and reupload them to their respective blog posts.

I should have this all done by the end of tomorrow.

 

Talking Auckland apologises for earlier inconveniences

 

Dirty Politics: Rats Flee Sinking Ship

I shall get the pop corn and soda’s ready by the 40 ft container load.
Play with Antimatter in the hope it doesnt go off in your face as it seems if this does pan out will

Professor Mayhem's avatarSlightly Left of Centre

The police “raid” of Nicky Hager’s house searching for evidence on the identity of Rawshark prompted some in the know to come forward to the cops about what they knew.

Without giving names for fear of prejudicing the case against certain individuals, a source close to the action from the left has advised that the police have been speaking to several people with direct knowledge of both the hacking and the motivations behind it.

“Those involved have been shitting themselves ever since Hager’s stuff got seized.” the source told Slightly Left of Centre this afternoon.

There are a few in the firing line who were looking pretty smug before and just after the now infamous “Moment of Truth” debacle, which turned out to be a more than hour long advert for Kim Dotcom’s latest Mega service, who are now feeling rather hot under the collar. Slightly Left understands…

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