Monday, January 20, 2014

Beyond Quake Walls. Christchurch Ineptocracy

Quake Ineptocracy focus. Tuesday 21.01.14. A SA brother-in-law emailed me a pic found on eBay of a T shirt with Ineptocracy & definition printed on the T shirt:

                 Ineptocracy

           - (in-ep-toc-ra-cy) -

A system of government where the
least capable to lead are elected by
the least capable of producing, and
where the members of society least
likely to sustain themselves or suc-
ceed, are rewarded with goods and
services paid for by the confiscated
wealth of a diminishing number of
                  producers

My email response:

I agree with the Ineptocracy definition, as we're experiencing Ineptocracy in Christchurch since the quakes. Ineptocracy rules Canterbury, with NZ National govt appointed commissioners in Environment Canterbury, to ensure stock farmers can pollute pristine Canterbury waters. There are several deep sea oil concessions going on around NZ too.

There's also inept CERA, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, a post quake National govt dept, a gang of ineptocrats vs Council ineptocrats. So there are squabbles about post quake land zonings, demolitions, NZ National govt takings, rebuilds & new builds. The old imayor resigned with some of his ineptocrat, sycophant councillors booted out, or not seeking re-election. A new mayor & councillors were elected. The Town Clerk resigned as his bldg consents dept was a fiasco. A new Town Clerk pending...

Presently a NZ National govt appointed manager in Council is sorting out the consents dept mess & other inept Council depts.

Brownlee, ex woodwork teacher, is CERA minister; Sutton, ex Orion electricity boss, is CERA's appointed CEO; Isaacs, ex Timaru Town Clerk, accountant, was CERA's appointed Demolition boss, now appointed CBD Rebuild boss of the Christchurch Central Development Unit. (CCDU). Demolition boss to Rebuild boss!

Eighteen months before, CERA ineptocrats produced a CBD Blueprint with grand ideas for grand bldgs like a Convention Centre, Rugby Stadium, various Precincts like Health, Sports, Innovation, Performing Arts, Kids' Playground, Bus Interchange, Justice & Emergency Services & Frame Parkland, but forgot to Blueprint affordable housing, shops & schools. So far, 3 years post quakes, no foundations have been laid for any CERA Blueprint bldgs.

Why did CERA deal with Council to share costs of most Blueprint anchor projects, when CERA knew that town clerk Marryatt had under-insured Council assets & wanted to use unknown quake insurance settlements for Council assets to fund shared Blueprint anchor project costs? Should Council have insufficient funds for CERA's Blueprint anchor projects, it was rich that CERA then wanted Council to sell Council's revenue producing assets, like Christchurch Airport & Lyttelton Port, to fund CERA's Blueprint anchor projects. Borrowing on Council assets was more sensible than selling the family silver. Once ratepayers' assets were gone they were gone forever.

EQC ineptocrats caused much suffering for 1 000s of claimants over the last 3 years with slow settlements. Insurers just followed suit. Brownlee was minister of EQC too.

Meanwhile inept Ministry of Education closed & merged several Christchurch schools. Thus communities lost staff & school facilities from closed & merged schools, while parents & kids of closed & merged schools had to travel further to other schools, with increased costs: travel & new uniforms.

Mon 27.01.14. Brownlee demanded that Council showed transparency in its finances regarding insurance payouts on quake trashed assets & Council asset shares (The Press 25.01.14) but Brownlee's EQC & CERA showed no transparency in their finances. Brownlee asked for commercially sensitive information to cajole Council & ratepayers to pay for CERA's Blueprint projects.

Fri 31.01.14. CERA's media release boasted about 7 349 red zone properties, 98% of which CERA eligible property owners had accepted NZ National govt's / CERA's offers. CERA waffled about the 2013 census showing that many property owners of quake damaged properties had relocated within 4km distance from their quake damaged properties. That was misleading, as tenants like our son Jake, post 22.02.11 Killer Quake also moved across town, Jake from a Waltham quake damaged house rental, to a St Albans quake damaged garage rental, then post winter to a Geraldine St flat rental closer to the CBD.

CERA hadn't stated the number of new houses being built in Christchurch to replace CERA's 7 349 red zone houses. Too few, hence the housing crisis, where our sons would soon pay exorbitant rents with 3 other tenants for an old, 2 storey house at Ashgrove Tce , overcrowding to enrich a greedy landlord. Given NZ's low wage economy, not one of those young adults could afford to pay the full house rent on their own. Due to low wages, it was impossible for them to save for ownership of their own housing, as they were busy paying a Baby Boomer's rental house mortgage. Given NZ housing & land unaffordability, our sons were locked out of home ownership, no matter how hard they worked for low pay. Greedy Baby Boomers had lots to answer for, they'd bought much cheaper houses, before inflation struck our sons.

Since the quakes, we'd seen Christchurch degenerate into a more dangerous place to live. Demolition dust & road excavation dust were daily hazards. Tagging had increased, a sure sign of degeneracy. Months ago, I'd encountered hoodlums stealing beer from an abandoned CBD property in broad daylight. Not a cop in sight. A while ago, Black Caps cricketer Ryder was mugged near Jake's Brewers Arms work, Papanui Rd. The pub was robbed before Xmas.

Garlands Rd: On Sunday night at The Brewery by The Tannery at Jake's new work, there was an attempted robbery by 2 hoodlums using sawn off shotguns. A patron was assaulted with a gun butt. No money was stolen, as the pub boss schmoozed the thieves. Monday morning when I dropped Jake off at work a police tape cordon stopped workplace entry. Jake said he & his workmates waited a long time before they could start work. Nineteen years before, we'd left SA as there was far too much of that sort of violence.

Deans Ave: Five years later, 15.03.19, a terrorist shooter would kill 51 Muslims at Friday prayers at Al Noor Mosque & Linwood Ave Mosque. (We'd experienced that sort of terrorism for decades in SA). Only after that massacre would NZ gun laws change, making it hard for people to own automatic firearms.

Leah returned from SA last week after visiting family & friends in KwaZulu-Natal & E Cape. She said many Christchurch roads were like Third World SA roads. e.g. Christchurch potholed Barbadoes St was like the potholed road to Richmond, KZN, where ANC / Inkatha had bloody faction fights during transition from apartheid to the Rainbow Nation. So much for minister Brownlee's quake recovery from Garden City to Demolition City wastelands. Barbadoes St was just one of hundreds of quake trashed streets, poorly repaired by SCIRT.

Wednesday 05.02.14. The Press pic of Housing minister Smith was flanked by CERA minister Brownlee. The article headline: "Plan unveiled for 'affordable' 500k housing." Smith planned to build 275 so-called affordable houses for 350k-500k each, between Halswell & Wigram, near the new motorway. I knew the area well as we'd lived in Halswell for years. If Smith though those new houses were affordable he was delusional. If Brownlee though those 275 new houses would solve the post quake housing crisis he was delusional, as there weren't enough houses being built to cover the loss of red zoned houses & loss of quake trashed houses still having to be rebuilt after slow insurer settlements. Smith & Brownlee were continuing the housing shortage by maintaining low supply & high prices during an election year.

Smith & Brownlee, please explain: How could my sons' low wages, in the hospitality & joinery industries, enable them to save house deposits on so-called affordable housing after they'd paid their bills, including expensive rents?

To jog their Baby Boomer memories, Smith & Brownlee were beneficiaries of properties bought cheaply by their parents. Some History by Michael Bassett & Luke Malpass from their report, "Priced Out. How NZ lost its housing affordability:" 

From 1951 WW2 returned servicemen tenants could buy state housing cheaply.
From 1954 new houses could be build with a cheap 3% loan from State Advances / Housing Corporation.
From 1958 new houses could be built by capitalizing Family Benefits & adding that to the 3% cheap loans from State Advances / Housing Corporation.

Thus many WW2 vets, Korean War vets, Vietnam War vets & early Baby Boomers got cheap housing subsidised by NZ govt. Nowadays all those post WW2 houses, cheaply bought, could be sold at inflated prices. Presently their children were forced to suffer their greed when buying old or new housing in an inflated housing market. Never mind inflated bldg costs due to construction supplier monopolies & real estate agents' commissions adding to housing inflation.

Why didn't ministers Brownlee & Smith make schemes to help our children's futures? So far our children were a Jilted Generation, as authors Ed Howker & Shiv Malik put it in their book: "Jilted generations how Britain has bankrupted its youth." Brownlee & Smith just jilted our children's futures with expensive housing & student loans.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

See Christchurch homes severely unaffordable (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Work kicks off on justice precinct (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Plan for Triangle Centre Shelved (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Brownlee's need for openness in Council finances (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Arrests over armed bar robberies (The Press / Stuff Co).

See No tenants left for the CBD (The Press / Stuff Co).

See CERA's recovery milestone reached today with final flat land red zone settlements, 31 January 2014.

See Plans unveiled for "affordable" 500k homes (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Quake claimants take the cash (The Press / Stuff Co).

Forget smooth perfect roads city told (The Press / Stuff Co).


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