Christchurch fights back

Rates revolt threat at Christchurch meeting

the Press,

1 February, 2012

A letter calling for a mid-term Christchurch City Council election, written by two key anti-council protesters, has been delivered to the beleaguered body.

The Wider Earthquake Communities Action Network chairman, the  Rev Mike Coleman, and protest organiser Peter Lynch's letter also calls for greater transparency.

They announced they were delivering the letter, which is addressed to Local Government Minister Nick Smith, at today's protest outside the council's Hereford St offices.

More than 1500 protesters spent about an hour rallying from about noon to just after 1pm.

"The city council was as dysfunctional before the earthquake as it is now," Coleman told the crowd.

"We need to move on for the sake of this city ... or people will move on."

"If they do not listen to us, we will call another demo and there will be protests and there will be a rates revolt."

He read the letter to the crowd.

The letter criticises the fact that only three people on the council were able to sign off building consents, highlighting the Selwyn and Waimakariri district councils, which it said were building five times the number if homes per capita.

It called for the mid-term election so the city could move into recovery.

The protest was organised by the No Pay Rise For Tony Marryatt group, which was formed after the council announced a $68,000 salary increase for its chief executive.

Organisers decided to continue with the protest after Marryatt last week said he had turned down the pay rise, saying the issue had been the "catalyst" for broader concerns about the council.

'OUT, OUT, OUT'

Lynch asked the crowd if they wanted Marryatt replaced.

The crowd responded with a loud chant of "out, out, out".

He then asked if they, as ratepayers, wanted a mid-term election, which was also met with loud cheers.

"Fundamental changes" were needed and "we can't wait until 2013", Lynch said.

"We are demanding an urgent change ... We need to find a new mayor and councillors."

Protesters were "demanding our democracy back".

Coleman told the crowd they were there "to stand up and be counted and call for the council to be accounted for".

He acknowledged Parker did an extremely good job during and after the earthquakes. However, they needed more than a PR leader, he said

Coleman called for Marryatt and Mayor Bob Parker to resign, which prompted cheers from the crowd.

The cheers turned to booing and calls of "resign, resign, resign" and "out, out, out" when Coleman mentioned the communication problems at the council.

Councillors were getting more information from the media than from Parker or Marryatt, Coleman said.

An elderly resident, Robert, told the crowd "we need true leadership, trust, respect, accountability".

"What this city needs right now is inspired and true leadership. To unify and not divide. Leaders who can cross any political divide. Leaders who have the confidence of the people. Parker and Marryatt had their chance and they failed," he said, to cheers from the crowd.

The offending Peter Maryatt

COUNCIL 'OUTRAGES' AND 'UPSETS'

Protester Margaret Meehan, 41, said she would go along with a rates revolt, but believed it would not get that far.

The government worker, who attended with three of her colleagues, hoped Parker and Marryatt would resign.

She said she did not want an early election as the rest of the councillors were doing a good job.

She said too many people had voted for the "glossy face of Bob Parker" after the earthquakes.

Richard Bridson, 59, took the day off work to attend the protest.

The Christchurch engineer said he was "outraged" at Marryatt's salary, the council's spending and the lack of leadership.

He arrived ready to protest at 11am, complete with a sign saying "Newsflash: parasite found in council chambers".

Meanwhile, Norman Drexel held an anti-council sign with his wife and grandson.

The business owner said it was "obvious" the council was "dysfunctional".

The council all needed "to go", he said.

Semi-retired teacher Louette McInnes said Marryatt's pay rise was "the icing on the cake".

"I was upset when they did a number of things."

The 60-something-year-old wanted to see the end of "the Bob and Tony show".

A former council worker who asked not to be named was disgusted with how much the council had changed since she had left.

She hoped Parker and Marryatt would resign.

Gary Graham, 61, stood at the entrance to the council offices with a sign saying "Sack Marryatt, no Parker".

The sound engineer said only the two needed to go.

"There's a few good guys in there ... They have just been nobbled by Marryatt and Parker."

He wanted "intelligent leadership".

"We have a couple of dumb folks and we need some intelligent people in there now."

THE CROWD BUILDS UP

More than 1000 people set up on a vacant section of land next to the Hereford St civic offices for the protest, which begins at noon.

Traffic was jammed in the area surrounding the council offices, with police closing the street to traffic.

The protesters ranged in age and many were carrying signs.

Councillors Aaron Keown, Yani Johanson and Tim Carter were present and spoke to people in the crowd.

Christchurch MPs were also present.

BID FOR CHANGE

Organisers decided to continue with the protest after Marryatt last week said he had turned down the pay rise, saying the issue had been the "catalyst" for broader concerns about the council.

Lynch was happy with preparations for the demonstration.

"It's all coming together really well, and we've had phenomenal support from the community," he said, adding: "We've got to get the message over to the Government that we need action, and we need it soon."

Marryatt's decision to stop receiving the pay rise and the appointment of a Crown observer to monitor the council was not enough to quell residents' anger, Lynch said.

"The Crown observer is just a Band-Aid over a cut that won't heal, and the fact that Marryatt decided to keep part of the money ... who's running who?"

Protesters wanted Marryatt to be removed from office "without any golden parachute", and believed new council elections should be held as soon as possible.

Lynch said the owner of the former St Elmo Courts building, next to the civic offices, had given the protesters permission to gather on the vacant site during the demonstration.

Parker said the protest was "the nature of democracy".

"It is entirely within people's rights to do that."

He had no plans to address protesters, saying they had made their views "very clear".

Council corporate support unit manager Sue Chappell said the civic offices would be "open for business as usual" during the protest.

The council was taking a cautious approach to the protest and was taking measures to ensure the safety of staff, elected members and the public, she said.

The council was talking to police and would put "some extra security measures" in place for the duration of the event, she said.

Council human resources general manager Chris Till said council staff could only take part in their own time, "and in a purely personal capacity only".

Police Senior Sergeant Gordon Spite said: "We'll have some staff there, but we're not anticipating any problems."

The weather could put a dampener on the protest, with participants likely to face cool, wet weather.

and for my take on the background on this

Bob Parker, Tony Maryatt and the plundering of Canterbury’s resources

Seemorerocks

The meeting that took place today is a political problem that has been building up for some time in the beleaguered city which has been struck by several earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks.

It is not just about an arrogant chief executive from out-of-town who working hand-in-glove with the mayor to circumvent democratic processes in the city council and has been awarded a salary increase that exceeds the salaries and wages of many people in Christchurch.

It is also not just about corruption where contracts have been awarded to desired parties and allegedly, money has changed hands.

It is also about the grab for resources - water, oil, minerals in an area that is rich for the pickings but also environmentally-vulnerable.

One might say that it relates to Peak Oil.

We have a right-wing government that will stop at nothing to mine and drill and wants nothing like the Resource Management Act or responsible elected officials to get in the way with their resource grab.

This is a government by Big Business for Big Business.

One of the central government’s first actions was to sack the elected regional authority, declaring it  to be incompetent and to install commissars selected by, and answerable to, it. 

This was something in which all the region’s mayors actively collaborated.

The next step was to support the re-election of those local body representatives who could work with the government in the exploitation of the region’s resources.

One flea-in-the-ointment was that the incumbent mayor Parker was unpopular and  certain to lose to left-wing Jim Anderton.

Jim Anderton was recorded before the election as saying that the only thing that would keep him from winning the election would be an earthquake.

What an irony for that is exactly what happened;  Christchuch was struck by a devastating earthquake in September, and again in December followed by the even more devastating earthquake in February that oost many lives and destroyed much of the CBD and eastern suburbs.

The incumbent media-savvy mayor rolled up his sleeves and played the media well. He also won the local-body elections and remained as mayor of Christchurch (with, let it be said, the help of a well-oiled government PR machine).

In a way the tragedy of the earthquake was Christchurch’s 9/11 - it provided an excuse to put into effect the policies that it might not have been able to do so otherwise. 

The earthquake in February gave the government  the opportunity to create an overarching, unaccountable authority run by people selected by them; they had the power to do whatever the government Executive  deemed necessary.

These were powers unprecedented in peacetime.

In this situation the elected councillors were rendered powerless to stand up to their mayor and to the government - and to stop the plundering of Canterbury’s resources.

This is, from my reading the context in which this current  situation rose.

Unless this  citizens’ revolt succeeds we can expect to see the mayor and his cabal, with CERA and the government push through what is basically a depopulation of Christchurch and to pillage Canterbury ‘s rich resources.

Canterbury will have been made safe for dairying, oil-drilling, fracking and mining 

I do open myself to correction from well-informed Cantabrians but what I have written is based on what I have heard from talking to friends in Christchurch and from reading between-the-lines from the scant material that is available on this.