Kim Hill said it accurately when she started her programme on Saturday morning saying that she felt helpless when she viewed the disaster which had hit this country. She had a house which was dry. Her roof didn’t leak, and she just sat and thought what could she do? Who couldn’t relate to that in … [Read more...]
Planning for Disasters – something is missing
Rod Cameron was involved in the SCIRT project rebuilding underground infrastructure after the Christchurch earthquakes, he writes here.... I believe there is a ‘missing part’ in the current government and local government anticipation and planning for disasters. I recently attended the … [Read more...]
The benefits of public expenditure shared by some in the community and not taxed
The benefit which derives to communities from public expenditure is seldom measured. Mostly because most journalists are financially illiterate. Bernard Hickey is a financial analyst who adds items together where seldom others venture. In the case of Transmission Gully, he has conducted some … [Read more...]
Now is exactly the right time to talk about how we adapt our cities for intense rain events
Over the past few years there have been more and more rain events which have led to flooding and general chaos in people’s lives. Auckland had a massive 76.8mm of rain in an hour last Monday. This will become the new norm as the planet continues to heat up. In some cities they have started … [Read more...]
Garry Writes 22 Feb 2022
I worked for two central government departments. Often, I found their head offices peopled by young, green, bureaucrats who had no idea about how to implement their academically perfect policy on the ground. I can’t remember how many times I left Wellington frustrated as hell about the lack of … [Read more...]
Does the CCC application for infrastructure funding complicate the rejection of the 3 Waters proposal?
When I read the article in Stuff this week about CCC applying for funding to assist infrastructure funding to open three key sites I was nervous. The Council will, quite correctly, reject the Government’s 3 Waters proposed reforms. To hold their hands out saying that they need financial support to … [Read more...]
Is it time to look at how Government contracts are awarded?
Contracts are awarded in New Zealand by the public sector every day. They range from very small to huge. Last year there was an article in Newsroom about extra claims being made by the contractor CPB on Transmission Gully: Author of Government for the Public Good Max Rashbrooke said the … [Read more...]
Engage
It takes a clever mind to say simply what most of us would take a volume to cover. When David Elms wrote to me about ENGAGE he challenged me about what I had written last week when he wrote: So I'd suggest adding something about what SCIRT actually did, which was to take a set of existing bodies … [Read more...]
Last week’s speaker Rod Cameron on Engage
Last week we had an interesting response to the team from ENGAGE with their proposal that maybe their method of approach, born out of their experiences of SKIRT could assist the way this City proceeds with the Red Zone. I felt a bit guilty about how people at the meeting responded to the … [Read more...]
Last week’s speaker: Susan Krumdieck.
What a fantastic speaker Susan was. She quietly, and with good humour, took us through what Transition Engineering is and what responsibility engineers have to lead the path to our society addressing Global Warming. I really liked when she started by demonstrating how engineers found a solution … [Read more...]