June 15, 2004

North Shore City cleans up

Commercial areas in North Shore City will have litter patrols at least six days a week, under North Shore City Council's new city cleaning contract.

A decision to award the three-year $5.8m contract to Techscape Ltd was made at the council's works and environment committee meeting last week.

"Keeping North Shore City clean is a huge and expensive job," Committee chairperson, Joel Cayford, says, "and we need to ensure we get value for money. "Under this contract we will be able to keep track of exactly what rubbish trucks are up to across North Shore City, thanks to technological advances. This is a significant advance allowing staff to monitor contractor activities remotely. "In addition litter patrols will quickly remove rubbish and graffiti from our most visible public areas, and be a constant presence reminding people to 'be a tidy Kiwi'," he says.

Under the contract, due to begin in July, commercial centres in Browns Bay, Northcote, Glenfield and Birkenhead will have a continuous litter patrol in the afternoons, Monday to Saturday. Takapuna and Devonport will be patrolled every day.

Litter patrollers, wearing easy-to-spot North Shore City Council uniforms, will be responsible for removing loose litter, graffiti and animal droppings on and around footpaths, kerbs, street furniture, car parks and bus shelters.

The contractor will also provide a real-time fleet management system, allowing city engineers to monitor the work and whereabouts of rubbish trucks.

Global positioning system (GPS) devices will be installed in trucks, allowing them to relay information at any time about their location, direction and stops.

The cost of the contract is not completely covered by the 2004-5 budget, and the shortfall will be made up by a reduction in the level of service in some areas, or transfers within the Transport operations budget, if and when savings become available. After 2004-5 the extra funding needed has been budgeted for.

The cost of keeping North Shore City clean and tidy has risen in recent years, because of a rise in illegally dumped rubbish and vandalism. There has also been the addition of regular litter patrols and other minor increases in services - the result of feedback from community boards.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>