It May be Possible To Stop It

The Waitakere City Council currently has $36 million of footpath requests on its books, and budgeted in its annual plan $450,000 for new paths.

$36 million is less than the cost of the proposed new Civic Centre, and at the rate of $450,000 per year the Council will take over 70 years to complete the footpath request list.

One of the key issues in this years local government elections in Waitakere City is the development of the new Civic Centre, and the sale of the existing council chambers, all in the view of the Resident and Ratepayers Massey Ward candidates, without proper public consultation.

The Residents and Ratepayers Massey Ward candidates, Allen Davies, John Riddell and Gayleen Maurice, have agreed that when elected they will make every effort to call a stay in the proceedings. They will consult with the community as to what should be done to ensure that the council is properly housed, at the right price and in the most appropriate place, bearing in mind requests from the community for basic needs like footpaths.

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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>>