Christchurch Ineptocracy

Quake Ineptocracy focus. Tuesday 21.01.14. My SA brother-in-law emailed me a pic found on eBay: 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:

We're experiencing Ineptocracy in Christchurch since quakes. Ineptocracy rules Canterbury: NZ National government appointed commissioners in Environment Canterbury enable stock farmers to pollute pristine Canterbury waters. There are deep sea oil concessions around NZ too.

Inept CERA, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority: a post-quake National government department with CERA ineptocrats vs Council ineptocrats. There are squabbles about post-quake land-zonings, demolitions, CERA takings, rebuilds & new-builds. Mayor Parker resigned with some of his ineptocrat councillors booted out, or not seeking re-election. New mayor Dalziel & councillors were elected. Town Clerk Marryatt resigned, his building consents department, a fiasco. A new Town Clerk is pending...

Presently the NZ National government appointed manager in Council is sorting out the consents department mess & other inept Council departments.

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. He's now appointed as the CBD Rebuild boss of the Christchurch Central Development Unit. (CCDU). Demolition boss to Rebuild boss!

Eighteen months ago, CERA ineptocrats produced a CBD Blueprint for grand buildings like a Convention Centre, a 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, three years post-quakes, no foundations are laid for any CERA Blueprint buildings!

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.

Parata, the inept Minister of Education closed & merged several Christchurch schools. Thus communities lost staff & school facilities from closed & merged schools causing parents & kids to travel further to other schools with increased costs: travel & new uniforms.

Inept Brownlee was minister of inept EQC. EQC ineptocrats caused suffering for thousands of claimants over the last three years with slow settlements. Insurers just followed suit causing more angst for claimants.

Monday 27.01.14. Brownlee demanded Council showed transparency in its finances regarding insurance payouts on ruined 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.

Friday 31.01.14. CERA's media release boasted about 7 349 red-zone properties, 98% of which CERA eligible property owners had accepted CERA's offers. CERA waffled about the 2013 census showing many property owners of damaged properties had relocated within 4km distance from their damaged properties. That was misleading, as tenants like son Jake, post 22 February 2011 Quake had also moved across town, Jake from a Waltham damaged house-rental to a St Albans damaged garage-rental, then post-winter to a Geraldine St apartment-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. So far, too few, hence the housing-crisis where our sons would soon pay exorbitant rents with three other tenants for an old two-storey house at Ashgrove Tce . It was overcrowding to enrich a 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. Baby Boomers had lots to answer for, as they'd bought cheaper houses long before inflation would strike our sons.

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

Garlands Rd: Sunday night, The Brewery by The Tannery at Jake's new work had experienced an attempted robbery by two 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.

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. Only after that massacre would NZ gun laws change making it hard to own automatic firearms.

Leah returned from SA last week after visiting family & friends in KwaZulu-Natal & Eastern Cape. She said many Christchurch roads were like Third World SA roads. So much for minister Brownlee's recovery: Garden City to Demolition City, so far. Barbadoes St was just one of hundreds of broken street poorly repaired by SCIRT.

Wednesday 05.02.14. The Press pic: Housing minister Smith was flanked by CERA minister Brownlee. 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. We knew the area well, 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 housing-crisis he was delusional, as there weren't enough houses built to cover loss of red-zoned houses & loss of ruined houses awaiting rebuild after slow insurer settlements. Smith & Brownlee condoned the housing-shortage by maintaining low-supply & high prices during an election year.

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

Baby Boomers Smith & Brownlee were beneficiaries of properties bought cheaply by their parents. A report by Michael Bassett & Luke Malpass: "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 WW2 vets, Korean War vets, Vietnam War vets & Baby Boomers got cheap housing subsidised by NZ government. Nowadays all those post WW2 houses, cheaply bought, could be sold at inflated prices. Presently their children are forced to suffer their greed when buying old or new housing in an inflated housing market. Never mind inflated building costs due to construction supplier monopolies & real-estate agents' commissions adding to housing inflation.

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

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Coda:

2026. Both our sons together with their girlfriends had bought small properties with expensive mortgages in Christchurch, one a single bedroom, pre-quakes apartment in Northlands, the other an old wooden house with leaky plumbing in Cracroft.

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 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).