KaiparaConcerns is a loose association of ratepayers concerned with the incompetence and illegal activities of the Kaipara District Council.

We are not associated with the MRRA, the KCRA or any other group, but we do work closely with them in our common aim of getting rid of the present Council and restoring some sanity to our beautiful district. 

THE TILLER/GEANGE RATES BOMB

The Tiller/Geange Rates Bomb has been triggered. It is due to detonate on 1 July 2012

The next few weeks are vital to the survival of Kaipara and Mangawhai especially and we must all pool our resources to ensure that the LTP is stopped.

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Legal Eagle's posts are on a separate page here.

LATEST NEWS

WORLD RECORD FOR NZ CRICKETER?  21.05.12
Former world cup cricketer Warren Stott faces a rate rise of  around 1,343 per cent, going from $6316 last year to a proposed $84,850 starting from 1 July.

See the article in the Herald on Sunday here

MORE ILLEGALITY FROM KDC 21.05.12
KDC has failed to comply with the requirements of the LGA because it failed to consider the economic well being of the community when drafting the LTP.  This is what Legal Eagle has to say:

The Councillors have absolutely no comprehension of what this is all about. For years they abandoned their brains and any sense of duty to ratepayers and blindly followed the dictates of an opppressive dictator. Now they are like a bunch of kindergarten kids trying to hobble together a financial plan which is beyond their capacity to comprehend.

For more details of the legal requirements go here. 

A STRIKING PHOTO   19.05.12

WHAT KAIPARA AND ATHENS MIGHT LEARN FROM EACH OTHER  19.05.12
This is the heading of Stephen Frank's article on Kaipara's dismal situation.  Here are some quotes:

Many of the Kaipara considerations for central government are similar to those facing the Germans who will decide whether Greeks should be rescued from the consequences of decades of electing fools and crooks to lead them.

But we all suffer from bad government. There is no court to award protection from such unfairness. There is no cosmic 'Fair Go" or 'Target' to remedy failures of democracy by exposing the idiocy of those responsible.

KDC A SERIAL OFFENDER? 19.05.12
Council has now gone and done it again with the last instalment of rates. This is great news for the Rates Strike because it gives ratepayers another justification for withholding the last instalment of rates..........(more)

RUTHLESS GRAB FOR MONEY   17.05.12
Go to  LTP submissions (here) to see submissions on the LTP. Legal Eagle is outraged:

The LTP is simply a desperate and ruthless grab for money to fund the debt that Council has incurred because of its reckless and illegal acts, It is nothing more than an extortion device that has no basis in law. It was put together by a bunch of number crunchers who basically, blind-folded, threw darts at the board to see who would cop the burden of making up the 31% deficit.

JOHN KEY PLAYS MANUEL  17.05.12
Do you remember those scenes from Fawlty Towers when an exasperated Basil would desperately ask Manuel to confirm something important.  Manuel would shake his head, gesture denial with his hands, and say:

"I know notheen, Mr Fawlty."

John Key looked as though he was playing Manuel this week.  When asked about Kaipara's problems by Leighton Smith on Newstalk ZB, he replied:

"I don't know the situation"

Now that must be right.  But that means that he has not read any of the letters that ratepayers have sent to him, or heard any of the comments that some ratepayers assure me that they have addressed to him in person. And clearly he has missed the reports of Kaipara's problems in the media.

With respect, there are a lot of issues at stake here and some serious failings at a high level.  There is an awful lot of egg flying around and looking for a face to land on.  The Prime Minister has to be careful that it is not his.

           "I know notheen, Mr Smith"

RURU REGRETS   17.05.12
Legal Eagle looks (here) at options for Steve Ruru now that the good ship Kaipara is foundering.

HERALD ON SUNDAY 17.05.12
Russell Blackstock of the Herald on Sunday was in Mangawhai yesterday talking to locals about the effects of the Rates Bomb.  I imagine that his article will be in this weekend's paper.

His previous article can be seen here.

DO YOU TRUST THE DEPUTY MAYOR?

GEANGE IN THE GUN  16.05.12
Deputy Mayor Geange is under attack for her attempt to desert her troops and dump the responsibility for the secret illegal EcoCare contract on other Councillors.  First she said that she wasn't there when the contract was signed (here).  When it was pointed out that she was there, she maintained that she had kept her lips sealed and had not said "Aye".

She has been the de facto leader of Council for some time and has kept the Councillors true to the principles that Jack McKerchar bequeathed.  She mustered her flock with skill and dexterity but sadly abandoned them at the first sign of danger.

Ratepayers are less that impressed. See the articles in the Kaipara Lifestyler here and here. 

"COUNCIL INSOLVENT" SAY RATEPAYERS  16.05.12
The Kaipara Lifestyler has a report on last Saturday's meeting with Council here.

WANNA GOOD LAUGH 16.05.12
Fancy us ratepayers believing that Council would build EcoCare for $35,6 million  Read this article about Water Infastructure Group which boasts of the project costing $60 million, and that is without the Lees Farm.

The article also states that the system has the capacity to service 4,500 properties.

Apparently the system is absolutely state of the art. But don't read the article while you are eating.  You will choke on it.

For a reality check go here and look at the real situation.

(Thanks to John Dickie for the reference - far away in Vietnam, but still with us.)

COVER UP 16.05.12
Full details of the cover up by Council can be found here with a copy of the presentation made by Legal Eagle at last week's meeting.

A copy of the original statement of proposal - the only one that ratepayers were consulted on - can be found here.

MORE PHOTOS OF THE MARCH (here)

JOEL CAYFORD 14.05.12
Joel Cayford, a Planner and Mangawhai ratepayer wrote a blog a short while ago that should be compulsory reading for Mangawhai ratepayers. He looks at the real sources of pollution of the harbour and the driving forces behind the EcoCare scheme.

It is interesting that at that stage (the year 2000) the scheme proposed by Beca was to cost $16 million.

KAIPARA PONZI SCHEME  14.05.12
Joel Cayford has just issued his new blog on the Mangawhai crisis.  He explains that the real reason behind the extension of the EcoCare scheme was a Ponzi scheme hatched by the Council and developers.  Council were sucked in by consulttants and developers and gambled ratepayers monies on a get rich quick scheme that collapsed, as Ponzi schemes do, leaving ratepayers carrying the financial burden.

MORNING REPORT  14.05.12
This morning's interview with Bruce Rogan and Deputy Mayor Geange can be heard here. (Scroll down to Ratepayer Revolt threatened in Mangawhai)

THE MARCH AND MEETING 14.05.12
Have a look at the photos of the March here.  And please send in your photos.

Comments on the March and the meeting with Council can be made here.  Please let us have your honest feedback about your feelings.  See what Legal Eagle and others are writing here.