Fears city council is 'flogging a dead dragon'

I must say I’m a little surprised to hear those words (in the headline) from a pro-stadium-ite.  I agree on that one.

The gardens are nice and indeed an honour to the Chinese pioneers here in the provinces founding years.  But the location of them is totally ridiculous, in one of the coldest, windswept parts of the town for the bigger part of the year, which really doesn’t do much to create the warmth and tranquility of being in Asia.  Unless of course it was northern China, but most people think of Asia as being a particularly warm humid climate, which surely on a wintry sou-wester day, is the sort of ambience people would want to be ‘whisked away’ to, in their experience.  It would have been better to put a roof over the the gardens rather than on the rugby cathedral being built, since it's in use daily.

Maybe they need to consider if the Chinese Garden even satisfies to any specific needs of its local target market and in my opinion it needs a strong value proposition to encourage local repeat customers by offering greater value, such as new exhibitions etc, other wise, the entrance fee will just be a price disadvantage compared to other local competitors in the tourism/exhibition market, if it's just the same stuff everyday.

Wisdom has some suggestions for the Dunedin City Council about 'flogging a dead dragon' which has been passed on from generation to generation. "When you discover that you are 'riding a dead dragon' the best strategy is to dismount".
However in local government cycles more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1) Buy a stronger whip.
2) Changing riders.
3) Appoint a committee to study the dragon.
4) Arrange a visit to other countries and cities to see how other local authorities deal with dead dragons.
5) Lower the standards so that dead dragons can be included.
6) Reclassifying the dead dragon as living-impaired.
7) Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead dragon. 8) Harness several dead dragons together to increase speed. (Imagine the new stadium and the Chinese Gardens strapped together that could really push things forward in a big hurry)
9) Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead dragon's performance.
10)Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead dragon's performance.
11) Declaring that as the dead dragon does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line or the economy than do some other dragons.
12) Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all dragons.

It will be interesting to see what strategies our city mothers and fathers will finally employ to pull us out of this one, as they have got a few options to chose from it appears.

Advertising can only happen if you have imagination about what the potential is.....the present regime have no imagination. 

If you guys can't handle it and don't have the imagination to develop it hand it over - I can see all sorts of possibilities.....

So here is a shout out to those of you in charge - give it over - and let those of us who see the potential develop it for the city.

As Kris pointed out "you don't even have a tea ceremony there" which is indeed a lost opportunity.  And what about Devonshire teas? In fact since the Tip Top closed it's not easy to even find a proper old fashioned NZ cuppa let alone a pikelet with jam and cream. 

78% is actually a clear majority.  It's understandable that a pro-stadium person may not realise this, given that they also fail to see that the stadium was clearly unaffordable by any assessment, even from the minimal information made available. (Sorry if this comes as a shock)

How long did it take the Mediterranean garden at the botanical gardens - fifteen years?  Has this garden made money? The reason the Chinese garden exists I believe is as an homage to the cultural heritage of the Chinese community here in Otago.

However, there are ways for this garden to work if only the old fashioned marketing dept could rise to the ocassion. One big glaring error could be that you don't even have a tea ceremony there.

Let the C hinese garden be - it is a beautiful addition to our otherwise dour world of no imagination . 

Max Power asks a good question: "Why do a minority of people relate everything back to the stadium?"

The Chinese Garden was sold to the Dunedin public, pushed through with little regard for effective consultation or learned opinion or ratepayers' desires. It was sold to us as a tourist drawcard and was to bring lots of lovely tourist money to the businesses of Dunedin. It now stands as dead and costly as the "minority" of naysayers predictied it would.

The Stadium however is nothing like that ... it's bigger and cost a lot more.

I would have thought the first question councillors and journalists should have thought to ask is "what exactly are the running costs comprised of?"

Two staff, a million in running costs - maybe there are some savings to be made?

Only when costs are known can any of the other questions be answered sensibly.

Maybe I should have run for council? ;-)

"One major concern as a visitor, is the stagnant looking water that is proving hard to fix, that for Feng Shui purposes should never be like that, the fish that should be swimming are getting eaten, foliage still taking a while to develop."

If you've ever visited Chinese gardens in China such as those in Suzhou, you'll understand this is totally authentic. :D

You can advertise water to a horse but you can't make it drink.

The wonder of it is that anyone thought that this would be a 'goer' in the first-place. With all the kerfuffle centred around the Stadium at the time, the Chinese Garden snuck in under most people's radar and up to the time it was presented as a fait accompli, it just chugged along in the background, happy to proceed in comparative obscurity and away from scrutiny.

Numerous people though, pointed out its ludicrous location, sandwiched, as it was, between the heavy-traffic by-pass and the railway-tracks. A place of 'quiet contemplation' with the Taieri Gorge Excursion Train roaring past several times a day on the one side, and the prospect of logging-trucks roaring by on the other; I only say 'prospect' because so little heavy traffic actually uses the route intended for it.

[Abridged]

Exactly where can I as a ratepayer find a detailed breakdown of the reported $956,000 operating cost for the Chinese Garden? Can anybody help? Please ?

It always amazes me how a minority of people relate everything back to the stadium.

What the Chinese Garden needs is some form of traditional Chinese dining, not just the refreshments that are served there now.  If the garden had a restaurant it may be a better option.  Another option could be to have traditional Chinese entertainment, if possible. I have only been there once, so can't remember the exact size of the buildings contained within.  It needs to be like a good cafe or restaurant, with an income not totally dependant on tourists. But without something else to attract local people, it's just going to be come a dead duck.  Another possibility is to have an entrance from inside the currently under refurbishment OSM linking into the gardens. The entrance hall and the current tea area could become dining areas and an a doorway/corridor leading from inside the museum could be the main entrance to the gardens.  And those not dining, would have an admittance fee.

It's so sad and embarassing at how incompetent the council has been over the last few years, wasting money on projects with little financial benefit.

Why oh why would Chinese vicitors visit a Chinese garden in Dunedin? Dunedin needs to realise it's a small city on the other side of the world and building things that are done bigger and better in other countries is just plain stupid.

Lets wait and see what comes of the new stadium whether projections done now for the future turn out as bad as happened with the garden.

I recall while accepting the "gift" of the building of the Chines Garden, we were assured the sardens would be of no financial cost to us. I seem to recall we also did pay in part at least for construction, as there was assurance the skilled workers brought over were to be paid no less than minimum wage. Now we pay ongoing running costs. Dunedin people need to look at whose names are proudly displayed there, as helping to push through this ongoing financial burden for the city.

One major concern as a visitor, is the stagnant looking water that is proving hard to fix, that for Feng Shui purposes should never be like that, the fish that should be swimming are getting eaten, foliage still taking a while to develop. Also, not really any spaces for activities like Tai Chi which would have been great. The road heading straight for the Gardens also is very unfortunate as far as Feng Shui goes. It has not felt "right" right from the start. Depite noticing all these things, as with the atadium, I'll give it my best shot to help it work but I am quite certain everyone involved also had these same feelings but underlying motives pushed it through.

The "gift" has proved to be a very expensive one for us, difficult to return, and people also were mislead about the garden being a major tourist attraction, and I suggest anyone visiting Sydney visits their Chinese Garden for a comparison for starters. 

Unfortunately I have no idea how to resolve this city problem.

It's more like a dead duck. Put the thing out of its misery and find a better use for the site. The operating expenses are much higher than projected, and the revenue is likely to drop even further. There is just no point in persisting with it. One year's losses would be about enough to open the Caversham tunnel - someting of practical value and historic interest that the public actually want. If the council can't come up with a better use, then flog it and at least reduce the debt on the unwanted stadium; or turn it into a skateboard park.

I read in astonishment again this council's backward thinking.  "Close it on quiet days".  Are you kidding?  Well firstly if they start closing it, there will be very quiet days - as people will simply give up going there when it is open.

Firstly there should be decent eye catching signage.  I walk past the settlers museum several times each day to and from work and my carpark.  Almost daily tourists stop me and ask "Where is the Chinese Garden?".  One very plain brown sign indicates its whereabouts from outside the settlers museum. Put up large colourful signs, with dragons, photos of inside the gardens, etc. 

Secondly, with a hugely expensive incredibly drawn out refurbishment of the Settlers Museum, of course visitor numbers for the Gardens will drop.  Which raises another question, why on earth would a council choose the year of the Rugby World Cup to close and refurbish many of its main attractions?  Sigh.

It is getting to the stage that living in Dunedin is becomming depressing, almost solely from seeing this pathetic council in action, or inaction, day after day.  As for the new Mayor - is he hiding somewhere or what?  You never see or hear a word out of the guy.

Wait till we are sitting down in 3 or 4 years time having the same conversation about the stadium.

Another black mark against Chin and others.  Best thing to do is knock it down and replace it with the level crossing thereby taking pressure off the overhead bridg.