‘‘If people want a dying city - vote against it!''
That was the advice from Sir Clifford Skeggs, head of the Our Stadium supporters' group, after a meeting this week with representatives of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust.
The Dunedin City Council plans to vote on the $188 million Awatea St stadium proposal at a meeting on March 17.
Six councillors have already indicated outright opposition or less than full support.
Sir Clifford, who was Dunedin mayor from 1978-89, believed ‘‘a wise and prudent councillor would have waited until all the information was in''.
‘‘I believe the average councillor, when he's acquainted with all aspects of it, if they are thinking towards the future of Dunedin city, then they would support it.''
Sir Clifford said his group informally met representatives of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust on Monday night, but were no more privy to stadium funding information than members of the general public.
The meeting provided ‘‘not a great deal'' of new information and his group was still largely ‘‘in the dark''.
‘‘I derived simply that there is some enthusiasm towards success and, in the event of success, of course, the supporters' group will obviously be committed to assisting with the raising of private funds towards achieving the objective.''
Sir Clifford said he had not been told how much money his group might be asked to raise.
‘‘I haven't been informed to the extent that I would like to have been, but I do appreciate the confidentiality between the council and their investigating committee.''
He was ‘‘reasonably confident'' the stadium would go ahead and was ‘‘frustrated'' at the lack of progress.
‘‘It's stagnated, in my opinion, and I'm a wee bit disappointed in that direction.''
He believed there would be a better financial return from the stadium than there would be from the $47 million redevelopment of the Dunedin Centre. The key to the stadium's viability was the link with the University of Otago.
‘‘The university, as I stress, will be the biggest user, the biggest rentpayer and hence the viability relies on the university. Without the university, you'd struggle to make it, economically.''
Sir Clifford believed Mayor Peter Chin was following in his own footsteps as mayor.
‘‘We've got to be aggressive. We've got to provide facilities, or we don't have the people. And if we don't have the people, those people that are complaining a little about their rates would be paying more rates.''
He had suggested to the council ways in which it could find its $91.4 million share of the stadium funding without putting the burden of debt directly on to ratepayers.
‘‘They can manipulate their business investments to assist. There are taxation opportunities. There are all sorts of things that can be considered . . . but, you know, I didn't build up a business by sitting [around] saying ‘well I can't afford this tomorrow' . . .''
The Our Stadium group would meet next week to discuss how it could help with funding if the city council approved the stadium proposal.
‘‘We will be ready to be motivated and in gear ready to raise funds.''
