Support needed for those on the streets
I was recently in the centre of Dunedin and saw a man calling out for financial assistance. I walked past.
Later I saw a police officer quietly talking to the man who was now seated on a bench. I observed no physical or verbal altercation.
The police officer quickly left with the man in the same place. I was very impressed as to how the police managed the situation.
These people are part of our community and we should welcome them in social situations. However there also need to be boundaries to protect others.
The solution is not political or financial.
Good supportive environments can obviously benefit these special people.
Our previous council had planed to update a holiday park into accommodation for the homeless. My understanding is it didn’t go ahead because of financial restrictions.
Both our government and council have huge debt. Whatever political party governs we will have the same debt. It will come down to what is priority spending.
Personally I think the same is true of the Dunedin City Council. Practical accommodation for the most vulnerable should be a higher priority than heritage buildings, cycleways, hockey pitch, grass verges or even South Dunedin library.
Alan Paterson
North East Valley
[Abridged: editor.]
Profits not all bad
Every day we read opinions regarding the Santana gold mine project and it was a change to read about the harm which alcohol (wine) is causing to so many good people (ODT 2.3.26).
I know nothing about gold miming or vineyards but know that Australian mines are supplying many essential elements and their profits are huge.
Unfortunately it would be necessary to employ an Australian company to set up gold mines in New Zealand: they already have the necessary skills, financial backing and technical knowledge.
No-one wants our country ruined, through greed or wrong decisions, but we all know that our government has exorbitant debt and that everyone is currently crying out for more money. We have been told that people under 35 now will not receive superannuation unless there are more people working and paying tax at the time of their retirement. This is a real concern.
Are there any benefits from gold mining? Jobs will be available and will bring hard working people to the area. Communities will grow and profit.
Many of our intelligent young people are already working in Australian mines. They are there for the money but we want these people back in New Zealand.
Apparently gold mines must adhere to strict rules and guidelines. They must also return waste areas to an attractive state at the end of any project. Just look at the restored green pastures near Millers Flat and near Milton. These areas were once open mines.
Gold profits are not all bad and how many of us have gold as adornment or in the jewellery box?
Bernice Armstrong
North East Valley
Why are we waiting?
I have been waiting, with bated breath, for the arrival of overseas billionaires in their private jets to buy houses worth more than $5 million.
Few queries though. Will their intervention deal a blow to the crippling cost of living here? Will it shatter the stranglehold Australia has over our banking and supermarket sectors? Will it make it easier for people (who don't have $5m+) to be able to buy a house of their own? The list is endless.
Another example of this coalition government’s stupid, pointless and arrogant response to the deepening struggles of everyday Kiwis.
Graham Bulman
Roslyn
AI datacentre sounds good but there’s a but
On the face of it, Datagrid New Zealand's announcement seems like good news - a huge new industry for the South with the promise of ‘‘over 1200 skilled and technical jobs’’ during the construction phase.
A more valuable number to know would be the number of skilled and technical jobs remaining after construction ends.
But, more importantly - with New Zealand's lack of energy security under considerable scrutiny as the result of the United States' attack on Iran — there is the even bigger question of devoting 280MW of electricity to the production of artificial intelligence (the Clyde Dam generates 432MW).
New Zealand's production of clean, green energy is already constrained, so is a big, new electricity consumer what the country needs at this time?
A nice to have, but...?
Mark Price
Wanaka
Fairy stories lie at heart of stadium value
It is hard to know even where to begin when analysing the logic of the case presented by the Dunedin City Council bureaucracy and accepted by councillors for there being ‘‘no choice’’ with regard to further funding for the Forsyth Barr Stadium (ODT 5.3.26).
It can only be described (most politely) as delusional.
However, one has to begin somewhere, so let’s take just one of the financial factoids presented in support of it: ‘‘The forecast fair value of the stadium land was assumed to be $51 million in 2060.’’
Leaving aside the issue of whether the fair value of anything can reasonably be forecast or assumed 34 years in advance, fair value is defined by New Zealand standard IFRS 13 as:
‘‘ ... the amount received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date’’.
Fair value is thus a market-based, rather than entity-specific, measurement. In the case of the stadium land, current fair value may be established either by direct comparison with similar market transactions, or by calculation.
Luckily, we do have a comparable transaction, the sale of Carisbrook by the DCC in 2013 for $3m. A direct comparison, with adjustment to today’s values, gives a fair value for the FB Stadium land of around $6m.
The calculated fair value of the FB Stadium takes the market value of the cleared land, and subtracts the cost of demolition. The current GV of 130 Anzac Ave’s land is only $25m. This is before one subtracts the cost of demolition and removal of the stadium.
Informal estimates I have received indicate that it would cost more than $25m to do this, giving a calculated fair value of zero for the land.
The assumed fair value of $51m for this land is thus revealed to be a complete fantasy.
Many more such fantasies may well lurk within the financial statements of the DCC, and the cases that are based upon them.
Dr Robert Hamlin
Mosgiel
[Abridged - length. Editor.]
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
