Dibble Dribble

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Andrew Frame

A rebuttal of my letter that appeared in the HB Today on Monday 15 AND Saturday 20 December 2014. Does that make it DOUBLE Dibble Dribble??!!

Apparently by questioning the logic behind the MTG Foundation members spending the price of an average house in Napier on a single piece of sculpture an MTG Foundation member named Peter Gascoigne claims I am helping in the “dumbing down of modern life”

Wow! I never thought I was that influential!

Unfortunately, rather than elaborate on just HOW I am assisting in the downfall of modern society, Mr Gascoigne proceeds with the tried and tested method of unsupported claims, snobbish stereotyping and completely ignores the fact I have said nothing about the look of the Dibble sculpture, rather focusing on how a quarter of a million dollars could have been better spent!

MTG’s shortcomings have been widely recognised and criticised over the past twelve months and a lot of the responsibility for those problems should rest with past and current members of the Napier City Council who oversaw its redevelopment.

But surely anyone with such a large stake in MTG as their own foundation would be doing anything they could to assist in curing theses ills and ensuring as many of the region’s artistic works from their collection are properly looked after and are seen by as many people as possible – ensuring a higher patronage and a more successful future for the MTG. A quarter of a million dollars would certainly go some way to helping that.

The MTG Foundation and its members may have “no desire” or obligation to help contribute to the storage and display aspects of the facility meant to house the foundation’s own treasurers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t. That’s not “dumbing down” anything – that’s being sensible!

As for saying my “comments seem part of the crusade to make art galleries and museums attractive to people who don’t want to go there” – Mr Gascoigne couldn’t be further from the truth.

I want EVERYONE in Hawke’s Bay to go to their Museum, art Gallery and Theatre. Because the stories, treasures and history they contain are not just yours or mine, Peter, but EVERYONE’S! From the smallest child to the oldest pensioner; From Maori Taonga to high-end conceptual art snobbery – these are the treasures of Hawke’s Bay and everyone deserves to see them!

His parting shot takes the cake, though:

“Best of all, there is no ludicrously high admission fee to see (the kowhai sculpture)”

Of course! Why bother paying to actually go into Napier’s MTG (in doing so seeing, supporting and raising money for the complex and the HB Museums Trust’s extensive collections), when you can see just one single piece donated by “thrilled” MTG Foundation members for free across the road?

Now that is a “stunning piece” of logic indeed!

Hospital Site Napier’s – Not Tourists’!

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Andrew Frame

Below is my Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Hawke’s Bay Today this morning (Friday November 28 2014)

Napier’s Hospital site – once a place for everyone may soon become a place for only tourists and the well-off.

“The Art Deco Trust says plans for a residential development on Napier’s old hilltop hospital site have neglected a major tourism opportunity for the city”

Here we go again… “Tourism, tourism, tourism, blah, blah, blah” Give us a break and please give someone other than the ADT a chance to speak!

Napier’s hospital site has NOTHING to do with tourists and EVERYTHING to do with Napier residents.

Many of us were born there, some of us died there and a great many more were treated there over the many years it was in operation.

It has links to the literal and figurative heart of Napier and its residents. It is NOT yet another gaudy trap for visitors to “ooh” and “aaah” from and at.

Certain “local leaders” need to take a step back and stop trying to turn everything about our city into something to be sold to short-staying tourists and start focusing on Napier’s residents who live here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year – THEY bring far more to our city than any day-tripping, “cruise in, cruise out over the summer months” tourist ever could, so stop sucking up to this moneyed meandering minority!

Speaking of moneyed minorities, it would have been nice to see any housing development on the hospital site as something reasonable and affordable for local families, rather than even more apartments (have all the ones built in Ahuriri years ago sold yet?) and their “lavish,” “luxury living” subdivision.

The current plan not only gives a “two fingered salute” to the memory of Napier’s healthcare system but also to all us mere mortals, living on the surrounding plains, being looked down upon on from the hill-top heights of luxury.

Regional NZ Deserves More Economic Love!

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Andrew Frame

I’m tired of regional New Zealand being the country’s economic whipping-boy. Why must business in New Zealand still be SO main-centre focused??

With the rise of E-commerce and so much business now being internet-based, why does it still “need” to be based in the likes of Auckland?

It exacerbates Auckland’s never-ending high demand / high price problems which the nation is reminded of on a weekly basis in the news. While regional cities, like my own home town of Napier, have been struggling to attract skilled workers and businesses in recent years.

The regions have also had to bear the brunt of things like nation-wide “Loan to Value Ratios” (LVRs) which, while aimed at slowing the Auckland housing bubble, have instead quashed the dreams of many young first home buyers across the country, where housing prices are far more realistic.

So why aren’t places like Hawke’s Bay being given serious consideration?

• The average (full-sized, with a yard) house price in Hawke’s Bay is somewhere around $350,000 – $500,000 – a third to a quarter of those in Auckland.

• We have the infrastructure including UFB network access, to easily operate a national / international level “E-business” from Hawke’s Bay, as well as the port, airport and cenral location for easy logistical access.

• With its smaller population (more room, less congestion) and wonderful natural features encouraging healthier, outdoor pastimes, Hawke’s Bay has a relaxed lifestyle second to none!

Yet where is all the commercial and business development focus? After years of technological, social and commercial development 90 percent of it is STILL on fit-to-bursting, ridiculously-overpriced Auckland.

Like Smaug the Dragon, New Zealand’s dreaded old “Nothing south of the Bombay Hills” mentality is rearing its ugly head once again.

It doesn’t stop there though. For all the promise of call centre jobs being created in Hawke’s Bay, some of Australasia’s richest banking businesses must STILL outsource call centre jobs to India!

20 jobs that could have been based in provincial NZ, giving the local economy a boost are outsourced for “greater cost efficiency” at a company that pays its CEO more than anyone else in the country – THIS is the sort of corporate idiocy that is harming New Zealand!

If that isn’t bad enough, some companies that look to move to regional New Zealand want or expect subsidies for doing so!

Subsidies??!!

The real estate in Hawke’s Bay is around ONE QUARTER THE PRICE OF THAT IN AUCKLAND! By simply moving here, they could more than halve their operating costs – yet they want EXTRA money for it??!!

Give me a break!

While we move in almost completely different political modes of thinking, I saw the Taxpayer Union published a report recently called “Monopoly Money” on corporate welfare in New Zealand.

For a country where “Beneficiary Bashing” is practically a national sport amongst some sectors of the community, it would be a massively unfair of us to ignore the fact that many big New Zealand businesses with huge, healthy profits are also receiving government hand-outs, but on a far more massive scale than any DPB, or Unemployment Benefit recipient ever has.

Big businesses are essentially receiving a benefit to help cover the extra costs of operating in bigger cities like Auckland. While regional centres, lacking the presence of same big businesses, are in the economic doldrums with perfectly capable workers on unemployment benefits because the jobs just aren’t available.

But according to New Zealand’s very own Finance Minister, Bill English, that’s just fine.

When Mr English met Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce members at a swanky restaurant in Ahuriri last week he was quoted as saying Hawke’s Bay’s seasonal low-wage economy “isn’t going to change in a hurry, so let’s get good at it.”

What a pathetic cop-out!

Hawke’s Bay, and ALL regions of New Zealand deserve better!

Napier In Frame

Tag Archives: Business

Hospital Site Napier’s – Not Tourists’!