At Projects and Services Committee, elected members had a comprehensive presentation about progress with the Tauranga City Council's and ratepayer's investment in the war against graffiti.

It looks like the plan is working. But it's all uphill as staff work has to comply with the law whereas the perpetrators of graffiti are free to act like terrorists. For example, if there is graffiti to be removed from near a public road, a traffic management plan has to be in place; paid for by ratepayers. This sometimes involves those trucks with big flashing arrows on their rear end. In response to a question, we were told that if a convicted cretin was made to remove this vandalism then council would have to ‘protect' them with this sort of safety procedure and expense; OSH and all that politically correct rubbish. They didn't need, nor get that luxury, when they were committing their graffiti offences.
There is a new graffiti removal contract in place at around $15,000 per month. It is a flat fee so the less graffiti to be removed the more the contractor makes. This is a significant saving over the previous contract (up to $10,000 a month) where the contractor was paid for the work done – meaning the more graffiti there to be removed the more he got paid. In August, 1465 tags were registered. These are being photographed for later identification when perpetrators are caught and are being used to establish a database so that when people move town and continue their activities they can be identified. Last Tuesday four people (two adults and two youths) were up before the court and it will be a watershed for the future to see what the justice system hands out to them.

Reward system
Tentative moves into a reward system for dobbing in graffiti merchants are still being looked at. Apparently there is no honour among this lot. Forgers have been known to graffiti other people's signature markings (something like a dog marking its territory?) in order to get them into trouble. That's okay if you have a recognisable mark then you must be a graffiti merchant.
This has cost ratepayers over $1 million since my initiative in 1996 to clamp down on graffiti. It's like a war with terrorists because they hit and run, but the secret is to get rid of graffiti as quickly as possible and with no recognition. No photos in the paper – just wipe it out. Tools being used include covert surveillance cameras at known hot spots. One camera even caught the contractor as he turned up to clean up and the police were soon on the scene. So the graffiti action plan, hand in hand (ratepayers and police) has moved up a notch from reactive response to proactive action. Street art, (murals on public buildings) doesn't get graffiti over it and part of the plan is to decorate some walls around town as a preventative action. Some street art is clever. Have a look at the one on the building opposite The Weekend Sun office.

Southern Pipeline
With some left field thinking staff have come up with an engineering initiative involving a complicated pipe system to redistribute wastewater between Memorial Park and Judea. This has potential to save a large storage tank at Memorial Park and give the system flexibility in times of peak usage. Best of all it could save around $5 million over other options. During the presentation, elected members were shown a 1943 aerial photo of the Graham Park area before it became the old town dump. The Koperurua Stream meandered out around the edge of the estuary in those days before the present outlet was cut out of the Waikareao Estuary. Local Maori are asking that council change the name of Judea Pump Station for sensitivity reasons.

Mount Greens
The project is progressing on schedule. A joint effort from Mount Cosmopolitan Club, some bowling clubs, croquet clubs and ratepayers/council means this venue will be to those activities what Blake Park became to netball. It will be a shining example and with baby boomers coming to retirement will be a timely addition to Tauranga's amenities. It is also freeing up other land and allowing economic re-configuration of Blake Park.

Emergency warnings
I raised the issue of Civil Defence and the tsunami warnings' shortcomings. Since the Samoa event of course there was the Vanuatu event and things worked a lot better. Reports are being digested and apparently Civil Defence HQ in Wellington didn't keep NZ up with what was going on; but there were hiccups locally too, in my view. You can't afford to stuff around as the shockwave is coming, so it's better to sound an alarm early and be safe rather than sorry. Murray Guy asked the difference between a tidal wave and tsunami. They are the same thing. The shockwave only forms the wave when it hits the coast and the water wells up in the shallow water. Apparently millions of years ago a meteorite hit earth and sent a 350 metre wave around the planet. In more recent times there have been regular events ranging from up to 10 metres high. One went 7km up the Tauriko valley in the 1500's so I'm told.

Academic takeover attempt
At full council the draft new city plan was put out for public consultation. You almost need a degree to figure it all out these days. But as I've noted many times it's a takeover attempt by academics to tell you how to live and where. Urban design is a wolf in sheep's clothing and has the potential to 'prescribe” what type of front door knob you have. Despite denials and protest to the contrary elected members were assured five years ago that urban design was educational and advisory only; but that's not my experience. Council has to be on alert all the time for staff initiatives to legislate for urban design. One developer told me this week that council's urban design department was attempting to 'prescribe” ceiling colours in his development. This was said to ensure sufficient interior lighting, as the urban designer attempt to 'balance exterior compatibility of the neighbourhood.” I believe him. This nonsense has to be rubbed out and for those of you who want to maintain some semblance of urban independence you should read the draft and make submissions. The option is, 'little boxes on the hillside all made out of ticky tack” as the 1960s song predicted.