ED SAID -‘Now’t so queer as folk’

Despite this amazing, amusing and confusing English language we grapple to pronounce and understand on a daily basis, nowadays we seem hell bent on using a plethora of cliché’s, proverbs and analogies – many well out of context. They are often very suitable for describing a situation yet can also be contradictory such as ‘ fools rush in where angels fear to tread’ but ‘he who hesitates is lost’ and so it goes.

The KDC situation has brought about a number of these, some appropriate and some not so. We’ve had ‘fiddling while Rome burns’, ‘rats leaving a sinking ship’ and of course ‘pay peanuts and get monkeys’ directed towards the business acumen (or non-) of councillors yet despite suitably qualified Commissioners installed at going rates of pay, the outcry still continues.

Some stick rigidly to the cliché ‘the squeaky wheel gets the oil’. In this case the ‘oil’ or one might use the analogy ‘pound of flesh’ (something which is owed that is ruthlessly required to be paid back) originally called for was the dissolution of Council which has happened, but if said wheel still continues to squeak it will invariably become annoying and risk being ignored completely. 

With Council resignations, ratepayers effectively got their ‘pound of flesh’ – or did they? They now see the situation as more grave than it was before. I believe ratepayer groups want even more yet they have not said just what it is they want and although all life is compromise and negotiation to some degree, they seem unwilling to come to the table on that basis. In short, like the Merchant of Venice they have their pound of flesh but, by the letter of the law they are not entitled to any blood or gristle, just flesh – the cause of much chagrin or ‘up the proverbial creek without a paddle’.

Regarding rates, the Kaipara CEO has revealed there were 8.5% non-payers or in arrears and there are always some of these. Apparently about half are attributable to Mangawhai. When the call for a widespread rates strike got into full swing, property owners had already paid probably three or four of their required six bi-monthly payments for 2011/12, thereby accepting the charges as ‘true and correct’ so why not continue to pay on that basis this year – without  any increase? Do people not realise that they still have an obligation towards keeping the Kaipara in business? 

There are still cries to scrap the LTP. It is a legal requirement but, OK - scrap it! What will that  change? Hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars have already been spent so what’s the point? Furthermore it is simply a plan, a blueprint which is often revisited. Look at the last ten years, or more especially, the last five.  No country or government has been spared the recession and the trickle-down effect means local bodies have also had to review their LTPs set in 2002 when the world was a very different place. With $80m debt to deal with I doubt the LTP is high on the list of the commissioners’ priorities.

Humans, unlike any other animal, have been given the power to reason and being reasonable people, we can reason ourselves INTO anything, or OUT of anything. If you ask a hundred people their view on any news item then you’ll probably get a hundred different opinions – not necessarily wrong or right but all from different angles depending on male/female, old or young, rich or poor.

We all need a cause at some point in our lives but life is too short to be totally consumed by things we can’t change at the cost of enjoying the things we have.

Cheers

Rob