Friday, January 23, 2015

Why local gubmint 'dithers'

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Local Government 'dithering', while an accurate description as seen from outside the tent, is in fact structural. LG is a creature...

Christchurch Geotechnical vulnerability

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The Christchurch situation (highly varied pockets of riverine silt interpsersed with gravel bars and peat) was very well known by the early ...
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Robert Heinlein on Bad Luck

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Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) is fond of this quote: Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit th...
Saturday, November 22, 2014

A Little Battle hymn

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What Labour needs is a Rallying Cry, so, to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, here's one.  That first line is filched from T...
Monday, November 10, 2014

RMA and Housing Unaffordability

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  This ( RMA and housing unaffordability being linked ) is a sad but in hindsight predictable trajectory. I won't retrace all the steps...
Monday, November 03, 2014

Plans 'Inadequate' - Gubmint to CCC

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Response to a Stuff article:   Govt-slams-planning-changes-as-inadequate The plannerista do not understand four fundamental things about o...
Wednesday, October 08, 2014

A Fool speaks out

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The Left Honorable Sir Larry Fool, president-for-life of the Small-Nation Association For Urbanista (SNAFU), has taken strong exception to W...
Tuesday, September 30, 2014

TLA's are oblivious to two aspects: UOMI and CG created by lines on maps

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There are, RMA reforms apart, two lines of action available to start to effect the needed changes. 1 - impose a UOMI calculation and repor...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Why does an urban section cost $200K plus???

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Posted as a Stuff comment to a David Killick article. This is something the Productivity Commission noted in their Housing Affordability ...
Thursday, July 24, 2014

Councils and Consents

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The issue with consents is quite simple:  there is zero risk-assessment in the process, the way Councils run them.  Schedule 1 IS risk-based...
Thursday, July 17, 2014

Another cold-eyed but well-argued Spengler piece

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In this magisterial article , David P Goldman argues that America has bungled everything for a decade-and-a-half, and is frankly now incapab...
Friday, April 25, 2014

CBD rebuild stall - blamed on Private Developers!

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There are two very fundamental reasons why the commercial rebuild of the Christchurch CBD has not occurred. 1 - the precincts idea and th...
Friday, March 07, 2014

Mike Greer and Spanbuild to do Factory House Builds

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Great news. Factory builds are tighter, more accurate, use CNC machines instead of drug-addled hammer hands, and are manufactured under cov...
Friday, February 28, 2014

MUL's, RUB's, Zones and other Unearned Capital Gain drivers

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The thing the Clueless Councils have never twigged to, is the economic effect of a zoning squiggle on a map. The Productivity Commission F...
Thursday, February 27, 2014

Roads, Cars, Tiwai and EV's: a Singularity approaches?

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I'm always amused by the antics of the anti-roads brigade.  My initial reaction is simple:  don't these clowns realise that public t...
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The stock reply to the Unaffordable Houses threads everywhere...

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So, go convince your local Clueless Council not to do the two things that have done most to make houses unaffordable: 1 - draw zoning squigg...
Wednesday, February 05, 2014

The Christchurch rebuild.

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Can Cera handle the Christchurch rebuild? The rebuild has already happened in commercial terms. The New CBD (the Sydenham/Addington/Midd...
Monday, January 13, 2014

Families determine academic progress, and lifetime earning capacity

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In a single, well-referenced article , George Will nails the causes of inequality. Families.  And, to a lesser but still significant exten...
Sunday, January 05, 2014

The Christchurch CBD Precincts

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The road to hell is paved by Good Intentions (not an original thought) but let's count some of these 'intentions'. - Commerce ...
Friday, December 13, 2013

Four Thoughts re First Homes

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The interlocked factors (I ranted aboot this yesterday here) are just too hard to tackle, even individually. One alternative (which may hap...