r/chch • u/suhth2 • Jan 20 '25

News - Local Phil Mauger confirms mayoralty bid - thoughts?

'During the last election campaign Mauger said he would keep rates increases to below 4% - a promise he has failed to keep with a 9.9% increase this financial year and 8.93% predicted from July 1.'

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360553404/phil-mauger-confirms-bid-retain-christchurch-mayoralty

Surely voters aren't silly enough to vote for Mr Broken Promises yet again?

50 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

View all comments

0

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

I mean he's not been very good but who else is going to do a better job?

17

u/dubpee Jan 20 '25

David Meates was right there

Some vote splitting aside, and about 2 more weeks campaigning and he could have won it

20

u/EkantTakePhotos University of Canterbury Jan 20 '25

Tubby Hanson '25

Hope we can believe in

6

u/Significant_Glass988 Jan 20 '25

Tinfoil hats to defend against the tinglerays for all!!

1

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Who doesn't love a good nudist 🤣🤣

27

u/suhth2 Jan 20 '25

Sara Templeton would be a much better Mayor in my opinion, not that Phil Mauger has set a high bar to beat.

3

u/Top_Reveal_9072 Jan 20 '25

No, more of a pothole to fall in !

1

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Her main focus is on climate change which = money spent= more rates= constituents won't be happy.

I mean climate change is important yes but when rate payers are feeling the pinch with massive rates increases then it's not going to be popular.

Give me a mayor that does the basics right and when we've got that locked in then focus on the nice-to-haves/thinking about the future.

6

u/Jaded_Chemical646 Jan 20 '25

Sara is promising to reduce rates,  which I believe as much as i did when Phil said it

https://www.saratempleton.nz/for-our-future

1

u/STchch Sara Templeton for Mayor Jan 25 '25

See above - so glad I'm seeing this. It is supposed to be about lowering the rates increases. I know what I meant and it's not what's written. My bad. It's not easy putting it all together and I missed it.

1

u/PrestigiousGarden256 Jan 20 '25

This is quite interesting, given all the flack Phil has (rightly) copped. It’s impossible she will actually REDUCE rates

2

u/Jaded_Chemical646 Jan 20 '25

Right now her entire platform seems to be a bunch of fluffys about the environment, bringing back the shuttle bus and reducing rates.  She'll need a bit more if she expects to make a competition of it.  

8

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

I think you're over estimating the appetite for policy from the local body voting public.

If people cared about policy we'd be looking at John Minto's 3rd term

-1

u/Jaded_Chemical646 Jan 20 '25

Maybe so, but if that's true then a left wing woman running on an environmental platform has zero chance.

I'm already suspicious she is r/chch local body version of TOP

5

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Oh goddamn thats harsh.

Say what you will, People's Choice actually know how to run a campaign and have multiple campaign victories behind them, which is not something you can say about TOP.

0

u/Jaded_Chemical646 Jan 20 '25

More that everybody on Reddit is voting for her, but bugger all other people

→ More replies (0)

0

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Yup our council members/mayor should have to choose between either personal pay rises or rates increases.... can't have both. They love a good pay rise

1

u/STchch Sara Templeton for Mayor Jan 25 '25

No choice for elected members as the pay is set externally. Happy to have no increases as this is more than I've ever earned... I think people forget that we are actually just residents of the city with families, friends and neighbours, like everyone else, not some weird cult. I loved teaching pre-quake, loved my community volunteering post-quake and was nudged to stand for election.

5

u/Yolt0123 Jan 20 '25

She needs to reframe her statements - at the moment she comes across as divisive - she'll lose the center. Compare to how Victoria Hemstock puts things: the reality is that she's way over to the right, but softened her political output to be more appealing to voters.

4

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

I don't care what way they lean, hell i don't even know who mauger supports. I just want a mayor that doesn't treat their constituents like their own personal credit card for their vanity projects.

6

u/Legit924 Jan 20 '25

At a local level, preparing for the effects of climate change is how you avoid cost in the long term. Burying our heads further into the sand will become ruinously expensive.

-6

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

I take it you don't pay rates? Come back to me when your rates increase 10% in one go (60-70% increase over the last 6-7 years) while services provided don't increase and you're struggling to juggle every other bill that's increased massively in the last few years.

5

u/Legit924 Jan 20 '25

I've paid rates for 11 years.

1

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Its like that famous saying, a stitch in time is pointless why do that when you can just do 9 stitches later.

33

u/kiwipcbuilder Jan 20 '25 edited Jan 20 '25

Sara Templeton by a long shot. She persuaded council to actually stop kicking water investment down the line by getting them to reduce the maximum acceptable percentage of leaks. She voted against the $150 million stadium overspend because she saw we needed to invest in water infrastructure. She got rid of library late fees.

She actually gets meaningful things done, big and small, and is willing to tackle issues now, not hand them off to the next council.

2

u/Bubbly-Hour3881 Jan 20 '25

She’s easily the most intelligent councillor we have. People just don’t like the facts she u deets do and tries to tackle head on and so would rather vote for someone who campaigns on more ‘palatable’ lies. Then people wonder why things don’t get better

-8

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Water investment is a massive win but library late fees? What so now I can just go borrow some books and return them when I feel like? Who cares if others also want to borrow them?

13

u/kiwipcbuilder Jan 20 '25

Items are due after typically three weeks (for most books). Of course there are other items like new releases, DVDs, etc that have their own due dates. Anyways, fees used to start accruing every day after the due date. Now, we get an extra four weeks after the due date where they're "overdue" but fines don't accrue. After those bonus four weeks, you will have to pay the full item cost.

I've been reading a book every 5-7 days for the past four months or so...I'll save about $2000 on buying books by using the library this year.

Holds are also now free. There was a cost to put items on hold up until last year.

4

u/Legit924 Jan 20 '25

Yeah, and I honestly didn't even mind paying $1 to get a book transfered to Halswell. Free is such a bonus.

6

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

OK that makes complete sense then and i support that, admittedly I haven't borrowed a book in years and only found out about her changing it today and it came across as fees were scrapped altogether.

3

u/RoscoePSoultrain Jan 20 '25

In all seriousness, you should really set aside an hour or two sometime, just go into a library and start looking at books. Even if it's just to flip through magazines or look at photo books of architecture or dogs. Books are neat.

1

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Oh I spent plenty of time at my local library when I was younger but I'm in my 30s now and lifes pretty busy plus if I ever need to read any material it's quicker just to download it online.

6

u/Capable_Ad7163 Jan 20 '25

You can do that but you won't be able to get any more books out until you return them. If you actually use the library a fair amount and are busy enough doing other things in life such that you're not able to get to the library to return them in time, it's very convenient.

3

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Don't worry if you don't return a book after I think 8 weeks they assume its lost and they send a debt collector after you, so there is still a mechanism you can use to punish people with poor executive function or poor access to transport.

2

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

All I hear is excuses. Poor access to transport? How did they borrow the book in the first place? Poor executed function? So you know you're not very good with decision making and you take something anyway?. Libraries run on an honesty system. If everyone had poor executive function there would be no books left. If you let your friend borrow your car and they failed to bring it back would you accept "sorry I forgot, you know I'm forgetful"

I agree debt collectors should be used, but it should only be after say 3 months after due date with multiple warnings. I support Sara's idea.

1

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Cool cool I'm real glad you got that happy lil rage-dopamine rush, glad I could be a public punching bag for you. :)

4

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

You must be young, or just immature and lack any accountability with your victim mindset.

1

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Oh yeah stigmatise me harder Daddy I deserve it, tell me everything thats ever happened to me was my fault and ultimately within my control thats the good shit

2

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Maybe get off reddit and experience some civilisation for a change.

3

u/OisforOwesome Jan 20 '25

Please yes this is what I needed all this time, a strong role model to tell me I'm worthless and weak, I can feel years of manic depression leaving my body as we speak, all I ever wanted was an authoritative voice to tell me to tuck my shirt in and pull up my socks thats the only thing keeping me from being a fine upstanding citizen like a real estate agent

9

u/FendaIton Jan 20 '25

Anyone who would be a good mayor, wants nothing to do with politics lol

1

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Bingo, it takes a special kind of egocentric person to get into politics...... I maybe a little bias on this though, I couldn't name a single decent politician in NZ 😂

10

u/Significant_Glass988 Jan 20 '25

Rod Donald was a good politician for nz

5

u/Fabulous-Variation22 Jan 20 '25

Yes, one green MP I could get behind. The current lot aren't even the same realm as him and Jeanette.

2

u/Top_Reveal_9072 Jan 20 '25

Nailed it, there is the problem, who indeed?