This morning the Dom Post is reporting that Helene Ritchie has been locked in an email battle with council staff over the height of her hoardings. Aparently some are (shock horror) 5-8cm higher than they are allowed to be.
As we enter the final stages of the campaign we may be on the verge of a council clamp down on minor breaches of the Local Government Electoral Act. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the woodwork.
Our prediction: watch for fireworks.
WCC Watch 
Will parking restrictions help business? Will a two hour time limit on parking in the city on Sunday encourage more people to come into the city and thereby assist retailers, or will it send people, and their cars, to other shopping centres like Lower Hutt and Porirua? That was today’s weighty issue at the council’s strategy and policy committee.
Personally I can’t see how a two hour restriction encourages vibrancy in the inner city on a Sunday. If people can’t do the shopping and other activities they want within the two hours, they will simply go elsewhere.
A family coming to town to buy clothes for the kids, shoes for Mum, and to have lunch at a cafe in the sun aren’t willingly going to cart their parcels on a bus, even if there is one. The more likely result will be that the family will use their car and go to North City or Queensgate where there is free parking and all the same shops as on the Golden Mile.
It is not clear that the policy will realise its stated objective of encouraging more shoppers. In fact the reverse is possible.
For the record, the two hour limit is now in. A move to exempt the area around Molesworth Street and the Cathedral went down 7-8, but the restriction was easily carried. My prediction is that the issue will be revisited early in the life of the new council – whoever is on it. (And yes the parking police will be on the job. The council is expecting another $19 000 a year in revenue as a result of this.)
Is anyone is going to complain about Stephanie Cook’s apparent ‘treating’, an offence under electoral laws, by giving away seeds in her pamphlet asking for people’s votes. Marian Hobbs had to mend her ways in the 1999 parliamentary campaign. That time it was sausages. Not sure if Cook eats meat being a Greenie. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=102009
Treating is about influencing a vote through supplying food and alcohol. The law specifcially allows a light supper after a meeting. I think a free seed giveaway would not be a problem legally. So no complaint from me anyway.
Authorities may be more concerned about Adam Cunningham’s glossy A4 (available in a pub near you) and his ‘Do No Disturb’ flyer. Neither appears to contain a legal authorisation statement, which under s. 133(2)(b) of the Local Government Act must include ‘a statement setting out the true name of the person or persons for whom or at whose direction it is published and the address of his or her place of residence or business.” I suppose this is due to the Australian candidate for Lambton living in Miramar, about 5 miles away, and him not wanting voters to know.
His “Do Not Disturb” flyer is cynical too. He was out door knocking alright in early August. Cunningham must have found it hard work so switched to clever marketing, appealing to voter apathy.
Facebook (September) Adam Cunningham A great weekend delivering “do not disturb” flyers – thank you so much to the 20 or so people that braved dogs, stairs, scary people, sunshine …
Facebook (August) Adam Cunningham … makes me love those quiet nights even more than I did before. Door to door in oriental bay this weekend, back out there!