An open letter from Jolyon Manning • 09.30.08
An open letter to the disheartened
From Jolyon Manning, 26 September 2009
This inspiring piece of writing, edited for public consumption, was sent to a anti-stadium worker Jolyon suspected (wrongly, it turned out) of losing heart. It is required reading for anyone who thinks only knockers and those lacking in vision oppose the stadium. Jolyon’s involvement in numerous Otago projects is outlined at the end of the piece.
LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY
That’s the title of a wonderful little booklet published by McIndoes in the 60’s and comprising a personal testimony of Sir John Walsh. And unbeknown to himself it was not long afterwards that he suffered a calamitous ‘double’ stroke. I well remember his work on a short period for the DCC with his Signal Hill ‘backdrop to Dunedin’ vision. But I also had quite a lot of close contact with John in the Cathedral, and in the University Club.
Shortly following his stroke he was back in Cannington Road with his wife (a qualified doctor but unpractising) Enid. He called me up to discuss his ideas of a suitable symbol for Otago. There he was in bed with a big tray adorned with a frightening array of coloured pills which he rather treated like a game. His idea was ‘Otago (and Southland) - The South - the Power and the Glory’. He was reflecting upon our huge hydro electricity projects and our tourism prospects. Sir John felt that we in the south should think of a continuing historic bond of the both provinces.
I had huge respect for John. He was to the best of my knowledge the ONLY person to be admitted to Alcohol Anonymous as a non-alcoholic. A huge tribute - and a reminder of the manner in which he understood the pain of others - a parallel to his pursuit of less painful dentistry treatment for patients. And he always carried a winning smile for others too.
He said to me quite memorably a couple of points to keep in mind as I travelled through life’s journey.
“You may often be seen to advocate ‘lost causes’ (but in my experience) these have invariable proved to be the right ones to pursue”. And,
“Always remember that it is not possible to move forward until you take your back foot off the ground”. What I call the shackles of tradition.
And so Sir John was well blessed in wisdom. His little booklet ‘Living with Uncertainty’ conveys his lifetime faith on the journey written with the strong foundation of his profound scientific background.
I said it all in my letter published in the ODT yesterday. Figures that I have indicate that there is a huge variance of the ratepayer commitment per capita on this rather dodgy venture as compared with that being taken by the other metropolitan communities. Dunedin is richly blessed with unique community assets of cultural heritage and natural beauty. But it does now face extraordinary challenge with its breakdown of linkages with the productive farming hinterland, its weak linkage with the centre of the New Zealand tourism sector - Queenstown, and its continuing loss of employment intensive manufacturing.
But it doesn’t end there. The wonderful container port facility is now facing renewed challenge in the race for container trades and transfer. Profits in recent years have been a major source of funding for the Otago Regional Council. And the University/ Polytechnic which has enjoyed unprecedented expansion in undergraduate student numbers in recent decades now faces a levelling out of additional first year students as now much better equipped universities ‘closer to home’ elsewhere compete more vigorously for student intakes. We are fortunate that the University has and continues to score very highly in postgraduate research. But we would be unwise to think that this one institution which accounts for about one-third of the socio/cultural /economic life of the City can carry the burden of offsetting continuing losses elsewhere in the City’s economy.
And as early Dunedin City Planner, Malcolm Latham warned us 40 years ago Dunedin needed to be particularly wary of depending too much on central government funding. I think that Malcolm was the best city planner this country has seen to date - read his document ‘Our Kind of City’. He also underlined the importance of supporting export manufacturing that brought outside wealth into the city’s coffers. But as the story of Shacklocks sadly tells us we are more than ever vulnerable to loss of significant enterprises of this nature too.
The elaborate scale of the proposed Dunedin Stadium and its inevitable drain on ratepayer maintenance bills for the foreseeable future is out of kilter with the balance of the Dunedin community commitment. I remain quite unconvinced that Carisbrook could not be modestly upgraded and provide satisfaction to the declining numbers of football enthusiasts in our midst.
The future of the University/Polytechnic campus will be well served with the availability nearby of the recent land title agglomeration.
Were the proposal to be funded essentially from the commercial sector and event patrons and users then I would not be so concerned. But the fact is that there has been a huge grab of ratepayers contributions - on a scale quite unprecedented anywhere else in New Zealand. One would think Dunedin was still made of gold…. And as I well know from my earlier Dunedin Stadium management experience the ongoing charges and physical challenges are likely to be a continuing major burden on city ratepayers.
I think the City Council should take a pause and urgently reflect on its likely destiny in the next few decades with recruitment of the wisdom that is richly available from people throughout the community.
Peter Drucker, the greatest internationally recognised management guru of the past century, has said that in any major venture we must first look from the “outside-in”. Peter Schwartz had some memorable things to say in his book, ‘The Art of the Long View’, and Prof Charles Handy (founder of the postgraduate MBA movement from the UK) has some wise things to say about planning for the future. Early this year, Prof Lynda Gratton has some very practical things to ponder in her ‘Hot Spots - why some companies buzz with energy and innovation - and others don’t’. Now head of the London School of Business Studies, Lynda says,
HOT SPOTS = cooperative mindset X boundary spanning X igniting purpose X productive capacity.
Think about that…. The Dunedin City “vision” could be better served than being so dominated in a single minded manner in the pursuit of a modern day “colosseum”. These extravaganzas are for the huge metropolitan centres - Dunedin is blessed with other much more valuable assets that the big cities could never replicate and the Dunedin City Council should build on its present proven assets.
Jolyon Manning
26 September 2008
Personal Background
Supplied on request, 30/9/08
Professional lifetime accountant. Early employment dominated by audit work associated with many regional and national commercial enterprises from whence he gained much valuable insight into the working of industry and employment both within and outside Dunedin.
For a couple of decades he was chief executive of the former Otago Council Inc. His principal achievement during that period - and indeed in the decade leading up to that appointment - was to gain central government recognition that provided better balance in regional development (and settlement population spread) and that was crucial to the wise management of New Zealand as a whole with a legitimate investment in internal freight subsidies that would enable the export manufacturers located in the slower growing districts to continue to operate profitably and serve the major Auckland domestic market as well as producing valuable export income.
He was the ‘unofficial’ community PR officer for Dunedin for about 20 years.
He has served on the NZ Tourism Council, NZ Forestry Council, the NZ National Parks Centennial Commission, the Dunedin City Council, the Otago Museum Trust Board, the Otago Polytechnic Council, the Otago Early Settlers Assn. Executive, the Otago National Parks and Reserves Board, etc. He is a past President and Honorary Life Member of the University Club Inc, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Dunedin Stadium (9 years), National Vice-president of the YHA organisation (18 years), National Vice-president of the NZ Institute of Forestry Inc (with its 750 professional forester membership), Chairman of the St Martin Island Community Inc., a former Lay Canon of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral having held many other church offices in 50 years, a foundation member of a group that eventually led to the creation of the Regent Theatre Trust, an active member of a number of horticultural/tree planting groups, for 40 years a member of the Waitaki Lakes Committee, etc.
For the better part of a decade he was a member of a group assembled by the late Prof Ron Lister (Geography) of a working committee of the earlier Dunedin Metropolitan Planning Authority. It was the Scenic Reserves and Amenities Committee (that included in its membership Prof Alan Mark and Assoc. Prof. Gary Blackman) that published informed reports on the Otago Peninsula, the Dunedin Town Belt, Mt Cargill and Mt Flagstaff environments, the Dunedin Ocean Beaches, the Silver Peaks Recreational Reserve, and finally the recreational amenities of the Otago Harbour. These reports played an important part in the assembly of the first Dunedin District Scheme. He had a close association with the early Dunedin Civic Planning Association and Malcolm Latham (author of ‘Our Kind of City’, whom Jolyon regards as ‘probably the best planning officer we have seen in New Zealand in the past few decades’).
