Seawall now short term patch up

Interim repair job on the Dive Crescent seawall.

'They just wanted us out, plain and simple.”

And whenever Brenda Butler – former manager of the Cargo Shed arts collective on Dive Crescent – sees another cruise liner across the harbour, whenever she sees the empty Cargo Shed, she feels 'gutted”.

'We could have stayed in the Cargo Shed for another seven months because the work that was meant to start on the Dive Crescent seawall didn't start till last week.”

And while the shed sat idle, the cruise ships which brought a lot of tourist dollars to the arts collective came and went – 72 of them and about 11 more to see out the season . That's nearly 154,000 passengers, all potential Cargo Shed customers and their fat wallets. And not just them.

'What about all the tour buses? We had a promo going in 1,000 hotel and motel rooms in the city, a promo we couldn't cancel,” says Brenda. And she's still fielding calls from frustrated customers who find the shed closed.

'We are also trying to work out how much money the council lost by not having a tenant in the shed. It lost 10 per cent of our profits that we were charged – the rent, rates, power, water, cleaning and maintenance. The council didn't think it through properly.”

The council doesn't want to discuss that. Apparently its license to occupy agreements are confidential – even if there's no-one actually occupying the shed.

What upsets Brenda Butler and the arts collective even more is the council's now stating the works to fix a dangerous seawall originally planned for October 'were reviewed and scaled back”. And obviously delayed by several months.

'It's now an interim repair job to make sure it won't compromise any future development of the Dive Crescent area,” according to Tauranga City Council's Jaine Lovell-Gadd.

The collective is confused. The council says the arts market and its stall holders were advised last year that health and safety issues associated with the proposed seawall meant they would need to vacate the Cargo Shed. 'But,” says Brenda, 'when the works were delayed there were no health and safety issues and we could have stayed.”

At the same time they were offered the Cargo Shed on an hourly rate but stall holders would have been required 'to pack down their gear after each use” – in other words bring their stuff in at the beginning of the day and remove it at the end of each day.

'It was an offer that obviously wouldn't and couldn't work for stallholders. It was impracticable.” As were the other accommodation offers.

'And when it comes down to it we would have been happy to stay until the end of April and we could have planned from there. It's now clear there was no need for us to leave immediately.”

And all that income for the council and the stall holders lost.

Meanwhile, the council has confirmed it's working with Land Information New Zealand on securing joint ownership with the Otamataha Trust for the Dive Crescent/Cargo Shed site. Once ownership is established the long term options will be worked out.

'Meanwhile the Cargo Shed is available for booking based on an hourly rate,” says Jaine Lovell-Gadd.

To date there's only been a short term booking for storage. 'We could have and should have been there for several more months.” Especially over the lucrative Christmas and cruise liner season.

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9 comments

shed

Posted on 24-03-2017 12:13 | By dumbkof2

i was a tour driver and the comments that i got back was that everything in the cargo shed was way overpriced


its pretty obvious

Posted on 24-03-2017 13:36 | By Darth Vader NZ

Its pretty obvious the council is pandering to visitors off cruise ships before the rate payers that elected and pay the wages of said councillors.I.M.O the council should use that location for the new council building, build a new building right on the waterfront there is ample parking for those that need to visit the building and pull down the old council building and use it as the new bus terminal


Another Council Con

Posted on 24-03-2017 15:37 | By Murray.Guy

We knew from the outset this was a corrupt process as their was NO immenent danger and made no sense to squander rates millions while ownership was still to be sorted, an expense that should be shared by the joint ownership. In regards the goods offered by the Cargo Shed, the alleged ex tour driver is being somewhat mischievous as I am today very much hands on cruise ship tours and the feedback was always excellent for ambience, quality and price. Just as with the Waka restoration, we have been duped.


thats

Posted on 24-03-2017 17:01 | By Capt_Kaveman

council for ya bone heads


Obvious

Posted on 24-03-2017 18:58 | By Accountable

Well Brenda why don't you bight the bullet and rent a retail shop, of which there are many available in the CBD, and compete fairly with all the other retailers who are paying market rents (not subsidised by the ratepayer) rates, parking and all the taxes that go with a genuine retail operation. Why do you think you are so special and want your competitors to subsidise your business from the money they pay the Council in rates and other charges every year so that you can undercut them . I have to say, get real and get out of the'' I am owed a living mentality'', and join the real business world and good luck because with an attitude like yours you are going to need lots of it.


Accountable grossly mistaken

Posted on 25-03-2017 16:02 | By Murray.Guy

The Cargo Shed Collective tenancy of the 'Cargo Shed' was an excellent 'deal' for the ratepayer, community. There WAS NO SUBSIDY, in stark contrast to the early Mary Dillon, Creative Tauranga lease arrangements with the City Council. As with the lease arrangements at the Historic Village, the leases reflect the age and condition of the buildings, the inability to secure a long term lease and the fact that the land ownership is with the Crown. Accountable, nobody subsidized the collective. They entered a competitive tender opportunity and were successful. The City Council has abused the privilege of their tenancy which was promised to remain in place until at least the land ownership was resolved and have every reason to feel very much aggrieved.


murry

Posted on 25-03-2017 19:52 | By dumbkof2

sorry mr guy but 90% of my passengers came out of the cargo shed empty handed. most said they could get the same things at other outlets for consideraby less money


Don't blame councillors for council cockups

Posted on 26-03-2017 08:00 | By Papamoaner

It's the permanent staff that are the problem. I think the council need a new engineer.


Murray

Posted on 26-03-2017 10:44 | By Accountable

The rent for the Cargo shed was well below market value, for example I pay $147,000.00 p/a for 200 square meters in the CBD, plus rates, plus water, plus opex, plus insurance. If the rent for the Cargo shed was below valuation then it must be subsidised by the ratepayer as there is no one else to hold their hands. I also know that a lot of people who work under the market system do not declare this income.


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