Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast has accepted the lead role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in this summer's play entitled "Robbing from the Hoods"
Explains Kerry:
"Wellington has a long tradition of including surrounding neighbourhoods as a source for tax revenue. With the Council's recent declaration that councils as far away as Manawatu and Carterton should be funding Te Papa and the Wellington Zoo, the theatre company obviously saw some metaphorical parallel with the current production and my life experience, although I can't think what that might be".
Originally, the play was to be seen as a drama, but as the script evolved, it is now rightly seen as a dark comedy. This was achieved by also casting Kerry in the role of Robin Hood.
"I'm prepared to rob from the poor to make them rich. This, I think adds an interesting twist to the old socialist tale. Whereas Robin Hood and his Merry Men were into wealth distribution along lines of total income, I'm all about wealth distribution along geographical fault lines, and the fault ends in Wellington.
There is also the intangible benefits to Wellington's mana, and by extension, the mana in Manawatu of having a Te Papa Castle serve as a beacon of knowledge and hope in these troubling times. We simply think intangible benefits can be translated as tangible rates of taxation."
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy was enthusiastic about the production:
"There are some fantastic jokes in the play, and Kerry delivers them in such a deadpan way, it's totally brilliant. For example, our current funding contribution towards the Wellington Arts Scene is $5,000. Kerry turns up asking for this to be increased to $1.5 million dollars. That's hilarious, and I'll be explaining the jokes to my ratepayers as soon as we understand the punchline."
Lower Hutt Mayor David Odgen is more cautious in his praise for the Nottingham Sherrif:
"I've actually got an important part in this play, so I don't want to give away too much. However, when Kerry (posing as Robin Hood) turns up near the Melling Overbridge asking for nearly double our current $2.6 million payoff, I (as Little John) take to her with a stick, and after a fierce battle knock her into the Hutt River.
This water fight becomes symbolic of the water supply the Hutt Valley costs and sells to the people of Wellington. To put it in an international context, think of water as gas, Wellington as Poland and the Ukraine, the Hutt Valley as Russia and the approaching recession as the coming winter. The play Kerry is acting in is definitely to be seen as a tale in parts, and ACT II will be very interesting."
Kerry Prendergasts final comment was simply:
"Some people can't see Sherwood forest for the trees."
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Ends
From the DomPost today:
As the recession hits, we need to have a close look at how government organisations behave. They have the power to simply raise taxes to match whatever they want to spend. If that comes at a time when job security is low, unemployment high and money hard to find, I suggest the wisest council for the council would be to resist raising taxes and think again.
Indeed, the right wing mantra of "taxation is theft" may find some resonance when local government behaves in this manner and Ms Prendergast may find work at Downstage - as the Sherrif of Nottingham in a Wellington reenactment of Robbing from the Hoods a defining moment in her career.
I noticed a letter to the editor the other day wondering what the 527 staff of Te Papa did to keep the museum running. He noted that in the company he worked for, it took 300 or so employees to run 12 branches across New Zealand, 3 of them 24/7. It made for an interesting question.
The times ahead call for kiwi ingenuity, pragmatic decisions and some thinking outside of the civic square. Raising regional taxes is lazy, immoral and unjustifiable in the present circumstances.
Explains Kerry:
"Wellington has a long tradition of including surrounding neighbourhoods as a source for tax revenue. With the Council's recent declaration that councils as far away as Manawatu and Carterton should be funding Te Papa and the Wellington Zoo, the theatre company obviously saw some metaphorical parallel with the current production and my life experience, although I can't think what that might be".
Originally, the play was to be seen as a drama, but as the script evolved, it is now rightly seen as a dark comedy. This was achieved by also casting Kerry in the role of Robin Hood.
"I'm prepared to rob from the poor to make them rich. This, I think adds an interesting twist to the old socialist tale. Whereas Robin Hood and his Merry Men were into wealth distribution along lines of total income, I'm all about wealth distribution along geographical fault lines, and the fault ends in Wellington.
There is also the intangible benefits to Wellington's mana, and by extension, the mana in Manawatu of having a Te Papa Castle serve as a beacon of knowledge and hope in these troubling times. We simply think intangible benefits can be translated as tangible rates of taxation."
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy was enthusiastic about the production:
"There are some fantastic jokes in the play, and Kerry delivers them in such a deadpan way, it's totally brilliant. For example, our current funding contribution towards the Wellington Arts Scene is $5,000. Kerry turns up asking for this to be increased to $1.5 million dollars. That's hilarious, and I'll be explaining the jokes to my ratepayers as soon as we understand the punchline."
Lower Hutt Mayor David Odgen is more cautious in his praise for the Nottingham Sherrif:
"I've actually got an important part in this play, so I don't want to give away too much. However, when Kerry (posing as Robin Hood) turns up near the Melling Overbridge asking for nearly double our current $2.6 million payoff, I (as Little John) take to her with a stick, and after a fierce battle knock her into the Hutt River.
This water fight becomes symbolic of the water supply the Hutt Valley costs and sells to the people of Wellington. To put it in an international context, think of water as gas, Wellington as Poland and the Ukraine, the Hutt Valley as Russia and the approaching recession as the coming winter. The play Kerry is acting in is definitely to be seen as a tale in parts, and ACT II will be very interesting."
Kerry Prendergasts final comment was simply:
"Some people can't see Sherwood forest for the trees."
--------------
Ends
From the DomPost today:
The proposal to get the Greater Wellington City Councils to contribute [millions of dollars] to the running costs of facilities such as Te Papa, Wellington Zoo and the Carter Observatory has been labelled "silly" and "shortsighted".Technically, the expenditure on the Museums and Zoo doesn't go down, they just transfer the costs of running it to other Councils.
It would see all ratepayers in Porirua, Kapiti Coast and Hutt Valley - as well as southern Wairarapapa, Carterton and Manawatu - contribute toward Wellington City Council's aim to cut between 3 per cent and 5 per cent a year from its operating expenditure. --DomPost A2
As the recession hits, we need to have a close look at how government organisations behave. They have the power to simply raise taxes to match whatever they want to spend. If that comes at a time when job security is low, unemployment high and money hard to find, I suggest the wisest council for the council would be to resist raising taxes and think again.
Indeed, the right wing mantra of "taxation is theft" may find some resonance when local government behaves in this manner and Ms Prendergast may find work at Downstage - as the Sherrif of Nottingham in a Wellington reenactment of Robbing from the Hoods a defining moment in her career.
I noticed a letter to the editor the other day wondering what the 527 staff of Te Papa did to keep the museum running. He noted that in the company he worked for, it took 300 or so employees to run 12 branches across New Zealand, 3 of them 24/7. It made for an interesting question.
The times ahead call for kiwi ingenuity, pragmatic decisions and some thinking outside of the civic square. Raising regional taxes is lazy, immoral and unjustifiable in the present circumstances.
Aaah, the combo of a council's egotistical desire to have all the tpys in their sandpit, with the desire to have someone else pay for it...
ReplyDeleteInteresting how that right-wing Prendergast is working out, hmmm? Sounds kinda costly for all concerned, and I'll bet Wgtn council's rates don't drop.