John MacDonald: What's the Christchurch Council's beef with food trucks?

It seems to me that the Christchurch City Council has really got it in for the Arts Centre. 

For starters, when the Arts Centre asked for $20 million in council support over the next 10 years, the council said “yeah, nah” and gave it just under $6 million instead. 

Now, it wants to sting the Arts Centre $18,000 for increasing the number of food trucks operating there.  

The council says the charge is for “added stress” on its transport network that will be caused by the extra food trucks rolling into town, which is out-and-out nonsense as far as I’m concerned.  

And the council needs to be told to pull its head in and stop trying to punish the Arts Centre for doing exactly what the council wants to happen, which is attract more people to the central city. 

It’s especially bad when you consider how hypocritical all this is – I’ll get to that in a second. But here’s what’s happened: 

The Arts Centre decided that, since the council wasn’t going to give it the extra funding it says it needs, it started to think about how it could generate some extra income itself. And it decided to get more food trucks on site, the idea being that it would bring more people into the Arts Centre and get people spending more. A win-win, you would think.  

So good on the Arts Centre for not sitting around whinging and getting on with the job itself of trying to bring in some extra money. 

Of course, if it wanted to have more food trucks it needed to get resource consent. So it went to the council, wanting consent to have up to 33 food trucks there. The council wasn’t fussed with that and so, between them, they agreed it would be cool to have up to 25 food trucks. 

So compromise reached: more food trucks, more people, more money spent. Brilliant. 

Until the council got back in touch and told the Arts Centre that, because there’d be more food trucks rolling into town, that would put “added stress” on its transport network. And because of that added stress, it would be billing the Arts Centre $18,000.   

But here’s what makes it even worse. Here’s where the hypocrisy comes into it.  

Do you remember a couple of years ago —nearly three years ago now it was— and the Destiny Church was running those anti-vax protests in the centre of town? They called themselves the Freedom and Rights Coalition and they had those protest marches in November and December 2021, and January and February 2022. 

They got quite feral at times. And the problem the city council had with them was that it wasn’t notified beforehand. Which other protest organisers do, apparently. 

And so, because of that, the council hit the Freedom and Rights Coalition and the Destiny Church with a $50,000 bill for doing traffic management during these protests. 

Which is fine, but, at the last minute, the council backed down and told this outfit to forget about the $50,000 bill and ripped up the invoices. 

And this is what really riles me about what the council’s doing to the Arts Centre. It wants to charge the Arts Centre $18,000 for showing some initiative and trying to get more people going there and spending more with more food trucks. The council’s quite happy to effectively fine an outfit for doing something positive, when it’s the same outfit that told the Freedom and Rights Coalition that they didn't have to pay their $50,000 bill. 

The hypocrisy is staggering. And the council needs to get on the phone to the Arts Centre, apologise for its hypocrisy, give it credit for trying to get more going on in the centre of town, and tell it to forget about paying this stupid bill. 

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Episode Transcript

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on iHeartRadio or wherever else it is that you get
your podcasts. Right now though, at eight minutes eight minutes
past nine, it seems to me that the Christiant City
Council has really got it in for the Art Center.

(01:30):
So for starters, When the Art Center asked for twenty
million bucks in the council support over the next ten years,
the council said nah and gave it just under six
million instead. Now now it wants to sting the Art
Center eighteen thousand dollars for increasing the number of food

(01:50):
trucks operating there. And get this, the council says the
charge is for quote added stress on its transport network
that will be caused by the extra food trucks rolling
into town, which, as far as I'm concerned, is out
and out nonsense. And what we need to do today,
you and I what we need to do today is

(02:11):
we need to tell the council to pull its head
in and to stop trying to punish the Art Center
for doing exactly what the council wants it to do.
Exactly what the council wants to happen, which is to
attract more people into the central city. This is especially
bad when you consider how hypocritical all this is, and
I'll get to that in a second. But here's what's happened.

(02:33):
So the Art Center decided that since the council wasn't
going to give it the extra funding that says it needs, well,
it started to think about how it could generate some
extra income itself, and it decided, well to get more
food trucks on site. There we go, idea being that
it would bring more people into the Art Center, get
people spending more. A win win, you would think, wouldn't

(02:55):
you so good on the Art Center for not sitting
around winging about the city council and getting on with
the job itself of trying to bring in some extra money.
Of course, if it wanted to have more food trucks,
so you know what it had to do. It had
to get the bit of paper, had to get resource consent.
So I went to the council wanting consent to have

(03:17):
up to thirty three food trucks there council, Oh, I'm
not fast about that. Nah, I don't like that idea.
And so between them they agreed it would be cool
to have up to twenty five food trucks. So compromise reached.
More food trucks, more people, more money spent. Brilliant, Yeah, brilliant,
until the council got back in touch and told the
Art Center that because there'd be more food trucks rolling

(03:39):
into town, that would put quote added stress on its
transport network. I mean, what does that mean? And because
of that added stress, it's going to be billing the
Art Center eighteen thousand dollars. And here's how the Council's
head of Planning and Consents, Mark Stevenson, explains it today.
He's saying, quote, in this instance, the resource consent application

(04:00):
for food trucks that the Art Center has been assessed,
it's placing additional demand on the council's transport network. An answer
me my question, what the hell does that mean? I
think it's councils speak for what you and I would
describe as a load of old nonsense. But here's what
makes it even worse. Here's where the hypocrisy comes into it.
And this is why we need to stand up for

(04:22):
the Art Center today, and this is why you and
I need to tell the council to pull its head in.
Do you remember a couple of years ago, maybe nearly
nearly three years ago it was now, and the Destiny
Church was running those anti VACS protests in the center
of town. Remember those. They called themselves the Freedom and
Rights Coalition, and they had those protest marches. They were

(04:42):
in November and December twenty twenty one and January February
twenty twenty two. They got quite fair, all the top,
feral at times. But the problem the city council had
with them was that it wasn't notified beforehand, which other
protest organizers do apparently, And so because of that, the
council hit the Freedom and Writs Coalition and the Destiny
Church with a fifty thousand dollars bill for traffic management,

(05:05):
remember that. But here's where it went pair shaped and
you'll remember this. At the last minute, the council backed
down and told this outfit to forget about the Oh no, no, no,
forget about the bill. Leandsel she just ripped it up.
Remember that all g don't worry, mate. And this is

(05:25):
what really riles me about what the Council's doing to
the Art Center. It it wants to charge the Art
Center eighteen thousand dollars for showing some initiative and trying
to get more people going there and more people spending
more with the food trucks. Council's quite happy to effectively
fine an outfit for doing something positive when it's the
same outfit that told the anti vaxers they didn't have

(05:48):
to pay their fifty thousand dollars bill for causing disruption
time and time again with their protest marches. I mean,
the hypocrisy is staggering. And Phil Major or whoever the council,
what they need to do today is they need to
get on the phone. Get on the phone to the
Art Center, pologize for this hypocrisy, give the Art Center

(06:09):
credit for trying to get more going on in the
center of town, and tell the Arts Center like they
told the Destiny Church, to forget about paying their stupid bill,
just like they did for Destiny Church and the Anti Vaxers.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
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