SPIN CITY

Mayor Lianne Dalziel is delighted by Chris Lynch's good vibrations.

Newstalk ZB host Chris Lynch tells Mayor Lianne Dalziel that he can 'feel a positivity' in Christchurch that wasn't there before! Yet more compelling evidence that the 'rebuild is ramping up'! Bob Parker was right all along!

THIS MORNING I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY - or was it the misfortune? - to hear Newstalk ZB's Chris Lynch interview Mayor Lianne Dalziel. Apparently these interviews have been held on a regular basis throughout the year. And on the strength of this one, I'm glad I've missed them.

This wasn't so much an interview but an opportunity for Dalziel, with the enthusiastic assistance of Lynch, to describe what a pretty good job she and her council chums have done this year. Yes, there are obstacles to be faced ( but a whole lot less for the mayor and her councillors on their six figure salaries) but, under Regenerate Christchurch, we're going to be striding boldly into a brighter future. Yes, we are! All praise Gerry Brownlee!

Certainly Chris Lynch believes it. He told Dalziel he could 'feel a positivity' in Christchurch that wasn't there before. 'There's a sea change going on,' he exclaimed. She agreed with him.

Out in the real world though, many people aren't feeling Lynch's 'positivity'. Like people being forced to live in overcrowded conditions because they can't afford the outrageously high rents. You won't find much of that 'positivity' either in the increasingly dilapidated areas in the neglected eastern suburbs. Nor will you find much 'positivity' down at the food banks that are again reporting record demand this year.

I personally don't feel much 'positivity' when I'm walking around the disaster zone that is central Christchurch, testament to a rebuild botched by a government bureaucracy and its corporate backers.

Ninety six percent of the people who made submissions on the Christchurch City Council's Long term Plan told the council that selling off council assets and hiking up the rates was unacceptable. But Dalziel and her council supporters did it anyway. Many people would not describe this as evidence of Dalziel and her cronies doing 'a good job'. There's not much 'positivity' here either.

Lynch, trippin' on his positivity vibe, never bothered to ask Dalziel about the rates hike. He also didn't challenge her  when she claimed that the council had carried out the wishes of the people because they were not selling 'strategic assets'. This is blatantly untrue.

In his own defence, Lynch says he was just having an 'end of year' chat with Dalziel but this is a lame excuse for not holding her to account. In fact there's been too much of this going on all year, not just by Lynch but the local media generally.

The Press is presently telling us that Christchurch is a 'great place to be' while the Christchurch Star declared last week, in a front page story, that Christchurch is 'The Lucky Land'. Meanwhile two critics of the previous mayor and his council, James Dann and Barnaby Bennett, can't apparently find anything wrong with Lianne Dalziel and her council.

Back in 2013 former mayor Bob Parker featured in a serious of ludicrous commercials for Canterbury Tourism which informed us that 'there was no time for frowns' in Christchurch. 'The rebuild is ramping up!' declared Sideshow Bob. Two years on, we're still being shovelled the same steaming pile of manure but from a different mayor - and her friends in the media and the blogosphere.