I was actually reading about a somewhat related case, in Dunedin, NZ, today…
“Cadbury World” (and the Cadbury factory it was part of) was once Dunedin’s biggest tourist attraction. When I went there, it was one of the first places I went.
Mondelez/Kraft buys Cadbury. Immediately sets about wrecking the company, including buy selling off the factory. But the tourist part of it remains…
Thousands of locals are laid off. Community anger is high. So what does the government do?
They propose knocking the whole thing down, and turning into a hospital. Because apparently Dunedin suddenly “needed” a new hospital, and they decided that site would do just fine.
“Oh, the blocks too small. Guess we’ll just have to knock down ALL the heritage buildings! Too bad some are over 100 years old, and pre-date Cadbury.”
They essentially forced the hand of the local heritage council, and obliterated the entire site, tourist attraction, listed buildings, and all.
And then, then they found “Māori heritage” hidden under the demolished buildings (so they claim), meaning that the site cannot be developed properly. The hospital is now no longer able to be built big enough on that site, it is over budget, will never be finished on time, and will never be “fit for purpose”. Yet loud elements of the community are “happy”, at least online, because every trace of Cadbury, and of the colour purple, has been obliterated from the site…
All for absolutely no reason, except government greed, hubris, lack of oversight and respect for built heritage, and corruption. Fucking wild…
I was actually reading about a somewhat related case, in Dunedin, NZ, today…
“Cadbury World” (and the Cadbury factory it was part of) was once Dunedin’s biggest tourist attraction. When I went there, it was one of the first places I went.
Mondelez/Kraft buys Cadbury. Immediately sets about wrecking the company, including buy selling off the factory. But the tourist part of it remains…
Thousands of locals are laid off. Community anger is high. So what does the government do?
They propose knocking the whole thing down, and turning into a hospital. Because apparently Dunedin suddenly “needed” a new hospital, and they decided that site would do just fine.
“Oh, the blocks too small. Guess we’ll just have to knock down ALL the heritage buildings! Too bad some are over 100 years old, and pre-date Cadbury.”
They essentially forced the hand of the local heritage council, and obliterated the entire site, tourist attraction, listed buildings, and all.
And then, then they found “Māori heritage” hidden under the demolished buildings (so they claim), meaning that the site cannot be developed properly. The hospital is now no longer able to be built big enough on that site, it is over budget, will never be finished on time, and will never be “fit for purpose”. Yet loud elements of the community are “happy”, at least online, because every trace of Cadbury, and of the colour purple, has been obliterated from the site…
All for absolutely no reason, except government greed, hubris, lack of oversight and respect for built heritage, and corruption. Fucking wild…