We were lucky to have a nice day for the Eastern Suburbs Community Bike Ride, and we had a good cross-section of the community there, with some family groups, and a mix of experienced and less experienced cyclists.
It wasn’t too challenging getting through Kilbirnie and onto the cycle way at Cobham Drive, mainly because the traffic wasn’t heavy; – which was fortunate, because there isn’t a single road marking making things easier for cyclists. This would be so easy to improve- and in fact I’m sure it is probably something the Council will be very open to fixing in the very near future, given the interest expressed in improving cycling safety by so many candidates.
Once onto Cobham Drive, it was an easy ride to the Choc Fish Cafe at Shelly Bay. In many places, it would be possible to make provision for a separate cycle way, or to widen the existing road, but on the whole it wasn’t bad. Coming around to Scorching Bay, the surface is a bit rough; again nothing a small amount of investment wouldn’t fix. Getting through the tunnel at Seatoun was fine (one or two of our less experienced cyclists did choose to get off and walk along the narrow walkway) and coming through Strathmore and onto the runway under pass was easy, apart from the fact that again the road markings could be improved so that it is clear what cyclists are expected to do.
All in all it was a great outing; Choc Fish Cafe would have done well by our party (actually they were pretty busy anyway!) and the sausage sizzle run by the Rongotai College cycle team was also well patronised.
I’d love to run a similar event again, taking a slightly different route, but it probably won’t be until after the election. And, as always, I’m open to hearing your comments!
One thing I have been hearing from residents in various parts of the Eastern Ward is frustration with the bus services. This ranges from non-existent bus services to buses that run late, to buses that are so full that they can’t let more people on.
Now before I go any further, let me say that there are parts of the Ward which are well served. Hataitai, Lyall Bay, Seatoun and most of Miramar all seem to have a fairly frequent service and buses that run on weekends.
There may be other issues I haven’t covered here – and please feel free to comment and let me know. However, here are some of the gaps in service that I know of:
Evans Bay Parade No. 24 : The last bus comes from town at 7.42 pm. However a lot of young people living along Evan’s Bay work late in the city and they end up having to walk home. The same service continues through Maupuia and Miramar Heights, and is weekdays only. The lack of a weekend service was mentioned by quite a few residents from all parts of this route.
Strathmore Park Nos 25 43 44: This service goes all the way from Strathmore to Khandallah, an extremely long run, and apparently some of the drivers get fairly stressed and grumpy.
The service runs until late at night and on the weekends. However, the morning buses are very full, as they only come at 20 minute intervals; there are only three buses up until 8.00 am The other issue is that at lot of people in Strathmore need to start work at 7.00 am or earlier (eg hospital shift work) and the first bus doesn’t come until 6.55 am. A lady I spoke to was catching a taxi to get to work, others take their cars. I don’t think this is good enough when a service such as the Island Bay No 1 starts 5.45am with buses at 12-15 minute intervals. I note that Wellington East Girls College has suggested an extra bus from the peninsula in the mornings in their bus survey.
Kilbirnie No14: Several residents mentioned that Wellington East Girls College has a late start on a Wednesday, and the bus timetables don’t allow enough buses after 9.00 am to accommodate the demand. The buses are very full, which is a frustration for the public and students alike.
What to do about all of this?
Firstly, we do need to address these gaps in service, along with the affordability of public transport. A review of bus services is underway, and I understand it is not too late to make recommendations.
Secondly we need to look at affordability, especially for young people and their families.
At present, just to get a student to and from secondary school can cost in the order of $20-$25 per week. Multiply that by a few in a family and you have a serious amount of money. No wonder people are using their cars!
Public transport is a public good, and will always need some subsidisation to get good uptake. Affordable, workable public transport gives young people independence and opportunities to work, participate in sport, do extra curricular activities or just hang out with friends. This can be otherwise difficult, especially if they come from less wealthy or disadvantaged backgrounds.
As a nation and as a city we should want to give our young people every chance to succeed. We should also want to cater to the growing numbers of young adults who choose not to drive, as well as to the elderly and disabled. I wouldn’t go to the extent of John Minto in Auckland who is suggesting public transport should be free, but I think there is a good case for half price bus fares for young people at least until the age of eighteen, and I made a submission to that effect recently to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. My colleague Paul Bruce also made the case for reduced fares for university students.
Thirdly, We need bus services that are responsive to changing needs. I was quite taken aback to find that although Greater Wellington agreed in principle to half price fares for school students, it will take two years or so to be implemented because of the locked-in contracts with the present operators. This simply is not responsive enough. The world changes quickly (for example, a school decides to have a late start one day of the week), and the bus service must have the flexibility to respond.
Getting better public transport is a priority for me. It matters on so many fronts; reducing our carbon footprint, providing better living by reducing congestion and air pollution, and freeing up space in the city which would otherwise be used for car parking.
I welcome your feedback and ideas on this important issue!
When: 10am Sunday 1st September 2013
Where: Meet at Burkes Cycles, 16-30 Coutts Street, Kilbirnie
Why: To raise awareness of the popularity of cycling, to note things needing improvement along the route, and to have fun!!
Join and share the Facebook event on my page
https://www.facebook.com/VoteSarahFreeForEasternWard
Suggested route:
- Short trip- Burkes Cycles to Choc Fish Cafe at Shelley Bay and back (approx 30 minutes each way). Suggest go down Onepu Road, onto Rongotai Rd, then via Evans Bay Parade onto the cycle lane at Cobham Drive. The pedestrian crossings are an option to cross busy Cobham Drive.
- Round trip– Burkes Cycles to Shelley Bay, then around the peninsula to the Seatoun tunnel, Strathmore Broadway, Miro Street airport runway underpass to Coutts Street, then back to Burkes Cycles (approx 1.5 hours)
- Note: All cyclists need to be responsible for their own safety. Please ride within your limits, and go at your own pace
Added Bonus: 20% discount sale on at Burkes Cycles
We can all be thankful that our homes sustained so little damage in yesterdays scary sequence of shakes, and we can partly thank the earthquake of 1848 for that.
My own great great great grandmother, Harriot Riddiford, lived through that quake, and the subsequent even more powerful 1855 quake which lifted up the land around Pencarrow Station several metres. Alone at the time apart from the farm hands, and with several young children (she and Daniel Riddiford eventually had 11 children), she was severely traumatised, and the family eventually moved to resettle in Lower Hutt.
The people of Wellington noticed that the wooden buildings of the time came through the quake relatively unscathed, while brick buildings just tumbled down. Hence houses, shops and even public buildings from that time were mostly built in wood. It’s no co-incidence that we have in Wellington the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere ( the old Government buildings, now part of Victoria University).
They may not have had such a thing as an earthquake code back then, but the people of the day were no fools. They realised the dangers and they built to last.
Early houses in Wellington showing wooden construction. See also http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WarEarl-t1-body-d13-d8.html
I have some really exciting news!
After having had some feedback from a Lyall Bay resident that there weren’t many parks or public gardens in the Kilbirnie/Lyall bay/ Rongotai area.. and after having talked with some Council officers about the issue…. it appears there is the possibility of some beautification of the Kilbirnie drainage reserve land….and the Council would like community input into what could be done.
So there is to be an “drop by” clinic at Rongotai College on Saturday 31st August from 12.00 noon to 3.00pm. Council officers will be present, ready to take ideas.
So, whats on your wish list?
A community garden or orchard? A bike trail for the kids? Lots of open space?
A quiet area for sitting in the sun? A skate park?
Let your family, friends and neighbours know about the clinic, and lets put the collective thinking caps on!
The last few years seem to have seen an increasing problem with tagging- and its really soul-destroying if you are the one whose property is getting regularly targeted. A few weeks ago, four out of the five garages across the road from us were tagged, and now, the only garage that didn’t get tagged then was tagged last night. This time they’ve used a dark red spray paint, which is actually fairly difficult to remove.
It seems to be a major problem in the Southern Ward- Newtown, Berhampore and Island Bay getting more than their fair share- but other areas of Wellington are not immune. While out door knocking recently, a Hataitai resident expressed frustration that his letter box had been autographed yet again, a Lyall Bay resident adjacent to some vacant land has had the side of his house regularly tagged, and I know around the Kilbirnie shops was bad for a time. I’m sure there are other examples too.
The thing is- these guys ( apparently it is mostly guys) are actually signing their handiwork, and the tags are quite distinctive- so why isn’t it possible to catch them and do something about it? I’m not talking overly punitive measures here, but a spot of cleaning it all off, and/or helping do some other community clean-up work wouldn’t go amiss in my view.
And while I’m on the topic, why can’t we have a bylaw that says you have to provide ID if you want to buy spray paint, and the colour, batch, date of purchase etc is recorded along with your name and address? Yes. it might be a bit if a pain for those who are buying such products legitimately, but this is an issue we need to be a bit more proactive about getting on top of. The cost of fixing up this damage takes its toll.
Many have commented recently on the issue of over-zealous car parking wardens in the city, and some have stated a desire to see parking enforcement (and even parking buildings themselves!) bought back under direct Council control.
It’s not just a problem confined to the CBD either. Yesterday, while door knocking in Kilbirnie, I came across a lady who had received $200 parking fine for having her unregistered trailer on the road in front of her house over the Christmas holiday period (the ticket was issued on 4th January this year). Of course, this being Wellington, her house was several steps up from the road, and there wasn’t actually any way it could be off the road while it waited to be re-registered.
Well, she knew she was technically in the wrong, but was cross about it anyway, so she took the matter to court. She defended the case herself and ended up losing, but had to pay just $150 (including costs) instead of the $200 fine.
Well, good on her for being ballsy- apparently the judge described her as putting up a “robust defence”!
In fact, so many of us in Wellington don’t have the luxury of having our trailers and other vehicles safely hidden away from sight in garages or up private driveways…So when does it all start to get a bit much?
Would it be perhaps be appropriate to give a warning when there is a recently lapsed warrant or registration for a vehicle parked outside the place where the owner normally lives?
Auckland transport , the fines collecting arm of the Auckland council, revealed recently that it collected $36.2 million of parking fines and other vehicle offences (warrants and registrations) in the financial year to 30 June 2012.
That was up from $20.5 million for the previous eight months, when Auckland Transport began business in November 2010.
Stuff reports that Wellington City Council made about $24 million from parking and infringement notices in the last financial year.
Of course we need some parking restrictions to ensure car parking spaces are shared around , and people can get into the city and shop. And in some cases where parking is under pressure it makes sense to have loading zones or residents-only car parks. But there does come a point where unfortunately it does look simply like revenue gathering for the sake of it… and that quite frankly isn’t what I think our Council parking services should be about.
Following on from my post about the enclosed dog exercise area at Evan’s Bay, It was great to get some feedback about a fantastic website run by Miraz Jordan.
Miraz says: “I was so frustrated trying to find great places to take my dogs that I set up a website called Run Spot Run specially for Wellington dog owners. It reviews almost all the available dog parks and gives useful info about how to get there, what the features are and so on. http://runspotrun.info”
Places recommended for off-leash exercise in the Eastern ward include:
Tukanae Street Reserve (Strathmore)
Maupuia Walkway ( Old Prison Road)
Worser Bay Off-leash Area
Dorrie Leslie Park ( Lyall Bay)
Sinclair Park (Houghton Bay)
Houghton Bay beach
Miraz thoroughly reviews each area for ease of access, and special features including attractions and hazards. A great site-thanks.
Coming around Roseneath today on the bus, I spied a potential safety hazard- some missing wire netting on a fence, with a steep drop below. Just the thing to let the council know about via the free WCC FIXIT app.
I’m not sure how many residents have heard about this- perhaps quite a few? Anyway its worth knowing about if you are the kind of person who notices the small stuff and wants to get it sorted. It is easy to use to use and it works, although people have reported problems with the geo-location- you may need to enter that manually. The process is: 1. Take a photo; 2. Record Location; 3. Describe Problem; 4. Enter Contact Details; 5. SUBMIT YOUR REPORT. Happy fixing!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nz.co.android.touchtech&feature=search_result#?t=W10.
Fewer people play bowls these days it seems, and rather than see the Bowling Club sold, Hataitai residents worked together to see the assets of the club transferred into a trust-the Hataitai Community Recreation Trust-which will manage the assets on behalf of the community.
Equal shares in the Trust have been allocated to the three organisations that developed the trust concept: The Bowling Club, Hataitai Residents Association, and the Community House.
The occasion of the formal transfer was celebrated with an amazing afternoon tea. I have to say, there’s some great bakers in Hataitai!. Local MP, Annette King, cut the cake as shown in the photo below, with the assistance of Jenny Ellis (Community House) and Roy Glass (Bowling Club).
This was followed by discussion around future funding and uses for the both the Bowling Cub and Community House facilities. Some ideas were: the rooms could be used as a venue for concerts or parties, or for commercial cooking uses, or a venue for conferences or meetings, and the grounds could be partially used for a community garden. An further interesting aspect is the need for a new kindergarten site if the new tunnel goes ahead. A suggestion was that the kindergarten could be sited at the Community House, meaning the activities currently there might shift to the Bowling Club.
Obviously there will need to be more thinking around the feasibility of all the options and more community consultation to come.
Sarah Free 