Author: HuttNZ

Petone: McKenzie Pool gets upgrade go ahead

Plans to build a $7 million swimming pool complex in Lower Hutt look set to be shelved in favour of upgrading Petone’s existing outdoor swimming pool. Hutt City Council has been considering whether to renovate the McKenzie Pool in Udy St or to build a new complex at Hikoikoi Reserve.

The council’s leisure active manager, Marcus Sherwood, said he expected the finance and audit committee to agree at a meeting last night to a recommendation to upgrade the existing pool. He said the economic climate meant the returns on building a new complex were “not as certain” as the council would like. Council documents say the new “destination spa and gym complex” would have been a regional drawcard, attracting visitors from out of town and generating better returns than the existing pool, which loses about $155,000 a year. Mr Sherwood said cost was also a major factor behind the recommendation, with the estimated upgrade cost of $1.4 million being far below building a new centre. He expected the community to support upgrading the existing pool, particularly as it was within walking distance of local schools.

via Stuff

I am quite convince that there are megalomaniac tendencies in all council employees when it comes to property development. The backstory of this community pool is that the Petone people, schools and users spoke strongly that they did not want a new developement located at Hikoikoi Reserve or any of the other alternatives. The best option for the majority of users was the redevelopment of the current pool. Thank goodness common sense has prevailed, and this is going to occur. It does remind me of the Eastbourne Bus Barn redevelopment, which I live in hope will be stopped, even though the process is far advanced.

The McKenzie Pool would open on November 21, and upgrade work would not affect this season’s opening hours.

Lower Hutt: Flare causes house fire – Can you help Police.

Police are investigating after a Lower Hutt house was set on fire when an emergency flare landed on its roof last night.

The flare, thought to have come from Naenae, landed on the house’s conservatory roof and burned its way through, igniting the interior. The house sustained moderate damage.

Witnesses were asked to contact Lower Hutt Police on (04) 560 2600.

Wainuiomata: Overdue trampers in Rimutaka Forest Park make contact

Police report that the trampers have contacted family and said they were safe and well, and are in the process of making their way out of the Park after crossing the Orongorongo River.

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What with the atrocious Spring weather over this last weekend concern has been raised over four trampers who failed to return from an overnight trip in the Rimutaka Forest Park.

The group, all in their 20s, with at least one described as “reasonably inexperienced”, left on Saturday for the Orongorongo Valley.

They were supposed to return yesterday.

Acting Senior Sergeant Steve Braybrook said the conditions were bad last night with heavy rain, which would have prevented the group leaving the valley.

The rivers were still high and impossible to cross.

“It’s not a surprise they have not come out as of yet,” he said.

via Stuff

Lower Hutt: Mediterranean Food Warehouse opens

We went to One Red Dog in Wellington on Saturday night, so we didn’t have pizza in mind when we visited the new Mediterranean Food Warehouse in the Hutt on Sunday afternoon. We were just happy to have a look around the shop and have a coffee. We’ve been fans of Gino and Joe Cuccurullo’s Mediterranean Food Warehouse in Newtown for a while, often making the pilgrimage out there to buy a big tin of olive oil and have a calzone.

The layout of the new Hutt store is great – there’s heaps of space – and it’s very family friendly. As well as the shop, there’s the caffe area with a pizzeria and gelato stand. Our flat whites were spot on – and the lemon tart was divine. So we left happy, thinking that when the weather improves, we must remember to pop in for gelato. (I think we’ll be back for calzone before then!)

That’s the great thing about the Mediterranean Food Warehouse – there are so many reasons to visit. For coffee, for shopping, for a pizza and a beer or for gelato. All I can say is, I’m one very happy Hutt Valley Chick now that we have our own Med Food Warehouse in the Hutt. Congratulations to Michele and Joe Elenio – we wish them all the best with their new business. We’ll be definite regulars! See the video below for a taste of the Med!

Mediterranean Food Warehouse, 337 High Street, Lower Hutt (opposite McDonalds). Phone: 566 8232.

Hutt Valley: Stormy Spring weather hits the Valley

Thursday night brought heavy downpours across the entire Hutt Valley with surface flooding in several areas including the old Hutt Road reported from early morning. The Open Polythechnic was hit by two slips during the night which sent dirt and trees into the building on its eastern side. Lower Hutt experienced the highest recorded rainfall in the region with 69mm from 8pm last night to 8am this morning. Further heavy rainfall was experienced in late morning as well.

Conditions are not expected to improve tonight with further heavy rainfall forecast in the Tararuas and again across the Valley, late Saturday also has more of the same predicted.

River levels at Silverstream Bridge Upper Hutt at midday

Several events have been moved in anticipation of the weather including the Upper Hutt Highland Gathering a national Scottish festival has moved already to the wet weather alternative at Heretaunga College.

At this stage there is no news on alternative arrangements for the Belmont Spring Festival (returning after a 10 year hiatus) but the wet weather alternative day is 31st October.

Waiwhetu stream hit 2 year flood levels early Friday morning, but had abated by noon.

Eastbourne flooding earlier in the morning.

Seaview: Fire at Shell plant

About 30 firefighters were called to a fire under a sulphur vat at the Shell plant in Lower Hutt this afternoon.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said staff at the plant activated a deluge system to try and extinguish the fire in the suburb of Seaview. Firefighters arrived and put the blaze out.

Crews from 10 fire engines – including a specialist engine for staff with breathing apparatus, a command unit and an engine allowing an aerial attack – were used. Firefighters were still at the scene after 3pm but the fire was under control.

Eastbourne: Bus Barn controvesy rises again

Spoken before over this and have given the backstory here but see via the Hutt News that some local Eastbourne residents are up in arms about this development progressing

Last week, Eastbourne man Greg Dellabarca launched a campaign to have the project abandoned. He believes that not only will there be a massive overspend but the project has the possibility of damaging the relationship between Eastbourne and the rest of the city.

The city council has been unfairly pushed into having to restore the bus barns, he says.
“This is economic lunacy. They [city council politicians] just listened to the ranters and ravers but I never thought it would actually proceed.”

Mr Dellabarca says recent publicity about the project has resulted in “numerous” phone calls from concerned Eastbourne residents who want the project stopped.

via Hutt News

Mr Dellabarca (longterm Eastbourne family) has every right to be upset at the council.

HuttNZ has strongly stated its position on this bus barn (even though it has Heritage 2 status) that the project is:-

A waste of ratepayers money
It will be impossible for the project to be completed within the budget allocated, and will be a council overrun and as such ensure completion of the project. Council fudged figures to make bus makeover more appealing.
The relationship between the bus company and the HCC needs to be more transparent
Who in their right mind would purchase any apartment above a busy bus station at the end of the road, far from services (views are good though).

Good on Mr Dellabarca for trying to start a petition to stop this project even given his late run. HCC should stay out of all commercial building developments. The very reason HCC debt sits at 80 million roughly today is due to the Parking Building in central Lower Hutt in the 1990s and further to that the recent Daly Street project is testament that their focus should be on essential services not property speculation masked as development.

I hope they listen to the public concerns.

Hutt Valley: Artists & Creatives harness the power of the Web

Hear Astrid Nielsch (www.asni.net) talk about her experiences with her own website, and as a member of a number of online art, music and fan communities. Astrid explains how the internet can help you, whatever your artform. Get advice on what to look for in a website, and ideas on how to plan your own online publicity campaign.

Astrid recently set up her own web design business, Asni: Multimedia Art & Design. She draws on her experience in online arts promotion to build sites that harness the power of the internet while remaining affordable on an artist’s budget.

Her own website was originally built in 2002 with the aim to promote her career as a professional musician, specializing in medieval and baroque music performed on the harp. Within two years, the site was attracting substantial numbers of visitors, and generating a small but regular, and steadily increasing, income from online shop sales and licensing fees. For the last year, her web statistics have averaged 600 visitors a day.

As well as promoting her music, the site features her photography and artwork. This has resulted in several of her images being published internationally.

Asni also speaks as an active participant in online forums and in web communities. It was through one of those online friendships that she got the opportunity to come to New Zealand for a tour in 2003, and decided to settle here when she was offered a teaching position at Victoria University.

In 2007, Asni got stuck with a completed master tape for her “Travels in Middle-earth” CD production, and no money to print and publish the CDs. She used her website, email newsletter and promotion in online communities, and succeeded in raising the funds to publish the CD from pre-orders collected over a period of six months.

The same year, she realized that the internet had moved on from the days when one could create a successful website in a text editor. She decided to put her self-taught skills on a more solid foundation, and completed the Diploma of Multimedia at Natcoll in Wellington in 2008.

Parking is available in the Peel Street Carpark off Britannia Street, and the Arts Hub is wheelchair accessible.

Details

Arts Hub Forum Series 20 October: Harnessing the Power of the Web – Online promotion for artists

Where: Petone Community Library meeting room Britannia Street Petone

When: Tuesday 20th October 11am till 1pm

How Much: Free!

Contact: Hutt Valley Community Arts Email: benedict@hvca.org.nz Phone: 568-3488

Pomare: High Court Judge throws out tenants from Farmer Cres

High Court Judge John Wild has thrown out an appeal by the three women with gang connections who face eviction from their Pomare homes in Farmer Crescent.

Justice John Wild said he saw no error of law in the decisions of the district court or the tribunal court, and his decision reaffirms those outcomes. He ordered the women to leave the properties by midnight on October 30.

Justice Wild ordered HNZ to pay costs for both sides of the case because “it was a test case that would be of general benefit to HNZ”.

via NZPA

So its all on in Pomare now no doubt. I’m expecting the worst, from protests, to armed Police intervention. The media will love this. As I expected Justice Wild had no option, but unfortunately given the timeframe till the end of October plenty of time for some protest action to take shape. A peaceful outcome I do not see.

Pomare: Tenants win reprieve again from High Court

The situation over the Housing NZ tenants in Pomare has been very long running.

The current state of play is that the Judge preceding over the case in the High Court has reserved his decision against the Mongrel Mob partners (and family) for eviction.

After losing a battle in the Tenancy Tribunal to hold onto their state houses, the women’s appeal was thrown out by the Lower Hutt District Court earlier this year.

As I mentioned earlier their legal aid-funded courtroom crusade continued in the High Court at Wellington yesterday with the Judge John Wild reserving his decision. No doubt this case and its ramifications for dealing with bad tenants by HNZ is down to statutory interpretation, and would be precedent-setting. Judge Wild will need to take a lot of guidance on this and will also factor in the media blood bath that would ensue if the matter was forced eviction by bailiffs.

The women’s 90-day eviction period will expire at midnight today, though Justice John Wild discussed extending the period for the tenants to move their things out with lawyers from both sides yesterday.

I think the situation is addressed fully and well by the two articles by Nicholas Boyack from the Hutt News this week, who conducted in depth interviews with the family concerned and again with Billy Taylor one of the partners of a Mongrol Mob member.

Opinion is pretty widespread across the spectrum on this, from whether these people deserve eviction to them being only victims. Tough one for the Judge, as he has to give the all clear or not, while pandering to all sides of the argument.

What will tomorrows headlines bring?