Media Releases
April 2002
22 April 2002
Former landfill opening as memorial to workers
17 April 2002
People's Park Consultation
15 April 2002
Community art gallery to be permanent fixture in Piha
15 April 2002
Community centre wins national architecture award
10 April 2002
Weed eradication campaign a record breaker
9 April 2002
Top swimmers head for Henderson
9 April 2002
Waitakere boat builders unite to improve work practices
8 April 2002
Anzac Day
8 April 2002
New community house opens
22 April 2002
Former landfill opening as memorial to workers
Part of a former Henderson Valley landfill site is being transformed into a garden dedicated to workers who have died from work-related accidents and illnesses.
Located on the Corban Reserve on Henderson Valley Road, the new Workers' Memorial Garden is being officially opened at 11am on Sunday 28 April - observed internationally as Workers Memorial Day.
The highlight of the opening will be the planting of an oak tree and the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to the late Michael Aherne, who died in 1995 as a result of a work accident on the Corban Reserve site.
Mr Aherne, aged 62, died as a result of an explosion caused by a methane gas build-up in a stormwater pipe he was working in.
The garden will also be used to commemorate other New Zealand workers who have been killed in the workplace.
Waitakere City Councillor and former union organiser, Denise Yates, says the reserve will help raise awareness of the need for safe workplaces.
"Every day there are workers doing dangerous jobs that most of us would not want to do," she says.
"There are other jobs that seem safe, but in Waitakere in recent years we have seen the death of Michael Aherne, a courier driver killed on a railway crossing and an ACC clerk killed by her client. It's fitting that this reserve site will serve as a commemorative place for them, and others, while highlighting the need for safer workplaces and practices."
Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union spokesperson, Fritz Drissner, says unions are also enthusiastic to be involved in the project, which will include ongoing rehabilitation of the site into a community park with plants, paths, seats and memorial sculptures.
"We hope to use the theme of rehabilitation, both for the land from its previous use as a landfill, and for rehabilitating injured and ill workers," he says. " Events at the site will be used as a focus for raising awareness about preventing occupational deaths, injuries and illnesses."
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For more information contact
us, or |
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Fritz Drissner, Health & Safety Officer, Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, phone 303 9020 or mobile (021) 905 086. |
17 April 2002
People's Park Consultation
The first stage of community consultation on the "People's Park", in Te Atatu,
closed on Friday, 26 April.
Waitakere City Council is preparing an open space management plan for the 84 hectares, which runs between Te Atatu Rd and the North-Western motorway.
As part of that plan, the public is being asked for suggestions on how the park should be managed and developed.
The "People's Park", as the area has been dubbed, has sweeping views up the Waitemata Harbour and will be one of the largest urban coastal recreational areas in the Auckland region.
It contains an important ecological habitat for native plants and animals-including the threatened Fern Bird- and a number of historic sites ranging from pre-European middens to old brickworks and World War II gun emplacements.
So far the Council has received 150 submissions. These preliminary submissions will be considered in the preparation of the Draft Open Space Management Plan, due for release in June.
Then, the community will again be asked to make submissions on the proposed concepts and management policies for the park.
Hearings on those submissions will be held later in the year (around October), before the Council adopts the draft plan.
City Councillor Judy Lawley is the chairperson of a working party that over the past six months has been overseeing the process of consultation for how the huge park (equivalent to 96 full sized football fields) can be developed.
That group represents a wide range of interests, from environmentalists to iwi and local groups.
She says that the People's Park will become a magnificent recreational area, able to be enjoyed by generations to come.
"And it's right on our door-step," she says. "I urge people to tell us what their vision is for how the park should be developed.
This park will be a legacy that we will hand on to future generations and how it will look in 50 or 100 years will be determined by what we decide now."
15 April 2002
Community art gallery to be permanent fixture in Piha
The old Piha fire station is to remain a community art gallery with the negotiation of a more permanent lease.
At its April meeting, the Waitakere Community Board agreed to a five-year lease for the West Coast Community Arts Gallery Trust, which has been leasing the old Seaview Road station on a month-by-month basis since 1999, to display the work of local artists.
The 40sq m building housed the Piha's volunteer fire force until 1999, when the brigade moved to new premises further along Seaview Road and handed their old building back to the Council.
Community board chairwoman, Christine Shepherd, says the gallery is providing an arts and tourism focus for Piha - something Waitakere City Council is keen to support.
"There has been a favourable response to the gallery's presence and it is already recognised as a very positive addition to the Piha scene," she says.
"We see the Trust as a dedicated team that displays high quality work and that is well on the way to having a very successful gallery."
15 April 2002
Community centre wins national architecture award
 "An oasis of calm, welcome and elegance," is how judges of the 2002 NZIA-Resene New Zealand Awards for Architecture describe Waitakere City's award-winning
New Lynn Community Centre.
A winner in the 'Community and Cultural' category, the New Lynn Community Centre is now a finalist in the NZIA (New Zealand Institute of Architects) Supreme New Zealand Award for Architecture, to be announced on May 25.
Opened in June last year, the New Lynn Community Centre won the same category in the NZIA's regional awards last November and earned Waitakere City Council a 'Special Jury Award' for local body initiative in architecture.
Designed by Architectus: Bowes Clifford Thomson Ltd to be energy and water efficient, the $3.6 million building embodies Waitakere's Eco City principles. It was also the first major facility in the city to incorporate arts design in the building process.
Judges described the eco-building as "an oasis of calm, welcome and elegance in the midst of New Lynn's hurly burly, and a key building in the area's regeneration". They also felt it was an "engaging and inclusive building with flexible spaces", despite its road-locked site on the corner of Totara and Rankin Avenues.
"Well planned and finished, this building deals clearly and effectively with difficult traffic circulation and the intrusion of the adjacent railway line," the judges said.
"The environmental design elements are a creditable response to Waitakere City's eco policy and demonstrate how architecture can be informed by this approach. The transparency of the activity spaces to the street and the fabulous covered forecourt with its lofty canopy are truly civic gestures. This building is one for local authorities to take note of."
10 April 2002
Weed eradication campaign a record breaker
A record 150 tonne of weeds was collected during the month-long War on Weeds campaign.
The haul of weeds torn out by residents and dumped in jumbo bins around the city, was 64 tonnes greater than last year's.
The War on Weeds campaign for 2002 - which finished yesterday - is organised annually by Keep Waitakere Beautiful and Waitakere City Council.
The weed eradication campaign involved the placement of jumbo bins in 27 locations around the City, which residents used for free weed disposal. The bins had to be changed more than 142 times - 56 more than last year. The most well used bins were located outside the Titirangi Library.
A number of local residents also volunteered as bin monitors, keeping a check on bin volumes and any illegal dumping.
"This year's campaign was a great success," says Andrea Johnston-Taylor, the Council's KWB Project Manager.
"Obviously people were really doing their bit to clear weeds from their property, which will, in turn, help to make Waitakere that bit more weed-free. Bins had to be emptied up to eight times a day. There was a huge demand for them and often our bin contractor just couldn't keep up!"
The 2002 campaign specifically targeted nine plant pests - ginger, morning glory, Japanese honeysuckle, jasmine, moth plant, privet, plectranthus, smilax and tradescantia (wandering Jew). Residents were also able to bring suspected weeds from their garden into weed identification workshops at Waitakere City libraries or into Oratia Nursery and Palmers garden centres at Hobsonville and Glen Eden.
8 April 2002
Top swimmers head for Henderson
The country's top swimmers will be in Henderson this month in a final push for selection for next year's Commonwealth Games.
The NZ Open Championships are being held at the Waitakere Aquatic Centre from 23
- 28 April.
It will be the last chance for the top echelon of New Zealand swimmers to qualify for the Games, to be held in Manchester, England, in September.
The competition is expected to attract up to 300 swimmers from around the country.
Top prospects for selection in the New Zealand team include Helen Norfolk from Canterbury, Elizabeth van Welie from Otago, Toni Jeffs from Wellington and Aucklanders Dean Kent, Cameron Gibson, Nick Sheeran, Elizabeth Coster, Alison Fitch, Anthony van der Kraay and Melissa Ingram.
The Aquatic Centre will also be hosting the Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Championship from 27 June to 7 July.
Up to 70 teams from around the Pacific Rim are expected to compete, including two from Brazil, 12 from the United States, around 22 from Australia and more than 30 from New Zealand.
Strong New Zealand prospects include the Waitakere, North Harbour and Marist teams, which will be competing in all four age groups, from the under 14s to under 20s.
A popular venue for water polo competitions, the Waitakere Aquatic Centre hosts the Pan Pacific event once every two years.
The Waitakere Aquatic Centre is currently undergoing a $14 million upgrade, which will make it one of the largest aquatic leisure facilities in Australasia, as well as a leading competition venue and training centre for swimming, diving and
waterpolo.
The centre remains open to the public during the redevelopment and work is expected to be complete by October this year.
9 April 2000
Waitakere boat builders unite to improve work practices
Waitakere's reputation as a boat-building centre par excellence is about to be assisted by protocols to guide a quest forever better
cleaner production and safety-first workplace practices.
This development was formally brought into being recently at a forum hosted by the Council's Cleaner Production Project Manager, Michelle Dawson, and ACC Injury Prevention Consultant, Ineke Rensen, to discuss health, safety and environmental issues within the industry sector.
The forum was also the first of its kind in the boat and ship building sector to establish a working group. It aims to examine the issues and collaboratively produce industry guidelines.
The Council will now be working with individual companies to undertake waste audits and energy and hazard substance reviews, with the goal of reducing toxicity in the workplace and the environment.
Ms Dawson says the reviews will help to improve work practices, workplace health and safety, resource efficiency, waste minimisation and environmental protection.
"The majority of the issues for the boat building sector are inter-twined with effects for health and safety and the environment, Ms Dawson says. "Practical steps can be taken by boat and ship builders to address these issues from both perspectives."
The boat-building sector is also part of ACC's Safer Industry Strategy. Ms Rensen has been working alongside the boat building industry to develop solutions to manage injury factors and promote excellence in health and safety systems.
*Around 29 of the New Zealand's 250 boat-building companies are based in Waitakere City.
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For further information contact
us. |
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For further information contact Ineke Rensen, Injury
Prevention Consultant, ACC Ph: (09) 915 8142 |
 8 April 2002
Anzac Day
Thursday 25 April 2002
A candle-lit dawn ceremony
will again be held at the country's largest war graves cemetery this ANZAC
Day.
The service will beginning at 6am, with people asked to assemble by 5.45am.
Candles will be provided, however there are limited and it may pay for people to
bring their own candles along as well.
In the
past few years more than 2000 people have attended the dawn service, held
amongst the war graves at Waikumete
Cemetery.
Waikumete
is the largest war graves cemetery in New Zealand. Some 10,000 veterans from the
First and Second World Wars, as well as the Korea, Malaya and Vietnam conflicts
are buried at the cemetery.
The dawn
service is organised by Waitakere City Council and hosted by the Glen Eden RSA.
Mayor
Bob Harvey, government and opposition party representatives and RSA
representatives will lay wreaths.
Local RSA's will also hold their own services throughout the day on April 25.
Waikumete
Cemetery is on the corner of Great North and Glenview Roads, Glen Eden.
8 April 2002
New community house opens
It may have been raining heavily, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the more than 100 people who turned out to the opening of Titirangi's new community house.
The $429,000 building was officially opened by Waitakere City Mayor, Bob Harvey, who handed the ceremonial ribbon-cutting to long-standing Titirangi Community House Chairman, Bill Geary.
Guests gathered, initially, in the adjacent Titirangi War Memorial
Hall, where they were entertained by local musicians before the speech-making began.
Even Mr Harvey joined in the festivities, providing musical accompaniment to drummer Fraser Bruce.
After the formalities, guests grabbed their umbrellas to walk across the carpark to the new community house to witness the ribbon-cutting and tour the new facility.
Earlier, several dozen people had gathered for a dawn blessing of the new facility by local kaumatua Fraser Delamere and Eru Thompson.
"We're proud to provide this modern facility for Titirangi," Mr Harvey says.
"This community house is bigger and better than its predecessor, with improved access and more space and comfort for its users," Mr Harvey says.
The new facility features a pottery studio, two function rooms, a kitchen, indoor and outdoor playing areas and large decks.
Located on the war memorial reserve area on South Titirangi Rd, the community house was built with the support of the Titirangi RSA.
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