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Mayor Harvey invites Waitakere to celebrate 50th anniversary of conquest of EverestThursday 29 May, is the 50th anniversary of the conquest of Mt Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay – and Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey is inviting as many people as possible to the summit of Mt Atkinson, to commemorate the occasion. This event is one of many being co-ordinated throughout the country by the Sir Edmund Hillary Trust, both to celebrate the occasion and to fundraise. People joining Mayor Harvey at 11.30 on Thursday morning are asked to bring a $5 donation which will be collected in a back-pack originally belonging to Sir Edmund. Everyone else is asked to drop their donation into their nearest branch of the Westpac Bank. Sir Edmund and Sherpa Tensing reached the summit of Everest at 11.30 am on May 29, 1953. Sir Edmund will be in Nepal for this celebration and messages of goodwill will be made from each of the gatherings and relayed to Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary – and the people of Nepal. People wishing to join Mayor Harvey can access Mt Atkinson from access via 'The Drive', Titirangi or via the 20m walking track from Kohu Road.
Asians asked not to gather Tradescantia plant
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| Tradescantia (Wandering Jew). Click the image to view an enlargement. Image courtesy of ARC. |
Asian people have been seen gathering this plant - otherwise known as Wandering Jew or Wandering Willie - because apparently they can eat the tips of the plant . Parts of the plant may also be used in herbal remedies.
The Council is concerned about this because it has a programme of herbicide spraying in parks to eradicate the plant. A blue dye sprayed over plants shows where contractors have already sprayed (although this washes off after a few days).
The main concern is people's health but in any event it is illegal to take the plant from one place to another. Tradescantia fluminensis is a noxious weed in New Zealand and it is illegal to sell, propagate or distribute it, or have it on commercial display.
Gathering the plant and taking it home is a form distribution.
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For further information contact us. |
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For information on weeds see Plant Pests. |
Waitakere City Council is seeking support from councils throughout New Zealand for major law changes to greatly improve road safety around schools and, the response to environmental threat.
At its April 30 meeting, the Council approved remits to this year's Local Government New Zealand Conference asking Government to create a 40kmh speed zone around all schools in the country and to adopt better ways to prevent pests entering the country – and dealing with them when they do.
Waitakere City Council has been strongly advocating a 40kmh zone around all schools for the last five years. In 1999, as part of its Safe Routes to School project in Kelston, the Council successfully adopted a ‘voluntary' 40kmh speed zone around five schools. In 2002 the 40kmh zone was brought into effect at all primary schools in the city.
A petition from the schools was also prepared as part of KidSafe Week 2002, which the Council also backed with a resolution supporting a national 40kmh school zone.
"Support for a 40kmh school zone fits very closely with our Road Safety Strategy, locally, regionally and nationally and also our
First Call for Children policy," says Deputy Mayor and
Safe Waitakere board chair,
Carolynne Stone.
The Council's remit on pest control stems from its experience with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's
Painted Apple Moth eradication campaign.
The Council wants the Government to lift border control to the level of current world best practice – or better if necessary - to prevent pest incursions. If pests do still manage to become established, the Council wants a far more comprehensive response with several Ministries funded to manage their share of the problem.
"The Minister of Health should be responsible for health protection – and funded adequately. The Minister for the Environment should be responsible for environmental protection and restoration – and funded. The affected local Government should be an equal partner so that it can adequately represent the interests of its citizens. The Minister of Biosecurity and Agriculture of Fisheries also needs to institute better eradication methodologies and be accountable to the other partners, " says Councillor Penny Hulse, chair of the Council's
Environmental Management Committee.
Waitakere City residents have until May 23 to let their Council know what they'd like to see included in the City's
Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).
Since public submissions opened on April 23, more than 80 people have written or emailed their opinions on a wide range of topics, such as the Council's planned move to Henderson, public transport and traffic congestion, recycling and refuse services, water funding, roads, walkways and footpaths, stormwater reticulation, development of the Harbourview Park, protection of the Waitakere Ranges and local streams, the future of the Whenuapai Airbase, community facilities, the expansion of tertiary services and the development of the local economy.
One submitter is Te Atatu Peninsula resident, Glennys McGlashan, who sent in her reply within days of the submission period opening.
She wants the Council to consider buying the Old Post Office building and making it part of the existing community centre and library on the Peninsula.
"It would be a wonderful addition to the library and could become a children's and teenagers' library with large spaces for holiday activities and creative arts for young people," she says.
Glennys has lived on the Peninsula for 40 years and says she loves its community atmosphere and the quiet lifestyle. She also says her family really enjoys the new Village Green on Jack Pringle Park and all the local walkways and cycle tracks the Council has provided over the last few years.
The LTCCP looks 10 years ahead, outlining the City's priorities for growth and development and how it should be paid for. The 2003/04 Annual Plan is also part of the document.
Priority areas include building thriving town centres, integrated transport and communication systems, a strong innovative economy, strong communities, active democracy, a thriving green network, quality water services, sustainable energy and clean air and a zero waste policy.
Major expenditure is planned on library books, a new Waitakere City library, the Munroe Rd bridge in Henderson, New Lynn's Clark St roundabout, other new roading projects (including bus priorities), the start of building a new civic centre, new parks infrastructure (driveways, paths, drainage, toilets, etc) and new infrastructure for stormwater, wastewater and drinking water supply.
Once submissions close on May 23, the Council will hold hearings for those who wish to present their submission in person.
For more
information on the LTCCP and a submission form click
here or contact us.
Waitakere City Council has stepped up efforts to promote energy efficiency in its operations and in the city, to help beat the power shortage
It has been working for the last 18 months to obtain better inherent energy efficiency in Council operations. As a result its power consumption is significantly below what it was a year ago.
For example, new air conditioning in parts of the Civic Centre have already resulted in 28% savings and this is expected to be higher when a full year has passed and been analysed. We also use energy efficient light bulbs etc.
In addition the Council has stepped up energy efficiency measures in response to the power shortage . It is working on three stages of power savings. Those that can be obtained immediately through staff actions.
Staff actions includes asking people to switch off non-essential power use: e.g. computer screens - whenever they are not in use, office lights when leaving the office for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, closing doors to conserve heat, turning off desk lamps and meeting room and cafeteria lights, and unplugging digital camera and mobile phone chargers when not in use.
Staff are also asked to switch off equipment like photocopiers overnight and to report leaking hot water taps.
Staff are being encouraged with light hearted incentives such as chocolate fish, to make a real effort personally to save power. They are also being asked to adopt energy savings at home and given helpful hints on how to do this.
All these are measures that can be put in place immediately without cost.
Changing structural elements takes longer and is more complex.
The Council is identifying where light timers or sensors could be installed, eg meeting rooms, toilets and cafeterias. These will remain in place as long-term energy conservation measures. Other areas potentially include:
Advice being given to staff about Energy-Wise homes, is:
| Waitakere has been called the second "weediest" city in the world but after a month long campaign in the annual
"War on Weeds", 157 tonnes of weeds have been eradicated from the
city.
This amounts to 1,179 cubic metres - half the weight of a full 747 aeroplane, or a rugby field filled 2 metres high, or 95 km long, one-metre-wide track! - all removed by keen Waitakere City residents. |
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War on Weeds is run by Keep Waitakere Beautiful in conjunction with Waitakere City Council and the Auckland Regional Council. There are 28 sites around the city, where jumbo bins are placed for residents to dump their weeds in, free. This year's years response was bigger than ever and 130 jumbo bins were needed to cope with the influx.
A number of local residents volunteered as bin monitors, checking the bins regularly to ensure they were exchanged when full and also checking for illegal dumping.
The most-used bins were at Kaurilands Domain, Tangiwai Reserve and outside the Titirangi Library.
"This campaign is a real incentive for people to start the war against these invasive weeds in their own back yard. It is a battle we must all fight to protect Waitakere's native flora and flora and careful disposal of the weeds to the Transfer Station is very important, dumping weeds on a neighbouring section only adds to their ability to spread." says Liz Bell Keep Waitakere Beautiful Programme Manager.
"Bins where continually been changed through out War on Weeds" "We were very happy with the response from residents, Thank you to all residents who took the time to get rid of these unwanted weeds," say Dennis Finn, Chairman of Keep Waitakere Beautiful
The 2003 campaign specifically targeted ginger, morning glory, Japanese honeysuckle, jasmine, moth plant, climbing asparagus, plectranthus, smilax and Tradescantia (Wandering Jew). Residents were also able to bring suspected weeds from their garden for identification.
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For more information phone (09) 826 4276. |
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Visit: |
More than 80 Waitakere City families attended the first Trees for Babies planting day for 2003.
Organised by Keep Waitakere Beautiful, in conjunction with Waitakere City Council and Plunket, the event commemorates the birth of babies in Waitakere City over the past year with the planting of a native tree in their honour.
All eco-sourced trees are provided free of charge, courtesy of Waitakere City Council.
The first planting day was held at Harold Moody Park in New Lynn, but for those who missed it, there will be three
more planting days held in other areas of the City over the next few
weeks.
"Trees for Babies has proved to be a great celebratory event since it started nine years ago and it is a wonderful, free, family day
out" says KWB programme manager, Liz Bell.
"It is also an opportunity to help plant a grove of trees that your family can
watch grow and to be part of the process for returning patches of native bush to
the City."
Pictured at New Lynn's Trees for Babies planting are New Lynn Community Board
chair and KWB member Elizabeth Francke (back) and Simon and Amber Oram and their children Caitlin, Joshua and baby Samuel.
For more
information see Trees for Babies 2003 or phone
(09) 826 4276.
A dispute over unpaid rates by the New Zealand Defence Forces looks set to go to court.
Waitakere City Council has decided to take High Court action against the crown over unpaid rates on Defence houses around the Whenuapai and Hobsonville airbases.
The Council is seeking to recover $591,977 in unpaid rates and penalties.
The dispute springs from the fact that Defence stopped paying the uniform annual general charge for the 2001 and 2002 rating years. Defence claimed that this should not be applied to their 300 or so houses because they should not be separately rateable, notwithstanding the separate entry of these properties on the valuation roll.
The Council has since made changes to the roll to reduce the number of separate entries for Defence land. However, the Council maintains that Defence is still liable to pay the Uniform Annual General Charge for the 2001 and 2002 rating years, on the basis of the roll as it existed then.
Defence are continuing to withhold the Uniform Annual General Charge portion of the rates for this period.
The Council has given Defence until May 9 to make full and final payment. After that date legal proceedings will be issued unless the matter can be settled.
For more
information read the report
inside the agenda for Council's 30 April meeting.
New migrants will find it easier to settle into their new community as a result of an initiative recently launched in Waitakere by the Minister of Immigration Hon. Lianne Dalziel and the Minister of Ethnic Affairs Hon. Chris Carter.
New Out West, is a collaboration between local and central government, ethnic communities, non-governmental organisations and the wider community to help Waitakere City's migrants and refugees settle successfully into their community.
More than 100 people representing people who have immigrated from many different countries attended a hui to launch the project at the Waitakere City Council chambers in Henderson.
"It's not the numbers of migrants that matter, it's how well migrants do after they arrive here. Helping them to settle in and do well is a win-win. It's good for the migrants and it's good for New Zealand" the Hon Lianne Dalziel told the hui.
New Out West will avoid duplicating existing services and focus on meeting settlement needs that are currently not being met at the Waitakere City level. A key gap that has been identified is information and support for migrants and refugees seeking employment.
"While our initial focus is on supporting job seekers, the long term goal of New Out West is to bridge the gap between new migrants and refugees and the growing number of agencies that meet most, if not all, settlement needs" said Monica Sharma, Project Manager of the New Out West project.
The project aims to establish a Waitakere satellite migrant and refugee support service by December 2003 and will be looking to secure funding and resources over the next six months.
Building the capacity of ethnic communities to help their own people, is a major aim of the project and there was strong support at the hui for the formation of a multi-ethnic advisory body. This would provide a forum where migrant and refugee issues can be raised, and Council and government policies and service delivery can be influenced.
For more information contact Monica Sharma, Project Manager, New Out West, phone (09) 838 7103 or email wadcoss2@xtra.co.nz.
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For more information see Painted Apple
Moth.
