Media Releases

February 2008

 

26 February

Canadian offer fears
 

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey today reiterated his concerns about the proposed overseas takeover of Auckland International Airport.

 "In June last year I warned Aucklanders might wake up to find decisions about the Mangere monopoly being made in Canada or Australia and with the latest developments it looks as though I was right".

 "That's why it is so absurd the Auckland region has only one commercial airport.  Yes, I bang on about a commercial joint venture at Whenuapai but with good reason".

 "Aucklanders should have a stake in a publicly owned airport and the goings on at AIAL show we have an excellent opportunity at Whenuapai for central and local government to work in partnership to establish a major, public strategic asset".

"Why wouldn't we?"

Waitakere City Council is a shareholder in Northwest Auckland Airport Ltd which wants to begin developing commercial air services to Australia, the Pacific and New Zealand destinations, sharing Whenuapai airport at least initially, with the Air Force.

Other shareholders include North Shore City Council, Rodney District Council and Infratil.

2008 Earth Hour 2008 - Turning off the lights

20 February

Waitakere Artists' Open Studio weekend

Waitakere's artists will be opening their home studios to the public and joining together in collaborative groups so the public can view their
work on March 1 and 2.

This year over 200 artists are taking part throughout Waitakere and the event, which runs from 10am-4pm each day, will be the largest of its kind in the region.

The variety and quality of the artists represent a wide cross-section of styles and mediums and is a testament to the creativity that exists in the city.

For more information pick up a free brochure from your local Waitakere library, art gallery or the Waitakere City Council.

A brochure and map are available online here

Bus tours are planned: from 10.30 and 1.30 both days (2 1/2 hour tour around selected studios).

Bookings are essential phone 839 0400.

A shuttle bus tour will take visitors around galleries and cluster groups (1 hour round trip - get on and off as you wish).

Tickets for the shuttle bus are available from the driver $15.

20 February

Butter Mountains, Wine Lakes..Now Tv Towers

Many households are switching to large, flat screen, TVs- and that's creating a mountain of old sets being thrown out.

Waitakere City Council's Solid Waste and Recycling Centre in Henderson has noticed a jump in the traditional and older style CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) sets dumped in the past 12 months.

That's put down to the desire of many homeowners for the new style flat screens says Councillor Vanessa Neeson, Chairman of the Planning and Regulatory Committee, which overseas the city's waste bylaws.

"We have a small shed full of old TVs all in perfect working order," she says. We would have over 100 old sets brought into the recycling centre or put out in the inorganic rubbish every week."

This week, along Hobsonville Rd, is estimated that a third of the homes that put rubbish out for the Council's inorganic collection were dumping old TV sets.

"I guess we live in a disposable society and electronic goods are coming down in price daily," Mrs Neeson says. "And the number of old TVs heading for the dump is systematic of that. There is also a noticeable jump in the number of TVs tossed out when summer sales and the like are on."

Mrs Neeson adds that a major problem with TVs being put out for inorganic collection are people who smash them in order to re-sell cooper wiring inside. "The smashed glass is a real danger to people in the street, including our rubbish contractors," she says.

Any TVs that do make it to the Council recycling centre intact are sold on Trademe with funds used for recycling initiatives in the city.

Those that are not in working order are broken down as much as possible with non ferrous metals stripped out for recycling.

18 February

Historic Church Gets New Life

Councillor Judy Lawley outside the newly restored St Michael's Church.

The reopening of St Michael's Chapel (on March 2-3) marks another milestone in the history of Henderson.

The chapel, which was built in 1914, has been restored by the Henderson Heritage Trust with the assistance and co-operation of Waitakere City Council. It has been resited to the Corban Estate Arts Centre, and will be officially opened by Mayor Bob Harvey as part of an open weekend for the public.

The gothic style building with a steep pitch roof, arched windows, and stained timber interior is listed as a Category 3 historic building. An early bishop of Auckland laid the foundation stone.

Councillor Judy Lawley, Chairperson of Waitakere City Council's Culture and Community Committee, says the restoration project is an exciting example of a community trust and the Council working together in partnership.

"So much of New Zealand history is either forgotten or bulldozed in the name of progress," she says. "It's wonderful that a building like this which has served the community so well for close to 100 years will do so for at least another century".

Ms Lawley also acknowledged the work of the Henderson Heritage Trust. "The trustees and indeed everyone involved in the project have been tireless in their efforts over a number of years. Without their commitment this wonderful community asset would simply have rotted away."

Restoration involved major work and included new stained glass, replacing timber work inside and out, re-roofing, reconstruction of the bell tower, repainting, the installation of lighting, heating, and fire alarms and a small extension for a kitchen.

The chapel will be used for community functions, art exhibition openings and other gatherings.

Sister cities report called for

Waitakere Councillors have called for a report on how Sister City relationships may be leveraged to influence overseas governments.

The Council's Culture and Community Committee discussed a proposed programme of Sister City exchanges when the issue of whaling by the Japanese was raised. Waitakere has had a sister city relationship with Kakogawa since 1991, and over the years has expressed its displeasure at the Japanese government's continued whaling through letters to the likes of the Mayor of the City and the Japanese Consul General.

"Our sister city exchanges have largely involved students with a view to broadening their cultural understanding," says Councillor Judy Lawley, Chairman of the Committee.

"But perhaps we may be able to be more assertive in making our views known to our friends in Kakogawa. Perhaps international friendships such as our sister city relationship can contribute to supporting the Japanese people to change their government's policy."

Councillor Lawley says that Councillors did not support a total ban on contact with Kakogawa.

"We don't wish to limit the opportunities for young people to expand their horizons, but we do want to ensure that the cities and governments we engage with share the same moral and ethical views that we have."

Waitakere City Council also has sister city relationships with Huntington Beach in the USA, Ningbo in China and Galway in Ireland.

Councillor Lawley says that a report to the Council's Policy and Strategy Committee in March will examine these sorts of issues and also the benefits of international relationships.

Waitakere mayor applauds new graffiti measures

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey today applauded the government's hard line on graffiti.

Mayor Harvey, who was with the Prime Minister Helen Clark in Manukau when she announced tougher penalties and other anti-graffiti measures, says with this initiative central and local governments can work closer together to resolve the problem.

"Graffiti is a blight on our landscape and we need to work together to stamp it out," he said.

"In Waitakere we have had huge success thanks to our Tag Out Trust but the cost is still more than $1 million a year - that's one percent straight on to rates bills. With more government funding and a closer relationship between central and local government I think we'll be able to make even more of a difference."

Waitakere had a voluntary system in place with retailers about five years ago where they would lock spray cans away however Mayor Harvey says many "unscrupulous retailers" continued to sell spray cans to youngsters.

In another initiative the mayor personally offered a reward from his own pocket for an offender who persistently tagged the city's new Glen Eden library. "He was dobbed in by his mates which just goes to show that sometimes the carrot is as successful as the stick," says Mayor Harvey.

Waitakere's Tag Out Trust was set up in 1996 and currently removes an average of 22,000 tags a month.

"Also in Waitakere we have commissioned local artists to paint the utility and traffic light boxes throughout the city," says Mayor Harvey.

"The artists have been at work for two years and to date we now have 52 very attractive and eye catching boxes which have not once been tagged. Art can make a difference and that might be something we look at increasing in this war against graffiti."

Waitakere City continues to support Hobsonville development

Waitakere City Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says that the Council is "standing in the market to ensure that Auckland gets both jobs and housing at Hobsonville".

Hard on the heels of the Government's announcements about making housing affordable, Waitakere City Council has announced it is going ahead with creating skilled jobs in the same vicinity.

The Council's property company, Waitakere Properties, has announced that it is seeking development partners for its 16 hectare site at Hobsonville to develop its super-yacht building cluster at Hobsonville.

"This fits closely with the Government's announcement on housing. The city of the future encourages affordable housing as part of its housing mix and co-locates its housing with local jobs and wealth generation. It builds a whole community on sustainable principles and serves it with excellent public transport," says Cr Hulse.

"There is clearly a lot of uncertainty about speculative development right now, which is why it takes the stability of local and central government to make affordable housing and local, high-end jobs happen together. Waitakere City and central government working together is showing that we can achieve large-scale urban transformation in Auckland."

Councillor Hulse noted that the time it has taken to bring this comprehensive development of Hobsonville has had benefits.

"Since New Zealand Defence Forces began to shift off Hobsonville, we have worked to ensure that the jobs that were lost will be replaced. By November this year we will see the start of building on the new state highway 18 across the north-west, plus the housing development, plus Council's super-yacht cluster. This is a new coordinated plan for the north-west of Auckland. We want a business partner to join with us to make the public and private sector to develop this part of Auckland together."

Regarding the costs and benefits of what the Council was seeking from Hobsonville, she said: "Council has invested significantly on the land, and we want to see a large superyacht cluster with many hundreds of high-end jobs there as a result."

Councillor Hulse also linked the development of Hobsonville to the review of Auckland's governance, now underway, saying "It takes smart, active government of Waitakere's size and scale to link emerging local opportunities like this with central government policy."

"Together, we are a powerful force for good. It is important that any government use Waitakere and government's role in Hobsonville as a model on how to transform the productivity and housing affordability of the Auckland region."

Trash to Fashion® is back

Trash to Fashion® is back and will be better than ever in 2008.

Following a gap year in 2007, the Waitakere City Council's Culture and Community Committee today decided unanimously to fully re-launch the Eco city's iconic Trash to Fashion® Awards.

Councillor Judy Lawley, chairman of the Culture and Community Committee, says Trash to Fashion® has been a flagship event for Waitakere encompassing everything the city holds dear; with environmental education at its heart and recycling at its core.

Of course we now have to secure our sponsors but I'm confident we will do that and I am simply rapt to think that this event will be back at its full-scale in Waitakere in 2008 - as the people who spoke passionately to our Committee today testified, this event is a huge deal for not only people in our community, but much further a field," Councillor Lawley says.

Indeed, the Culture and Community Committee heard how Waitakere's sister city, Huntington Beach, California, is launching its own version of the awards and hopes to send its finalists to compete here.

"It was great to see the overwhelming support for this event, today's decision shows we not only are committed to Trash to Fashion® this year but provides certainty for it going forward, Councillor Lawley says.

This is an event that's time has come, she says.

Trash to Fashion® has been running in Waitakere for over a decade and in this time has transformed from a small, community-based celebration to a major professional event which fuses entertainment with the core 'reduce, recycle, reuse' concept.

In this regard it has been a significant profiling mechanism for the city's sustainability ethos.

This year, Dazzle Events, has been brought aboard the project to establish a sound business model and to manage the significantly expanded sponsorship and marketing programme.

The dates, themes and entry information for the Trash to Fashion® Awards 2008 will be announced in April.

8 February

Xena gives way to Panorama

This is one of the battles that Xena lost.

Xena Lake in Western Heights, Waitakere City, is no more.

It is now Lake Panorama following a unanimous decision by the Henderson Community Board last night.

Xena Park, however, remains.

When the lake and reserve were created as part of a housing development, intending purchasers believed that the lake would be called Lake Panorama, but unbeknown to many, the council adopted the name Xena Lake.

This only became apparent to them when signs were erected last year with the name Xena Lake on them.

Having purchased in the expectation of living beside Lake Panorama, residents were opposed to the Xena name and approached the council to adopt Lake Panorama instead.

Both the Xena and Panorama names met the council's criteria as place names and the council wished to meet the residents expectations, while retaining a tie to the legendary warrior princess, whose mythical exploits were filmed in the area.

The matter became the Henderson Community Board's responsibility after the ward boundary change last year, and board members led by chairman Elizabeth Grimmer, held discussions with residents to seek a resolution

The result was a compromise suggested by the residents, under which the lake would be re-named Lake Panorama and the reserve would remain Xena Park.

The park has an adventure playground with a Xena theme.

"I am pleased that the Henderson Community Board has been able to bring the matter to a resolution so quickly after it became our responsibility," says Mrs Grimmer.

4 February

Beach water quality results

It's summer, and with the weather being so hot thousands of people are flocking daily to Waitakere's west coast beaches and waterways to cool off.

The city's latest water quality results show that all of the city's swimming spots are currently safe to enjoy.

As part of its service to the community the Waitakere City Council conducts frequent water quality testing at all of the city's popular swimming locations and if a problem is identified signs will be erected at the site, warning swimmers of the danger.

So before you head to the beach, check the latest water quality results, these are updated daily.

1 February

Special welcome for new CEO