Posts by Hebe
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Speaker: Christchurch: how did it come…, in reply to Lilith __,
Chch is being forced to build facilities that Chch people don’t want and haven’t agreed to, with money they don’t have.
Yes. While the infrastructure -- roads, water pipes, sewerage system -- is going to take 30 years to fix. I could accept -- just -- selling the airport and the forests in order to pay for fixing essential services.
A sell-off to pay for a government-ordained vision that very, very few Christchurch businesses or residents want is sickening.
The alternative to asset sales seems only to be the massive rates rises for years ahead. Those rates rises will make the cost of living in this city - buying or renting - rocket.
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Speaker: Christchurch: how did it come…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Throwing debt money into huge new infrastructure (convention centres, stadia) is ‘good for the economy’ in the same way sugar is good for a diabetic. My choice would be to spend the minimum on well-planned and coordinated essential infrastructure, and otherwise let the Christchurch re-build happen more slowly, driven by demand, and far more organically.
I agree with you. However, my understanding is that the council legal advice is that CCC cannot backtrack on the cost-sharing agreement with the government, no matter how much it and Christchurch people want to renegotiate it.
We're stuck unless the PM and the Finance Minister override the Earthquake Recovery Minister and CERA and agree to revisit the deal, which seemed a one-sided negotiation from the beginning. Could the worse-than-expected economic outlook for New Zealand and growing deficit projections mean they pull the pin?
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Marvellously amazing. Thank you.
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Great work. I will share this far and wide.
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Hard News: The greening of the Red Zone, in reply to Gregor Ronald,
We really were looking forward to rebuilding on our River Rd section near Banks Ave
I can see why. In fact I think the gathering of foragers when I was around there could have been at your old neighbours' place.
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Hard News: The greening of the Red Zone, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
They need to keep the area tidy. I’m assuming that Gerry Brownlee is already working with his developer mates to designate the liquefaction issues as “solved” and start subdivision sometime after the next election.
The land is almost certainly uninsurable.
EQC is this year assessing thousands (about 8000 -- maybe more) of occupied properties in the city as to Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability (ILV) or Increased Flood Vulnerability (IFV) caused by the earthquakes. As a result of that, payouts will be made to owners of land damaged in those categories, or remediation of the land will be done by EQC.
That land compensation and assessment criteria is what the court case was about late last year. EQC went to court to have certain rulings made on those things, and insurers, the city council and residents (including the Flockton cluster) joined the hearing in various ways
Land cover is provided by EQC, not the private insurer, and basically covers within eight metres of the house/garage up to a maximum of 450sq m (with a whole lot of inclusions and exceptions). The residential red zone was created because the government realised the land would be unable to be remediated in a cost-effective manner: the extensive liquefaction and flooding over large areas made that obvious.
There's no way EQC will be able to get reinsurance for red zone land: it's way too risky. Therefore no way private insurers will cover building houses.
I'm outlining all that because, yes, there are "issues" in Christchurch. But cheap shots are more unhelpful to the desperate than to Gerry Brownlee.
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Capture: The Colour Of Spring, in reply to Nora Leggs,
First sunflower i’ve ever managed to get past snail and slug attack. a real late bloomer.
A fine happy flower. Hope you've staked it for tonight and all is well.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Christchurch,…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
It was grand to meet
It was indeed!
But maybe there was always an odd stand-offishness-cum-shyness
Oh yes.
What I reckon Russell did the other night was to persuade us that the story is worth telling by everyone, from the musicians to the audience.
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Hard News: The greening of the Red Zone, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Love the idea of a native corridor. Some fruit and nut trees along edges -permaculture -could work too. Driving through today it’s also striking how high the river level is (or the land has sunk.)
In some parts the river almost seemed to be the same level as the road.
The native corridor and food forests and food-growing and gathering areas would be my choice too.
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My wish would be for as many people as possible to have a stake in the red zone land by dealing in all interest groups. It's so large that the city will need people to use it constantly, the Port Hills being a fine mixed-use model.
One future use for the red zone must surely be as a way of alleviating the effect of rising sea levels on Christchurch: used in this way the quakes may be a blessing in the long term.
The rowing course is not my interest but it would draw many people to use the area. It might be the political price of keeping the land overall.
The human occupation is a huge part of the story of the area, so that should be recognised in some way.
Farming is possible in parts; and could be a good way to use the Lincoln Uni agroeconomics expertise, especially a s that is identified as one of the key expansion areas for the NZ economy.