Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Five

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  • Angela Hart,

    Thanks for this post Emma. I feel so sad for Christchurch people, every one of you, but in particular the 1 in 5 who are still waiting for their homes to be sorted. My respect to all of you, those who have left and those who remain. Kia kaha

    Christchurch • Since Apr 2014 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    The public library: that gets to me too. If they'd wanted people to go back to the CBD, the library would have been key to attracting the locals.

    As for school: it's remarkable that the school, despite being a makeshift site, is flourishing although the present site of the high school, Ao Tawhiti, is going to be problematic. It's at the old Teacher's College site and the use of the Library, cafe and Jack Mann Auditorium has been wonderful. Those are set to be demolished in the next year or so, which will seriously affect the day-to-day operations.

    It's dispiriting and sad for all, yet the students and staff are still revelling in the unique learning environment where innovation and self-direction is key. The very skills our future adults need as a city.

    As an owner of one the seriously damaged homes yet to be sorted, that is another story.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    Cam Preston: 40% claims with big insurers unsettled (after Red Zone settlements removed). Add to this the many still invisible in the EQC "on hold" category and possibly to go to insurers or repair. Cam's figures are good, and It certainly allies with what I know of in St Martins, one of the most badly damaged areas.

    http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/80204/cam-prestons-take-whats-really-happening-christchurch-5-years-after-big-earthquake

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    I’ve thought and written so much, privately and publicly. Today I can’t find the right words, if there are any.
    I’m thinking of everyone else affected by the perpetual disasters in Chch and Canterbury.

    A few weeks ago I was in Hastings, and I turned a corner and looked up in shock at Port Hills that were horribly twisted and wrecked.

    Of course I was looking at Te Mata Peak and it’s meant to look like that.

    But that cringing feeling that anything can be spoiled or destroyed, it doesn’t go away.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Kim Wilson,

    Lovely post, thanks Emma.

    I was in the Botanic Gardens on 14 Feb and it was all I could do to not go sit under a tree and cry once the trees stopped "dancing". I had a cry in the car on the way home to North Canterbury instead. And I'm not really sure why. Just, well, everything with these bloody earthquakes (past and recent), seeing the lovely new buildings, and the still fucked ones which were so beautiful and grand before, and the sadness I feel seeing the houses with broken windows and overgrown lawns and thinking about the upheaval in the lives of those who may have lived there, and, and, and...

    Nth Canty • Since Dec 2006 • 28 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    “Almost immediately afterwards, we were told our mental health funding had been cut.”

    Fucking disgusting, to put it politely.

    I firmly believe if the people and their homes had been the priority, the rest of the CBD and its changes would have been positive. Instead there are some people trying to move on with day to day stuff around others who are stuck in limbo.That itself must be quite unsettling for everyone and to consider cutting funding at times like that is bordering on criminal. The longer people are left behind because Convention center, the longer it will take to heal and it will become the epitaph as being more important than the people it’s supposed to benefit. It’s bollocks. It angers me and I don’t even live there but I was born there . My Dad brought Mums ashes back to AK because he felt she couldn't rest there anymore. That made him sad.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • James Littlewood*,

    That makes me feel both sad and angry.

    Damn.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 410 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Brownlee gets a brown thing.
    someone is upset

    He says he'd like to know what the man's gripe was.

    He really doesn't know?

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Isabel Hitchings,

    The school that Emma mentions is the one that my children learn at (on the senior site in Ilam) and that I work at (on the junior site in Aidanfield). The loss of our promised, permanent site is hugely upsetting. Our children have spent five years learning in scungy portacoms (seriously - the junior school got the last available ones in NZ before they started building new ones), we've been under-resourced for all that time, and our access to resources, like the auditorium Hebe mentioned above, has been gradually eroded. We have traditionally drawn a high proportion of our students from the east side of town but the number of families who can sustain that commute is ever dwindling. The space we have on the senior site is on loan from the university and we have just learned that, as of next term, we are losing access to the building that currently houses half our year 7 - 10 students. We are a resilient community and are doing great things with what we have but, dear lord, there are limits to what we can endure.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2007 • 719 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Christ almighty - just watching Story and just realised how dim Heather Duplessis-Allan is - they are driving towards New Brighton via New Brighton road and she's all - "You mean there were houses here? That's unbelievable"
    - Good God woman have you paid any attention over the last 5 years to what has happened in Chchch?

    I give up....

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Tess Rooney, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    I sort of feel guilty about Christchurch. I lived there from age 1 to my late 30s, (I grew up in the east) we moved to Greymouth in 2007 and so missed the quakes. I feel guilty that I avoided my hometown’s suffering.

    You ask about Heather Duplessis-Allan… Something I’ve noticed, being here for Pike River and knowing people very closely involved with it, both management and miners, people outside your area often don’t care deeply about local issues.

    As Bernie Monk and the families have fought to get their men out, attitudes have hardened. Initially it was all gung ho to return the bodies of their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers, now it’s “can’t you just let it go?”

    People care in a kind of shallow “oh that’s sad, I hope people are ok” kind of way, but when it comes to caring to the point where it costs them something, maybe time, money, or comfort, then the caring dries up very, very fast.

    I was so naive before the CHCH quakes and Pike River, I thought NZ would care and then do things to actually help. The Government should have stepped in and helped people with insurance difficulties, they should have prioritised getting people in warm, dry, safe homes. They should have supported Christchurch schools, instead of trying to close them.

    So yeah, of course Heather Duplessis-Allan has no idea that suburbs are just empty land now. What’s Dallington to her? Same with the National leaders and John Key, it's not their family members underground, it's not their brothers/fathers/husbands who go to work in a dangerous environment with inadequate safety legislation.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    NOOOOOOOOO!
    Story just did a fatuous hatchet job on Napier's seaside viewing platform cum stormwater outfall camouflage - Jeez these people are shallow, mugging it up by a Napier sign - going 'Na Pier Na Pier No Pier!' - this is what you do when you don't have a story.
    The council never touted it as a pier - and then Duplessis-Allen goes and 'whats more it's not even connected to the stormwater system yet (smirk smirk)' - don't worry about looking anything up Heather, it will be connected.
    I personally think it is a wonderful construction at the right scale to its surroundings and not ridiculously expensive as a proper pier would have been - an they should be grateful you can't fish off it as that fraternity has ruined the Chchch pier as an attraction...
    - that's it for me with TV3's attempts at news - they're just bullies and dickheads.

    grrrrr

    PS: the story they actually missed was that it is already being hammered by the sea and taken a level of damage it would appear they hadn't allowed for.
    see:
    http://www.hawkesbay.co.nz/general/17360-damage-to-napier-s-new-stormwater-outfall-to-be-attended-to-,-says-city-council.html

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Isabel Hitchings,

    we have just learned that, as of next term, we are losing access to the building that currently houses half our year 7 – 10 students.

    Oh fucking fuck no. Why? (Message me?) There's not space for PBL study as it is.

    My two teens go to that school; they love it and their academic results are great. I understood that the roll was at capacity this year.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    Meanwhile back to mental health, the NZNO details the problems in Canterbury services
    https://nznoblog.org.nz/2016/02/22/arohanui-christchurch/

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Hebe,

    claims with big insurers unsettled

    Spreading their liability over many years exactly as intended - what chips do we think Brownlee et al were parlaying with the global insurance industry, including on his grand trip to Monte Carlo'?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Tess Rooney,

    I thought NZ would care and then do things to actually help. The Government should have stepped in and helped people

    Yes, that my fellow citizens have re-elected these patently-uncaring clowns twice both saddens and angers me. Where has our sense of right and wrong gone?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Tess Rooney,

    sort of feel guilty about Christchurch. I lived there from age 1 to my late 30s, (I grew up in the east) we moved to Greymouth in 2007 and so missed the quakes. I feel guilty that I avoided my hometown’s suffering.

    I've felt something like that too. In a positive sense, it has reconnected me with the city where I grew up.

    I think the fact that Public Address was able to be a space for Christchurch people to talk is the most important thing that's happened on the website.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Tess Rooney, in reply to Sacha,

    I know!! Why?

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Urquhart,

    I have posted my thoughts from the day (somewhat inspired and informed by Emma) in my journal.
    http://marsden-online.dreamwidth.org/969722.html

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2009 • 163 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Tess Rooney,

    lack of a decently-conveyed alternative.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Robert Urquhart,

    Brilliant, thank you.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I think the fact that Public Address was able to be a space for Christchurch people to talk is the most important thing that’s happened on the website.

    Emma linked me back into one of those threads earlier. A real time capsule. Important then, and valuable now. Thank you, Russell.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I’ve felt something like that too. In a positive sense, it has reconnected me with the city where I grew up.

    I think the fact that Public Address was able to be a space for Christchurch people to talk is the most important thing that’s happened on the website.

    Public Address has indeed been awesome. I arrived after the February quake sometime, and I’ve got to know some great people locally and elsewhere via PAS. It was a forum for us when there were few places to meet physically, and even if there were I didn’t want to leave my then-young teenagers while aftershocks ripped through our rocky house. Coverage here has also helped prod public opinion, particularly after the floods of 2014.

    You all have nothing to feel guilty about: this natural disaster and its aftermath has been a short straw for what seemed like the safest and most unchanging – boring? – city in the world. It is what it is.

    The earthquakes have shaken up that entropy, and the demographics are undoubtedly changing: to a younger, more international and mixed-race city. That is all for the good and I enjoy the diversity every time I step outside the door.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Rosemary McDonald,

    So today we will remember

    We did. Driving towards Pukenui, in the Far North at 12.51pm. Slowed down a wee bit to listen to the RNZ broadcast of the Memorial Service. Was that interference on our radio ...or was there a noisy cicada by the microphone?

    Anyway....we spent the afternoon here at Camp Runamuck listening to the stories of the three campers up here from Christchurch.

    These are retirees. Venerable old people.

    Using words like "bastards", arseholes", "arrogant pricks"....

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Urquhart,

    This also seems the appropriate thread to share my photos from the We've Had Enough rally on Sunday.

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2009 • 163 posts Report Reply

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