Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Keep calm and carry on
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Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Steve Barnes,
I wondered if Giggles was her nickname #nokids
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TVNZ fair-loo story updated to include this:
Civil Defence director John Hamilton today responded to reports of port-a-loos overflowing in the eastern suburbs, saying more will be provided from areas where they're no longer needed.
"I have asked to have a review of where the port-a-loos are currently located and we will redistribute those which are no longer required because water and sewerage have returned to those properties. I suspect port-a-loos in southern and western parts of the city may be able to be relocated to the east," he said.
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TV3 reports Brownlee's position.
He said today that many had been severely damaged and were unlikely to be rebuilt, "and I think being realistic about that right up front is important".
"They are becoming community hazards and given the scale of this event I worry a great deal about public health and safety," he said.
"There is a need to move fairly quickly on these things."
Mr Brownlee defended his commitment to heritage in the city, saying he had been chairman of the trust that saved Riccarton House when it was being considered for demolition.
"I understand conservation architecture very well. I know that where you can successfully save a building for heritage purposes then it can be worthwhile, but I question whether 1600 buildings in Christchurch meet that criteria."
But he added that focusing on heritage buildings was "undue and unacceptable in the current circumstances".
"There are thousands of people, tens of thousands of people out in the suburbs who have got very, very disrupted lives, and I'm not interested in getting into some sort of an academic scrap with people over the quality of inner-city buildings when our main focus for quite a time is going to have to be return of infrastructure and the accommodation needs."
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Islander,
I'm with Matthew - could go either way. Some people do seriously believe that thinking is dangerous in a leader, and they write letters to editors.
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Classic letter to the editor from the Press today (h/t Peter McLennan).
Many citizens have criticised Gerry Brownlee’s stance on demolishing heritage buildings. This is unfair. Gerry knows about building construction – he was a high-school woodwork teacher before entering politics.
In these dark times we need decisive leaders that do not overthink the issues and waste time reading technical reports and listening to the advice of experts. In a hundred years, people will still be talking about Gerry.
Richard Stevens – Fendalton
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
blaming that on Hamilton not having been trotting all over Christchurch loses sight of his role
Have already agreed with you. On-the-ground visits are a proxy for what seems to have been lacking - unless Key releases his report to prove otherwise.
That's getting into detail that would be outside his ordinary purview until it became a significant problem.
And waiting for media to raise the issue is one way of monitoring cross-agency performance.
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Oh look, Key says there's nothing to see here. Best move along.
Prime Minister John Key says a report from Civil Defence about the distribution of port-a-loos and chemical toilets in quake-stricken Christchurch shows allocation has been nothing but fair.
There have been complaints from residents in the hard-hit eastern suburbs that there is not a port-a-loo in sight.
Key said he has asked Civil Defence about the distribution process and where the toilets been sent.
He said there aren't enough port-a-loos or chemical toilets for the scale of the event but that is quickly being rectified and the need for toilets is being re-assessed all the time.
A shortage of port-a-loos and chemical toilets was the top concern expressed by residents at community meetings in the eastern suburbs yesterday.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Sounds like part of the challenge with the portaloos is involvement of more than one organisation in the process. What was in place for Hamilton to trust and verifiy their performance?
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Radio NZ audio posted: Gerry Brownlee (streaming, 14 mins) and Anna Crighton (streaming, 10 mins)