Around 80 people from all walks of life converged on the Greater Wellington Regional Council offices in Wakefield Street today to protest the Council’s decision to ignore submitters over the Ngauranga to Airport Corridor Plan. A number of speakers – including Victoria University masters student Charlie Devenish, RAM candidate Grant Brookes, and Green MP Sue Kedgley – addressed the protesters. All noted that some 79% of submitters were opposed to the flyover at the Basin Reserve, but all had been ignored by Councillors. There was a widespread call for immediate investment in light rail, public transport, and safer biking and walking instead of more dead-end roading projects.

It was notable that neither Councillors nor Council Officers were prepared to speak to the gathered ratepayers – all claimed they were in “important meetings”, which was met with derision by protesters.

A letter and a poster calling for the Ngauranga to Airport plan to be scrapped and for the resignation of Regional Transport Committee Chair Fran Wilde and Deputy Chair Peter Glensor was presented to junior Council staff. There was widespread sympathy for the secretary who had to receive the protesters, and many people felt she had been set up by the senior managers cowering behind their diaries.

There was much discussion at the protest about the need for a campaign to save the Basin Reserve from the Council and Fulton Hogan. Apparently a public meeting is being organised, and we will notify the community of a date as a soon as it is set.

The results of the Ngauranga to Airport Corridor Study are out, and as feared Mt Victoria is right in the firing line for the road-building frenzy. On practically every count, the submissions of residents were ignored – NZ Transport Agency, Greater Wellington Council and the WCC are all determined to destroy Paterson Street with a second tunnel, and deface the Basin Reserve with a flyover.

All at a time when traffic volumes are dropping.

It’s difficult to be too scathing about the out-of-date thinking that has led to this state of affairs. Rather than future-proofing our city with light rail, making it safer for people in our neighbourhood to walk to work, or helping reduce our carbon footprint, the Neanderthals in the Council have signed up for more roads in the 1960s mould. And in doing so, the character of our community will be changed forever.

We can all forget about the quiet summer afternoon watching cricket at the Basin. Given the presence of a huge, ugly concrete flyover all across the northern face, you’ll be lucky to hear the thwack of ball on bat over the roaring trucks and boy racers. Councillor Morrison – an ex-cricketer who should know better – is already planning on spending yet more public money on a new stand to try and hide the ugliness. But even if he succeeds, a new stand won’t stop the clouds of diesel fumes and exhaust emissions blowing across spectators and players alike.

From the lower slopes of Mt Victoria, we’ll be serenaded by vastly increased traffic noise and greater pollution – all so that the taxi drivers can get to the airport marginally faster.

And at a time of economic uncertainty, the Basin flyover represents the worst possible investment our city could make – $60 million to move congestion 300 metres is simply lousy economics, no matter how it’s presented.

I know I will be doing everything I can to stop this short-sighted, pointless boondoggle, and I would encourage others who are concerned about the liveability of our neighbourhood to do the same.

Updated 30/10: It appears some 79% of submitters opposed the Basin Reserve flyover. The Council intends building it anyway.

Kent Duston
Editor
mtvictoria.org.nz

With the onset of the planting season, some folks are exploring the idea of establishing a community garden in Mt Victoria:

“I am a resident of Mt Victoria. I am interested in getting a communtiy garden in place for Mt Victoria – the idea being to create community cohesion, sharing resources, education on sustainability/organic gardening, and for fun “

Contact has been made with our local WCC Councillor, Iona Pannett, and she is going to approach her colleague Celia Wade-Brown (Environment Portfolio leader) and Mike Oates (one of the WCC officers in charge of open spaces) to see what can be done. In the meantime, if you’re interested in helping get a community garden established, e-mail timothykimball[at]gmail.com.

The long Labour weekend managed to bring out the usual spate of boy racers in Mt Victoria, with Sunday being a particularly busy day for cars with loud exhausts illegally running through the bus tunnel at the top of Pirie Street. At one point, a convoy of four cars was seen racing through to Hataitai, and the antics of one idiot were captured on camera:

The pictures look out-of-order due to the fact that the driver drove into the tunnel at high speed, then was forced to reverse out again due to the oncoming bus … which does tend to confirm the boy racer stereotype of having more ego than brains!

The number plates of some of the participants have come out very nicely in the photographs, and will be given to the Police for further action.

The Mt Victoria Residents Association has received notice that the judicial review of the Resource Consent for the brothel at 103 Pirie Street will be heard by the High Court on Monday 2nd March 2009. A copy of the notice from the High Court is attached.

As part of the Meet the Candidates event last evening, the New Crossways Trust chair, Bill Southworth, officially opened the building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Two of the stalwart members of the old Crossways management committee, Ralph and Margaret Pannett, did the honours of pronouncing the building opened, and were thanked by Bill for their enormous efforts over the years.

In addition to their many years of work on the management committee, Ralph and Margaret made a huge contribution to the campaign to save Crossways. While this was ultimately unsuccessful, the time and effort Ralph and Margaret put into the campaign helped make it possible for Crossways to relocate to its new premises in Roxburgh Street. The community owes them a debt of gratitude for all their work over the last three decades.

Ralph and Margaret Pannett

Labour candidate Grant Robertson (left) and MVRA President Jessica Closson talk to the crowd at last night’s Wellington Central candidates meeting.

The Mt Victoria and Mt Cook communities ran a hugely entertaining Meet The Candidates meeting last night at the new Crossways community centre in Roxburgh Street. Ten candidates for the Wellington Central electorate informed and entertained a full house, punctuated with sloganeering, backchat and interjections, as well as considered policy and in-depth discussion of the issues facing New Zealand.

As the first public meeting for the new Crossways – ably chaired by Jessica Closson from the Mt Victoria Residents Association – it was a great way to welcome the neighbourhood to our new community facility. It was also a great way to meet a number of great people from Mt Cook Mobilised, who joined us to grill the candidates on local and national issues.

So now it’s up to you – remember to vote on November 8, and if you’re not yet enrolled, it’s time to make the effort so you can have your say in how our country is governed!

The Mt Victoria candidates meeting for Wellington Central is happening on Thursday 16 October at the new Crossways Community Centre, 6 Roxburgh Street, commencing at 7:30pm. The candidates attending are:

Heather Roy – ACT
Richard Wallis – Alliance
Sue Kedgley – Greens
Grant Robertson – Labour
Stephen Franks – National
Vaughan Smith – United Future
Don Franks – Workers Party
Grant Brookes – RAM
Rebekah Clement – Kiwi Party

An apology has been received from the Libertarianz candidate Barnard Darnton.

The meetings is being chaired by Jessica Closson, President of the Mt Victoria Residents Association, and is being run in conjunction with Mt Cook Mobilized.

The programme will be an introduction of candidates/welcome by Jessica and Peter Cooke from Mt Cook Mobilized; short opening statements by candidates; 30 minutes of questions from the floor; and 3 minute closing statements from candidates

As part of the meeting, Bill Southworth, Chair of the New Crossways Community Trust will formally open our new community centre, given that this is the first time we will be using the new facilities. Refreshments are being provided by Hazel Restaurant, and a lively and enjoyable evening is expected!

See you there!

You’ve found the website for the Mt Victoria community in Wellington, New Zealand.

Our neighbourhood stretches along the sunny western slopes of Mt Victoria, on the eastern edge of Wellington’s CBD, and comprises around 2,100 households. The area was first developed around the turn of the 20th Century, and is now a mix of Victorian-era villas and cottages, more modern apartments and some light commercial activities on the lower slopes. The imposing presence of Mt Victoria (196m high) acts as a backdrop to the neighbourhood. Here’s our Wikipedia page.

Mt Victoria is a very active community, and local residents publish a monthly independent Mt Victoria Newsletter. The latest issue and archives are available for download from their website, and some older archives are available using the menu item above. The latest community news is regularly published on the home page; if you have news about our neighbourhood, you can e-mail us at kent[at]mtvictoria.org.nz.

The Mt Victoria Residents Association (MVRA) actively promotes the interests of residents to local and central government. You’ll find links to some MVRA resources above. And the Mt Victoria Historic Society also has its own website, detailing some of the heritage of our neighbourhood.

There is widespread concern about the intention to build a huge concrete flyover across the northern side of the Basin Reserve, and a number of local residents are involved in the campaign to save the Basin. Information about the campaign can be found at the Save The Basin campaign website.

Following the sale of Crossways on the corner of Elizabeth and Brougham Streets in mid 2008, the Crossways Community Trust leased new premises in Roxburgh Street. You can find information about the facilities and the rates at their website. The availability calendar can be found here.

Regular visitors will have noticed that the Mt Victoria community website has been intermittently offline for the last few weeks. That’s because we’ve been gradually upgrading our old static HTML publishing platform to Drupal, an open source content management system.

As of today, the migration is about two-thirds complete; the new server is in place, the mail system has been migrated, and the content management system is running. The next step is to change the look-and-feel of the site, migrate all the old news stories and information about Mt Victoria, then get back to regularly posting new stuff. The rest of the migration should take about a week.

So our apologies for the interruptions, and normal service should resume shortly!