Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 42
new-zealand-labour-party
Mon May 16 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 42
Monday, 16 May 2011, 12:30 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
16 May 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 42
The Labour Party’s Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) have started a regular bulletin to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.
CLAYTON COSGROVE: I have read with interest the report from Paymark today that suggest as many as 56,000 people may have fled Christchurch in the days after February’s earthquake. Paymark, the electronic transaction processing company, says that before the February quake 393,422 cards were used in Christchurch, but over the 12 days following the quake 56,326 were used outside Christchurch. Paymark’s figures also suggest that over the past nine weeks ass many as 21,000 people may have returned to Christchurch, with some 35,000 cards still being used outside the city. I am somewhat sceptical of the findings While there are people who have left --- many for good reasons --- my gut feeling is that Canterbury people are showing a stoical spirit and are toughing it out, in my area anyway. That’s borne out by the number of schools I have been visiting. The rolls are holding up, and though many of the teachers have suffered quite severe damage to their own homes, they are trying to get their lives and routines as much back to normal as possible. It’s not easy --- and people still have to return to their shattered lives at night even if they have a job to go to during the day --- but people are stoical. Today I am getting round businesses in my electorate. Activity is pretty flat, with businesses still waiting for the boom to come that hasn’t come yet, and may never come for some. I attended the Share an Idea Expo held in Christchurch over the weekend. People who turned up were really interested. A common theme was that they want to see a plan, and to have real input into that plan.
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RUTH DYSON: I attended the Share an Idea Expo held in Christchurch over the weekend, and I believe that Christchurch City Council staff did brilliantly. There were many excellent speeches, but the real point of the Expo was giving people a chance to make their own voices heard. The Expo was a fantastic opportunity for people to share ideas with each other, and I was particularly pleased to see so many young people attending. Their attendance --- and their ideas and enthusiasm --- was more than encouraging. There was a real feeling of optimism everywhere. This morning I did my first interview on Canterbury Television ---- for a programme called City Life --- since the February quake. The interview covered a number of areas, including the vital need for people to have timeframes as they rebuild their homes and lives, the issue of rock falls in my Port Hills electorate, and the rest home visiting service I have been organising. This involves picking people up and taking them to visit people who have been transferred to rest homes in other areas.
LIANNE DALZIEL: Today I am following up the decision of EcoCentral Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Christchurch City Council’s holding company CCHL, to move the Super Shed from its Pages Rd site to Blenheim Rd making it inaccessible to the people of the eastern suburbs. This has occurred with no consultation with the people of the eastern suburbs and has been made on a purely commercial basis. Among the directors of the company are the Chief Executive and General Manager of Corporate Services of the CCC, and yet the council itself has neither been informed nor consulted. The eastern suburbs have already been hammered by the two earthquakes and to find that a ready source of reasonably priced recycled goods are being moved out of reach of those who can’t afford the petrol to travel to the other side of town adds insult to injury. When I questioned them about access, one of the directors said that my constituents could use public transport, which indicates how out of touch he is with the reality for many of the Super Shed’s customers. I am disappointed that the Chief Executive of the CCC doesn’t think that consultation would have been in order given the wider social impact this decision will have on so many people in the eastern suburbs, who have come to rely on the Super Shed.
BRENDON BURNS: What a fantastic sight the Expo was yesterday (and to a lesser extent on Saturday), with thousands of Cantabrians taking up the chance to have some say in the rebuilding of our inner city. Great to see new CERA head Roger Sutton there - in his trademark cycling clobber. His appointment is a tonic for us all. The Expo booth post-it notes worked a treat. You could have your say Against (end boy racers, no tilt slab grey buildings in the new city centre) or For (more playgrounds, parks and speciality shops). The key thing now for council is to ensure the ideas generated become part of a coherent plan and people are able to continue to feel like they’ve had a real say in how our inner city can best be reshaped. Interests in Conserving the Identity of Christchurch, IConIC, which I chair, released a list of around 30 “should keep” heritage buildings as a contribution to the Expo. While no-one advocates trying to retain dangerous buildings, quake-strengthened heritage buildings came through the February 22 quake well. We say that retaining and strengthening the best of our heritage stock will help re-attract tourists to our city and contribute to our quality of life. There are other benefits in keeping viable buildings, whether they are heritage, character or not. Sustainability is a strong theme for the rebuild of our city. Repairing and strengthening buildings can be done using less materials and sometimes faster and more cost-effectively than putting up anything comparable. This means inner-city businesses can re-open earlier, at competitive rentals. That’s why we chose the first Community Expo to outline the case for keeping as much as possible of our urban fabric. We want to work with the council and CERA on how we can best fund and retain some of the buildings that have both made Christchurch what it is and what it can be.
ENDS
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