By G.E. Lewens, 1943

The candidates meeting for Waikanae will take place in the Waikanae Memorial Hall on Wednesday 14 September between 10 am and 12 pm.

There are 6 candidates for mayor: sitting mayor Ross Church, sitting district-wide councilors ‘Guru’Nathan, Jackie Elliott, David Church and Gavin Welsh, plus newcomer Angela Buswell.

The debate in the last general election was dominated by the water meters that then Mayor Rowan wanted, but which about 70% of Kapiti ratepayers didn’t want.  She was relegated to third place behind Ross Church and Guru.

We have to make a guilty admission that Ross Church was our No. 1 preference last time — but he won’t be this time.  Which challenger will make the best replacement?  Why not show up to decide?

To date we haven’t heard about train/car collisions at Elizabeth Street, but as the congestion gets worse with the continuing population increase, it is only a matter of time — another reason why we need an underpass.

Local government candidate Guy Burns (candidate for the Paekakariki-Raumati Ward) is advocating for Kapiti Coast District Council to use a low cost form of non-binding referendum to assess ratepayer support for individual spending proposals.

“To help avoid unpopular and unnecessary decisions I’m suggesting Council should identify the cost of specific proposals for ratepayers and then ask them whether they are willing to pay.

“A polling form could go out with each rates bill, and be specific about the cost impacts of each spending proposal on each rates account. Administrative costs could be minimised by using online polling tools.

“It would enable ratepayers to be properly informed about proposals, and for Councils to get a proper understanding of what people think as opposed to just interest groups lobbying on behalf of their pet projects.

“Both district wide and local ward initiatives can be covered by such an approach. The current system of public consultation that occurs does not attract large numbers of submitters, and many ratepayers do not have time to engage in them.

“Kapiti could lead the way by introducing non-binding polls on individual spending proposals as an adjunct to traditional consultation, so that decision-makers in Council have real information about the views of those they expect to foot the bills for spending.”

We submitted an Official Information Act request to obtain the running costs involved with these ridiculous meters.

The breakdown:

1. Cost of staff/contractors involved in reading the meters: $80.1 K

2. Creating bills, printing, envelopes, posting out bills: $108.8 K

3. Repairing/replacing meters and work incidental thereto: $22.9 K

4. Other: $54.8 K

The link to this is here (pdf file)

The cynical (including us) will note that much of it reads like yet more public relations ‘spin’, as in the paragraph above: “Waikanae plans look great and exciting”.  Give us a break…

No mention of our recommendation for a pedestrian overbridge from the platform at Waikanae railway station to the carpark on the east side of the tracks and the west side of the main road.  So forget that one, it ain’t going to happen, unless of course KiwiRail and the GWRC pay for it, and we don’t suggest holding your breath on that.

And we have the present Waikanae Ward councilor’s view on a level crossing underpass:

So, a vote for Michael Scott is a vote for no underpass.

Most of the Beca Consultants responses consist of “Noted” and “we will consider this”; so we now need to wait for version two to be presented.

…  which we think a lot of Waikanae people relate to.

This stuff article from April last year gave that statistic, which works out at an impressive 72 plants per metre of distance, but as we observed in the 6 April post, much of it seems to consist of flax and grasses which takes a while to grow.  However, they will still help absorb the carbon emissions from the traffic.

At least where the embankments are visible from streets, one might have hoped for trees that grow to about the 4-metre level to obscure the view of traffic.

One of the things we have always assumed, but were told recently is not the case, is that trees act as a noise softener.  But this person who seemed to know her subject said that they are too porous for that and only add a bit of white noise to disguise the sounds.

If you want to reduce sound you need a wall — and a tall, unbroken one (shades of Donald Trump?).  This info on the US Federal Highway Administration website gives the principles involved.

An article in the Envirowatch Rangitikei website is here.  What if DOC or the GWRC started mass dumping poisons into the bushland that feeds the Waikanae River?  Would we have a Havelock North situation?  See the earlier post on safe water.