Winara Avenue runs roughly right to left through the centre, Tui Crescent at the top.  Kotare St didn’t extend much beyond the intersection with Kaka St at that time.

from the Kapiti News website:-

Waikanae Butchery has an impressive new award to add to its collection.

The butchery won a gold medal in the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition, run by Retail Meat New Zealand, held at Fresh Factory, Mt Eden, Auckland on Thursday, 13 October.

Butchery owner Andy Stroombergen, who attended the awards night with his partner Hilary Weber, was presented with a golden forked sausage trophy after his business won a gold medal in the black pudding/rounds category for its white pudding.

There were 500 entries in the competition in various categories, from about 75 companies.

Full article

This has has been produced and put on the council website here (pdf).  The ‘draft’ should of course be noted, however, the first Waikanae Community Board meeting of the new triennium is stated as being on Tuesday 8 November, and will be at the usual time (7:30 pm) and place (the community centre at the station end of Utauta Street).

The council website says agendas should be available there 2 days before each meeting, although extra matters can arise, particularly from public speaking time.

Let’s hope that the message given to Michael Scott last year (and ignored by him) of the need for much better communication and more pro-activity will be heeded by the WCB — we’re quietly confident that the two new members, Jeremy Seamark and Tonchi Begovich, at least will do so.  As well as interactive information on the website(s), a paper newsletter could be included with rates notices each quarter to Waikanae addresses.

In fact, according to this Kapiti Independent News article, that’s the case throughout Kapiti.

KIN’s Peter Corlett reports that, “An excited crowd of more than 500 students, teachers and parents has gathered for the official opening of a new classroom block at Waikanae School.

“This permanent classroom is based on the Ministry of Education’s latest ‘Modern Innovative Flexible Learning Environment’ (MIFL) design; and it features two classrooms, several ‘break-out’ spaces, toilet blocks and shared office space.

“But, like several other local primary schools, Waikanae School is said to be ‘bursting at the seams,’ meaning all Ministry classroom spaces in the school are now full.”

Such are the problems associated with population growth: along with it comes the need for more support infrastructure: not just utilities like power and communications, stormwater drainage and sewerage treatment, but buildings for social services.

Waikanae’s population is relatively old by the national average, but there has been an increasing number of young families over the last 15-20 years, and the massive new subdivisions planned by developers mean the infrastructure problem is going to get much worse.

Hi everyone, Constable Nathan from the Kapiti-Mana Police here.

As we all know, there has been an increase in burglaries lately, and the last thing any of us want is to come home to all our precious belongings being stolen. The things we cherish and work so hard for.

Here’s a small list of some simple things you could do to protect your home.

There are many many more ways to deter these thieves; so feel free to comment your best prevention tip [we highly recommend security cameras and a burglar alarm, see posts from last year].

How to protect your home:

– Always lock up.
– burglars often enter through unlocked doors and windows or they take advantage of weak locks.
– Install good quality locks and use them.
– check that you will be able to escape easily in a fire or other emergency.
– use a reputable locksmith.
– lock the front door if you’re in the back garden.
– lock your house if you are having a rest or doing something that needs a lot of concentration, such as studying or sewing.
– lock away tools and ladders because burglars can use them to break in.
– lock garden sheds and your garage if you can.
– sensor lights are an excellent security device because they light up
automatically if somebody moves nearby.
– CCTV cameras are becoming more and more popular too, and you can pick them up at an affordable price.
– keep trees and shrubs trimmed so they don’t provide hiding places for burglars.
– keep windows secure.
– guard your keys. Don’t have personal details on your keys (such as your
name, phone number or address).
– don’t leave house keys with your car keys when your car is being serviced [keep them on separate key-rings].
– don’t invite burglars in — never leave notes on a door stating that you are out.
– when you go away, make sure your home looks lived in.
– install an alarm system, or even get a monitored one.
– register your serial numbers; it’s free; just click on www.snap.org.nz

Before you go out:

– all doors locked
– garage locked
– all windows shut securely
– tools and ladders put away securely
– spare keys with neighbour (not ‘hidden’)
– doors clear (no notes on them).

Before you go away:

– tell your neighbour when and where you’re going
– cancel mail, newspaper, etc
– give your neighbour a contact phone number
– put a lamp on a timer (at most hardware stores for under $20)
– curtains open, blinds up
– turn telephone ringer sound down [we recommend going to voicemail after 4 rings]
– lock all doors, close all windows.

Ask your neighbour to:

– clear your letterbox
– close your curtains at night
– use your clothesline occasionally
– watch your home
– use your driveway occasionally (park their car in your driveway for example)
– report any suspicious behaviour.
– mow your lawns

More information can be found on the Police website here:

And as always, if you see anything suspicious that makes you think twice, make sure you call us straight away on 111.

Thanks, everyone!!

Two pics taken this morning in Kohekohe Street and Belvedere Road respectively.  The blossoms will only last a few more days before green leaves replace them.

A KiwiRail freight train barrels through the crossing Wellington-bound as three cars wait just on the west side of the barrier arms; more cars are waiting behind the pedestrian crossing on the left.  Traffic going to or from Elizabeth Street won’t diminish after the Expressway opens.

Despite a cool southerly breeze, the sunshine made this a nice day for both traders and customers, although it didn’t seem particularly busy when we were there. Apart from the food and clothing stalls, Chris MacLean was happy with sales of his books and some traders had interesting novelties, many self-made.

On the Council website this is one of the automated banners, proclaiming a “financial performance better than planned.”  Er, yeah?  Did we not point out in the post of 7 October that there is an increased overall loss from $8 million to $13 million, while debt as stated at the end of note 24 on page 111 has increased from $140 million to $160 million?

Yes, the operating deficit was $3,042,000 against a planned $3,531,000 — but the year before the deficit was $1,450,000; more than doubling that is nothing to be proud of, Mr Dougherty!

Added to the operating loss was a loss on “revaluation of financial derivatives” of $9,693,000.  According to Investopedia, a derivative is:

“a security with a price that is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is a contract between two or more parties based upon the asset or assets. Its value is determined by fluctuations in the underlying asset. The most common underlying assets include stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and market indexes.”

So what has Dougherty been doing gambling on the derivatives market with obvious disastrous consequences?  What else is yet to be revealed?  Ratepayers would like answers; let’s hope the new Mayor and Councilors are going to get them from Dougherty.