by Katherine Corich, a New Zealand-born, London-based businesswomen and philanthropist.

“My hometown is Waikanae, home to the famous Waikanae River. The lower areas of the river are flooding zones, and over the last several decades this flooding has become much worse. It was, to be quite honest, a mess. I shudder to think what it would have looked like by the time our grandchildren have grown up.

“So what did we do? The Friends of the Waikanae River is a group of community-minded people who decided to adopt the river. Over the last 20 years, they have replanted the entire corridor with native trees and wildlife [this presumably comes with the trees and bushes].

“The results are stunning. People come from all around to see. Landowners previously led cows right up the river, but this no longer happens.  The good health of the river will be enjoyed now for generations.”

full article on the stuff website

Pouring big quantities of bore water into the river from the ‘recharge system’ is controversial, however.  See earlier posts. — [Eds]

A post from a Waikanae man on the Neighbourly site is below.  Our green crate was removed a few months ago, too, but we got it back.

We use lowcostbins.co.nz for general waste (not glass), an 80 litre bin (in the pic) collected weekly for a year cost $138 at the time; a 240 litre bin was included in the deal; we don’t know what next year’s fee will be.

For green waste from garden trimming we use a borrowed mulcher (some awaiting it in the pic); branches are trimmed and given away as firewood.

This is a very truncated account of my dealings over trying to get a bin (monstrously too large for my needs) and a crate for glass.
My recycling crate was removed 3 weeks ago. I rang KCDC to get a replacement and they said if I looked in the mailbox there would be a leaflet…
I rang Envirowaste and got on the list and complained about their removing the old one before providing a substitute.
Various calls to E…waste and KCDC.
Last time I rang Envirowaste the woman told me that every time KCDC or I rang I went to the bottom of the delivery list.
I AM FURIOUS.
Envirowaste is a Chinese company and this behaviour reflects the Chinese way of suppressing complaint. This is so alien to New Zealand culture and we should not buy into it. KCDC should license waste collectors and prohibit the unlicensed collectors from having their bins and crates on council property, i.e. the berm.
No bin and crate yet.
If they don’t collect my recycling on Monday I shall be depositing it at a KCDC office.

KCDC has told me one reason the collectors want to change the recycling collection to bins is that it is dangerous for the man who has to handle crates, etc. with traffic and the bins use the gadget that reaches out for the bin. This doesn’t quite make sense to me but I can see an end coming to the yellow bags if the safety of the collector is taken to be a valid reason. I make compost and only need to put a bag out every month to six weeks so I don’t want to pay for a weekly service.

You are invited to a “meet and greet” drinks and nibbles event at the Kāpiti i-SITE on Tuesday 13 December 5pm.  Come and meet the i-SITE team and fellow operators in accommodation, activities, attractions, transport and hospitality businesses, hosted by Kāpiti Coast District Council and Maanaki Kāpiti.

Manaaki was set up in 2013 as a voice for tourism operators on the coast.  Manaaki enjoy a productive relationship with council staff working on destination marketing and continues to explore ways to develop this relationship further.

We all want Kāpiti to be firmly on visitors’ maps so let’s see if we can work together to help drive more of them our way.

RSVP to Jennie Gutry by Friday 9 December

jennie.gutry@kapiticoast.govt.nz or text 027 555 3645 for catering purposes.

Owners of menacing or dangerous dogs will be required to get a high-risk dog owner licence from their local council.

The government has today revealed its second set of proposals to reduce the risk and harm of dog attacks.

Owners of dogs classified as menacing or dangerous would need to demonstrate they were capable of handling a high-risk dog.

Their property would be inspected and they would need to show they understood their legal obligations.

Full story

A conventional one atop a base which has now been cleaned, thanks to WCB member Jeremy Seamark (compare with the earlier post).

And a very traditional sundial, which of course only works when the sun is shining.  As can be seen, the roses are in bloom.

The 21st century ‘Big Brother’ so far has been Google and to a large extent it still is, but the dominant social media site Facebook is rapidly catching up to overtake it.  The amount of information Facebook collects about users and their likes (pun intended) is enormous and naturally it’s all information available to be sold to advertisers. The standard adage is, “If it’s free, then you are the product being sold.”

The revenue by Facebook’s NZ subsidiary Facebook New Zealand Limited reported in the year ended 31 December 2014 was $1.2 million, quite small in the scheme of things, but that is sure to rise steadily and substantially.

It’s good that John Key has told one of these business moguls to pay their fair share; whether they will is another matter, of course.

According to the NZ Herald:

“New Zealand is among 96 countries that are working on a multilateral tax treaty developed by the OECD to tackle tax avoidance strategies used by multinational companies, that are known by the acronym for base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

“A Herald investigation in March found the 20 multinational companies most aggressive in shifting profits out of New Zealand collectively paid virtually no income tax.

“The companies in question, including Facebook, Google and Pfizer, said they followed New Zealand laws and differences in profitability between their New Zealand operations and elsewhere were the results of different business models.

“Facebook paid just $43,000 tax in New Zealand on $1 million in revenue, according to recent financial statements.”

Kapiti Coast police have warned residents to be alert for unexpected visitors or phone calls after reports that people claiming to be earthquake assessors had been targeting the area.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Wellington District Police said they had received reports of people claiming to be from the Earthquake Commission and wanting to carry out building inspections.

Police said the claims were not genuine, and EQC and Kapiti Coast District Council were not conducting inspections.

Anyone who was approached by a door-knocker who they suspected was not genuine should phone 111, police said.

full stuff article

We recommend taking pictures of any suspicious caller (as with anyone else behaving suspiciously in your street or near your property) and forwarding them with details of the time and what they said to both your Neighbourhood Watch coordinator and the police.

While Waikanae, and Kapiti generally, was almost unscathed by the midnight earthquake on Monday, some central Wellington buildings aren’t so fortunate — they include the Wellington Regional Council building on Waterloo Quay (click the screenshot for the interactive map).

Some of these buildings are quite recent and it makes you wonder about the adequacy of the earthquake code which they were supposed to have met.  Perhaps the code needs major reconsideration?

Presumably this photo was taken at the council building on Monday by one of Dougherty’s “communications team” showing him standing next to Michael Scott with a big grin, with the mayor seated with representatives of the Field Collection and the Mahara Gallery Trust.

The agreement, however, only confirms what was passed by the council in June and the significance was reported in July (see earlier post), an extract :

Council has made provision for funding its one-third of the estimated $5,205 million project cost in its Long term plan.

The Mahara Gallery Trust has fundraising efforts underway to raise the remaining two-thirds of the total project cost.

It now seems the expectation is that the central government will contribute a third and while it is perfectly reasonable that it should contribute to local projects for the reason given last week, many will see it as a “nice to have, but not essential” project compared to a reservoir, an underpass and efficient storm-water drainage.

According to the Mahara Gallery Facebook page:

[Mahara Gallery] Trust Board Chairman, Professor Les Holborow says Kāpiti Coast District Council’s plans for the revitalisation of the Waikanae Town Centre and upgrade of the Waikanae Library provide a unique opportunity to create a shared library and gallery complex.

“It represents a change in direction from the original plan to redevelop or refurbish the two existing buildings but it is one we have embraced,” he said.

This pic taken in 1981 shows what the building was originally built for by the then Horowhenua County Council — the town’s library.  The vacant lot in the foreground is where the present library was built.