While on the subject of gardens overseas, this is a picture we took in Paris a few years ago and the product shown below demonstrates the principle involved. A solution for anyone lacking space for a normal garden.

This uses an ecological non-toxic felt material that retains moisture, but allows drainage and allows the plants to breathe. The hydroponic principle using fertilizer and water, but not soil, is in fact how many vegetables in supermarkets are grown.

Judging from some of the comments about that macrocarpa hedge, particularly from former cabinet minister Ken Shirley, this may be a suitably named replacement tree?  🙂 (Seen in a park in Colorado)

the bridge as it looked after the little taggers [insert your synonym] had been at it last year.

Resene has been brilliant with paint supplied for the road bridge (and the green they supplied is good for utilities boxes) — they tried to help with a dark brown but because it is always a matter of what is returned to them and what colours are mixed together, the “mid brown” they sent was the wrong colour and would look like patchwork on the railway bridge (you know how the brake linings discolour the pillars a deep rusty brown?) We tried to match the prevailing dark brown/rust colour and it is very effective but HARD to cover the rotten finish on the pillars; I’d love to plaster them properly!

We have profusely thanked Resene both by e-mail and with publicity in the paper and on Destination Waikanae. They really have been so helpful!

P.S. If you know any community group painting a hall or club rooms cack brown, I have 20 litres of it in the garage!!

On the Spark website:-

Spark has become aware that some of its customers have been contacted by fraudsters claiming to be an IT specialist from Spark and calling to ‘help make their computers secure’. Also they are asking the customers to download software, access their internet banking and register for a certain type of payment, threaten to disconnect the customer’s broadband and/or prevent them from getting service from another provider if they don’t comply with their instructions.

Spark will never call you out of the blue and ask for personal information, particularly financial information or passwords. If you receive a suspicious call, the best thing to do is hang up.  If you’d like to let us know about it, or have questions or concerns about the call, you can e-mail us at scamhelp@spark.co.nz

We got such a call last week from someone with a Pakistani or Indian accent (alarm bells already) claiming to be from our “Internet service provider”. Needless to say, upon the responses to a couple more questions by us, the call was terminated at our end within a few seconds.

This article by Joel Maxwell on the stuff site deals with the dispute between the council and the Osborne family whose street frontage macrocarpa hedge has grown to the stage where it extends into the cycle lane, reducing the amount of room for cyclists and accordingly is causing concern for them and some neighbours.

There are, of course, two issues involved: safety and aesthetic appeal.  Which should take priority?  Our view is that safety should; but aesthetic appeal is important too, and trimming should be done in a way so as to preserve it as much as possible.

One of the problems with macrocarpa is that once you trim back past the green foliage to the brown part of the branches and twigs, the green won’t recover.  We know this because we have the same problem with a neighbour’s old tree growing over our driveway.  So far we’ve been tolerant, but have made clear to the owner that we are going to have to remove the obstruction this year, and have suggested planting a more suitable tree in its place.

The Google Streetview is below; this enables you to view it from several angles by clicking in the arrows.

Because this is not live streamed or officially recorded, Geoffrey went along to the first of these 30-minute antecedent sessions for the year at last Thursday’s meeting to listen.

To their credit, all the councilors and community board chairers were present except Jocelyn Prvanov of Waikanae, who showed up about 5 minutes before the council meeting began, and Regional Councilor Penny Gaylor from whom there was an apology as she was feeling unwell.

For others who would like to attend to hear what speakers say, it should be pointed out there isn’t a lot of public seating in the council chamber; in fact, there is a lot more in the hall where the Waikanae Community Board meetings are held.

We can only endorse the view of our contributor Salima Padamsey that the live streaming should be turned on — and tests should be undertaken to ensure that it works properly, which didn’t seem to be the case on Thursday.

One of the important issues raised during the session on Thursday is the lack of after-hours medical facilities in Kapiti or even in the Porirua area.  If a visit to the Emergency Room is required, then it’s a trip all the way to Wellington Hospital.  This takes about an hour by road, even assuming the ambulance is going faster than the normal speed limit, or a flight on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter which is about 10 minutes from Paraparaumu Airport.

This matter comes under the jurisdiction of the District Health Board, but is something on which the council should be agitating.

The council meeting began about 5 minutes late as the Emperor hadn’t arrived from upstairs — Michael Scott said someone should call him.   No doubt Dougherty considers it an irksome duty to listen to councilors, let alone to ratepaying peasants who speak on a subject.

One of the items on the agenda was the council submission on the change to the Rates Rebate Scheme to cover renters in retirement villages.  We’ll have more to say about that shortly.  It seems that it’s a rarity for such draft submissions to be given to councilors to approve.  If the council makes submissions on legislation at all, it’s simply done by Dougherty. He claimed that there isn’t usually time for more than that. Hmm.

Some members of the public who had shown up to speak left after that item had been covered, leaving basically the two Grey Power representatives, Geoffrey, Joel Maxwell of the Kapiti Observer, Jeremy Smith of Kapiti Independent News and a girl from Newstalk ZB who had been sent out from Wellington. About 11:30 we were unceremoniously ushered out of the room as the council was entering a closed session. After about half an hour of talking outside we decided to head off.  We kept checking the live streaming but it never seemed to be switched on again.

News photo: Tasha Black/Kapiti Observer: Dougherty at the first Kapiti council meeting in 2012.

By Stewart MacLennan (1903 – 1973).  It looks rather more like snow than sand.  This once again shows a high sand dune on the north bank (see earlier paintings/photos)

Love the puns. 🙂  (Strictly they’re homophones, but that’s a word people might need to look up.)

The briefing papers for next Tuesday’s WCB meeting contain this announcement of an electric vehicle charging point at the Spark (formerly Telecom) telephone booth on the beach side of Tutere Street between the tennis court and the toilet block (or on the other side of the street between the Four Square and the Long Beach café).

The parking space in front of it will be identified and given a 120 minute restriction.

It’s not clear who the charging point is being provided by and whether or not it will be free.

Kia ora koutou,

Just a quick note to update you on the work to shape the future of Waikanae Beach.

As you’ve been interested in this work, I’ve copied in the letter which is on its way to all Waikanae Beach residents. The letter lets you know about some opportunities to hear about progress and talk with members of the Working Group. I’ve also attached a poster promoting the community event on 12 February. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Have a lovely weekend,

Sam

Help shape the vision for Waikanae Beach

Waikanae Beach is one of our district’s jewels, a place where you can enjoy amazing nature, the seaside, a relaxed community and intriguing heritage.

In response to concern about the potential impacts of the Kāpiti Expressway, the Waikanae Beach community and Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai have been exploring what they love about the area, what makes your community unique and how to plan for the future.

After a call for volunteers, a working group came together to work on a vision and action plan for the community. This vision and action plan will help the community respond proactively to change. The group reported back to the community last year and around two hundred residents popped in to give their feedback.

With the benefit of this feedback and input from Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai, the vision and action plan is nearly complete. There are three upcoming opportunities to hear about the work:

• Sunday 12 February – you can pop in to talk about the vision with the working group at a stand at a community event in front of Waimea Café from 3-6pm. The group would love to talk to you there. Once you’ve had a chat, you may wish to join in the fun of the Civil Defence Challenge, which is a Top Town style event. If the weather looks doubtful, please check the website links below for cancellation details.

• 31 January and 14 March – the first two Waikanae Community Board meetings for the year, held on Tuesdays at 7.30 pm at Waikanae Community Centre, 30 Utauta Street, Waikanae.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information about shaping a vision for Waikanae Beach visit kapiticoast.govt.nz/waikanae-beach or email waikanaebeach@kapiticoast.govt.nz. For more information on the Civil Defence Challenge, go to kapiticoast.govt.nz/civil-defence-challenge.

Sam Hutcheson

Principal Policy Advisor
Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Matua