The Waikanae Community Board has recommended to the council that Main Road Waikanae be chosen as the name for two segments of the old State Highway One, from Waikanae through to Peka Peka.
Bernie Randall of the Paraparaumu Raumati Community Board tells us: “We decided on Main Rd South because the residents clearly wanted that name retained. We approved Main Rd North but this might be a problem as a group of residents living there suggested a Maori name.”
So there you are. Was that worth $100,000? About $10,000 may be needed for new signage; but the rest?
Bernie also tells us: “We also supported Jackie Elliott’s proposal of a generic name for the whole stretch of the old State Highway.”
She initially proposed “Kapiti Coast Highway” and then changed that to “Kapiti Coast Byway.”
The Oxford English Dictionary defines Byway as “a minor road”; the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “a road or track not following a main route; a minor road or path”.
That may be accurate, but does it grab anyone?
Remember “The Magnificant Seven”? No not the movie but the seven names suggested by a Council commissioned working party. I believe only one of those names was approved by the Community Boards. Paekakariki Community Board chose Hurumutu. for an unnamed part of the old State Highway.
From the initial briefing in February till now it has been the 4 Community Boards that rode to the rescue, just like that other western “4 for Texas”, to sort out the problem caused by a “Fistful of Dollars” given to Council by NZTA and the initial way they went about the selection process.
The Maori name suggested by a group of Main Rd North residents is Tini Rakau.
Personally I would have liked to have seen the majority of the money given by NZTA go to the Food Bank. In Paraparaumu Central the population is in the top 30% of deprived areas in New Zealand.
Bernie
Can you post this thank you:
A Historical film based on Ngātiawa-ki-Kapiti WAI 1018 ”brief of evidence” about the original inhabitants of the Kapiti Coast pre-1819 and their survival on Kapiti Coast. Pre-Production began 2 months ago with one known Maori film producer in partnership with our Executive Producer. Copyright retained by Ngātiawa ki Kapiti CT.