There is a letter from David Webber, former Chairman of the Kapiti Economic Leadership Group, in the latest issue of the Kapiti News about it.

A response to an Official Information request reveals that the KCDC got Colmar Brunton to do a brief “consumer survey” and TDB to do an “economic analysis” at a combined cost of over $66,000

It reveals that TDB found that “an airline service from Kapiti would provide no measurable net benefit to the local business community” which is the exact opposite of what the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce have since claimed was the major reason for the donation.

Should it surprise anyone that the council squandered over $66,000 like this, and in the announcements by its endless ‘spin’ machine omitted to mention it?

No.

Will the council continue to behave like this?

Yes — unless the present councilors are replaced next year by new responsible people determined to change that.

As the name suggests, it’s one of the two days of the year when day and night are equal length.  For the next three months there is increasingly more day than night. 🙂

Pic of the moon in twilight from Huia Street by Sue Lusk.

An aerial view of the Waikanae Estuary and Scientific Reserve.

At the launch of Mik Peryer’s new book last Saturday, the Mayor said the council was involved in an ‘arm wrestle’ with whitebaiters over them driving their vehicles on the beach.  That shouldn’t be the case — all they need to do is park in the parking area at the south end of Tutere Street and they have about 150 metres to walk with their gear (the largest piece consists of an aluminium frame covered with a nylon net, hardly heavy).

It seems that it has been made clear to them that they are not allowed to drive in the Scientific Reserve which has been marked by signs, although it has been reported that they get removed.

If you see a vehicle where it shouldn’t be, take a photo showing its number and send it to both councils, the GWRC and the KCDC. (David Wall photo)

The issue is a concern in respect of the new subdivisons in Waikanae, too.

It’s taken a long time to get from seedling to sapling, but Fremantle council’s plans for a significant tree register are starting to blossom.

At this week’s strategic planning and transport committee meeting, councillors voted unanimously to put the new policy out for public comment.

If adopted, the register will make it a prosecutable offence to cut down a  listed tree, and the council will also have the power to refuse development applications where the proponent is proposing to be a bit axe-happy.

Full article

See an earlier post for examples from a previous exhibition.

This pic looks like it shows a rural Swedish/Norwegian house in the common Falun red, and in a scale that model railroaders often use.  But there are sure to be lots of other creations!

Karl Webber says:

“So council gave this away to a local company that no longer has equipment and who contracted to an Upper Hutt company to take this over there, we wont see this in our community again. Even after a quick survey of over 1700 people and 75% said they wanted it to be kept.
Over $70k was recently spent on this. I hope people remember this next year when we have elections.”

Exactly.   (Anne Wilkes photo)

(Fairlie Atkinson photo)

Here’s NZ native Spring blossom, and it is a magnet for tui birds; about 8 at any one time in this tree!  A scene in Eva and Geoffrey’s garden.

A pic taken this morning in Elizabeth Street of the old Waikanae Post Office, now the Kapiti Coast Museum, with Bruce Lawrie’s 1937 Chrysler in front.

In January last year we announced, based on the WCB briefing papers for that month’s meeting, that the Tutere Street Spark phone booth was getting an electric vehicle charging point.

This communication yesterday from the council states that it didn’t prove to be feasible (without saying why):

… there is a slow charger at the GWRC Park n Ride, which was put in as a trial for the Spark Plug Project — where EV chargers were to be put in phone boxes — which included the Tutuere St phone box. Unfortunately this project proved unfeasible and didn’t progress beyond the charger at the Park n Ride. This ‘Kāpiti Horowhenua Electric Roads’ project is essentially replacing the Spark Plug Project. It is a partnership between KCDC, HDC, Electra and ChargeNet which received funding from EECA to put in 9 fast chargers across Kāpiti and Horowhenua. These are considerably more efficient that the Spark Plug slow chargers. The Community Board would like feedback on people’s preference for a site for the charger. Happy to answer any questions, e-mail Sustainable.Communities@kapiticoast.govt.nz

The web Survey Monkey questionnaire — which simply asks if you think it should be in Tutere Street or in the GWRC carpark — is here

It’s not clear how fast a ‘fast charge’ time is relative to a ‘slow charge’, but the obvious choice for it is Tutere Street as those who visit the beach are likely to be staying there for shorter durations than those who use the Park n Ride in the Town Centre.