22 months ago Waikanae Town Centre lost its Heart when Waikanae Library was suddenly closed due to the discovery of toxic mould.
A newly landscaped Mahara Place, designed with a Library Plaza opening out from a redesigned Waikanae Library entrance, was conceived in 2018 and opened in October 2019 at a cost of over $1 million.
In December 2018 the library closed and Mahara Place experienced a 50% drop in patronage. Residents experiencing social isolation no longer had a Community Hub; those who could not afford modern technology no longer had access to a suite of computers; our Information Centre disappeared; a smaller pop-up library can only provide a fraction of the resources and community activities that were available at the old library. Waikanae needs its Community Hub back to provide all this and more to reflect the needs of our modern society and revitalise the town centre.
Please support our passionate group of Waikanae residents by signing this online petition to urge KCDC to rebuild our library as a Community Hub as quickly as possible by prioritising it in the upcoming Long Term Plan.
Let’s make this happen for the benefit of all our Waikanae residents, young and old!
Sue Lusk’s petition has 376 signatures so far, sign it here
We should rather face facts: the future of libraries as depositories of books printed on paper is doomed. We need to face the fact that the world is changing as we speak. Just as clay tablets fell by the wayside, so printed books are rapidly following. Listen to Bob Dylan when he sang
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
In my personal opinion, rather than supporting a petition to rebuild libraries or another to close them all down, rather engage in informed debate about how to preserve creative and other writing and make it all available to everyone most effectively and economically. This CANNOT be answered by the 60+ age-group: like it or not, our teenagers, whether or not they are mature enough, are really the ones who represent the future. If there mist be picture books and nursery rhymes, let them be held by our school classrooms and school libraries for the young ones, where they belong and can be effectively used. The rest will probably be electronic anyway.
One day it is ANTI-Gurugate, the next it is PRO’-library – Hot air, back and forth . Rather encourage discussion and debate about these things before making decisions and possible mistakes.
Let me throw another cat… how about this for a controversial statement: Mahara Place, sad as it is, is NOT a social centre, it is not the centre of town —
Libraries are much more than just depositories of books nowadays, they are general centres of learning.
Thank you for the reply comment: exactly what I was hoping for – an open forum for debate and disagreement. It is what we need to have prior to approving use of public funds, in so doing, achieving an end-result which is a reflection of majority needs and desires. With respect, it is my opinion the objection is a rather wishy-washy excuse for justifying an o-t-t expensive structure. Then we must review the terminology, so that everyone is on the same page: if memory serves, the Latin “libraria” = bookshop, definitely not a “centre of learning” , which I would define as a school, college or university.
Come on, all the people who have put thought onto this important matter and have signed/ intend signing this petition, how about entering the debate? At the very worst, it can only strengthen the case in favour if submitting it to KCDC for consideration.
Hi Chartwell, if you visit Te Kakare in Levin, Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton opened in 2017, the new Johnsonville library, the new Turanga Library in Christchurch – the list goes on – you will see that they are all beautifully designed light-filled community hubs with space for books, magazines and other media; community meeting rooms; sometimes music rooms for the younger residents; computer suites for people either to work and not be isolated or for those who can’t afford modern technology; cafes (although we have enough cafes in the town centre so don’t need another one); play spaces for children –
They are beautiful spaces. Our library’s concrete structure is 100% of earthquake code and could be used (as was done with the KCDC building in Paraparaumu) to frame a new community hub incorporating all these features. The footprint goes right back to the back car park –
As far as your idea that Waikanae Mahara Place is not the centre of town is ocncerned – sadly there is a great disconnection between Waikanae East, cut off by the road and railway, Waikanae Central, and Waikanae Beach now well and truly cut off by the expressway. But Mahara Place is currently still the town centre, with its gallery, library, post office, shops, supermarkets, banks and transport hubs – we can’t let this valuable cornerstone KCDC asset (well, actually KCDC residents’ asset) moulder away, especially after the KCDC investment in redesigning Mahara Place.
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