Although this is central Otago rather than Waikanae, we’ve seen the results of what such people have done locally.
by Carol Sawyer
before
after
I’m feeling sad about my quiet and peaceful little neighbourhood in Old Albert Town. What was a lovely wild area beside the Cardrona River, full of wildlife, is being totally ruined.
A big local developer, (one of the “brown roofs and only native trees” persuasion), has marched in, mowed down masses of trees, (mainly willows and exotics, which he told a neighbour were “untidy”), and is reclaiming flood plain beside the Cardrona River to build a subdivision.
Another new subdivision…one of many! The infrastructure can’t cope already, and Wanaka’s sewage is trucked to Winton and spread on fields at Lauder. At peak commuter hours it is gridlock traffic and we still only have a one lane bridge over the Clutha River, etc., etc. Another 1,000 houses in the planning and groundwork stages. Our water has to be filtered at our own expense to remove the brown lake slime, another result of over-development.
I don’t know what drives these people. When is enough enough for them? Not for them the beauty of wild places, individuality, autumn colour, hot dusty roads …. pitiful!
BULLDOZER by Jayne Downing
Tracks make their mark across the heath
Fractured trees bleeding in the wind
Life ran away to find another place
No heartbeat here
Scars of an untrained surgeon
Show their slicings on the land
Where sandy belly spews right out
Uncauterized and left to drain
Petrol paints the pools where robins used to drink
Iridescent purple, yellow, green, not pure
And only pretty ‘til they wade
Then sticks and burns and chokes
What is your fate where rabbits used to play?
Housing, industry come make your claim
Human progress makes a stand
No heartbeat here