Colour protest focus:
KEY
LIES
BROWNLEE BULLSHITS
PARKER POSES
SUTTON SILENT
RIP CHCH
19.11.11. Protesters, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Sunny Sat afternoon, 19.11.11: Those words were on protest placards held by citizens in the Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq. Spokesman, Rev Mike Coleman (former St Bedes College accounting teacher, where Brownlee was woodwork teacher) voiced complaints by citizens dissatisfied with poor communication by CERA, whenever colour zoning of Christchurch damaged properties was announced.
More than a year post Sept 4 Darfield Quake & 9 months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, citizens were tired of waiting for slow CERA decisions, as house zoning was taking months to complete, incremental information, or zoning, very slow.
Regarding PM Key, Labour leader Phil Goff recently stated in a TV election debate that Key lied.
Minister of Quake Recovery Brownlee made confusing or obscure statements in the media regarding recovery.
Christchurch mayor Parker was notorious for media posing at photo opportunities. Meanwhile Parker's Council charged rates to people forced from their damaged homes by red stickers, with varying geotech reports. CERA, EQC, insurers were on homeowners' backs too.
CERA boss Sutton wasn't media chatty, despite his sheltered employment by CERA for the next 5 years. Sutton was NZ National govt appointed. He didn't hustle in elections like Key & Brownlee. (Dec 2014, Sutton would resign: sexual harassment allegation).
Cranmer Sq: In the middle, although there were speeches by several men, including Rev Coleman, protest placards said it all in the approx 400 crowd. Those 400 were a microcosm of 1 000s of dissatisfied people in Canterbury, regarding CERA's performance. Rev Coleman said Canterbury zoning was the elephant in the room.
For 6 months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, Jake battled to find another hospitality job in Christchurch, as CBD hospitality imploded. He'd lost flat, possessions, job, best friend in the Feb 22 quake. People left Christchurch in droves, better jobs in Australia, higher wages & salaries. (Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce dissembled: The Press "Aussie Exodus figures almost double"). Rebuild was stalled, due to slow EQC, CERA, insurer decisions, slow payouts.
Meanwhile PM Key & Auckland's ACT crony, John Banks fretted about a journalist taping them at a restaurant tea party. They expected Christchurch citizens to vote for their parties in the 26.11.11 election, despite the elephant in the room.
Cranmer Sq protesters held Christian crosses, showing colour coding of CERA's housing zones: green, orange, red, white, black, blue, grey...
19.11.11. Protesters, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Protesters also wanted a "Call for an independent advocacy commission empowered to suspend CERA powers in the public interest." (Mainland Press 18.11.11). Citizens were angry at CERA's confusing, colour coding of properties, as well as battling EQC & insurers.
CERA's occupation of the CBD was an extension of post Feb 22 Killer Quake, National State of Emergency: NZDF soldiers 9 months post quake still check-pointed the CBD red zone cordon. Brownlee & Sutton had huge CERA powers, too much power for two bureaucrats, their decisions manipulating traumatized people.
More than a year post Sept 4 Darfield Quake & 9 months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, a new, temporary Bus Exchange, CBD bus tours, shanty shops & container shops on demolition sites, didn't make Christchurch recovery.
19.11.11. Rev Coleman, protesters, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Although young people protested, most protesters were Baby Boomers, people who owned homes, trashed by quakes. Tenants like ourselves, renting houses, were also affected by CERA zonings, as we paid rates & EQC / insurer premiums via our rents. Increases in rates & insurances, caused by CERA land zonings, would soon cause rent increases.
Thus NZ National govt land zonings caused inflation in rates, insurances, housing & commercial bldg markets (due to demolitions & low supply of viable bldgs) without parallel inflation of salaries & wages. Given NZ National govt's depression of housing & commercial bldg markets by zonings, without salaries & wages increases, conflict was inevitable. Never mind job losses caused by quakes.
Protesters' anger at CERA's poor performance: sporadic demolitions, media releases for journalists. Anyone could read media releases on CERA's website, but citizen / CERA contact was negligible. CERA just posted glossy propaganda, monthly Greater Christchurch Recovery Update, to letterboxes & libraries.
19.11.11. Spokesman, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Besides colourful crosses, there were colourful banners & signs. Some citizens protested NZ National govt's, house valuation rort concerning damaged properties, as NZ National govt's red zone offers were based on 2007 Rateable Valuations, RV:
RATEABLE
VALUE
IS A
RORT
Whatever zoning CERA / NZ National govt gave to land caused reduction in property values, especially red zoned housing. Why was NZ National govt / CERA depressing housing & commercial bldg markets? Why didn't NZ National govt / CERA just let EQC & insurers sort out claim settlements, without NZ National govt / CERA land-grabbing large chunks of housing & CBD lands?
19.11.11. Protester wearing a condemned housing, red sticker, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Some citizens protested slow settlements by insurance companies, AMI & State:
AMI
RIPPED OFF?
- U BET!
DEATH BY STATE
M
O
R
E
LESS TALK
A
C
T
I
O
N
STUFF YER
LOVE!
STATE
STITCH UP
MAKE
A
DECISION
Some citizens protested heritage demolitions:
STOP STOP
HERITAGE
DESTRUCTION
Post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, the hastily stitched Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill made no provisions for saving damaged heritage bldgs (many poorly strengthened pre-quakes) so some heritage bldgs were willy-nilly demolished by Civil Defence then CERA by gung-ho demolishers.
Some citizens protested about big business, in sympathy with world protests about financial markets & recessions:
BIG BUSINESS = GOVT
GOVT = BIG BUSINESS
OCCUPY
CHCH
Occupy Chch, motley lot, occupied a Hagley Park cnr, opp Christchurch Hospital, camping in tents for weeks.
Some citizens protested NZ state asset sales to foreign countries:
CAMPAIGN AGAINST FOREIGN
CONTROL OF AOTEAROA
NZ National govt wanted to flog crown assets, like utilities, by selling shares, yet NZ National govt / CERA intended land-grabbing new Crown assets in quaked Canterbury, in the form of red zoned residential land & CBD land, allegedly damaged by quakes. All that citizens had to verify CERA land zonings were NZ National govt / CERA assurances that the land was damaged. Meanwhile NZ National govt / CERA was chary of releasing geotech reports enabling them to red zone land in the first place. Conflict between NZ National govt / CERA versus landowners was inevitable. Legal leeches awaited court actions: 9 years later, a class action about poor repairs / rebuilds, against a NZ govt insurance company, Southern Response, would still be going.
Some citizens protested slow CERA, zone decisions affecting their quaked suburb, orange crosses stating:
SOUTHSHORE
Nine months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, Southshore land was still orange zone. CERA hadn't yet decided whether Southshore land, lining Avon-Heathcote estuary, was to become green zone or red zone. Most of Christchurch knew its land zone fate, but orange zone land in the CBD, Port Hills white zone land & Southshore orange zone land was still undecided by slow CERA.
Property owners in white zones & orange zones were in limbo, not knowing whether their land would be zoned green or red. A cruel trick by slow CERA. While the rest of Christchurch sorted out their green or red zoned lives post quakes, white zoners & orange zoners waited...
Some citizens protested beach pollution: Recent Rena container shipwreck near Tauranga & its oil pollution pertained. (Christchurch salvaged copper had sunk in the wreck, polluting the reef). Post quake sewage pollution in Avon River, Heathcote River & Avon / Heathcote Estuary pertained:
GET YOUR
CRAP
OFF OUR
BEACHES
Cranmer Sq: While the protest proceeded, quake tourists clambered into nearby tour buses to rubberneck CERA's CBD demolitions. A map on a tent showed the CBD red zone. Bus tourists had to obey rules displayed on a board. Red Cross & St John personnel & 2 ambulances stood ready by tents below London planes, in case tourists found quake tours too much for their nerves.
19.11.11. Protester crowd, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
19.11.11. Quake bus tourists, Cranmer Sq
19.11.11. CBD bus tour, red zone map, Cranmer Sq
19.11.11. CBD red zone, bus tour rules, Cranmer Sq
CERA bus tour rules sign:
Today you are going by bus into the CBD Red Zone. On the bus are two safety staff and a
bus driver. You must follow their instructions.
The CBD Red Zone is New Zealand's largest worksite. You will enter this active worksite
where dangerous work, including demolition, is in progress.
1) In the event of an EMERGENCY:
*Stay on the bus and take a braced position against the seat in front of
you.
*Follow the instructions of the safety staff.
*Be responsible for the safety and actions of any children or limited
mobility people that you are accompanying on the bus.
*If instructed, evacuate the bus and continue to follow safety staff
instructions.
*Stay together as a group with the safety staff.
*Do not enter any building.
*Stay clear of overhead structures, be aware of potential fall zones.
*Be aware of ground conditions, especially damaged and unstable
walking surfaces and ruptured surfaces.
2) Do you still want to go on the visit?
Despite best efforts around safety you could still be trapped or injured by an
earthquake, falling building, or other significant incident in the CBD Red Zone and
you might not survive.
19.11.11. First aiders & ambulances, CBD red zone bus tours, Cranmer Sq
19.11.11. Security staff, CBD red zone bus tours, Cranmer Sq
Security staff in yellow, Hi-Vis vests hovered under London planes. A cop hovered at the back of the protesters.
19.11.11. Show Your Colour Crusade, marching from Cranmer Sq
After the protest, protesters marched off, crosses aloft, towards Cranmer Centre demolition site, to nail a grievance letter on a cross by CERA office.
Beyond CBD red zone tourist buses, I looked at quake demolition sites on both cnrs of Chester St West, where houses once stood. A yellow digger stood on a demolition site behind a steel mesh fence cordon. A common sight in CERA controlled, red zoned CBD. Months before, when I'd trekked past, during the National State of Emergency, NZDF soldiers guarded the junction. Chester St West / Durham St Nth: Three people were killed when the old, stone Methodist Church collapsed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake.
19.11.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger, quake demolition site, Cranmer Sq / Chester St West. CBD red zone, dead bldgs beyond
19.11.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. CBD red zone tour buses, Cranmer Sq
Kilmore St / Montreal St: Trashed Cranmer Court, boarded windows, gables. Cranmer Court would be demolished Oct 2012, despite heritage protests. 2023. Cranmer Terraces would be built on site.
Kilmore St: I looked at USAR / TF graffiti, which polluted bldgs for months. CERA demolition: Orange digger heaped concrete rubble behind Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce bldg, decorated by USAR / TF graffiti on the front door. While I snapped, digger pounding felt like aftershocks, which could do more damage to surrounding bldgs.
19.11.11. USAR / TF graffiti on business door, Kilmore St
19.11.11. Orange digger. Quake demolition site behind Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, Kilmore St
For months, I'd felt those demolition digger aftershocks while snapping demolitions: kind of sound / time lapse vibration. I stood about 50m from the orange digger, while it pounded great concrete lumps, aftershock effect felt seconds later, hollow thumpings beneath my feet. Passing busses & trucks had a similar aftershock effect on Christchurch's unstable roads.
For weeks, Leah felt those digger aftershocks at her school, when diggers demolished a section of Richmond Working Mens Club, London St / Stanmore Rd. Her school was shaken more by digger poundings / passing truck vibes than by quakes & aftershocks. Imagine the stress caused by thousands of quakes, then thousands of demo poundings, then heavy trucks pounding by!
RWMC demolitions were intermittent. Two years later, Nov 2013, parts of the Club would still be demolished. By that time Leah was looking for another teaching job. She'd had enough aftershocks!
Problem with CERA & minions, voiced at Show Your Colour Crusade: post quake bungling & damages, physical, social, emotional, caused by CERA, compounded citizens' stress, trauma, fears caused by on-going quakes.
12.11.11. Red crane. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Copthorne Hotel demolition, CBD red zone, seen from Durham St Nth
12.11.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Serial quake trashed Crowne Plaza Hotel, awaiting demolition in CBD red zone, Kilmore St / Durham St Nth
Kilmore St / Durham St Nth: Diggers parked by concrete rubble piles at Copthorne Hotel demolition site. Last weekend I'd snapped the beginnings of Copthorne Hotel demolition, while the hotel skeleton still stood.
12.11.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Copthorne Hotel demolition, CBD red zone, Kilmore St / Durham St Nth
A week later Copthorne Hotel was gone, rubble piles behind a red zone, steel mesh fence cordon. Once I had a job interview at Copthorne Hotel.
Across the road, multi-storey, Crowne Plaza Hotel ghost in the red zone cordon, awaited demolition, tatty curtains fluttering from top floor windows.
19.11.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Copthorne Hotel demolition site, CBD red zone, Kilmore St. Quake trashed Crowne Plaza Hotel awaited demolition behind
19.11.11. Serial quake trashed, boarded, Cranmer Court, Kilmore St / Montreal St. Cranmer Sq left. Cranmer Court would be demolished, Oct 2012, despite heritage protests
19.11.11. Red stickered, Cranmer Bridge Club, Armagh St, nr Cranmer Sq. Cranmer Bridge Club would survive the quakes, revamped as a new house annex
Rolleston Ave: By Christ's College gate, a sign showed that Christ Church Cathedral congregation worshipped in Christ's College hall, after the Cathedral was trashed by quakes. Parked tourist buses lined Rolleston Ave near Canterbury Museum.
19.11.11. Christ Church Cathedral's post quake worship sign, Christ's College gate, Rolleston Ave. Post quake porta-cabin classrooms in courtyard
Rolleston Ave / Worcester Blvd: Opp Canterbury Museum & Botanic Gardens, Christchurch Arts Centre ghost, still steel mesh fence cordoned after damages. The stone turret roof, removed from its tower post Sept 4 Darfield Quake, still stood on Rolleston Ave pavement.
19.11.11. Steel mesh fence cordoned entrance, serial quake trashed Arts Centre, Rolleston Ave. Turret roof removed & put on pavement
Worcester Blvd: Steel mesh fence cordoned, Arts Centre ghost, part deconstructed, clock tower had two vertical, steel, support girders. Horizontal steel girders supported an unstable gable by Rolleston Ave. For years, Arts Centre bldgs would be steel mesh fence cordoned along Worcester Blvd, Rolleston Ave & Hereford St, while restoration progressed. One of Leah's students became a stonemason & would work at Arts Centre restoration for years.
19.11.11. Serial quake trashed Arts Centre, Rolleston Ave / Worcester Blvd. Steel girders supporting part deconstructed clock tower. Gable, steel braced against aftershocks
Worcester Blvd: Livelier than two weeks before when I'd visited. The open coffee shop & ice cream hut were joined by pavement trinket sellers & an old lady flogging art from a blue car. Nearby shipping container shops were being constructed, opp the steel mesh fence cordoned, trashed Arts Centre.
19.11.11.Trinket sellers & beginnings of shipping container shops, opp Arts Centre, Worcester Blvd
That Sat night, Show Your Colour Crusade was on national TV news.
The following Sat, 26.11.11, CERA would allow citizens walks into Cathedral Sq from Cashel Mall. Citizens were allowed in, maximum 300 a time, 50 minutes only gawping at Christ Church Cathedral ghost. Citizens were told what shoes to wear, were told to carry ID & a charged cell phone & were told to tell someone of their Cathedral Sq rubbernecking. (The Press 25.11.11). As usual on my quake trekking, I'd wear jandals.
As we'd already existed in police state Christchurch for over a year since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, the ID rule to gawp at Christ Church Cathedral, reminded me of my SA apartheid, ID dompas (dumb pass, ID "book of life") & other dompas IDs other racial groups had to carry during apartheid.
As there were still tall bldgs with lethal drop zones in Christchurch CBD red zone, which should've been demolished long before, CERA's weekend bus tours, twilight tours, walks to Cathedral Sq beside steel mesh fence cordons, were decoys by slow CERA to cover no rebuilding in Christchurch's CBD. Little rebuilding was happening in the rest of Christchurch too.
Of course public walks to deconsecrated Christ Church Cathedral ruin would open on election day, showing CERA's National bias.
*Trekked Cranmer Sq, Kilmore St, Rolleston Ave, Worcester Blvd. 104 snaps.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Aussie exodus figures almost double (Stuff Co / The Press)
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