Colour protest focus:
KEY
LIES
BROWNLEE BULLSHITS
PARKER POSES
SUTTON SILENT
RIP CHCH
19.11.11. Protesters, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Sunny Satrday 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's damaged properties was announced.
More than a year post4 September 2010 Quake & nine months post 22 February 2011 Quake, citizens were tired of waiting for slow CERA decisions, as house-zoning was taking months to complete. Incremental information & zoning was 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 varying geotech-reports & red-stickers. CERA, EQC & insurers were on homeowners' backs too.
CERA boss Sutton wasn't media chatty, despite his sheltered-employment by CERA for the next five years. Sutton was NZ National government appointed. He didn't hustle in elections like Key & Brownlee. (December 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 approximate 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 six months post 22 February 2011 Quake, Jake battled to find another hospitality job in Christchurch, as CBD hospitality imploded. He'd lost flat, possessions, job & best friend in the 22 February 2011 Quake. People left Christchurch in droves as there were 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 their properties, as well as having to battle EQC & insurers for settlements.
CERA's occupation of the CBD was an extension of the 22 February 2011 Quake's National State-of-Emergency: NZDF-soldiers nine 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 4 September 2010 Quake & 9 months post 22 February 2011 Quake, a new temporary Bus Exchange, red-zone-CBD bus-tours, shanty-shops & shipping-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, home-owners with broken-homes. Tenants like ourselves 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 government's land-zonings caused inflation in rates, insurances, housing & commercial building markets (due to demolitions & low supply of viable buildings) without parallel inflation of salaries & wages. Given NZ National government's depression of housing & commercial building markets by zonings, without salaries & wages increases, conflict was inevitable. Never mind job-losses caused by quakes.
Protesters were 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 pamphlets to letterboxes & libraries: a monthly Greater Christchurch Recovery Update.br />
19.11.11. Spokesman, Show Your Colour Crusade, Cranmer Sq
Besides colourful crosses, there were colourful banners & signs. Some citizens protested NZ National government's house-valuation rort concerning damaged properties, as NZ National government's red-zone-offers were based on 2007 Rateable Valuations, RV:
RATEABLE
VALUE
IS A
RORT
Whatever zoning CERA / NZ National government gave to land caused reduction in property values, especially red-zoned-housing. Why was NZ National government / CERA depressing housing & commercial building markets? Why didn't NZ National government / CERA just let EQC & insurers sort out claim-settlements, without NZ National government / 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 AMI & State insurance-companies:
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 February 2011 Quake, the hastily stitched Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill made no provisions for saving damaged Heritage-buildings (many poorly strengthened pre-quakes) so some Heritage-buildings were willy-nilly demolished by Civil Defence demolishers then CERA 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 Christchurch, a motley lot had occupied a Hagley Park corner opposite Christchurch Hospital. They'd camped in tents for weeks.
Some citizens protested NZ state-asset-sales to foreign countries:
CAMPAIGN AGAINST FOREIGN
CONTROL OF AOTEAROA
NZ National government wanted to flog Crown-assets, like utilities, by selling shares, yet NZ National government / 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's land-zonings were NZ National government's / CERA's assurances that the land was damaged. Meanwhile NZ National government / CERA was chary of releasing geotech-reports enabling them to red-zone land in the first place. Conflict between NZ National government / CERA versus landowners was inevitable. Legal-leeches awaited court-actions: Nine years later, a class-action about poor repairs / rebuilds against a NZ government's insurance company Southern Response would still be going.
Some citizens protested CERA's slow zoning affecting their quaked-suburb, their orange-crosses stated:
SOUTHSHORE
Nine months post 22 February 2011 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-zoned or red-zoned lives, white-zoners & orange-zoners had to wait!
Some citizens protested beach-pollution. 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 & two ambulances stood ready by tents below London planes, in case tourists found quake-tours too much for their fragile 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's 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 a CERA office.
Beyond the CBD-red-zone's tourist-buses, I looked at demolition-sites on both corners 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's red-zoned-CBD. Months before, when I'd trekked past during the National State-of-Emergency, NZDF-soldiers-guarded that junction. Chester St West / Durham St Nth: Three people were killed when the old, stone Methodist Church collapsed in the 22 February 2011 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: Ruined Cranmer Court: boarded windows, boarded gables. Cranmer Court would be demolished in October 2012 despite Heritage-protests. 2023. Cranmer Terraces would be built on-site.
Kilmore St: I looked at USAR / TF graffiti which had polluted buildings for months. A CERA-demolition: An orange-digger heaped concrete-rubble behind Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce building. USAR / TF graffiti was on the front door. While I snapped, the digger-pounding felt like aftershocks which could do more damage to surrounding buildings.
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 vibrations. I stood about 50m from the orange-digger while it pounded great concrete-lumps. The aftershock effect was 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 vibrations than by quakes & their aftershocks. Imagine the stress caused by thousands of quakes, then thousands of demolition-poundings, then heavy trucks pounding by!
RWMC demolitions were intermittent. Two years later, November 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 were 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 ruin in the red zone cordon awaited demolition. Tatty curtains fluttered from top-storey 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's congregation worshipped in Christ's College hall, after the Cathedral was ruined 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: Opposite Canterbury Museum & Botanic Gardens, Christchurch Arts Centre's ghost was still-steel-mesh- fence-cordoned. The stone roof-turret, which was removed from its tower post 4 September 2010 Quake, still stood on Rolleston Ave footpath.
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 was part-deconstructed, its clock-tower had two vertical steel support- girders. Horizontal steel girders supported an unstable gable by Rolleston Ave. For years, Arts Centre buildings 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 footpath trinket-sellers & an old lady flogging art from a blue-car. Nearby shipping-container-shops were being constructed opposite the steel-mesh- fence-cordoned Arts Centre.
19.11.11.Trinket sellers & beginnings of shipping container shops, opp Arts Centre, Worcester Blvd
That Saturday night, Show Your Colour Crusade was on national TV news.
The following Saturday, 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 ruin. 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 during my trekking I would wear jandals.
As we'd already existed in police-state Christchurch for over a year since the 4 September 2010 Quake, the ID rule to gawp at Christ Church Cathedral reminded me of my SA apartheid's ID dompas (dumb-pass, aka "book of life") & other dompas IDs other racial-groups had to carry during apartheid.
As there were still tall buildings with lethal drop-zones in Christchurch's CBD-red-zone, which should've been demolished long before, CERA's weekend bus-tours, twilight tours & controlled walks to Cathedral Sq beside steel-mesh-fence-cordons were decoys by slow CERA to cover no rebuilding so far 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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