Mayor Parker wanted to rebuild Christchurch's red-zone-CBD on ruined CBD land on old swampland & underground waterways atop the Christchurch Fault which went under Riccarton, under Hagley Park, under the CBD & beyond to New Brighton. Post 22 February 2011 Quake, Parker persuaded 1 000s of citizens to offer CBD rebuild ideas for the Council's rebuild plan. Fourteen months post 22 February 2011 Quake, Parker was fixated by the CBD rebuild, but Parker's Council was so dysfunctional that a Crown observer had to observe Council meetings & advise to ensure councillors didn't squabble too much.
Before quakes, Parker's town clerk Marryatt had under-insured Council assets & infrastructure, so Parker & councillors wanted to increase rates to cover insurance shortfalls for AMI stadium, Town Hall, Convention Centre, swimming pools, demolitions / rebuilds / repairs.
Post 4 September 2010 Darfield Quake, on Tuesday 7 September PM Key squeaked that NZ National government would help Christchurch rebuild. (Quake, David Wethey, Ian Stuart, Harper Collins, 2010). Key knew EQC was under-insured pre quakes, as EQC had warned NZ National government that EQC was under-insured by reinsurers. Finance minister Bill English did nothing about it. Overpaid EQC assessors gave faulty assessments on damages, leaving home owners to battle slow EQC & those assessments.
CERA offered red-zoners the NZ National government deal where red-zoners would be paid 2007 RV on their ruined land. Red-zoners thus lost their land & house title as well as ceding their insurance policies to CERA / NZ National government. That enabled insurers to pay less to red-zoners if red-zoners opted to battle insurers only. Insurers paid slowly & blamed EQC for their slowness. Insurers broke promises to homeowners, like offering homeowners a house rebuild payout, for which homeowners had paid premiums for years, then insurers changed to a cheaper repair payout. For months insurers did that rebuild-to-repair routine.
Although housing-developments were happening in Halswell & Rolleston, a housing-crisis loomed, as many red-zoners with CERA payouts or insurer payouts couldn't afford current market prices for new housing due to low payouts & the inflated housing-market. NZ National government's / CERA's laissez faire approach to the post-quake housing-market caused hardship for thousands of red-zoners & homeowners with broken homes.
As for Christchurch's rental housing-market, landlords raised rentals to exorbitant highs. CERA minister Brownlee allowed the rental market to rip off red-zoners & tenants, some were forced to stay with family or friends, or sleep in their cars, or rent garages as living quarters. (As Jake did).
There was Council-housing & state-housing (Housing NZ) in Christchurch & Kaiapoi, but those houses were mostly boarded & abandoned post 22 February 2011 Quake.
CERA made a small attempt to temporarily-house red-zoners at Kaiapoi Domain & Linwood Domain & boasted about (not yet built) Rawhiti Domain's temporary-housing. But CERA's temporary-housing was inadequate for the number of red-zoners expelled by CERA from their properties & forced to relocate.
CERA boss Sutton squeaked that the red-zone-CBD was still dangerous, yet CERA put out tenders for commercial bus-tours to run in the CBD red- zone. (The Star 13.04.12). CERA was into Year two of occupying the red-zone-CBD with NZDF checkpoints blocking citizens' access to the red-zone-CBD. Only ratty contractors wearing hard-hats & Hi-Vis vests were allowed into the red-zone-CBD.
CERA's cordon-checkpoints strangled the red-zone-CBD. In CERA's demolition-wasteland, ruined high-rises still needed to be demolished & CERA's rats would occupy the red-zone-CBD for 28 months.
Sutton squeaked that some building-owners actually wanted to be in CERA's cordon surrounded by steel-mesh-fence-cordons & NZDF-soldiers, the cordon enabling business-owners to reorganize. (CERA Earthquake Recovery Update, Issue 9, April 2012). Who was Sutton fooling? Thus steel-mesh-fence-cordons & NZDF-soldiers kept CERA rats in & citizens out of the red-zone-CBD. Since when did only some building owners own the CBD?
Saturday 14.04.12. Over 17 years' living in Christchurch, I'd never seen a wild rat. We experienced many mice at Halswell & Burnside where we'd rented. Our cat polished off the mice, but we'd seen no wild rats. Leah said her London St school on the CBD fringe was infested with mice post 22 February 2011 Quake!
Since quakes, I'd trekked ruined Avonside Dr & passed ruined junctions in an Avon River bend bordered by Avonside Dr. I wanted to find red-zone rats in Avon River bend in roads branching from Retreat Rd to Avonside Dr.
Avonside trekking: Shitty streets & ruined-housing. Housing NZ state-housing windows & doors were all boarded. Some houses were already demolished leaving bare demolition sites. I saw only five inhabited houses, the rest were ruins with overgrown-gardens & rubbish in gardens.
Quakemire was cleared from roads. No maintenance was done to roads: Potholed, buckled, lumpy, bumpy, puddled. Foul puddles were caused by the high water-table from Avon River's proximity. Several roads had FLOODING road-signs. Several cars were parked on roadsides. Some rubberneckers rattled by.
Telecom wiring was tied to some tilted power-poles, some power-poles were festooned with electrical wiring & cables. Some cables hung so low I could've jumped & touched them. Green-stickers on ruined-house windows showed where electricity was disconnected.
Blue-plastic water-pipes ran along footpaths & across roads supplying fresh water to those still living in the red-zone. Green-plastic-water-tanks & blue-plastic-tanks were buried on roadsides. I opened lids, foul underground water drained inside. As aftershocks were ongoing, quake-flooding & tidal-flooding formed foul, slimy puddles, polluting roadsides. Mosquito larvae galore. Green-plastic-sewage-tanks stood on roadsides & on street-corners. Portaloos littered roadsides, stinking in the afternoon sun.
Fourteen months post 22 February 2011 Quake, Council notes stuck on portaloo-doors asked citizens to contact Council if they still needed a portaloo:
"This portable toilet will be removed within two weeks of today's date, 13 April 2012..."
Bracken St: Potholed. Lumpy. Deserted. Ruined houses, overgrown-gardens. Street-signs gone. Dirty puddles. Roadside portaloos. No rats.
13.04.12. Red zone house, brown portaloo, Bracken St
13.04.12. Overgrown driveway, red zone, Bracken St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Bracken St
13.04.12. Quake / tidal flooding, liquefaction mud, portaloos, red zone, Bracken St
13.04.12. Overgrown driveway, red zone, Bracken St
13.04.12. Rubbish bin. Cracked concrete driveway. Green, window sticker showed disconnected power, red zone house, Bracken St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Bracken St
13.04.12. Blue portaloo, red zone, Bracken St
Keller St: Potholed. Lumpy. Some parked cars. Deserted. One house inhabited. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. Roadside portaloos. No rats.
13.04.12. Sewage pump, blue water pipe, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Keller St. Green, window sticker showed disconnected power
13.04.12. Quake / tidal flooding, liquefaction mud, green portaloo, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Switched off power lines, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Liquefaction mud at front door, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, blue, plastic water pipe, Keller St
13.04.12. Abandoned table, red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Abandoned mattress, red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Abandoned household items, red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Green portaloo, yellow earthquake notice, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Quake trashed house, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Disconnected Telecom cable, power pole, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Concrete blocks supporting quake tilted, power pole, red zone, Keller St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Keller St
13.04.12. Overgrown garden, red zone, Keller St
Morris St: Potholed. Lumpy. Some parked cars. One house inhabited. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. Dirty puddles. Roadside sewage- tanks. Portaloos. No rats.
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
14.04.12. Orange, plastic, tape cordon. Quake trashed garden wall, blue, plastic, water pipe, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Quake trashed house, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
13.04.12. Portaloo removal notice, grey, portaloo door, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Blue portaloo, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipes, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Post quake, 30 km/h, speed limit sign, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St. Green, window sticker showed power disconnection
13.04.12. Quake cracked, garden wall, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
13.04.12. Quake tilted, concrete, power pole, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
13.04.12. Yellow, quake notice, quake tilted, wooden, power pole, red zone, Morris St / Keller St
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, red zone, Keller St / Morris St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
13.04.12. Post quake, 30 km/h, speed limit sign, blue, plastic, water pipe, red zone, Morris St / Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Morris St
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe, red zone, Morris St
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, red zone, Morris St / Avonside Dr. Post quake, raised, stopbank by Avon River beyond
13.04.12. Quake trashed, garden wall, red zone, Morris St / Avonside Dr
13.04.12. Brown / lime green portaloo, red zone, Avonside Dr
13.04.12. Brown / lime green portaloo, yellow digger, steel mesh fence cordon, red zone, house demolition site, Avonside Dr
Galbraith Ave: Potholed. Lumpy. Cars parked in yards. One house inhabited. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. State-houses boarded. Sullivan Park ghost & kids' playground ghost. Corrugated-iron shed, a ghost-business locked. Dirty puddles. Water streaming from a gutter-pipe formed a slimy roadside-stream. Roadside drainage-tanks & portaloos. A portaloo man with portaloo-truck checked roadside-portaloos. No rats.
13.04.12. Grey portaloo, blue, plastic, water pipe, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Portaloo man, portaloos, quake / tidal flooding, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, broken chimney, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Green portaloo, red zone house, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12., Quake tilted garage, red zone house, Robson Ave / Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe, abandoned Sullivan Park, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, closed, business shed, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Lime green portaloo, quake / tidal flooding, red zone, Galbraith Ave
Galbraith Ave sign:
PLEASE
BOIL
THIS
WATER
FROM WELL
13.04.12. Boil Water sign, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Abandoned rubbish bins, house demolition site, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Post quake, roadside flooding, green, plastic, drainage tank, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Quake tilted, cell phone tower, red zone, Sullivan Park, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Disconnected, Telecom wiring, quake tilted, power pole, quake / tidal flooding, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Quake / tidal flooding, roadside, green, plastic, drainage tank, lime green portaloo, red zone, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Road signs, quake tilted, wooden, power pole, Gabraith Ave / Avonside Dr. Post quake, raised, stopbank, Avon River beyond
13.04.12. Yellow tarp. Red zone, quake trashed house, collapsed chimney, Galbraith Ave / Avonside Dr
Maling St: Potholed. Lumpy. Deserted. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. State-houses boarded. Roadside drainage-tanks. Portaloos. No rats. Our connection with Maling St: Another Esslemont family lived there for years. They moved out post-quakes leaving us the only Esslemonts in Christchurch. In 1995 after we arrived in Christchurch Leah endured phone inquiries about drug sales, someone in the other Esslemont family was a drug dealer!
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Maling St
13.04.12 Plastic, drainage tanks, red zone, Maling St
13.04.12. Quake / tidal flooding, red zone, Maling St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Maling St
13.04.12. Quake tilted, power pole, quake / tidal flooding, red zone, boarded, state housing, Maling St
13.04.12. Red zone, steel mesh fence cordoned house, Maling St
13.04.12. Overgrown garden, red zone house, Maling St
13.04.12. Shoes on power lines, red zone, Maling St
Robson Ave: Potholed. Lumpy. Some parked cars. Two houses inhabited. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. State-houses boarded. Roadside sewage-tanks & drainage-tanks. Portaloos. No rats. Dirty roadside puddles. Avon River was quake-sunk at Robson Ave / Avonside Dr junction. The asphalt-footpath & willow tree were sunk into the river. A FLOODING road-sign.
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipes, red zone, Robson Ave / Avonside Dr. Post quake, stopbanks, Avon River beyond
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Abandoned table, red zone, overgrown garden, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, red zone housing, Robson Ave / Maling St
13.04.12. Red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Quake trashed, red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Brown portaloo, red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Quake / tidal flooding, red zone housing, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Steel mesh fence cordoned, red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, quake collapsed chimney, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Quake 30 km/h, speed limit sign, red zone, quake tilted housing & garage, quake tilted power pole, Robson Ave / Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Quake tilted, wooden, power pole, plastic rubbish bins, blue, plastic, water pipe. Quake trashed, red zone houses, Robson Ave / Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Quake trashed, red zone, Galbraith Ave house, seen from red zone Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Discarded, plastic, rubbish bins, orange, plastic, road cones, quake-raised, manhole, snapped, concrete curb, red zone, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, quake-raised manhole, red zone, Robson Ave. Green, plastic, drainage tank, boarded, state house behind
Acland Ave: Potholed. Lumpy. Deserted. Ruined-houses, overgrown-gardens. State-houses boarded. Roadside plastic-drainage-tanks. Portaloos. No rats.
13.04.12. Red zone house, Robson Ave / Acland Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Acland Ave
During my three hour Avonside red-zone trek I saw many wooden houses (there were many more in other suburbs) which looked OK from the outside. Including all those boarded state-houses. There were many sound or slightly damaged houses on liquefactioned-land. It was shameful that all those sound houses would be demolished by NZ National government / CERA. Reason: It would be too expensive to repair damaged infrastructure! Really?
13.04.12. Red zone house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, boarded, state house, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Quake tilted, power poles. Low-hanging, power lines, red zone, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Useless surveillance sign, graffiti, red zone housing, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Dahlias, red zone, house demolition site, Robson Ave / Avonside Dr. Post quake stopbank beyond
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, dahlias, red zone, house demolition site, Avonside Dr / Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone house, Avonside Dr
13.04.12. Quake tilted, power pole, quake / tidal flooding, red zone, Avonside Dr / Robson Ave
13.04.12. Green, plastic, sewage sign. Red zone, Avonside Dr. FLOODING sign. Post quake, stopbank, Avon River
13.04.12. Quake-sunk, flooded, Avonside Dr footpath by red zone, Avon River, stopbank
13.04.12. Red zone, post quake, stopbank view, Avon River, River Rd
13.04.12. Red zone, plastic, rubbish bins, quake snapped, concrete curb, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Red zone, green, plastic, drainage tank, Robson Ave
Those sound wooden-houses could've been relocated on trucks & sited elsewhere on good land for resale. Pity CERA didn't relocate good red-zone housing instead of doing glamorous CBD demolitions. (All those photo-ops). CERA would be remembered for its demolitions-before-homes & slow rebuild!
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe, green, plastic, drainage tank, red zone, Robson Ave
13.04.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe, orange, plastic, road cones, red zone, Robson Ave / Galbraith Ave
13.04.12. Red zone housing, overgrown gardens, Galbraith Ave
13.04.12 Magnolia grandiflora, red zone, Galbraith Ave
*Trekked Bracken St, Keller St, Morris St, Galbraith Ave, Maling St, Robson Ave, Acland Ave. 336 images.
Tuesday 17.04.12. The Press report: "Housing NZ figures last week showed 683 of the more than 6 000 state homes in Christchurch were still out of action after more than 14 months. Of those, 183 are inside the residential red zone...
500 properties outside the red zone were empty...
Brownlee said repairing damaged state-houses and 280 Council-owned units would make a 'massive difference' to the housing shortage..."
13.04.12. Thx 4 The Memories sign, boarded door, red zone, Avonside Dr
Driving back to Burnside along trashed Avonside Dr, I saw a boarded front-door with a white-painted sign: THX 4 THE MEMORIES. Further on by a ruined-house, a farewell street party: home-owners & chardonnay tipplers on roadsides. A steel-mesh-fence-cordon in front of the house, festooned with memorial-pics. A drunk woman waved me through.
Wednesday 18.04.12. CERA minister Brownlee said that CERA's demolition boss Isaacs would become rebuild boss & that Isaacs had 100 days to action-plan what to do about Council's CBD rebuild-plan. More delays. So far, Isaacs hadn't shown interest in residential suburban rebuilds, but had demolished CBD buildings since the 22 February 2011 Quake.
CERA usurped & duplicated Council functions, whereby Council produced a rebuild-plan, then NZ National government / CERA took over the rebuild-plan. Elected Parker's rebuild-plan was absorbed by CERA & unelected Isaacs would concoct CERA's CBD Blueprint.
Mayor Parker's councillors squeaked about prestige rebuilds for under-insured Town Hall, AMI Stadium, Convention Centre, swimming pools... & rearrangement of the CBD's one-way streets, without considering citizens displaced from their homes by quakes.
Weeks back Brownlee called Parker a clown, but now hailed Parker as marketer for Christchurch! A new layer of CERA appointed bureaucracy would emerge: Isaacs, ex Timaru District town clerk, Christchurch CBD demolisher, seconding Council workers & replacing functions of town clerk Marryatt, who should've managed the CBD rebuild, if it wasn't for Council squabbling & February citizen protests about Parker & Marryatt. CERA thus produced two town clerks for post-quake Christchurch, Marryatt & Isaacs!
Dysfunctional Council, a rats nest: Councillors squabbled with Marryatt while a Crown observer observed councillors squabbling!
Our landlord increased our rent.
Sun 22.04.12. 10.08pm, M4.2 quake, 11km depth, 20km east of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Rumbled by, disturbed our TV viewing.
Tuesday 24.04.12. The Press reported that state-houses in the red-zone would be repaired in May. That was 15 months post 22 February 2011 Quake. Housing NZ rats hadn't a clue about the post-quake housing crisis in Christchurch. There were 500 damaged state-houses of which 140 out of 400+ were boarded. Those state-houses were in Christchurch & Kaiapoi red-zones. I snapped many boarded state-houses during my Avonside trek. They all looked liveable.
Wednesday 09.05.12. Following The Press report a week before, TV Close up interviewed a man who took over 200 hours to cut through red-tape to relocate his wooden-house from red-zoned Robson Ave to Dunsandel. He'd worked on the relocation since the 4 September 2010 Quake.
Close up interviewed CERA boss Sutton who squeaked that he didn't know about the red-tape, but CERA would make a list of Christchurch land where red-zone houses could be relocated to.
As insurers made excuses about delayed payments, why didn't Sutton sort out obstacles insurers made for stricken home-owners?
Coda:
By November 2013, many Avonside red-zone ruined-houses I'd passed had been demolished by CERA.
As land had dropped during quakes, post-quake flooding after heavy rains would happen in places like Flockton Basin. Heathcote River had a flooding problem. 2013-14. Jake & Luke would flat together at an Ashgrove Tce house beside Heathcote River, so our family was affected by post- quake Heathcote River flooding. Later Jake would flat at a Richardson Tce house which was flooded by Heathcote River after heavy rains. On the opposite riverbank, Clarendon Tce was also flooded. Leah's colleague, the headmistress at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, owned a house on Clarendon Tce. She endured periodic flooding. A Big flood, 29-31.05.21, would flood Richardson Tce & Clarendon Tce again. Cumnor Tce where Jake had worked at a catering business near The Tannery was also flooded by Heathcote River. Fortunately Jake had recently moved catering premises to Ferrymead premises, so he was unaffected by that flooding.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See 'Pontius' Brownlee sees no rental housing crisis (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Reinsurers will pay up says Bollard (The Press / Stuff Co).
See A damaged state house preferable to no home (The Press / Stuff Co).
See 100 day action plan for city centre (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Army land considered for housing (The Press / Stuff Co).
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