I'd seen smaller blocks of black rubber between concrete bridge spans & piers & between spans & abutments. Snag was that some rubber blocks on bridges were squashed or squeezed out of position by quakes, leaving concrete to grind & spall on concrete.
Post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake & 22.02.11 Killer Quake, Civil Defence used the Art Gallery as HQ, while bossing the city during States of Emergencies, with cop & NZDF soldier cordons, USAR / TF graffiti, red, yellow & green inspection stickers, citizen bannings & demolitions.
The Press also reported South Library would be closed for quake strengthening after ground, lateral spreading & sinking of the library towards Heathcote River. Pre 2010-2011 quakes, the Art Gallery & South Library were new bldgs. Leah & I went to South Library on Sunday. On Monday South Library was closed, the same day that Tuam St Library was opened next to the new, temporary Bus Exchange. Library staff from red zone, Central Library ghost, had transferred to Tuam St library.
Hopefully all the belated closures & expensive fixings of new bldgs by Council would make those bldgs safe in future earthquakes. Post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, after 42 300 citizens / month used South Library, why did Council take 18 months to declare it dangerous?
Quake art had evolved during quakes & was seen on streets from Christchurch CBD to Sumner. Examples:
Barbadoes St / Worcester St: Decorated demolition site showing a defunct piano, 2 garishly ribboned "Tibetan" prayer wheels, Youth Hub activity board, painted flagstones & painted planks by a wooden fence.
Madras St / St Asaph St: Graffiti mural by a post quake demolition site / carpark.
Madras St: Two bronze, black bulls on bronze, black grand pianos, sculptor Michael Parekowhai. The black bulls were on Edward Gibbon / apex car hire demolition sites, Madras St, opp quake survivor NG Gallery. 2013. The bronze-bull-on-piano sculpture would be bought by Christchurch Art Gallery & ensconced in Christchurch Art Gallery for its grand reopening in 2015, after years of gallery repairs.
Madras St: 185 Empty Chairs Memorial, Oxford Tce Baptist Church, demolition site. 185 people were killed by the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. The 185 Empty Chairs were all painted white by artist Majendie.
The 185 Empty Chairs Memorial would be relocated to St Pauls Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church, demolition site, opp CTV demolition site, Madras St / Cashel St. 2023. After several moves the 185 Empty Chairs Memorial would be dismantled for good.
Kilmore St / Montreal St, by Cranmer Sq: Giant photos, by Hewson, on boards covering steel mesh fence cordoned, Cranmer Court ghost: pics of bldg interiors; people painting; skateboarding; bedding on the floor... Cranmer Court would be demolished in Oct 2012 after protests. 2023. Cranmer Terraces rebuild on site.
Kilmore St / Manchester St, on St Lukes Anglican Church demolition site: Brick maze & a stone cross made out of 185 demolished church stones, memorial to the 185 dead in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. The brick maze was a copy of Chartres Cathedral maze, France.
Tree sign:
EARTHQUAKE
MEMORIAL
185 people died as a result of the
22 February 2011 earthquake.
185 precious lives are remembered here,
with 185 pieces of Halswell stone
recovered from St Luke's Church
damaged beyond repair on that day.
May they rest in peace.
St Luke's in the City.
From the stone cross, I looked W across red zone, CBD demolition sites, past high rise ghosts, to Town Hall ghost.
Manchester St, by Rolling Thunder, Harley-Davidson shop: Giant Monopoly game "board," by Helen Trappitt, on a demolition concrete slab, showing Manchester St property, 2 green, Monopoly houses & a grey, mini digger.
Manchester St / Southwark St: White / red road signs on a pole pointing in various directions, showing a plethora of carparks on demolition sites since the quakes.
Moorhouse Ave, August 2012: 3 orange diggers, 2 parked, 1 working on a rubble pile, old station ghost & clock tower (quaked Science Alive & Hoyts). The old station, reinforced concrete with brick cladding, was one of the strongest bldgs in Christchurch, when it was built to withstand quakes in 1953. An ugly, brick clad bldg. The quake damaged, wood-cladded, clock tower had loomed over Moorhouse Ave, with steel mesh fence cordons obstructing traffic, ever since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. The clock stopped when the quake struck. Sign enough. The old station would be demolished.
Colombo St / Byron St, Sydenham: Two demolition site murals: black work tools on a yellow background, artist Wayne Youle; 3 chattering Maori.
Colombo St / Sandyford St: Graffiti mural by a demolition site. Four seagulls bathed in the demolition site puddle, near Churchills Tavern, demolition site.
Colombo St / Wordsworth St: Gap Filler hut on a demolition site, with gardens, wooden pallet paving, garden games, like noughts & crosses & mini golf, near a temporary coffee shop & two shipping container shops: a picture / mirror framer; a dairy, backdropped by multi-storey, Sydenham WINZ ghost, which would be demolished, replaced by a multi-storey, glassy, office block.
Gap Filler wall message:
THE THINGS WHICH
I HAVE SEEN
I NOW CAN
SEE NO MORE
Business as usual, Colombo St, Sydenham was alive, steel mesh fence cordons long gone, demolitions completed. Unlike CERA's red zone CBD, with slow demolitions of high rise ghosts, still checkpointed by NZDF soldiers, 18 months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake.
"Sumner Rocks," the road to Sumner: Along the way, before & beyond Mc Cormacks Bay Causeway, stacked shipping container cordons protected traffic from quake rock falls. Some shipping containers had Container Art, realistic or abstract pics on tarps covering container sides.
Main Rd / Mt Pleasant Rd, by Avon / Heathcote Estuary & quake-stunted Shag Rock: Below a cliff, a 2 shipping container cordon. Container Art: 2 photo tarps, flowers pic & Lyttelton Harbour pic. Orange, plastic, road cones cordoned the container cordon. Ghost houses above the cliff would be demolished & years later the hillside above the road cnr & Shag Rock would be drilled & blasted for hill terracing, preventing future rockfalls on the road to Sumner.
Main Rd below Clifton sea cliff, (ghost houses still not demolished by CERA on the cliff top) from quake-stunted, Shag Rock to Gollans Point cave: Scores of 2 layered, shipping containers, a rock fall protection cordon, some containers covered by Container Art, various subjects. A steel mesh fence cordon fronted the container cordon.
Nayland St / Wakefield Ave, Sumner: More shipping container art, the 2 layered, shipping container cordon continued along Wakefield Ave. 1 shipping container was blanketed by knitted, woollen squares, opp a new skateboard ramp on the Sumner Borough Council demolition site.
Wakefield Ave: The 2 layered, shipping container cordon protected Sumner from cliff rock fall. 2 Container Art tarps, 1 floral decorated road cone.
Clifton Bay / Clifton Tce: A pink shawled rock.
*Trekked Tuam St, Barbadoes St, Madras St, Kilmore St, Manchester St, Moorhouse Ave, Colombo St, Main St, Wakefield Ave, Clifton Bay. 92 images.
Meanwhile at the resumed Royal Commission of Inquiry (stopped for a week, a commissioner was sick) as to why CTV bldg collapsed in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, killing 115 people, Texan engineer, professor Mander jabbered about a "vague" govt report & bad inspection stickering, post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, by Council inspectors & passed the buck to Council, saying CTV should've been closed post 04.09.10 quake. Mander reckoned damage caused by quakes before the 22.02.11 Killer Quake caused CTV to collapse, even praising shonky design of CTV:
"The fact the CTV building survived with only minor visually observable damage is a testament to the efficiency of a design that met the aims and objectives of the design codes. For any structure to survive such a high level of shaking is a bonus. It was certainly not the requirement at the time the CTV building was designed and constructed in the 1980s." (The Press 24.07.12).
Design & construction of CTV was crap. Many Christchurch bldgs survived the quakes without collapse. Mander opined why CTV collapsed was maybe because joins at concrete beams & columns weren't reinforced with steel. He opined it was difficult to see steel at joins after concrete was poured. Mander jabbered about big & small mistakes by builders & engineers, minimising the fact that design checking & construction checking was bad.
Thurs 26.07.12. True to form, structural engineer Falloon at the Commission blamed a graduate engineer for a plan to make a refit staircase hole in the CTV 2nd level concrete slab & said the plan was lost. Never mind that Falloon didn't take responsibility as boss for signing off the graduate's work. Falloon couldn't even remember the graduate's surname! Passing the buck by engineers at the Commission was rife.
Pity the families of the 115 dead. Engineers repeatedly insulted them with their pathetic opinions & buck passing.
Alan Reay & David Harding engineers' buck passing: Junior engineer Harding did most of the calculations for CTV design & said he hoped for supervision from Reay, his engineer boss. Reay said there was no supervision or review, as Harding was a capable engineer having done infrastructure engineering before rejoining his firm. Nobody was taking any responsibility for their work, nor their subordinates' work. Engineers didn't want to be accountable for their own work.
Fri 26.07.12. The Press: A Royal Commission panel of engineers opined that CTV collapsed due to weak concrete columns. They couldn't make up their slithery minds if CTV collapsed due to weak concrete joints, or weak concrete columns, as their computer modelling only accommodated column investigation, not joints.
Meanwhile, EQC boss Simpson wanted insurers on board to "increase efficiencies," allowing EQC to exclusively geotech drill 10 000 TC3 green-blue properties. Yet EQC wanted to use only 12 drill rigs. How long would that take? Another excuse for insurers to blame EQC for delays, so insurers could delay payments. Never mind years of squalor TC3 citizens would endure awaiting repairs.
Mon 30.07.12. Early evening. Outside the Council bldg about 300 protestors, representing 28 000 green-blue zone, TC3 home owners, vented their disgusting living, insurance, repair & rebuild conditions, while inside the Council bldg PM Key, CERA minister Brownlee & mayor Parker boasted about CERA's Blueprint for Christchurch CBD!
Isaacs, ex Timaru accountant, ex CERA demolitions boss & his gang of 75 had concocted the CERA Blueprint in 100 days, basing it on Council's Share an Idea scheme done by Council & Cantabrians post 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Demolisher Isaacs, the rebuilder. What?
Tue 31.07.12. The Press front page screamed, white lettering on red backgrounds:
"GREEN SPACE WILL 'FRAME' A SMALLER CBD." The laterally inverted L Frame, S of Avon River, bordering Madras St & St Asaph St, would need many more NZ National govt / CERA purchases of quake trashed properties & demolitions, thus banning citizens from the CBD for many more months of NZDF checkpoints at red zone, steel mesh fence cordons. The long part of the L would become the E Frame / Rauora Park. The bottom part of the L would become the S Frame of NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint CBD.
Disaster Capitalism: NZ National govt / CERA wanted to buy 840 old CBD bldgs, at market value, for the new Green Frame parkland, later dubbed Rauora Park. The Blueprint CBD was another NZ National govt land-grab, to buy cheap, using taxpayers' money, speculating on citizens' CBD properties.
NZ National govt / CERA was already paying residential red zoners only 2007 Rateable Value, while NZ National govt / CERA land-grabbed 1 000s of govt red zoned, residential properties. And not saying what it would do with those govt red zoned, residential properties.
National PM Key, having made his personal millions as a merchant banker in London, using investors' money, was now using NZ taxpayers' money to gamble on Christchurch CBD's future.
Where would the old Manchester St, Red Light District go? Would CERA's Blueprint E Frame become the new Red Light District, as it would extend W from Madras St to the old Red Light District, Manchester St. Would NZ National govt land-bank CBD Blueprint Frame land for future profit?
Meanwhile, NZ National govt had already received a petition signed by 18 500 people proposing AVON / Otakaro Park on downriver, red zoned residential land, trashed by quakes.
Only in 2020 would NZ Labour coalition govt, PM Jacinda Ardern, hand red zoned, residential areas along Avon River back to Christchurch City Council.
More CERA Blueprint edifices to be built on CBD quake trashed & CERA trashed land:
"A NEW CONVENTION CENTRE ON THE SQUARE." (Later named Te Pae). To be built from Victoria Sq to Cathedral Sq, incl some of Gloucester St & Craigs House, Victoria Square Apartments, Central Library, Farmers, Chancery Ln & Brannigans demolition sites. A new Central Library / Turanga would be built on Camelot Hotel demolition site, between Gloucester St & Cathedral Sq.
"A NEW BUS INTERCHANGE," Tuam St.
"A NEW MULTI-PURPOSE STADIUM [roofed] AND METRO POOL AND SPORTS HUB," Barbadoes St & Moorhouse Ave.
"A NEW JUSTICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES PRECINCT," Tuam St. The Tower / Court House, Durham St Nth, had survived the quakes OK. Duplication.
"A NEW PERFORMING ARTS PRECINCT," Colombo St / Armagh St, opp new Convention Centre / Te Pae & new Central Library / Turanga. Duplication of nearby Town Hall performing arts facilities & hotels' convention facilities.
Also reported was a new Maori Cultural Centre to be erected on the Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. (That idea fizzled). More duplication, as there were already Maori maraes all over town. Would those existing Maori cultural centres be disused?
Who would pay?
Regarding CBD court houses by Avon River & Victoria Sq, a Jury Summons letter, Ministry of Justice, I received in June, stated in its pamphlet:
"TOWER BUILDING - 282 DURHAM STREET
After the 22 February earthquake the Tower Building had a 'green sticker.'
An early engineering report stated: The Tower building is of very robust construction. The building performed extremely well and there is minimal damage other than some minor structural damage. Opus International Consultants.
ENGINEER'S INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTIONS WERE FOLLOWED BY HIGHLY DETAILED REPORTS.
*Months of quantitative assessments and geotechnical investigations were undertaken at this building.
*The Ministry's engineering work confirms that the Tower Building is a low-risk building.
*The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority has reviewed our engineering reports and has no structural engineering concerns over occupation of the Tower Building..."
2022. Tower Building, 282 Durham St Nth, would be occupied by Huadu International Management Group & Huadu Education.
NZ National govt would pay for the new Justice & Emergency Services precinct, Tuam St & new Convention Centre / Te Pae, Cathedral Sq. So far, it was vague who'd pay for the roofed stadium, Madras St; Metro Sports Facility, Moorhouse Ave & new, Central Library / Turanga, Gloucester St. (Central Library would cost $100m, mostly paid by Council). Never mind confusion over the New Performing Arts Precinct & quake trashed, Town Hall.
CERA minister Brownlee hinted that Council must sell revenue producing assets like Christchurch Airport, Lyttelton Port, Orion utility, City Care... to pay for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint CBD rebuild, despite Council assets giving profits, keeping rates relatively low. (The Press, Wed 01.07.12).
Later on NZ National govt would sign an agreement with Council as to who would pay for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint precincts. Whether paid by NZ National govt, or Council, or shared payment by both, NZ National govt was forcing Council to pay for CERA's Blueprint precincts without costing CERA's Blueprint precincts properly. Never mind that ratepayers would have increased rates forced on them to pay for NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint precincts.
Isaacs & his CERA gang of Blueprinters forgot to mention quake surviving, CBD businesses on the core CBD fringes, within the four avenues. All those quake surviving businesses in & outside the Green Frame were no longer CBD huh? Isaacs' "need to shrink the commercial heart of the central city," to increase the value of Blueprint CBD properties was a con, as it relied on Green Frame property owners selling their CBD properties to the Crown. Crown purchases of Frame land would be subsidized by taxpayers too. If I was one of the many car dealers in the Blueprinted S Frame being forced by Issacs & his gang of Blueprinters to sell my car business to the Crown for core CBD businesses to profit, I would be extremely unhappy!
Isaacs's & Brownlee's Blueprint precincts would need demolishing of perfectly good, quake survivor bldgs, like Central Library for Te Pae Convention Centre & demolishing of quick rebuilds like Westende House, in the new Green Frame, to enable Rauora Park.
Never mind Christchurch Art Gallery, Montreal St, to be repaired; Arts Centre, Worcester Blvd, to be repaired & Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Ave, which already had Maori & pakeha exhibits.
Also reported: The new Cricket Oval would swipe a bit of Hagley Park. Cricket authorities were jumping on the gimme-gimme bandwagon, with ex Black Cap, Lee Germon threatening that the new Cricket Oval was needed for international matches. There were many other cricket venues in Christchurch. (Despite protests, Hagley Park Cricket Oval would be used for 2015 World Cup cricket).
What next? Straighten out the Avon River as Brownlee desired, for an Olympics rowing course. (At the end of 2013, Brownlee would warm to that, suggesting Christchurch as the Sports Capital).
Also reported: Health Precinct, Christchurch Hospital environs. IT Innovation Precinct, St Asaph St. Residential Demonstration Project, Madras St. Avon River Precinct, where CBD river banks would be tarted up by Council as parklands, with the Margaret Mahy Family Playground, where Centennial Pool & other bldgs once stood.
CERA's Blueprint CBD would rebuild on old, quake shattered CBD swampland, on top of Christchurch Fault, where hundreds of bldgs were quake liquefactioned & destroyed by the 2010-2011 quakes. CERA would repeat Victorians' mistakes by Blueprinting a quake prone CBD on swampland! The great irony was that NZ National govt / CERA had already red zoned thousands of houses on Avon River swampland, forcing citizens to leave their properties.
Who checked CERA's ex Timaru accountant, cum latter day demolisher Isaacs? Silent CERA boss Sutton didn't rein in Isaacs, who continued his demolition lust, wanting to demolish many bldgs in the Green Frame, like Calendar Girls, reopened post quakes & other night clubs. Isaacs conveniently forgot night clubs brought mega-bucks to Christchurch, unlike theatre productions & high culture.
The new Cardboard Cathedral, on St Johns demolition site, would be next to CERA's Blueprint stadium, Hereford St / Madras St, by Latimer Sq. What a crock!
Despite the reduced Blueprint CBD, citizens were banned from the red zone CBD since the 22.02.11 Killer Quake, by steel mesh fence cordons & NZDF checkpoints. Citizens were banned seeing for themselves the extent of quake damages, neither could citizens decide for themselves (unhindered by CERA) whether the Blueprint was valid & fair. Citizens weren't consulted about the Blueprint by NZ National govt / CERA. Isaacs was already muttering about reduced value of post quake, CBD properties.
Why was CERA building its Blueprint CBD on top of Christchurch Fault, which had trashed Cashel Mall during the Boxing Day quake, 2010? Eastwards, Christchurch Fault crouched under Barbadoes St waiting for CERA's Blueprint 35 000 seater, roofed stadium. Never mind that CTV bldg collapsed nearby, Cashel St / Madras St. CTV demolition site was across the road from the proposed new stadium. Imagine the carnage should another quake hit the Blueprint 35 000 seater stadium, while the stadium was used. Never mind traffic jams & parking congestion that would be created in the CBD during stadium use. And noise pollution like crowds roaring, triumphant bands playing guitars, tambourines, drums & trumpets galore...
Meanwhile Riccarton Rd, Blenheim Rd & Lincoln Rd had absorbed business relocations from the quake trashed CBD long before CERA touted its Blueprint CBD, on quake trashed swampland above Christchurch Fault.
Despite NZ National govt's / CERA's Blueprint hype, nearly 2 years post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, trashed roads were still quake trashed & no quake damaged, Avon River bridges had been fixed.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Library closure king hit for regular users (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Govt report into CTV collapse vague (The Press / Stuff Co).
See No evidence of CTV steel reinforcing (The Press / Stuff Co).
See No critical damage to CTV from 2010 quake (The Press / Stuff Co).
See EQC wants to take over all drilling (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Ratepayers to fund big ticket items (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Public pay more than once thought for Christchurch's delayed Central Library (Stuff Co).
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