Red-zoners were bullied by government one side & slow EQC & slow insurers the other side: Government took red-zone land it expediently decreed & insurers got their profits, as insurers used Canterbury quakes as an excuse to increase premiums throughout NZ!
A recap of NZ National government's residential red-zone offers to take over 7 000 properties:
CERA's Offer 1 to red-zoners: Government used taxpayers' money to "buy" red-zoners' land with red-zoners compelled to cede their property insurances to government so that government could use insurers' payouts to recoup taxpayers' money spent.
CERA's Offer 2 to red-zoners: Government used taxpayers' money to "buy" red-zoners' land, then red-zoners could negotiate with insurers for their house payout.
Thus NZ National government took all residential red-zone land: over 7 000 properties along riversides & in the Port Hills.
Most red-zoners took the money & left the red-zone. Never mind lost equity. Some red-zone housing was undamaged, just the land was damaged by quakes, leaving good housing wasted.
What was the point in buying land or property in NZ, if NZ National governmentt used quakes to take landowners' properties? That happened in Canterbury & three years after the 4 September 2010 Quake was still happening, while the rest of NZ did nothing!br />
Besides residential red-zoning, CERA's TC3 green-zoning of 28 000 residential properties was strife for TC3 green-zoners: slow EQC one side, slow insurers the other side, squabbling about repairs or rebuilds, TC3 green owners having already endured two winters in quaked-housing since the 22 February 2011 Quake.
Red-zoners were paid according to 2007 RV. That was unfair due to post-quake inflation of the housing market. There was some housing development on Christchurch fringes, but NZ National government & Council hadn't released 8 000 new sections for sale & development. Due to shortage of sections & housing, government had decreased housing supply, thus increasing demand for sections & new housing & rentals. This inflated Christchurch housing market, although salaries didn't increase in NZ's low wage economy. Some red-zoners couldn't use NZ government settlements to buy like-for-like in Christchurch & left Christchurch to rebuild smaller elsewhere. Some red-zoners just trucked their undamaged houses from the red-zone & erected them elsewhere.
CERA minister Brownlee's response: There was no housing crisis, the market would decide. The market decided alright: Our rent increased twice since quakes due to rates & insurance increases, according to our landlady. Our first post-quake, rent increase took 54% of breadwinner Leah's net salary. Our last post-quake increase caused our rent to be 59% of Leahs's net salary.
Despite Leah's professionalism & dedication as a teacher working more than eight hours a day, going far beyond the call of duty during quakes, her salary didnt keep up with government caused inflation in housing & other markets. After paying rent & bills there was no money to save for a house deposit. Never mind living 18 years in NZ so far. Before I stopped working in NZ, 1998, my wages were similarly parlous: Insufficient to pay bills, subsidised by our SA settling-in funds, never enough to save for a NZ section or housing. Yet in SA, during our marriage, we'd owned two sections at Pringle Bay; a two-storey, three bed room duplex & a three bedroom house in Durban; then a three bedroom house in East London!
We feared for our sons' NZ futures: So far, Jake had worked for eight years in hospitality, never being able to get ahead. Son Luke ditto, so far two years joinery. Their low wages in a low wage economy only enabled them to pay for rent & daily necessities. Saving for house ownership was difficult in 2013. A decade hence in 2024 Jake & his girlfriend would share ownership of a New Brighton apartment. Only at the end of 2025 after over a decade of joinery work would Luke & girlfriend be able to buy a house near Westmoreland. By then Jake had left for hospitality work in Australia where wages were better than NZ!
In other words, in 2013 Harcourt's Development Manager in Christchurch, Chris Kennedy's take on the real estate market:
Three years on, who would have thought the real estate market would have been producing the results we are seeing today. Harcourt's average sales price is in excess of $425,000, the average number of days a property is on the market is down to a staggering 24, and subdivisions are popping up all over the province. Auction activity is now producing just over 24% of our listing stock, up from 11% in 2010. Harcourt's stock on hand has reduced to just over five months worth at current levels of sale, and the shortage will continue for some time yet...
The Reserve Bank's announcement about loan-to-value restrictions means more pressure will be put on those endeavouring to enter the market. Make sure you get sound financial advice and keep working towards home ownership... (The Press 07.09.13).
Thus home ownership was wishful thinking for our sons in 2013.
I drove a circuit of residential red-zone by Avon River. Few houses were left in residential red-zone streets, even less were inhabited. Hundreds of houses were demolished by CERA & were replaced with green grass, shrubs & trees. I didn't take many pics as bare land gave boring pics. I snapped some examples of demolition-sites next to abandoned housing. From thriving pre-quakes suburbs, the shocking reality of CERA's residential red-zoning from June 2011, was vast, bare, demolition-sites & abandoned housing awaiting CERA demolitions.
Swanns Rd Bridge: Nearby on Avonside Dr, I snapped two abandoned wooden housess which had awaited CERA demolitions for years. Whenever I drove past, they'd leaned deeper into Avon River swampland near Avonside Girls High. One of the houses was SMF-cordoned. The other had rubble left in an overgrown front garden. Both abandoned houses had plastic-tarps festooning side-walls.
05.09.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Abandoned red zone housing, Avonside Dr, nr Swanns Rd Bridge
Retreat Rd: I snapped some more red-zone abandoned houses & a demolition-site typical of the red-zone. On a garage door: GOODBYE & a heart painted on it. On a wall, a CERA threat-sign:
No unauthorised access
No dumping
05.09.13. Red zone, house demolition site, Retreat Rd
05.09.13. Abandoned red zone housing, Retreat Rd
Gayhurst Rd Bridge: I crossed the damaged bridge. Below tilted power-poles, I saw CERA's demolition-land: It was bare with a NO ENTRY cordon, Gayhurst Rd / Locksley Ave, due to CERA's new grass-seeding. CERA had also newly grassed Locksley Ave / New Brighton Rd.
05.09.13. Quake tilted power poles. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Gayhurst Rd Bridge view, cleared red zone demolition sites, Gayhurst Rd / Locksley Ave
Locksley Ave: I viewed Avon River & Kerrs Reach's rowing club houses: Three club houses destroyed by quakes were already rebuilt: Avon Rowing Club, Union Rowing Club, Christ's College Rowing. The two middle club houses, Canterbury Rowing Club & Arawa Canoe Club survived quakes intact. Rebuilt club houses would be officially opened on Saturday 28.09.13. Red-zone ghosts I saw along Locksley Ave were a mix of bare demolition-sites, SMF-cordoned, boarded-housing & a fire-razed house. on a fence cordon of a demolition-gutted house, I saw a contractor's threat-sign:
STOP
DO NOT ENTER
WITHOUT PERMISSION
USE AIRHORN TO GET THE
ATTENTION OF THE SITE STAFF
05.09.13. Locksley Ave view, Avon River, Kerrs Reach rebuilt club houses, Union Rowing Club left, Avon Rowing Club right
05.09.13. Locksley Ave view, rebuilt Christ's College Rowing left, Arawa Canoe Club right, Kerrs Reach, Avon River
Private enterprise rebuilds were quicker than CERA's rebuilds. CERA bureaucrats like Sutton & Isaacs jabbered about "ramping up" rebuild. What nonsense!
05.09.13. Fire razed red zone house, house demolition site, Locksley Ave
05.09.13. Abandoned red zone housing, awaited demolition, Locksley Ave
New Brighton Rd: I viewed muddy, shrub-spotty demolition-land towards Horseshoe Lake swampland. I trekked Avon River stopbank to Horseshoe Lake outlet. I snapped demolition-lands reverting to swampland on the side of New Brighton Rd. Months before, I'd seen abandoned housing slowly sinking into that swampland.
05.09.13. Quake tilted power poles. Cleared red zone demolition sites, Locksley Ave
05.09.13. Locksley Ave, stopbank view, cleared red zone demolition sites ahead left, Kerrs Reach, Avon River right
05.09.13. Locksley Ave / New Brighton Rd junction view, cleared red zone demolition sites
Once CERA demolished its residential red-zone housing, the land looked OK. To date, NZ National government hadn't said what it would do with all the residential red-zone land it took.
05.09.13. Locksley Ave stopbank view, Kerrs Reach, Avon River. Avonside Dr, Avonhead abandoned red zone housing on opp bank
05.09.13. Avon River stopbank view, New Brighton Rd, cleared red zone demolition sites, going to Horseshoe Lake red zone
05.09.13. Avon River stopbank, W view to New Brighton Rd / Locksley Ave junction, cleared red zone demolition sites
05.09.13. Avon River stopbank, E view, New Brighton Rd, cleared red zone demolition sites left, Kerrs Reach, Avon River right
05.09.13. Avon River stopbank view, New Brighton Rd, cleared red zone demolition sites, going to Horseshoe Lake red zone
05.09.13. Stopbank W view, Kerrs Reach, Avon River left, New Brighton Rd right. Cleared red zone demolition sites ahead & right
05.09.13. From New Brighton Rd stopbank, I had a southeast view of Kerrs Reach along Avon River. I saw red-zone abandoned housing on Avonside Dr, Avonhead on the opposite bank
There were many ideas for residential red-zone land use from citizens, one being Avon Otakaro Park along riversides. An 18 500 signature petition for the Avon Otakaro Park was sent to NZ National government a couple of years before. It sank!
Having taken residential red-zones, government bullied CBD's commercial property-owners in CCDU's CBD Frame: Government Frame offer one side, public land use of CBD Frame the other side. CCDU harped for months about Margaret Mahy Family Playground it would make in the North Frame by Avon River bank (completed 2016) while citizens just wanted Centennial Pool repaired at that proposed playground site.
CCDU's low Frame offers:
"It is not our preference to go down the compulsory acquisition path, but when we have already purchased most of the land we need, the city can't afford for the rebuild to be held up. [There was little CBD rebuild, three years post 4 September 2010 Quake, many demolitions still to go. A decade hence, slow rebuild alongside east Frame land would continue]. The properties are needed for projects that are going to benefit everyone living and working in greater Christchurch." (CERA media release, 5 September 2013).
CCDU didn't fully explain what "projects" it was buying Frame land for. So far, CCDU had produced the following for its red-zoned Frame:
1. Land Bank to increase the value of core CBD properties. Fine if one owned land in the core CBD, lousy if one owned property in the Frame.
2. Make parkland in demolished Frame land. Expedient "City in a Garden" twaddle, if CCDU taken Frame land was resold for commercial purposes.
3. Keep some commercial properties in the Frame, like Les Mills Gym, but demolish CCDU spurned Calendar Girls a perfectly good building, like Westende House also demolished for Manchester St widening.
4. High density housing in Frame land, as CCDU forgot housing was needed for a thriving CBD. So-called housing which CCDU had Blueprint planned was an international competition for mixed housing on a small piece of land near Latimer Sq. Years later, Fletcher Living would build apartment blocks on sides of the East Frame. See previous post.
Liverpool St from Calendar Girls, also in CCDU's demolition-happy sights, I saw abandoned Oaks Homestay Apartments, Liverpool St / Cashel St / Hereford St. Oaks Homestay Apartments would be demolished by CERA for Bedford Apartments & Bedford Terraces & Liverpool Terraces, built 2018-2019 by Fletcher Living.
05.09.13. Local govt election boards, Greers Rd
Meanwhile on my Fendalton treks, like the rest of Christchurch, garden fences were festooned with Council & Community Board election posters, mostly grinning heads. Councillor hopeful, Raf Manji's slogan: YOUR CITY, YOUR MONEY, YOUR FUTURE. He'd given his slogan some thought, unlike present councillors Gough, Reid & Co, who'd voted for town clerk, Marryatt's salary increase, which caused 2012 public protests & lately suspension of Marryatt on full paid holiday for two months while lawyers sorted out Marryatt's golden handshake & golden parachute & more baubles from the public purse for Marryatt's alleged consents & insurance debacle.
In Council, a Crown Manager (CERA lackey) sorted out Marryatt's consents processing, on exorbitant salary of course, paid by taxpayers. Council proved useless at stopping NZ National government's pillaging of residential red-zone land & CBD Frame land!
Hereford St: Friday 06.09.13. I parked by Latimer Sq for pics of Les Mills Gym & Calendar Girls environs, bordered by Hereford St, Madras St, Cashel St, Liverpool St. Looking west, I snapped multi-storey IRD ghost on Cashel St & the silvery, shiny Cardboard Cathedral on St John's demolition-site, Hereford St / Madras St.
I entered the Cardboard Cathedral for my first time: Two black-suited, old men, each wearing a red sash across their shoulders kept watch. Gawpers wandered inside. The concrete-floor was bare. East & west side-walls started up as gutted shipping-containers, painted white & arranged lengthwise as east & west wall bases. They formed offices & a storeroom & a chapel & a kitchen. Vertical cardboard-rolls formed entrances to those side rooms.
05.09.13. Hereford St carpark view, abandoned IRD bldg left, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral right
05.09.13. Hereford St view, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral left, Les Mills Gym middle, Calendar Girls right
Above the shipping-containers, I saw brown cardboard cylinders which covered a steel-frame which formed many brown arches & an A-frame roof, covered in transparent plastic panels. Seen from from outside, that roof tilted gently upwards S.
Inside, I saw unvarnished plywood chairs in the nave which formed pews. White folding-metal chairs formed extra back pews. Southwards, black wooden boxes formed a stage for the altar. A moveable organ stood on top. A long, brown, tubular cross hung on the white southern wall below the A-frame, tent-shaped roof. A smaller bronze cross stood on the altar. At the stage-front stood a carved wooden lectern.
05.09.13. Interior, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral, Hereford St / Madras St, Latimer Sq
On the south wall, the tubular cross drew my vision up to the roof-arches. Turning around, looking at the north wall above the glass doors of the foyer, I saw coloured-glass, triangular window-panes, arranged in opposing rows, formed a bigger triangle, soaring to the A-frame roof. That transparent roof allowed natural light into the cathedral. At night the transparent roof allowed artificial light in the cathedral to shine outside, causing the roof to glow.
05.09.13. Interior, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral, Hereford St / Madras St, Latimer Sq
At the back of the nave, NW cnr, by one of the shipping container offices, stood a light / sound console for concerts.
05.09.13. N window, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral, Hereford St / Madras St, Latimer Sq
The Cardboard Cathedral, a makeshift cathedral, was quickly built, giving shocked Cantabrians security & hope. It was like a large, general purpose school room, with moveable screens & moveable, wooden stage-blocks. It was built in record time, ahead of commercial CBD properties & CERA's dithering over its CCDU Blueprint!
Madras St: I crossed to CTV's SMF-cordoned demolition-site, where 115 people died in the collapsed & fired multistorey during the 22 February 2011 Quake. On the SMF-cordon, a Canterbury Museum / Christchurch City Council information sign:
Please respect this site.
In recognition of the special significance this site holds for the people of our
city and all those affected by the earthquakes, the Christchurch City Council
is working with Canterbury Museum to preserve aspects of our remembering.
Tributes may be left at this site. Older tributes will be removed for archiving by
the Canterbury Museum to become part of the city's memory of the Canterbury
Earthquakes. Organic materials will be composted and used in the city's gardens.
05.09.13. Madras St, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral, W view, steel mesh fence cordoned, CBD E Frame: Arrow House demolition site, Les Mills Gym left, abandoned Oaks Homestay Apartments middle behind, Calendar Girls right
05.09.13. Madras St, Anglican Cardboard Cathedral, SW view, CBD E Frame: CTV demolition site, abandoned IRD bldg left, Arrow House demolition site, Les Mills Gym right, abandoned Oaks Homestay Apartments behind
05.09.13. Madras St view, E Frame: Steel mesh fence cordon, tributes, CTV demolition site. Les Mills Gym behind. Calendar Girls, Torrens House right awaited demolition
Cashel St: I rekked past dusty, multi-storey IRD ghost & lively Les Mills Gym.
Cashel St / Liverpool St: Southwards beyond a SMF-cordon, I snapped brick ghosts on Bedford Row near Majestic Theatre ghost & demolition-sites either side of Lichfield St & demolition-sites continuing to Tuam St by steel-braced McKenzie Willis ghost. Westwards, I again snapped Oaks Homestay Apartments ghost awaiting CERA demolition.
05.09.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Cashel St / Liverpool St, S view, CBD E Frame demolition sites, abandoned bldgs. Majestic Theatre right behind awaited demolition
05.09.13. Cashel St / Liverpool St, S view, demolition sites, abandoned bldgs in the CBD E Frame. Steel braced McKenzie Willis right, Port Hills behind
05.09.13. Abandoned Oaks Homestay Apartments, CBD East Frame, Liverpool St / Cashel St. Oak Homestays Apartments would be demolished by CERA for new apartments, lining Rauora Park, built by Fletcher
Liverpool St: Behind Calendar Girls, I looked northwards across demolition-sites, including Arrow House demolition-site, to the silvery, shiny, Cardboard Cathedral. I yelled at two teenage boys chucking stones at windows between Calendar Girls & Les Mills Gym. They fled.
05.09.13. Liverpool St, CBD E Frame view, Calendar Girls left, demolition sites, Madras St & Anglican Cardboard Cathedral middle
Hereford St: Across the road, I saw Torrens House ghost. It was SMF-cordoned, just another CERA demolition in CERA's Blueprint East Frame. I saw twisted steel rebars hanging from gaping concrete-floors / roofs of that multi-storey demolition. By that demolition-site I saw parked machines: four diggers; one crane; one high-reach concrete drill. Two workmen wearing hard hats & orange Hi-Vis vests wandered amidst rubble-piles. On the SMF-cordon, two threat-signs:
DANGER
DEMOLITION
IN PROGRESS
NO ENTRY
FOOTPATH CLOSED
PLEASE USE
OTHER SIDE
Avoiding CERA demolitions, pedestrians had to dodge traffic while crossing the road to an opposite footpath. Sometimes during demolitions, both footpaths were excavated!
05.09.13. DANGER. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Orange, high reach digger. Hereford St view, Torrens House demolition for CBD E Frame / Rauora Park. Anglican Cardboard Cathedral middle beyond. Calendar Girls right awaited demolition for Liverpool Terraces, built 2019.
Beyond Torrens House demolition, I saw more demolition-sites stretching to East Frame Westende House rebuild on Manchester St. Across Manchester St in CERA's core-CBD, I saw Trinity Church / Octagon Restaurant ghost. I saw Cathedral Junction undergoing restoration. I saw multi-storey Design & Arts College ghost. Restored Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel loomed above the lot.
05.09.13. Blue shipping container, gawpers, steel mesh fence cordon, orange diggers. Liverpool St / Hereford St view, CBD E Frame demolition sites to core CBD: Abandoned Design & Arts College, abandoned Trinity Church / Octagon Restaurant middle, restored Cathedral Junction, restored Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel right
*Trekked Avonside Dr, Retreat Rd, Locksley Ave, New Brighton Rd, Greers Rd, Madras St, Cashel St, Hereford St. 76 images.
The red-zone, CBD Frame was under NZDF military occupation, including variable checkpoints for 28 months post 22 February 2011 Quake, citizens banned, only CERA passed contractors given access. If Council & CERA had their ways, the red-zone CBD would've been a tourist attraction: I'd seen CERA walks & CERA bus tours & Council's natty red-zone maps & red-zone map boards on SMF-cordons.
Mayor Parker wanted to put Christ Church Cathedral ruin inside a glass box for tourists to gawp! The Wizard hibernated at Timaru for over a year post 22 February 2011 Quake before protesting & slagging off bishop Matthews & her Cardboard Cathedral. The Wizard wanted to save his ruined cathedral, which he'd maligned for decades while jabbering from a ladder for tourists.
Red-zone irony: NZ National government wanted the residential red-zone to be bare wasteland, without people, despite quake-shaking & liquefaction. NZ National government wanted the CBD red-zone & Frame to be rebuilt & repopulated, despite quake-shaking & liquefaction!
Government's offers in the residential red-zone & CBD red-zone caused social & commercial harm via Civil Defence & NZDF & cops & CERA & CCDU & EQC & Fletcher & SCIRT. Never mind EQC & insurers aggravating social costs with slow payouts & slow repairs & slow rebuilds. So far, three years post 4 September 2010 Quake, there was great quake-destruction & CERA destruction, but little CBD rebuild.
Tuesday 10.09.13, One News: PM Key announced 1 700 government employees would be working in the CBD by 2016 near Cashel Mall's retail precinct. (New ECAN offices, new Justice & Emergency Services Precinct, new Grand Central Building on Hotel Grand Chancellor's demolition-site). There were no new office buildings near the retail precinct yet. Government's timeline for CBD recovery was slow, after CERA's swift demolitions.
CERA's Greater Christchurch Recovery Update, Issue 25, September 2013, boasted about INNOVATIVE WAYS FOR RECYCLING HOMES IN GREATER CHRISTCHURCH: A firm was deconstructing non-damaged red-zone housing & flat-packing house parts into shipping-containers for relocation & cheap rebuilds. CERA boss Sutton:
"That can reduce the amount of demolition waste going into landfill by 15 to 20 percent. Plus materials are being re-used that have real value for other people."
Another article boasted: RED ZONE HOUSES ON THE MOVE. State controlled Housing NZ was moving some red-zone houses to Rolleston Prison where cheap-labour prisoners would repair 150 houses over the next five years, for relocation & reuse by Housing NZ. The red-zone houses included not only Housing NZ houses, but also houses owned by insurers. So insurers would get cheap prison labour too.
Regarding relatively undamaged housing: "At the same time, other houses are being shifted from the Christchurch residential red zone to new sites in the city where they are being repaired ahead of new tenants coming in..." Some undamaged red-zone houses would be relocated by Housing NZ for its tenants too.
Regarding red-zone housing, there was disconnect between what CERA minister Brownlee said & did. Over six months ago in February 2013, minister Brownlee bollocked Council for its slow repairs of social housing for the poor. Only now in September 2013 did minister Brownlee's CERA crow about Rolleston prisoners fixing red-zone housing for CERA & insurers. Why weren't Rolleston prisoners fixing Council housing six months ago?
Brownlee wasted taxpayers' money by fighting Council instead of working with Council: Crown observer & later Crown manager pertained, first regarding Council communications, then Council consents debacle. Why didn't minister Brownlee sort out Council in 2012 when there were public protests about Council?
Minister Brownlee said there was no post-quake housing crisis, despite NZ National government forming the residential red-zone & CBD red- zone. CERA's Greater Christchurch Recovery Update, Issue 27, Nov 2013, would boast about how many red-zone houses CERA demolished, but couldn't say what the government would do with all its taken red-zone land:
Crown-owned property clearance progress in the residential red zone
The clearance of more than 3 000 Crown-owned flat land residential red zone properties was completed by the end of September.
The next goal is to clear 5 000 Crown-owned properties in the residential red zone by April 2014. To achieve this, property clearances are set to increase over the coming months. This will mean more trucks, more demolitions and relocations and a noticeable increase in work activity across the residential red zone.
To date, of the 7 414 residential red zone properties eligible for an offer, 7 159 have signed a Sale & Purchase Agreement and 6 902 have settled with the Crown and vacated their properties. By 31 January 2014, all property owners who have sold their property to the Crown should have left the flat land residential red zone.
Why didn't NZ National government let red-zoners just deal with their insurers? In effect, CERA's red-zonings would displace thousands of citizens.
CERA's rag didn't mention the recent High Court ruling that red-zoning was unlawful & that CERA minister Brownlee was appealing the ruling. CERA was formed for RECOVERY, but CERA / CCDU was slow with recovery of its core-CBD! Private sector buildings went up quickly along the fringes of CCDU's core-CBD, like in Victoria St & Moorhouse Ave. The contrast between the private sector's speedy rebuilds outside CCDU's core-CBD & CERA's slowness in core-CBD rebuilds was stark!
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See CERA's Decisions reached on properties in the Frame as rebuild progresses, 5 September 2013.
See 20 000 people for city centre (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Strip club owner delivers warning to Christchurch Council (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Worst hit people still without help (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Govt pumping 1700 pay packets into CBD (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Brownlee slams council inaction on housing (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Social housing is Council's shame - Brownlee (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Green space shrunk down to narrow corridor (The Press / Stuff Co).
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