Sunday, March 29, 2015

Beyond Quake Walls. Reckoning: CERA, No Unauthorised Access, No Dumping

Riverine Residential Red Zone focus. Although we'd lived in Mackenzie Country, Lake Tekapo & Fairlie for over a year, we often returned to Christchurch for Leah's teaching at London St & for visiting Jake & Luke. I kept up with post quake Christchurch by following the news & visiting Christchurch suburbs & the CBD. CERA wasn't saying what the Crown would do with approx 8 000 red zone, residential properties, mostly beside Avon River, which CERA had taken from citizens.

Saturday 28.03.15. While Leah attended a function at Seabrook Mackenzie Centre, London St, celebrating the first 10 years of Jean Seabrook Memorial School there (Leah had taught there the first 9 years) I reviewed the residential red zone along Avon River where I'd snapped 1 000s of pics during quake years: Avonside Dr, Avon Loop where Jake had lived pre quakes, River Rd, Dallington Tce, Glenarm Tce, Locksley Ave, Kingsford St, Queensbury St, Avonside Dr...

Most of the ghost houses & ghost commercial bldgs in the red zone had been demolished by CERA. A few houses still to go. They were boarded, steel mesh fence cordoned & DANGER taped, some with ASBESTOS warning tapes. Tress & shrubs were left by CERA, but most of the residential red zone was overgrown. Some areas were mown & some areas fenced off, a parkland effect, but most of the residential red zone along Avon River was unfenced. Red zone fencing, white & black threat signs:

           NO
UNAUTHORISED
       ACCESS

   NO DUMPING

                  CERA

Like Pages Rd Bridge, Swanns Rd Bridge was just patch repaired & neglected by CERA / SCIRT, although Christchurch citizens were still expected by CERA / SCIRT to use those bridges more than 4 years post 22.02.11 Killer Quake. SCIRT had repaired abutments at Stanmore Rd Bridge & Avondale Rd Bridge. There were detours along Dallington Tce & Avonside Dr, as Gayhurst Rd Bridge was being rebuilt by SCIRT. (New Gayhurst Road Bridge would be opened Aug 2015).

All residential red zone roads were bad: huge potholes, loose shingle, flooding in places where high tide, Avon River leaked under stopbanks. CERA had made orange & black signs to stop people entering some residential red zone areas. Residential red zone, fencing across roads, signs:

   AUTHORISED
VEHICLES ONLY

PEDESTRIAN CYCLIST
   AND AUTHORISED
VEHICLE ACCESS ONLY

For information
0800 ring CERA
info@cera.govt.nz

                              CERA

Kingsford St, Horseshoe Lake: I ignored some of those signs, as I wanted to see the residential red zone at the end of the road, where I'd snapped post 13.06.11 Quake. On route, I passed 2 NZDF jeeps & a Unimog parked on a side road. At the end of Kingsford St, I was confronted by two camouflage-uniformed soldiers toting automatic rifles. I hand-signalled a turnabout & drove off. Why was CERA still allowing war games in the residential red zone? (A couple of years before cops had played cops & robbers at Horseshoe Lake red zone too). Deputy mayor Buck was in denial that Christchurch looked like a war zone.

New Brighton Rd / Locksley Ave junction: Residential red zone fence, blue & white CERA sign:

                        CROWN OWNED LAND
                           CLEARANCE IN THE
                      RESIDENTIAL RED ZONE

Where possible we will keep significant planting. We are
aiming to create a safe and attractive area that is easy
to maintain until decisions are made about future land use.

                                                                                CERA

Sunday 29.03.15. Dyers Rd: When we picked up firewood at Luke's salvage yard, a broken-down car was parked under gum trees by Bromley oxidation ponds. A black Staffordshire terrier was locked in the car. Car window note:

BROKE
BROKEN
HOMELESS

Luke told us the car had been there for days & an Irishman slept in it. He was a construction worker & had fallen on hard times during CERA's so-called rebuild. An eloquent man, Leah gave him food.

Before we left for Fairlie, Luke showed us rimu flooring & wooden arched windows salvaged from Isaac Theatre Royal, Gloucester St, after the theatre's makeover.

Reckoning: August 2015. CERA minister, Brownlee was in denial again, this time about shoddy repairs to quake trashed house foundations. The Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment, MBIE had sampled some EQC / Fletcher repaired house foundations & found inadequate repairs. Brownlee blamed "Cowboy builders" contracted by EQC / Fletcher & said they'd have to repair their bad house foundation repairs. Never mind shoddy repairs done above house foundations. Slack builders bleated they'd go bankrupt. Fletcher boss shifted blame to migrant Irish builders.

No one took responsibility for shoddy house repairs, like shoddy jack 'n pack foundations, or cracked, painted-over gib boards, or epoxy-glued concrete seen all over Christchurch. It was similar blame-shifting like at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into PGC & CTV collapses, where owners, engineers, cops, firemen, Council shifted blame to others.

20.10.15. The Press reported that more than 6 500 EQC repaired homes needed re-repairs due to shoddy repairs done by EQC.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

See Tourism body Christchurch looks like a war zone (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Construction site look reflects rebirth Vicky Buck (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Bexley suburb returns to nature (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Army exercises upsets Christchurch red zoners (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Gerry Brownlee targets cowboy builders after EQC foundation review (The Press / Stuff Co).

See No responsibility on Fletcher EQR for shoddy quake repairs contract suggests (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Survey of Canterbury quake repairs caned by critics and advocates (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Building industry hits back at claims it is solely to blame for shoddy quake repairs (The Press / Stuff Co)

See Six out of seven IAG repairs found to be deficient in govt investigation (The Press / Stuff Co).

See More than 6500 homes need fix after faulty EQC repairs (The Press / Stuff Co).