Mayor Parker wanted to rebuild Christchurch red zone CBD on trashed CBD land, on old swampland & underground waterways, on top of Christchurch Fault, rumbling under Riccarton, across Hagley Park, under the CBD & beyond to New Brighton. Post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, Parker persuaded 1 000s of citizens to offer CBD rebuild ideas for the Council rebuild plan. Fourteen months post 22.02.11 quake, Parker was fixated by the CBD rebuild. 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 04.09.10, M7.1 Darfield Quake, on Tues 7 September, PM Key squeaked that NZ National govt 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 govt that EQC was under-insured by reinsurers. Finance minister Bill English did nothing about it. Overpaid EQC assessors gave crap assessments on damages, leaving home owners to battle slow EQC & crap assessments.
Land-grabbing CERA offered red zoners a crap NZ National govt deal where red zoners would be paid 2007 RV on their trashed land. Red zoners lost land & house title, as well as ceding insurance policies to CERA / NZ National govt.
That enabled rat insurers to laugh all the way to the bank, as insurers could 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 post quakes, 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 or insurer payouts couldn't afford current market prices for new housing, due to rat payouts & inflated housing market. NZ National govt / 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, ratty landlords raised rentals to exorbitant highs. CERA minister Brownlee sat on his paws, allowing the rental market to rip off red zoners & tenants, some forced to stay with family or friends, or sleep in their cars, or rent garages as living quarters. (As Jake did).
There was Council & state housing (Housing NZ) in Christchurch & Kaiapoi, but it was mostly boarded & abandoned post 22.02.11 Killer Quake.
CERA made a small attempt to temporarily house red zoners at Kaiapoi & Linwood Domain & boasted about (not yet built) Rawhiti Domain temporary housing. 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 2 of occupying the CBD red zone, with NZDF checkpoints blocking citizens' access to the red zone CBD. Only ratty contractors, in hard hats & Hi-Vis vests, were allowed into the red zone CBD.
CERA cordon checkpoints strangled the CBD red zone. In CERA demolition wasteland, there were ghost high-rises still to be demolished & CERA rats would occupy the red zone CBD for 28 months.
Sutton squeaked that some bldg owners actually wanted to be in CERA's ratty cordon, surrounded by steel mesh fence cordons & NZDF soldiers, the cordon enabling business owners to get organized. (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 CBD red zone. Since when did some bldg owners own the CBD?
Sat 14.04.12. Over 17 years' living in Christchurch, I'd never seen a wild rat. Lots of mice at Halswell & Burnside where we'd rented. Our cat polished off mice, but we'd seen no wild rats. Leah said her London St school, on the CBD fringe, was infested with mice post Feb 22 Killer Quake.
Since quakes, I'd trekked trashed Avonside Dr & passed trashed 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, ghost housing. Housing NZ, state housing windows & doors were all boarded. Some houses were already demolished, bare demolition sites. Saw only 5 inhabited houses, the rest ghosts, gardens overgrown, rubbish in gardens.
Quakemire was cleared from roads. No maintenance done to roads: Potholed, buckled, lumpy, bumpy, puddled. Foul puddles were caused by the high water table, due to Avon River proximity. Several roads: FLOODING road signs. Several cars, parked on roadsides. Rubberneckers rattled by.
Telecom wiring, tied to some tilted power poles, festooned with electrical wiring & cables. Electricity switched off hopefully, as some cables hung so low I could've jumped & touched them. Green stickers on ghost house windows showed where electricity was disconnected.
Blue plastic, water pipes ran along pavements & across roads, giving fresh water to those still living in the red zone. Green & blue, plastic tanks were buried on roadsides. I opened lids, foul underground water drained inside. As aftershocks were ongoing, quake / tidal flooding formed foul, slimy puddles, polluting roadsides, mosquito larvae galore. Green, plastic, sewage tanks stood on roadsides & street cnrs. Portaloos littered roadsides, stinking in afternoon sun.
Fourteen months post 22.02.11 Killer 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. State ghost houses boarded. Sullivan Park ghost, kids' playground ghost. Corrugated iron shed, 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. State ghost houses boarded. Roadside drainage tanks. Portaloos. No rats. Our connection with Maling St: Another Esslemont family had lived there for years. They moved out post quakes, leaving us the only Esslemonts in Christchurch. In 1995 after we'd arrived in Christchurch, Leah endured phone inquiries about drug sales, someone in the other Esslemont family 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. State ghost houses boarded. Roadside sewage & drainage tanks. Portaloos. No rats. Dirty roadside puddles. Avon River, quake sunk at Robson Ave / Avonside Dr junction. Asphalt footpath & willow tree sunk into river. 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. Ghost houses, gardens overgrown. State ghost 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 3+ hours Avonside, red zone trek, many wooden houses (there were many more in other suburbs) looked OK to me from the outside. Including all those boarded, state houses. There were many sound or slightly damaged houses on liquefactioned land. Shameful that all those sound houses would be demolished by CERA, enabling the NZ National govt land-grab. NZ National govt / CERA's excuse for all that bureaucratic destruction: It would be too expensive to repair quake 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
NZ National govt / CERA, having expelled red zoners, would demolish sound, wooden houses which 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.
Tues 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 trashed house, a farewell street party: home owners, chardonnay tipplers on roadsides. Steel mesh fence cordon in front of the house, festooned with memorial pics. A drunk woman waved me through.
Wed 18.04.12. CERA minister Brownlee squeaked that CERA 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 bldgs since the 22.02.11 Killer Quake.
CERA usurped & duplicated Council functions, whereby Council produced a rebuild plan, then NZ National govt / 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 CBD, one-way streets, without considering citizens displaced from their homes by quakes.
Weeks back Brownlee had called Parker a clown, yet squeaked Parker's praises as marketer for Christchurch! A new layer of CERA appointed, govt 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 2 town clerks for post quake Christchurch, Marryatt & Isaacs!
Dysfunctional Council, a rats nest: councillors squabbled with Marryatt, a Crown observer observed councillors squabbling.
Our landlord increased our rent.
Sun 22.04.12. 10.08pm, M4.2 quake, 11km depth, 20km E of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Rumbled by, disturbed our TV viewing.
Tue 24.04.12. The Press reported that state houses in the red zone would be repaired in May. That was 15 months post 22.02.11 Killer 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+ boarded, state houses were in Christchurch & Kaiapoi red zones. I snapped many vacant, boarded, state houses during my Avonside trek. They all looked liveable.
Wed 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 zone, Robson Ave to Dunsandel. He'd worked on the relocation since the 04.09.10 Darfield 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 Nov 2013, many Avonside, red zone, ghost 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 was 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, flooded by Heathcote River after heavy rains. Opp Clarendon Tce by Heathcote River was also flooded. Leah's colleague, headmistress of Jean Seabrook Memorial School, owned a house on Clarendon Tce. She endured periodic flooding. Big flood, 29-31.05.21, would flood Richardson Tce & Clarendon Tce again. Cumnor Tce, where Jake had worked at a caterer business near The Tannery, was also flooded by Heathcote River. Fortunately Jake had recently moved caterer premises to Ferrymead premises, so 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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