Three housing protests focus. Overcast, chilly Saturday 26.05.12. This week there were three housing protests in Christchurch:
Avoca Valley housing protest;
HOUSING PROTEST at CERA minister Brownlee's Ilam office, Greers Rd;
Christ Church Cathedral Anglican house of God protest, Cranmer Sq & Worcester Blvd.
As Greers Rd was close to my Burnside home, I trekked to Brownlee's office in time for the Saturday 2pm protest. I passed our local Green Leaf Indian Cuisine takeaway & snapped a realtor's window adverts:
PROPERTIES
WANTED
RENTAL
PROPERTIES
WANTED
26.05.12. Post quakes, Cares whiteware shop, Wairakei Rd / Greers Rd. The shop later became a pharmacy
26.05.12. Post quakes, Green Leaf Indian Cuisine, Greers Rd
36.05.12. Post quakes, Realtor, Greers Rd
About 50 protesters waved protest-signs outside Brownlee's office. A car-owner with a WELCOME HOME sign & FOOD NOT BOMBS sign gave free food to protesters. Passersby mingled, passing cars tooted approval. Any protestor could have their say using a loudspeaker. The protest was welcoming, mingling youngsters, oldies & two dogs. No worries about my snapping. Within minutes of my arrival two protestors warned: "Watch out! A man in that black car across the road is spying on us!"
"Sneaky bastard," I said. "I'll snap him too!"
A HOUSING PROTEST flyer:
"*More decent social housing for Christchurch
*Sustainable rebuild
*Housing organised according to need not profit
*Acknowledgement of the real levels of homelessness and displacement in our city [By 2018-19, aggressive hoboes in Christchurch CBD & by Riccarton Mall & Stanmore Rd would be a problem].
*Rent freeze for private and social housing
*A living wage and affordable housing for all
*No shock doctrine housing policy
*Democratic process for people's housing concerns to be heard
Bring your concerns!"
36.05.12. Gerry Brownlee, Minister for Earthquake Recovery, MP for Ilam sign, Greers Rd
Protest-signs:
HOUSING
IS A
HUMAN RIGHT
OCCUPY
O: CHCH
O TAUTAHT
I AM SO
ANGRY I
MADE A SIGN
THE HOUSING
CRISIS IS A
NATIONAL
DISGRACE
FOOD NOT
BOMBS
O TAUTAHT
28 YEARS HIGHLIGHTING
THE POLITICS OF FOOD UNDER
CAPITALISM
FREE HOT SOUP!
FOOD NOT BOMBS
THE POLITICS OF HUNGER
EYM 12 [Black, security car rego]
"NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL
COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
INDEED IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS"
MARGARET MEAD
HOMES NOW
STADIUMS LATER
$TOP THE
RENT
HIKE$
LET THE
PEOPLE
LEAD!
SOCIAL
HOUSING
NOW
HOMES NOW
BUSINESS LATER
HOMES
4
ALL!
RENT IS
TOO
DAMNED
HIGH!
CAPITALISM
NOT OUR FUTURE!
CRISIS
N A TIME [sic]
OF INTENSE
DIFFICULTY OR
DANGER
OCCUPY
EQUALITY
STREET
AFFORDABLE
SOCIAL
HOUSING
THE RICH GET RICHER
THE POOR GET POORER
AFFORDABLE
HOUSING
POWER 4 THE PEOPLE
NOT KEY'S CRONIES!
ORGANISE
HOUSING
FOR NEED
NOT PROFIT
RENT
IS EXCEEDINGLY
PRICEY
FREEZE
THE RENT
SLUM
LANDLORDS
OUT!
THIS KIND OF
THING
DOESN'T
HAPPEN IN FINLAND [Brownlee quote]
SOLIDARITY
WITH THE
STREETIES
BAIL OUT
THE
PEOPLE
CHANGE
IS
COMING!
LOVE JUSTICE
KIA KAHA
CHCH
PEOPLE POWER
HOUSING 4
ALL
THERE IS NO CRISIS! [Brownlee quote]
YEAH RIGHT!
PACE
OCCUPY [Flag]
LET'S ENGAGE IN
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
LET'S STOP 61 MP's MAKING ALL THE DECISIONS
WELCOME HOME
ARE WE THERE YET
HOPE &
CHANGE
ARE
HARD FOUGHT
THINGS
MICHELLE OBAMA
OCCUPY
BROWNLEE'S
HOUSE
SOCIAL
HOUSING
WELCOME
HOME
I signed a petition against NZ National government asset-sales. Mayor Parker was against NZ government wanting to sell Christchurch ratepayers' revenue earning assets like Orion utility, Christchurch Airport & Lyttelton Port to help pay for Christchurch rebuild. After at first spurning a referendum as a waste of money, only in November / December 2013 would NZ National government have a postal referendum asking if citizens would support taxpayer owned asset-sales? In the interim, NZ government sold assets like shares in Air NZ & utilities like Meridian, Genesis & Mighty River Power.
To the young man presenting the petition to me I said: "NZ government asset-sales idea is nuts!"
There were no media photographers, nor reporters at the Greers Rd Housing Protest for the hour I was there. Yet The Press reported the next day there were "about 70 protesters." There were 50 including me & the black car driver. Nitwits even commented on hearsay reporting in Stuff Co. Meanwhile, The Press did gobbledegook surveys & reported the Save Christ Church Cathedral protest.
26.05.12. Post quakes, petition signing at Brownlee's Ilam electorate office, housing protest, Greers Rd
That Saturday afternoon I drove with Leah to see Avoca Valley Rd / Port Hills Rd crossing, where Avoca Valley residents protested on Tuesday 22 May having been evicted from their homes soon post 22 February 2011 Quake after Council red-stickered their homes.
CERA dithered for months about rezoning Avoca Valley's white-zone land as either red-zone or green-zone. CERA's excuse being rockfall danger or cliff-fall danger. CERA dithered over an "area wide" look at rockfall dangers with its bouncing-rocks study done by Milan Varsity. CERA wasn't looking at specific properties in its "area wide" study, but CERA red-zoned specific properties.
Meanwhile, Avoca Valley residents were forced to live elsewhere with added expenses so far about 15 months in limbo, while CERA dithered.
Avoca Valley protesters wanted to shame Council & CERA, by totalling the days spent in limbo with daily updates on a fence-board, while Council dithered about making Avoca Valley safe & CERA dithered about zoning.
Meanwhile, according to the The Press comments-section other Port Hills valleys like Heathcote Valley, Bowenvale Valley & Sumner Valley had similar hassles: waiting ad nauseum...
Corner of Avoca Valley Rd: A wooden fence was festooned with 30 laminated red-stickers. Below the red-stickers were Avoca Valley protest-signs:
458 DAYS [Updated daily]
SINCE BEING EVICTED FROM OUR AVOCA VALLEY HOUSES
COMMUNITIES MAKE A CITY
DECISIONS NOW!
LET US GO HOME
Facebook: AVOCA VALLEY EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY AUTHORITY
26.05.12. May 22 protest poster, Avoca Valley housing protest, Avoca Valley Rd
PSYCHOLOGICAL
TERRORISM
OCCUPY
YOUR OWN
HOME
A media pic: town clerk Marryatt having a word in mayor Parker's ear:
I WILL
STICK A CHARTER
ON THEM BOB
THAT WILL SHUT
THEM UP
THE QUAKE
DID
NOT
KILL US
CERA MIGHT
RETURN
TO
SENDER [Red sticker on sign]
COMMUNITIES
MAKE
A
CITY
NOT STADIUMS
HOW MANY
MILLIONS
SPENT
SO FAR?
CAUGHT
BETWEEN
A ROCK
AND AN
INCOMPETENT
COUNCIL
BRING
BACK
BUCK [A former mayor]
RED OR GREEN
NO
IN BETWEEN
LET US
GO
HOME
After seeing Avoca Valley protest-signs, I drove to nearby French Bakery, Chapmans Rd. A nearby building had wall-cracks which were epoxy-glued like so many other epoxy-glued wall-cracks in Christchurch.
26.05.12. Quake damaged, tilt slab bldg, braced by concrete blocks & steel poles, Chapmans Rd
Opposite French Bakery while Leah bought us supper, I snapped a concrete tilt-slab building across the road. Every tilt-slab was braced by two concrete-blocks & two angled steel-poles.
As Chapmans Rd was between the Port Hills & Heathcote River, quakes had vertically separated each concrete tilt-slab. Slab-edges were spalled where they'd knocked during quakes. One pair of tilt-slabs: I poked three fingers into a slab-gap close to the ground. The gap was about four centimetres wide.
Some post-quake rebuilds I'd seen around town were tilt-slab buildings, concrete-ugly like Westende House rebuild, Manchester St / Worcester St.
Sunny Sunday afternoon, 27.05.12. I parked on Peterborough St near Hagley Park, as Leah & I wanted to view the 'Save Christ Church Cathedral' route protestors had marched on Saturday from Cranmer Sq along Worcester Blvd to Worcester St Bridge. I wanted to snap protest-signs left on red-zone steel-mesh-fence-cordons after the protest.
Park Terrace: I snapped Terrace On the Park demolition of two apartment blocks in a gap which had formed over several weeks. A microcosm of Christchurch's housing crisis: Demolition of apartments, but no simultaneous rebuild, as insurers dodged payouts with pathetic excuses like waiting for EQC / monopoly Fletcher's decision about $100 000 overcap or undercap for residential-repairs. EQC would deal with $100 000 undercap residential-repairs, while insurers would deal with $100 000 overcap residential-repairs. That overcap / undercap debacle between EQC & insurers would carry on for years!
27.05.12. Post quakes, Terrace On The Park, demolition site, Park Tce / Salisbury St
NZ National government / CERA were to blame for that housing debacle: NZ National government was reluctant to sort out insurers & finance minister Bill English neglected to upgrade EQC's reinsurance after EQC had warned him in 2008 that EQC was under-insured! That was long before the 4 September 2010 Quake! In Stuff Co comments that was dubbed: "Bill's Big Blunder!"
NZ National government's solution: a couple of temporary housing developments in parks like Linwood Reserve & Kaiapoi Reserve. Brownlee's bullshit: "There is no housing crisis." Meanwhile CERA would demolish 7000+ red-zoned houses. Never mind 100s of commercial properties CERA would demolish.
27.05.12. Post quakes, Terrace On The Park, demolition site, Salisbury St / Park Tce
Below Avon River willows we trekked past a SCIRT rebuild of drains into Avon River. After big quakes broken-drains had sewage-polluted Avon River for months. A SCIRT sign on a steel-mesh-fence-cordon:
SCIRT REBUILDING THE CITY'S
ROADS AND UNDERGROUND PIPES...
27.05.12. Post quakes, SCIRT repairs to drains, Avon River, Park Tce
Cranmer Sq, Armagh St / Montreal St: At Cathedral Office on the Cranmer Centre demolition-site, I snapped Leah below a glass-fibre, Christ Church Cathedral angel which hung from the office balcony.
27.05.12. Post quakes, Christ Church Cathedral angel, Cathedral Office, Montreal St
27.05.12. Post quakes, Christ Church Cathedral, salvaged roof slates & ceramic cornices, Cathedral Office, Montreal St
We saw wooden-crates of roof-slates salvaged from Christ Church Cathedral & pallets of new roof-slates from Wales. We saw glazed-ceramic- cornices stacked on two more pallets. The cornices had fallen from Christ Church Cathedral's roof.
Worcester St Bridge: During States-of-Emergencies, I'd snapped NZDF-soldiers & cops on the bridge & cop photographers on Worcester Blvd. I snapped Save Christ Church Cathedral signs hanging on the red-zone steel-mesh-fence-cordon.
27.05.12. Post quakes, red stickered door, Worcester Blvd
27.05.12. Post quakes, Worcester Blvd, E view, steel mesh fence cordoned, Worcester St Bridge & abandoned red zone bldgs: Our City, Rydges Hotel & Novotel beyond. Both hotels would survive the quakes. Our City would stay closed for years, steel propped, awaiting restoration in 2021
Christ Church Cathedral ruin was hardly visible beyond steel-mesh-fence-cordons, cranes & demolition-debris in Cathedral Sq. Across Worcester St Bridge on Oxford Tce corner, Our City, an old brick-ruin was braced by concrete-blocks & steel-poles. (Our City was closed & would await restoration for years. 2019, still closed. 2021, Restoration would begin). Across the road, Clarendon Tower was being demolished.
Pity Christ Church Cathedral protesters didn't protest about the housing crisis: people living in slum conditions in damaged houses, others living in caravans, tents & garages while winter loomed!
Months before the housing crisis was known, I'd snapped people living in caravans near damaged houses in Horseshoe Lake & Avondale areas. I'd seen tent-in-garden dwellers in various suburbs. It was hard to see garage-dwellers, as they didn't advertise their humiliations by opening their garage-doors for all to see.
Flooded out of his Waltham flat in the 22 February 2011 Quake, Jake & girlfriend overwintered in a liquefactioned broken-garage off Cranford St. Garage-dwellers endured smelly chemical-toilets for months. BEWARE SPLASHBACK!
I saw The Press photographer Tobin's video & was disgusted by Christ Church Cathedral protest organizers: ex politician Anderton; ex mayor Moore; ex councillor Anna Crighton; councillor Helen Broughton; band-wagoners Mark Belton & The Wizard. Save Christ Church Cathedral protestors would've been better served had they approached Christ Church Cathedral from Latimer Sq through the recently opened red-zone east- side: Gloucester St, Manchester St, Worcester St, to take in all CERA's dusty demolition-sites stretching across dusty red-zone-CBD blocks, including Warners Hotel demolition-site & The Press demolition site behind Christ church Cathedral.
One employee died when The Press building was ruined by the 22 February 2011 Quake behind Christ Church Cathedral. Post 4 September 2010 Quake & 26 December 2010 Quake The Press was red-stickered. Who'd decided to use The Press building again pre 22 February 2011 Quake?
Approaching from Latimer Sq, protesters could've got a closer look as the back of deconsecrated Christ Church Cathedral ruin, rumbled by passing demolition-trucks & bordered by shipping-containers & demolition-doomed Grant Thornton ruin & Government Life building, Cathedral Sq.
Leah & I were in Christ Church Cathedral during the 2010 Xmas holidays & saw workmen on scaffolding inside the Cathedral fixing / checking the western nave & fresco wall & rose window. More workmen were on scaffolding outside the Cathedral checking nave windows.
Pity protestors hadn't protested post 4 September 2010 Quake & post Boxing Day Quake 2010, after seeing many ruins & experiencing aftershocks & demolitions. After all, Manchester Courts was almost completely demolished pre Boxing Day Quake with hardly a peep from protestors.
Why didn't protestors protest Christchurch Basilica's deconstruction, Barbadoes St? Why hadn't they protested demolitions of other churches like St Lukes Anglican, Manchester St; Oxford Tce Baptist; St Johns Anglican, Latimer Sq; St Pauls Trinity Pacific Presbyterian, Madras St; Avonside Trinity Anglican, Avonside Dr; St Mary & Athanasios, Coptic Church, Edgeware Rd; St Mary's, Church Ln, Papanui... ?
Not a cheep from Anderton post 22 February 2011 Quake when Civil Defence demolished Sydenham Heritage Church in his electorate.
Worcester St Bridge, protest-signs:
RALLY
FOR THE
CATHEDRAL
SAVE OUR HERITAGE
SATURDAY MAY 26th
2.30 pm CRANMER SQUARE...
27.05.12. Save Christ Church Cathedral protest signs, red zone, steel mesh fence cordon, Worcester St Bridge. Clarendon Tower demolition in progress behind
GO TO
www.change.org
& SIGN THE PETITION TO
SAVE THE
CATHEDRAL
Red post-cards, Save Christchurch's heritage buildings, addressed to PM Key were supplied to be posted to parliament:
Save Christchurch's heritage buildings
Dear Prime Minister
We implore you to STOP CERA
demolishing heritage listed buildings in
Christchurch. The Christchurch [sic] Cathedral is
the heart of our city and we urge you to act
immediately to save our beautiful building.
Name
Signature
Date
OUR CATHEDRAL
OUR CITY
OUR CHOICE
OUR DEMOCRATIC
RIGHT TO
DECIDE!!!
RESTORATION
COST
EFFECTIVE
ITS OUR HERITAGE
STOP THE DESTRUCTION
PROTEST EVERY SUNDAY
SAVE
THE
CATHEDRAL
NOON
EVERY
SUNDAY
AT
MUSEUM
"THE CHRIST CHURCH
CATHEDRAL IS PROBABLY
NEW ZEALAND'S NUMBER
ONE MOST ICONIC BUILDING"... [PM Key quote. Plastic sleeved A4 size book of quotes]
CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL
MYTHS VS FACTS...
DEMOLITION
IS AN
ABUSE OF
CERA
POWERS!
RESTORATION
IS
SAFE
CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL CAN BE SAVED
ONLY 25% to 30% OF CHRISTCHURCH [sic] CATHEDRAL
WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED
[Aerial pic of Christ Church Cathedral]
HOW CAN
* BISHOP MATTHEWS
* THE ANGLICAN CHURCH AUTHORITIES
* MINISTER GERRY BROWNLEE
BEGIN TO JUSTIFY DEMOLISHING A BUILDING
WHICH LOOKS LIKE THIS?
Help save our Cathedral. Come to a public rally in Cranmer Square
Saturday May 26 at 2.30 pm
27.05.12. DANGER KEEP OUT. Worcester St Bridge, steel mesh fence cordon view, serial quake trashed, Christ Church Cathedral W facade, Cathedral Sq
Stop Heritage Destruction
[Pic of The Wizard]
Save
Restore
Strengthen
The heart and soul of Christchurch - Our Cathedral
Protest leaders were all baby boomers: Example: Anderton was joint chairman of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust. There wasn't a cheep from Catholic Anderton when CERA demolished old shops opposite Anderton's Wigram electorate office, Selwyn St. We knew the area well, as Luke did picture-framing work at Sylvan Gallery Cafe down the road. Like the ruined-shops, Sylvan Gallery Cafe was closed post 22 February 2011 Quake. Sylvan Gallery building was owned by John Boote our former landlord. The building would survive the quakes, but stayed closed, scaffolded for years, a Brougham St eyesore.
We returned to our car via Cambridge Tce & Durham St Nth. Across Avon River we saw red-zone-ruins. Housing protest signs were stuck on lamp-poles:
SLUM LANDLORDS OUT
SOCIAL HOUSING NOW
[Pic of restaurant waiter pouring wine over a slum landlord's head, seated at a table].
Workers Solidarity Movement
27.05.12. Cambridge Tce view, serial quake damaged, Our City, Oxford Tce. Our City would survive the quakes, but would stay closed for years, awaiting restoration. 2019, still closed. 2021, Restoration would begin
27.05.12. Post quakes, housing protest sticker on lamp pole, Cambridge Tce
Gloucester St crossing: We viewed Gloucester St Bridge into the red-zone-CBD: Brannigans multi-storey was gone, a dusty demolition-site. The bridge's NZDF-checkpoint-hut was still there, steel mesh fence cordoned. The hut was closed, NZDF-soldiers gone.
27.05.12. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Post quakes, Danger sign & Tourist Map on red zone, CBD, steel mesh fence cordon, Cambridge Tce
Like on Worcester St Bridge, there were threat-signs on Gloucester St Bridge: Warning / No Access - EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT - Hazard, as if citizens who'd endured 1 000s of quakes were unaware of dangers. Tourists thrills were confirmed by juxta-position on a steel-mesh-fence-cordon of an EXTREME DANGER threat-sign with a tourist-map of the red-zone-CBD: Welcome To Christchurch. Weeks before I'd seen that same jarring juxta-position on a steel-mesh-fence-cordon by Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition-site, Victoria St.
An NZDF-checkpoint-sign:
ACCESS POINT
HOURS OF OPERATION
6.30 AM TO 6.30 PM DAILY
OUTSIDE OF THIS TIME USE
MANCHESTER ST / CAMBRIDGE TCE
ACCESS POINT
27.05.12. Post quakes, Brannigans demolition site, Cambridge Tce / Gloucester St
27.05.12. WARNING. Closed, steel mesh fence cordon, NZDF checkpoint, Gloucester St Bridge view, dead, CBD, red zone. Brannigans demolition site right below abandoned bldgs
27.05.12. Closed cordon checkpoint, Gloucester St Bridge view, red zone, abandoned high rises: Farmers left, awaited demolition. Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel & Novotel right were restored
27.05.12. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Steel mesh fence cordon. Closed, NZDF checkpoint hut, NZDF soldiers gone, red zone, Gloucester St Bridge
27.05.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Closed red zone, NZDF checkpoint / Gloucester St Bridge view, quake dead Landsborough House, awaiting demolition, Gloucester St / Durham St Nth
North along Durham St Nth 22 February 2011 Quake ruined Provincial Council was tarped. Opposite URS House & Amuri Courts were gone, dusty demolition-sites. Before demolitions those ruins had spooked me whenever I'd passed. Landsborough House still awaited demolition, Durham St Nth / Gloucester St. Awly Building, a new five-storey office-block would replace those demolitions.
27.05.12. Serial quake trashed, Landsborough House, Gloucester St / Durham St Nth. Landsborough House would be demolished for Awly Building, new 5 storey office block
27.05.12. Serial quake trashed, Landsborough House view, quake trashed, Provincial Council, Durham St Nth. Landsborough House would be demolished for Awly Building, new 5 storey office block. Provincial Council would be closed for years, awaiting restoration. 2021, still closed
27.05.12. Orange, plastic, road barrier, steel mesh fence cordon. Serial quake trashed, tarped, red zone cordoned, Provincial Council, Durham St Nth. Provincial Council would be closed for years, awaiting restoration. 2021, still closed
27.05.12. Post quakes demolition site, Durham St Nth / Armagh St
27.05.12. Post quakes, URS House & Amuri Courts demolition site, Armagh St / Durham St Nth
Further along Durham St Nth on Chester St West corner, I snapped Methodist Church, a dusty demolition-site where three people died in the 22 February 2011 Quake. Methodist Church would be rebuilt.
27.05.12. Methodist Church, demolition site, where 3 people died in the 22.02.11 quake, Durham St Nth / Chester St West. Methodist Church would be rebuilt
Across the road, Tower Building, Court House: I was jury-summonsed weeks before, but was excused due to my deafness. The summons pamphlet extolled the strength of Tower Building. Court House still had a faded green-sticker on a glass-door.
27.05.12. Serial quake survivor, Tower Building, Court House, Durham St Nth / Chester St West
27.05.12. Faded green sticker, Tower Building, Court House, Durham St Nth / Chester St West
A steel-mesh-fence-cordon blocked Durham St Nth by the Salvation Army building, soon demolished. Sallies bandsmen & bandswomen were leaving. I looked through the steel-mesh-fence-cordon at Copthorne Hotel's dusty demolition-site & Crowne Plaza Hotel's dusty demolition- site. Just rubble-heaps. The nor'wester blew clouds of demolition-dust. Gritty. Dirty.
27.05.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Sallies by quake survivor, Tower Building, Court House, Durham St Nth / Chester St West
27.05.12. The Salvation Army, Durham St Nth / Chester St West. The Salvation Army was demolished
Council would have to decide what to do with all the demolition-sites: Grow weeds? Grow grass? Make mini parks? Fill with Gap Filler plants or recycled junk? Rebuild? Would Christchurch citizens get respiratory ailments caused by liquefaction dust & demolition dust? All that asbestos-dust & silicon-dust blowing around! Never mind fungal-spores & bacterial-spores from sewage!
27.05.12. Red zone, Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Durham St Nth / Kilmore St
27.05.12. Copthorne Hotel, demolition site left, Durham St Nth / Kilmore St. Quake survivor, Christchurch Casino beyond left
While we looked at an X crack on Radio New Zealand ruin opposite the Salvation Army ruin, a Sallies bandsman overheard us talking while I exclaimed the X crack had widened every time I saw it. I shoved two fingers into the X crack. A chunk of concrete-brick had fallen from the X crack since I'd last passed.
27.05.12. Serial quake, X crack, commonly found on quake trashed bldgs, Radio New Zealand bldg, Chester St West / Durham St Nth. The bldg would be demolished for new lawyers' offices
The Sallies bandsman was an USAR / TF team-member. He said Radio New Zealand was more cracked inside when he'd inspected its ground-floor, which was liquefactioned throughout near Avon River. The ruin would be demolished for new lawyers' offices, Tavendale & Partners.
27.05.12. Post quakes, Canterbury Regional Emergency Management Office prefabs, Chester St West
Leah & I cut through a demolition-site past Canterbury Regional Emergency Management Office prefabs to Kilmore St. We argued our way past demolition-doomed Cranmer Courts: Leah liked the kitsch life-sized photos of people stuck on boarded-windows & boarded-doors, doing things like skateboarding, working, standing doing nothing. I liked the boards' weathering from yellow to grey showing woody grain. We agreed we'd soon got used to quakescapes around town & demolition-sites & bumpy roads. Dusty.
*Trekked Greers Rd, Avoca Valley Rd, Chapmans Rd, Park Tce, Montreal St, Worcester Blvd, Cambridge Tce, Gloucester St, Durham St Nth. 215 images.
Monday 28.05.12, 5am, M4.4 quake, 8km depth, 10km east of Christchurch. (GeoNet) Rumbled by, shook our house, shook my computer while I typed.
Leah hoped the quake-swarm we'd had over the last couple of weekends would pass, as quakes unsettled her school kids.
After biggish quakes, Leah often phoned a solo-parent friend who lived at Southshore. Leah's friend said Friday's M5.2 quake had left her feeling poorly.
Monday-Tuesday 28-29.05.12. For the housing crisis doubters & misinformers: Round about midnight, I fetched Luke from South New Brighton. I regularly drove that way late at night & noticed an increase in nocturnal car-parkers along Marine Pde. En route, I pulled into the cenotaph carpark near New Brighton pier's public loos & showers. A van & four cars were at the seaside carpark, windows misted in the frosty night. Several cars with misty windows were also parked on Marine Pde & Estuary Rd.
Saturday 02.06.12, 8.52am, M4.3 quake, depth 9km, 10km east of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Rumbled by, wobbled our house.
Coda:
Only in November 2013 would Brownlee acknowledge there was a housing crisis after publicly denying it for over a year. Although 1 000s of red- zone houses were being demolished by CERA & not replaced by developments, Brownlee's solution to that debacle, buttressed by an ECAN report done by NZ National government's appointed commissioners after government had booted out ECAN's elected management, was to redesign Christchurch for high-density housing: granny-flats could be sold as housing, pensioners' Council flats could be sold as housing, big houses could be sub-divided into flats, quarter-acre properties could be turned into two houses instead of the time-honoured one.
Fortunately the new Council under mayor Dalziel would see through that nonsense & only allow some high-density housing development in some suburbs.
Where we rented in Burnside, if Brownlee was observant, he'd see there was already high-density housing in his Ilam constituency: along Grahams Rd for instance, between Guildford St & Wairakei Rd & more off Clyde Road near Fendalton Village shops, Hooker Ave, Morley St, Truman Rd... Old state-housing in tightly packed abundance: semi-detached single-storey houses; shabby three-bedroom rentals like ours' at Heath St; two-storey semi-detached houses. Brownlee wanted to transform that sort of housing to battery-chicken housing: 30-65 dwellings per hectare. And garages & carparking? Great for developers & landlords. Crap for tenants! Future slums!
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Group calls on Brownlee to address housing (The Press / Stuff Co).
See A roadmap through the rebuild (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Battle looms over zoning (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Concern at red zone deadline (The Press / Stuff Co).
See New $50m Science Alive building in Christchurch (The Press / Stuff Co).
