Fetching Luke from Hornby that afternoon was no problem, as snow on the road was still slushy. The Press 07.06.12 reported that Wed 06.06.12 was the coldest day recorded in Christchurch in 130 years.
Leah drove through snow for a late 11am start at her London St school. One child arrived in Leah's class. Parents decided not to bring kids to school, too snowy, slippery road dangerous. That night 10cm of snow lay in our Burnside garden.
Thurs 07.06.12. As the snow iced overnight, wheels spinning, I battled to drive my car out our Burnside driveway. Luke & Leah had to push a bit. Driving Luke to Hornby work, was like driving on glass. Late Wed afternoon, I did lots of garage drying out & snow digging on the driveway. Most schools were closed. Late school start, 11am, I drove Leah to her London St school. Only 7 kids arrived at school for a couple of hours' lessons. Leah said, "It's the third year running, my teaching's disturbed by natural hassles, quakes then snows."
As the day was too short for my snapping pics of the snowy, red zone CBD, I circular trekked in snowy red zone Avonside: Swanns Rd Bridge, Retreat Rd, Avonside Dr along Avon River stopbank, returning to my car parked between Swanns Rd Bridge & Avonside Girls High ghost.
07.06.12. Black swans, Avon River, nr Swanns Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Snowy Swanns Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Quake spalled, concrete span at abutment join, Swanns Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Snowy Avonside Dr view, Swanns Rd Bridge
A crisp, sunny afternoon, blue skies & a snow mattress contrasting the horrors of red zone, Avonside, quake trashed roads & evacuated, red zone, ghost housing. Equalizing snow covered everything: bridges across Avon River, roads, pavements, riverside footpaths, liquefaction mud, demolition sites, quake-flung bricks & quake-scarred, boarded housing, useless power lines.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone house, Avonside Dr, nr Swanns Rd Bridge. The house would be demolished by CERA
07.06.12. Quake tilted, power pole, blue, water pipe on snowy pavement, by red zone housing, Avonside Dr, nr Swanns Rd Bridge. The housing would be demolished by CERA
Some anti-burglar / anti-hooligan tricks red zoners used, pretending ghost houses were still inhabited: cars in driveways, curtains opened, No Junk Mail signs on letter boxes.
Avonside Dr: Near Swanns Rd Bridge, next to a broken window house, a neighbour's house sign:
HAVE A
CARE WE
STILL LIVE
HERE
BEWARE THROWING
STONES MAY AFFECT
YOUR BREATHING!
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone housing, Avonside Dr, nr Swanns Rd Bridge. The housing would be demolished by CERA
07.06.12. Quake tilted house & window sign, snowy, red zone house, Avonside Dr, nr Avonside Girls High. The house would be demolished by CERA
07.06.12 Stone thrown, broken window, snowy, red zone house, Avonside Dr, nr Avonside Girls High. The houses would be demolished by CERA
Ghost housing evidence near Avon River:
Red stickers on doors, showing houses too dangerous for habitation;
Less walkers & dog walkers on Avon River banks;
Green stickers on windows, showing power cuts;
Snow capped rubbish bins in front gardens;
Few snowy footprints in streets or gardens;
No car tyre tracks in snowy driveways;
Boarded doors & windows;
Snow capped letterboxes;
Broken chimneys;
Buckled walls;
Cracked walls;
Tilted houses;
Few pedestrians;
Garages without houses;
Low hanging power lines;
Street flooding, muddy, icy pools;
Ongoing demolitions of red zone houses;
Steel mesh fence cordons across properties;
Few cars or cyclists on quake trashed roads;
Roadside, plastic portaloos, different colours;
Roadside, plastic, sewage tanks, green or black;
Blue, plastic, water pipes along snowy pavements;
CERA contractor vehicle touting house alarm fix-its.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone house, Retreat Rd / Avonside Dr, nr Swanns Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr / Retreat Rd, nr Swanns Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, bench beside Avon River, Avonside Dr / Retreat Rd. Snowy, River Rd on opp bank
Retreat Rd: Some green zoned, some red zoned, in the borderland by red zoned housing in the Avon River horseshoe bend. I detoured twice off my circular trek: Silverdale Pl off Retreat Rd & Bowie Pl off Avonside Dr. Only one man shovelled snow off his driveway in Silverdale Pl. Neighbouring houses were ghosts.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zoned, Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Snowy house, Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Snowy, green portaloo, Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Snowy, rubbish bins, snowy, red zone house, Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Snowy, Retreat Rd / Keller St
07.06.12. Earthquake sign on power pole, snowy, Retreat Rd / Patten St junction
07.06.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, snowy, Retreat Rd / Patten St
07.06.12. Snowy, street signs, Retreat Rd / Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Grey portaloo, snowy, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Green, plastic, sewage tank, snowy, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone house, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, Silverdale Pl view, snowy, Port Hills
07.06.12. Snowy, quake trashed, red zone house, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Quake buckled, house wall, snowy, red zone, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, quake trashed chimney, red zone house, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, red stickered, red zone house, quake taped window, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, electricity cut, green stickered, red zone house, Silverdale Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Highbury Pl / Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Quake trashed, boarded chimney, snowy, red zone house, Retreat Rd
Retreat Rd / Avonside Dr: Council ghost flats all boarded closed, although some were green stickered. They'd been closed since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Retreat Rd / Avonside Dr, nr Gayhurst Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr view, across Avon River, to snowy Dallington Tce left & Gayhurst Rd Bridge
07.06.12. Quake crack by front step, closed Council flat, snowy, Avonside Dr / Retreat Rd. The Council flats would be demolished
07.06.12. Outdated, faded, green sticker, Council flat, snowy Avonside Dr / Retreat Rd
07.06.12. Serial, quake closed, Council flats, snowy, Avonside Dr / Retreat Rd. The Council flats would be demolished
Bowie Pl: Quake damaged since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. Post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, I'd coolpixed Bowie Pl council housing, all 32 ghost flats, liquefactioned & boarded closed.
Despite Christchurch post quakes housing crisis, 21 months later Bowie Pl was still closed, a padlocked chain across the road, ghost flats yellow stickered, boarded. Many flats looked habitable, despite some liquefaction mud under snow. The flats would be demolished.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr stopbank view, Avon River to snowy, Dallington Tce
07.06.12. Serial, quake closed, padlock chained, Bowie Pl, serial, quake closed, Council flats
07.06.12. Snowy / icy, red zone, boarded, serial, quake closed, quake bent, Council flats, Bowie Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, serial, quake closed, boarded, Council flats, Bowie Pl
07.06.12. Yellow sticker, serial, quake closed Council flat, Bowie Pl
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, serial, quake closed, boarded, Council flats, Bowie Pl
High tide Avon River looked OK, ducks & Canada geese swam downstream towards Kerrs Reach.
CERA minister Brownlee wanted to straighten Avon River by Kerrs Reach, to encourage water sports back again. (He would tout that again in Dec 2013. That delusion morphed into making Christchurch the "Sports Capital." Later choristers wanted a new, rowers' lake formed after red zone, Horseshoe Lake demolitions. Never mind Kerrs Reach, rowing club house rebuilds).
Meanwhile the housing crisis continued, while CERA was supposed to be sorting housing RECOVERY, but wasn't.
Mon 10.06.12. The Press business section reported the farcical, new housing situation: "The first 3 months of this year saw local councils issue consents for just 60 new homes in the region, double the 30 issued in the last quarter 2011, according to Statistics New Zealand...
Between the first quakes in September 2010 and the end of April this year, consents for 152 quake- related rebuilds were issued in Canterbury, as well as 149 consents for portable homes in temporary villages."
In 2013 Brownlee would use the consents debacle to kick Council's ass. Mayor Parker & town clerk Marryatt were responsible for bldg consents processing & despite the housing crisis, did nothing to speed up bldg consents processing.
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone housing, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake cracked house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake trashed, boarded chimney, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Abandoned furniture in garden, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Grey portaloo, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Grey portaloo, blue water pipe on pavement, snowy red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr view, contractor house alarm vehicle & snowy, Port Hills
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Morris St / Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, house demolition site, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Avonside Dr view, snowy, red zone stopbank, weeping elm, quake trashed, drain by Avon River. Dallington Tce opp bank
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Avonside Dr, stopbank view, quake trashed, tilted drain by Avon River. Dallington Tce opp bank. The drain would be demolished
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr, stopbank view, quake sunk, footpath by Avon River. Dallington Tce opp bank
07.06.12. Red zone, Avonside Dr, stopbank view, Canada geese in Avon River. Dallington Tce, opp bank
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, serial, quake trashed house, Avonside Dr. Blue, plastic, water pipe on pavement
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avon River, stopbank view, serial, quake trashed, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, quake trashed house, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Steel mesh fence cordoned, serial, quake trashed house with broken chimney, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Three stickered, house door, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake cracked, house wall, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Demolition vehicles, house demolition site, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake trashed, house demolition in progress, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. House, demolition site, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed, house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
Landcheck on CERA website became obfuscation: I tried to check zoning of various Retreat Rd, Avonside Dr, Silverdale Pl addresses, even my Burnside home address, but CERA website gave "Address... not found." Despite Council yellow stickers I'd seen at Bowie Pl, I found a Bowie Pl address red zoned. CERA webmaster was obscuring house zoning information. The original Landcheck website had clearly shown address zonings, red, orange, green, white. No search hassles. Now, despite the importance of NZ National govt, land zoning information, CERA was opaque.
CERA website gave the NZ National govt, land purchase offers, for red zone, insured residential properties:
"Option 1 - the purchase price paid for your property will be based on the most recent rating valuation for your land, buildings and fixtures and the Crown will take over all insurance claims for the damage to your property.
Option 2 - the purchase price paid for your property will be the most recent rating valuation for your land and the Crown will take over your EQC claim for land damage. You will retain the benefit of all insurance claims for the damage to your buildings and fixtures and will continue to deal with EQC and your insurer to settle those claims."
Thus NZ National govt ensured that red zone, homeowners lost all claims to their land & the Crown grabbed the lot.
Red zoning: NZ National govt's / CERA's geotech experts, Tonkin & Taylor engineering firm deemed quake damaged land too expensive to fix (without even releasing CERA's land assessments to residential property owners) then red zoners were forced to leave their land, whether their houses were quake damaged or not. While trekking, I'd seen 1 000s of red zone, ghost houses: The land may have been quake damaged, but some red zone houses were not damaged.
Red zoners were forced off their residential properties by NZ National govt / CERA, without CERA releasing the land assessments on which red zoning was based. Thus red zoners had to accept a NZ National govt / CERA offer, or deal with insurers, without being provided any land assessment information at all.
Then there was the NZ National govt / CERA decreeing 28 000 green-blue zone, TC3 houses, where green zoners were stuck on quake damaged land, which Tonkin & Taylor deemed OK to fix. But expensive new foundations had to be constructed during repairs on TC3 green-blue zoners' land. Some TC3 green-blue zoners' houses were more quake damaged than red zoners' houses, yet TC3 green-blue zoners were forced to stay by CERA / National govt decree on quake crapped land.
There was no right of appeal for any land zoning by CERA, only non negotiable CERA review. (The review was a belated ploy by CERA to obviate court action by disgruntled red zoners, after 1 000s of red zoners had already accepted the NZ National govt / CERA offer). A reader in The Press / Stuff Co comments section observed that criminals had more rights, like right of appeal, than red zoners. No wonder red zoners contemplated appeals to the queen, or the UN, or contemplated class action. (The latter would evolve & carry on for years).
So far all over Christchurch, over 7 000 houses were red zoned uninhabitable by CERA, due to land damage by quakes. 16 months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, CERA still dithered over rezoning Port Hills white zone properties.
People had evacuated many red zone houses, yet 21 months post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, CERA, Council & developers had not replaced evacuated houses with an adequate, housing rebuild programme. Low housing supply enabled the housing, rental market to increase rents & rake in filthy lucre. That affected our family.
Never mind red zoners & other zoned home owners battling EQC & insurers for payouts for repairs or rebuilds & paying mortgages & rates for evacuated housing. There was some Council rates relief, but insufficient.
Instead CERA & Council wittered about grand plans for the CBD rebuild, like a roofed stadium, new convention centre, various sports facility rebuilds, while homeowners of quake trashed housing suffered CERA neglect. Homeowners, unable to cover increased housing costs, slept in cars, garages, tents, caravans, broken homes.
The snag with NZ National govt's, red zone land / housing offer to red zoners was that NZ National govt only offered 2007 Rateable Value, not market value. If red zoners opted not to battle with slow insurers for payouts & accepted NZ National govt offer, NZ National govt took over red zoners' land rights & insurances & used homeowners' own insurances to pay out red zoners. Insurers & reinsurers laughed all the way to the bank, having saved big bucks by cosy dealings with NZ National govt.
Never mind delays by insurers (to force red zoners to accept NZ National govt offer, as deadlines loomed for red zoners to evacuate properties) & threats by CERA to stop services like water, sewage, electricity, if red zoners opted not to deal & stay on their quake damaged (or undamaged) properties. And property owners without insurance?
Still, after about 10 500 quakes, many red zone houses looked liveable, just like our green zoned, Burnside rental. How many sound, red zone houses would be relocated for resale, or just demolished? NZ National govt's small costings on infrastructure rebuild (see letter below) & NZ National govt's excuse for red zoning, infrastructure would be too expensive to rebuild on quake damaged land, were reasons for the red zoning of sound houses, which had so far survived over 10 000 quakes.
07.06.12. DANGER KEEP OUT. Serial, quake trashed, Medway St Footbridge, between Avonside Dr & River Rd, snowy, red zone. Medway St Footbridge would be deconstructed & stored at Ferrymead Heritage Park. 2021. A new Medway St Footbridge would be built over Avon River, opened 2022
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake displaced porch, serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake displaced, brick, serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Quake skewed window, serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Wood braced, house wall, serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Steel mesh fence cordoned, serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Post demolition, garage, sans house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Weeping elm by house demolition site, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr, stopbank view, downstream, Avon River. Snowy, red zone, River Rd right
07.06.12. Blue, plastic, water pipe. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr view, snowy, red zone, Bracken St & snowy, Port Hills
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
07.06.12. Avonside Dr view, snowy, red zone, Monkton Pl
07.06.12. Serial, quake trashed house, snowy, red zone, Avonside Dr
*Trekked Swanns Rd, Avonside Dr, Retreat Rd, Silverdale Pl, Bowie Pl. 163 images.
The red zoned houses I saw that snowy day would be demolished by CERA.
PM Key posted us a National party pamphlet, "Investing in our Future BUDGET 2012 at a glance," an Ilam constituency survey form from CERA minister Brownlee, "Building a Brighter Future for Ilam" & a form letter from Key dated 5 June 2012, boasting about disbursement of taxpayers' money in the Canterbury rebuild:
"Dear Mr & Mrs Esslemont and family...
Our commitment to the rebuild of greater Christchurch is central to our plan. We promised to stand shoulder to shoulder with Cantabrians and we are continuing to do so. Our progress includes:
*Setting aside $5.5 billion for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund and establishing the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). More than $3.4 billion of the Recovery Fund will have been spent by next year to support the rebuild, repair, and growth of greater Christchurch.
*Repairing over 15 000 homes and 12 000 sqm of road, installing 12.6km of wastewater pipe and 9.5km of drinking water pipe and demolishing over 80 percent of unsafe buildings.
[Key could've taken a day's drive on quake-crapped roads & walked E suburbs to see how wrong he was. 15 000 repaired homes Ha! EQC would dither over undercap NZ$100 000 repairs & overcap NZ$100 000 repairs. Monopoly Fletcher would do undercap pairs, many badly done & insurers would do overcap repairs or rebuilds, only after EQC had made up its retarded mind! Sewage excavations around town yes. CBD demolitions yes, but few suburban housing demolitions, so far. 9.5km water pipe, so what?]
*Making purchase offers to more than 6 000 residential red zone homeowners, two-thirds of whom have accepted.
[If true, those 2/3s homeowners gave their land rights to the Crown, under duress, with no buy back option, accepting a NZ National govt land-grab].
*Fast-tracking planning permission to make thousands of new residential sections available in new subdivisions on safe land.
[So far nothing happened].
*Completing $165 million worth of infrastructure repairs [Where?] and undertaking a further $40 million each month on average...
[Small expenditure on infrastructure repairs, so far].
National will continue to work tirelessly to deliver our plan to build a brighter future for Cantabrians and New Zealanders."
As there was little rebuild going on in Christchurch CBD, where was all the money going? Why were things taking so long? Brownlee's & Key's future for green zone Ilam was bright, but it was opaque for residential red zones elsewhere. What was Key's & Brownlee's bright future for Avonside, residential red zone & other residential red zones scattered around Christchurch & beyond, like Port Hills suburbs, Lyttelton, Kaiapoi, Spencerville, Brooklands, Pines Beach, Kairaki Beach?
Nearly 2 years post 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, Christchurch roads were still crap: potholes, switchbacks, patches, raised manholes, infrastructure excavations, detours, orange, plastic, road cone cordons. E suburbs including Avonside, still used portaloos. Little rebuild was going on. The red zone CBD was a demolition wasteland, ghost high rises still to be demolished. The red zone CBD, still taboo for citizens, was still surrounded by steel mesh fence cordons, checkpointed by NZDF soldiers.
So far, there were few residential sections available in Christchurch's housing market, due to Council restricted supply & land sections would be too expensive, if NZ housing bubble continued: "Today housing is rated 'severely unaffordable' at 6.3 times household earnings." (Cantabrians Unite website). Thus buying a new, overpriced section, at current market price & rebuilding (even with slow red zone, Rateable Value pay out) was too expensive for most hard working Cantabrians, like my adult sons. NZ was becoming a land of 2 classes: 1. Landed Class, like rich farmers hogging the best rural land, govt assisted by Land Tenure Revue. (Another story). 2. Landless Class, like myself, never able to buy land or a house in NZ due to low wages.
Tue 12.06.12. 2.34am, M4.2 quake, 9km depth, within 5km of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Woke us up, like a train rumbling by.
Wed 13.06.12. 2.15am, M3.8 quake, 6km depth, 10km S of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Didn't wake us up.
Coda:
Wed 07.01.14. When I drove around Avonside red zone, many of the ghost houses had been demolished by CERA, leaving weedy demolition sites, bordered by ramshackle fencing or overgrown hedges. Most of the ghost houses still standing were boarded state houses, all of which were more dilapidated since I'd last trekked by.
Aug 2018. CERA's residential, red zones were fenced off & grassy with trees & shrubs remaining, giving a park-like effect, after house demolitions. Parts of the red zone near rivers had reverted to swampland with luxuriant reed growth, like Porritt Park. A few houses remained where residents had refused to accept NZ National govt's / CERA's offers. Red zone roads were still buckled, potholed, in poor repair. Permanent road barriers blocked vehicle traffic on many red zone roads. Only walkers allowed. All road bridges were repaired. e.g. Gayhurst Rd Bridge was rebuilt with swanky, new, steel balustrades.
Content & pics copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Rowing groups call for top watersports complex (The Press / Stuff Co).
See The new New Zealand land wars (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Subdued pickup in building consents (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Red zoners may appeal to United Nations (The Press / Stuff Co).
See CERA offer to insured residential property owners in the residential red zone (CERA).
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