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 & visiting Jake & Luke. I kept up with post-quake Christchurch landscape by following the news & visiting suburbs & the CBD. CERA still wasn't saying what the Crown would do with 8 000+ red-zone residential properties mostly beside Avon River which CERA took from citizens.
Saturday 28.03.15. While Leah attended a function at Seabrook Mackenzie Centre, London St, celebrating the first ten years of Jean Seabrook Memorial School there (where Leah had taught the first nine years) I reviewed residential red-zone along Avon River where I'd snapped 1 000s of pics during quake years: Avonside Dr, Avon Loop where Jake lived pre-quakes, River Rd, Dallington Tce, Glenarm Tce, Locksley Ave, Kingsford St, Queensbury St & Avonside Dr...
Most houses & commercial buildings in the red-zone had already been demolished by CERA. A few houses still to go. They were boarded, SMF- cordoned & DANGER-taped. Some had ASBESTOS warning-tapes. Trees & shrubs were left by CERA, but most of the residential red-zone was overgrown. Some areas were mown, some areas were fenced giving a parkland effect, but most of the residential red-zone along Avon River was unfenced. On red-zone fencing I saw 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 four years post 22 February 2011 Quake. SCIRT 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. (The new Gayhurst Road Bridge would open in August 2015).
All residential red-zone roads were bad with potholes & loose shingle. I saw flooding in places where high-tide Avon River leaked under stopbanks. CERA made orange & black signs stopping people entering some residential red-zones. I saw residential red-zone fencing across roads which had 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 residential red-zone at the end of the road where I'd snapped post 13 June 2011 Quake. En route, I passed two NZDF jeeps & a Unimog parked on a side-road. At the end of Kingsford St two camouflage-uniformed soldiers toting automatic rifles confronted me. I hand-signalled my turnabout & drove off. Why was CERA still allowing war-games in residential red-zones? (A couple of years ago, 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: on a residential red-zone fence, a 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, we saw a broken-down car was parked under gum trees by Bromley oxidation ponds. A black Staffordshire terrier was locked in the car. A car window note:
BROKE
BROKEN
HOMELESS
Luke told us the car was there for days & an Irishman slept in it. He was a construction worker who'd 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. The Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment, MBIE had sampled some EQC / Fletcher repaired house-foundations & found inadequate repairs. CERA minister Brownlee blamed "Cowboy builders" contracted by EQC / Fletcher, saying they must repair their foundation-repairs! Never mind shoddy repairs done above house-foundations. Builders bleated they'd go bankrupt! Fletcher boss shifted-blame to migrant Irish builders!
No one took responsibility for shoddy repairs, like shoddy jack-'n-pack foundations, or cracked, painted-over gib-boards, or epoxy-glued concrete seen all over Christchurch. That cowardly blame-shifting was like what happened 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 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).
