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    • Saving the Library? First: draft proposals and practicable options
      • We’re told that today’s meeting of the Wellington City Council is to “expedite” decision making on the future of the Central Library, after last week’s meeting was postponed for a week, to get more information and advice. The informal five-page paper prepared for today’s meeting claims there will be an “expedited process and timeline.” But I’m not persuaded. Consider the fact that last week staff were proposing public consultation starting this month and ending late in August. Does the new plan expedite this consultation? Well no. The new plan is for consultation in August and September. Unless I’m getting it wrong, this is a delay – not even starting to consult till the month when it was originally meant to have been completed. And finishing more than a month later than originally planned. So if consultation isn’t being expedited, what else? … Read more at Scoop. Permalink

    • Press Release: Wellington City Council services and facilities at Level 3
      • Following Monday’s announcement by the Government, Wellington City Council can confirm the status of its services and facilities as the country moves into Alert Level 3 on Tuesday 28 April. For the Council, Alert Level 3 will look a lot like Level 4, says Mayor Andy Foster. “As the Prime Minister has said, we do not want to lose the hard won gains, so this means most of our staff will continue to work from home, and most of our facilities must remain closed.” But from Tuesday more businesses will be able to operate, and construction will be able to resume under Level 3 protocols. This means work on significant construction projects including the Convention Centre, Town Hall, Te Awe Library and the St James can resume, as well as the Wallace St pipeline renewal project. Routine or planned maintenance work will resume across the city on our roads, infrastructure and parks and reserves network, along with many smaller construction projects. “It’s been over a month since many of these maintenance and construction activities have taken place, and we encourage the public to be conscious that there will be more vehicles on the road and people out working,” says the Mayor. “We also ask people to be patient as some of our services may take longer than normal to deliver due to the requirement for us to work differently.” “Like everyone returning to work, our teams and contractors will be following safety protocols to keep themselves and the community safe. This includes limiting contact with the public and continuing to provide services online or over the phone wherever we can. “We all still have an essential and crucial role in getting the city and region through the Covid-19 situation. We need to look after ourselves, our whānau, and community. We need to follow the directions of our Government and follow the advice of the Ministry of Health,” he adds. Wellington City Libraries will continue to support bubbles with their online library programmes and eResources, as the branches remain closed under Covid-19 Alert Level 3. Due dates for all items currently on loan have been extended until July, so the public is asked to please keep all items at home until the branches reopen. “It’s been great to see everyone out and enjoying their local parks and open spaces from within their bubbles during the lockdown, and really highlights the value of our amazing open space network,” says Parks, Sport and Recreation Acting Manager, Sarah Murray “When Level 3 kicks-in, Council’s City Parks, Sport and Recreation teams will be out and about mowing the grass, maintaining sports fields, weeding gardens, trimming trees, and tidying up our outdoor spaces, so take care and keep any eye out for them,” adds Sarah. All essential services from Level 4 remain operational. At Alert Level 3 the following outdoor facilities are open for casual/informal use only and people should follow the government’s guidance around recreation at Alert Level 3, specifically: Stay local Exercise alone or in your bubble Stay 2 metres away from others Avoid touching surfaces (like handrails)  Try to avoid touching your face Wash hands thoroughly when you get home Stick to low risk activities Outdoor facilities open at Alert Level 3 Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park – Alert Level 3 guidelines apply Sports fields and outdoor courts Newtown Park athletics track – (open from 7am to 4pm) Ian Galloway BMX track  Hataitai Park velodrome Makara and Karori Cemeteries – where the gates will remain closed with pedestrian only access at entrances, and the cemetery office at Karori will remain closed to the public. The small chapel at Karori will be open for services as per Level 3 guidance Dog parks Rubbish and Recycling Services The kerbside rubbish collection continues under Alert Level 3 There will be No kerbside recycling collection until Alert Level 2 The Southern Landfill, Tip Shop and Transfer Station are all closed to the public with the landfill only open to commercial account holders Other Council services that will be resuming at Alert Level 3 (where physical distancing and hygiene protocols can be maintained) Parking – metered and coupon parking will resume normal service on Tuesday 12  May alongside existing Parking enforcement activities Graffiti removal Building Consents & Resource Consents Land Information Memorandums (LIMS) Noise Control – full service Public Health – limited services Council Committee meetings – will continue via Zoom meetings Services and facilities that will continue to remain closed at Alert Level 3 The Service Centre on Manners Street All Libraries and Community Centres  Recreation centres including the ASB Sports Centre in Kilbirnie Swimming pools Skate parks and playgrounds The Begonia House, Tree House and Otari Visitor Centre at Wellington Gardens The Carter Observatory Toi Pōneke Arts Centre Museum Wellington The Cable Car and associated museum The Wellington Zoo The Harbourside Market Zealandia Public toilets, other than those toilets already open during Alert Level 4 Environmental Group Volunteer activities  All services and facilities will be updated with Alert Level 3 status on Monday 27 April at 5pm on the Wellington City Council website section dedicated to Covid-19 information. “Keeping up the great work of staying safe, staying separate, staying local, and following good hygiene procedures is the best way of ensuring we get to Level 2 as quickly as possible. “Kia kaha Wellington,” adds Mayor Foster. Related links: www.wellington.govt.nz/covid-19 www.covid19.govt.nz

    • Update on Seismic Strengthening Lobbying
      • Two petitions calling for action to address impacts of earthquake-prone building provisions These petitions are in response to concerns raised at the public meeting on 6 June 2019 of residential owners in earthquake-prone buildings. Both petitions close on 31 August 2019 and our plan is for them to be presented as a package. We encourage you to support this work by signing both petitions. Petition for comprehensive support Calls for the Government to provide comprehensive financial, technical and advisory support interventions for residential owners in earthquake-prone buildings. ICW has been raising the need for this support in submissions to both central and local government since 2013. We have made some progress with the Financial Assistance Scheme announced in Budget 2019 (thanks to action taken by Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson), but more support is needed urgently.  For more information and to sign the petition, click here. Petition to review the earthquake-prone provisions in the Building Act 2004 Calls for the Government to undertake a review of the earthquake-prone provisions to take account of the significantly higher strengthening costs compared to those used in the policy process, the stretched engineering and construction sectors, and the need to focus scarce resources on public safety priorities. The role of %NBS (New Building Standard) - a core part of the policy has been undermined by the insurance sector's announcement it ignores this in setting premiums. Central and local government must facilitate buyout options for residential owners where it is uneconomic to strengthen to allow redevelopment. For more information and to sign the petition, click here.   Regulation change that could benefit owners of smaller buildings This change is aimed at provincial towns, following the successful lobbying of four mayors to get support for their property owners, primarily commercial buildings. However, it could apply to any building owner, particularly of smaller, standalone buildings. It is unlikely to apply to multi-unit buildings. The definition of 'substantial alterations' has been amended to allow modest building work to enable property to be tenanted.  The earthquake-prone building criteria for substantial alterations will be changed so that an alteration, other than seismic work, is substantial if it needs a building consent and together with other work consented in the last two years has an estimated value of at least 25% of the building’s value, but only if the value of the building work is greater than $150,000.   Strengthening cost calculation tool This tool (download tool here), developed within a collaborative lobby group which ICW is part of, is aimed at providing body corporates and owners with an indicative understanding of the full costs of strengthening - not just the construction costs (as big as they are).  It is intended as a guideline only and does not replace formal costing or financial advice. The Excel tool provides a sheet for a building costing and a separate sheet for an apartment costing. The calculation cells are locked to avoid unintended changes to formulas. However, there are instructions in the Notes if you wish to unlock these cells and make changes to the formulas.  Material from the 6 June 2019 public meeting is available here.   Update on discussions with Grant Robertson Our collaborative lobby group continues to meet regularly with Grant to progress responses to the challenges being faced by owners. Financial Assistance Scheme: work is underway on the criteria and application process, but we do not have a date at this stage. Tax Relief for Seismic Strengthening costs: this work has been included in IRD's work programme, and a report back is expected 'this side of Christmas'. We have reiterated the need for any mechanism to be available for work completed, and to provide a suitable mechanism for residential owner-occupiers, as the depreciation approach appears to be targeted at commercial/landlord properties. Advisory Service: we are drafting a proposal for what is needed and working with a lawyer with experience in a similar service.  We encourage all owners who are facing challenges with strengthening - eg, can't get engineers, variability in advice, difficulties progressing decisions in multi-owner environments, delays in providing reports, affordability for owners, uneconomic options - to let Grant Robertson, Mayor and your councillors know.  We would be keen to hear your experiences too and these can be sent to ICW or to Geraldine Murphy (Seismic Spokesperson).  We have been able to establish a good evidence base with this knowledge to lobby for action for residential owners.  It would be good to hear from small commercial property owners if you are experiencing similar issues. 

    • Action, not sympathy – what’s wanted by apartment owners
      • Funding in the Budget for a residential earthquake-prone building financial assistance scheme, with $23.3m of operating and capital expenditure, is an important first step. But support can’t stop there. The scheme is a suspensory loan, available to owners of residential units in earthquake-prone buildings in high seismic risk areas (such as Wellington) who are facing financial hardship, with properties acquired before 1 July 2017. We have no detail on how this will be implemented as yet. Grant Robertson says he sees this as a starting point in the support that is needed and he knows that it won’t address all the issues. Details are being developed for Cabinet approval. This will include eligibility criteria, the form and amount of assistance available, and how the scheme will be administered. Inner City Wellington has lobbied the Wellington City Council since 2015 to provide advisory support for body corporates facing the need for earthquake strengthening. This year, the Council has indicated that advisory support will be more widely available, but the indications are that the Council want to target it to owners of priority buildings. The support must be available to all body corporates of residential apartment buildings – the Budget announcement will increase the demand for that service. A number of body corporates are struggling to access reliable technical and professional advice about earthquake strengthening, and often end up paying multiple times to get advice they can rely on. ICW has pushed for MBIE to set up this service, but to date it hasn’t. The conclusion in the Wellington City Council’s external review of the URM facades and parapets project shows that funding and advisory support are critical to helping projects progress. ICW submitted on the consultation document and interim report of the Tax Working Group calling for tax relief for owners who have already paid or are paying for mandatory seismic strengthening and saying there must be an equitable approach for residential owner-occupiers. The TWG recommendation was to reinstate depreciation for buildings. We wrote to the Ministers of Finance and Revenue stating that this would not help owner-occupiers. We called for new thinking on how to fairly provide the same tax relief for residential owner-occupiers and to make it retrospective. There are precedents for retrospective tax relief following the Canterbury earthquakes. Grant Robertson has been instrumental in ensuring that residential owner-occupiers do not get lost among the commercial property owners, including investor-landlords, and he has said the Government is committed to making the work on seismic strengthening costs a priority in the tax work programme. When ICW started lobbying, the scale of the costs was not known. While the legislation allows for demolition, neither the Government of the day nor the Parliament as a whole considered the impact on private home owners who happen to live in an apartment and the viability of them demolishing and undertaking a development project. The only option for some owners when the estimated costs and the financial risks of strengthening are so high is to sell – but that will be at discounted prices, with ‘strengthen or demolish’ deadlines looming, and prosecution threats by councils. There has to be some compensation mechanism for this group too. Grant Robertson helpfully wrote a DomPost opinion piece in 2016 which called on the government of the day to provide financial support for owners facing seismic strengthening. We are holding him to that – and he has delivered with the Financial Assistance Scheme. Our collaborative lobby group has met him regularly since then and we are getting traction on some of the issues we’re raising. ICW submits on EQPB issues whenever there is the opportunity – and has been supported by owners speaking about their experiences at the oral submissions. The City Council has latterly become more explicitly engaged with advisory support, and announcements of $500k for non-heritage building owners to apply for funds to help pay for reports and investigations. This has been spurred on in our view by Grant’s engagement. The council has a rates rebates scheme for those owners who have completed strengthening – but the challenge is starting and funding the project. Clr Pannett has been engaged for many years and was instrumental in the rates rebate and the most recent announcements in the annual plan, and has sought ICW’s input on papers, eg around priority buildings. Councillors are sympathetic, but owners don’t want sympathy – they want action, and they expect councillors and the mayor to be lobbying on their behalf as the four provincial mayors recently did. MBIE and its Minister in the current and previous Governments have been constantly difficult to engage with. They have not responded to frequent requests for meetings. Frustration at every turn, with Official Information Act requests being refused, left to the last day and extended, then released after a complaint to the Ombudsman. We have felt that the residential owners’ perspectives were not being taken into account, but they would probably engage with the Property Council. ICW and BCCG did meet with an MBIE official in early 2017 and we felt we got a good hearing but then he moved on. MBIE will be implementing the Financial Assistance Scheme and we have written to the Minister offering to work with officials to provide input – as we have done on numerous previous occasions – so we hope they will take us up on our offer. Minister Salesa has asked for copies of this material. The National Spokesperson for EQC asked to meet us to get an overview of the wider seismic strengthening and insurance issues, not just EQC. Neil Cooper and I met with Engineering NZ to raise our concerns about capacity, about variability in assessments and how Engineering NZ could participate in advisory support provided via WCC and/or MBIE in a similar manner to the Christchurch Residential Advisory Service. In our meetings with Grant, we have raised the issue of the capacity of engineers and other professionals to do the work that is required. We have heard of engineers not wanting to work with body corporates, of three engineering firms telling one body corporate they can’t even consider looking at the work – come back in six months and we’ll see; having to use engineers who are retired and no longer registered – which then means a registered engineer is required to sign-off the work; of waiting six months or longer for engineers to provide the reports; detailed design working taking a year. Identifying priority buildings and reducing timeframes will add to the pressure on the sector, on prices and on ability to meet timeframes. THE WCC has until December to formally identify priority buildings. While these will mainly be buildings on the EQPB List, there is the potential that others could be added as the WCC has indicated it is still identifying buildings. A number of buildings that aren’t identified as priority buildings have a similar shortened timeframe. We reject totally views that owners have ‘had 15 years to do the work, they should have got on with it’. We know the challenge many are facing. The wider demand on new infrastructure across the country, including Kiwibuild, is having an impact on the wider sector – and small players such as body corporates struggle to get into that space. The looming issue of the precast and hollowcore floors will also impact on capacity in the wider construction sector. We think there is a looming problem that will begin to affect body corporates’ ability to achieve legislated timeframes – despite best efforts to do so. We have raised this with Grant and he has advised that given these issues MBIE are looking at the scale of the programme now and what it means for timeframes. Precast/hollowcore floors began to be used in the 1980s building boom, with various standards issued in mid 2000s.MBIE has issued a new guidance document that can be used to assess the seismic ratings of buildings with precast/hollowcore floors. But the buildings assessed under the new voluntary guidance cannot be determined as earthquake prone, as the new guidance is not part of the methodology that is set in legislation. This is the case with the Central Library, where the floors are assessed as below 34% NBS. MBIE is taking several years to gather feedback on the new guidance and how it would change the assessments of potentially earthquake prone buildings. It then has to undertake consultation prior to the new guidance being incorporated into legislation. All this creates ongoing uncertainty. What does it mean for apartments and owners in buildings that may have this type of construction? This raises lots of questions and we don’t have the answers. Owners in some of these buildings may already have been assessed after receiving a letter from the Council saying the building is ‘potentially earthquake prone’, which determined the building was not earthquake prone. But could banks, lawyers (on behalf of potential purchasers) and insurance companies start asking for new assessments under this ‘voluntary’ guidance? What are body corporates rights in these situations? We think MBIE should be providing guidance specifically for body corporates in residential apartment buildings of this type. Each residential body corporate should not have to source and fund an interpretation of what this means for them – it leads to variability of interpretation, confusion and more costs. And insurance. We have raised this broader issue of huge premium increases with Grant as well, as it is affecting residential body corporates across the board to some extent – though it is a double- whammy for those facing – or have already faced – seismic strengthening costs. We know that Grant is engaged on this issue and has met with the Insurance Council and with CEOs of the main insurance companies. In our view there is market failure as there is no choice. When body corporates opt not to take natural disaster insurance because they know that some owners will not be able to afford it and that it’s not sustainable for all owners – or they face having to sell – that is market failure. We are concerned about the lack of transparency of brokers’ commissions, especially when faced with huge premium increases; reports of pressure selling where body corporates are only given a few days to decide and basically told there isn’t any point in looking elsewhere; and reports that body corporates are told that if they go directly overseas they won’t be able to get back into the NZ market. We are concerned at the inconsistent approach to measuring what is residential for EQC purposes in mixed use buildings to determine if the building is commercial or residential – only what’s behind your front door of the apartment, when standalone EQC cover is much broader than that. The Mayor has called an insurance forum which ICW will be attending. ICW and the Body Corporate Chairs’ Group is also meeting Dame Silvia Cartwright who is undertaking a review of EQC. California has set up under legislation an EQ insurance body to provide affordable earthquake insurance. The policies are available to single family homeowners and apartment buildings. A new building in Chch has been assessed by multiple engineers, including peer reviews,and is now the subject of a determination case before MBIE. How can a new building have such widely varying views on its compliance with the code? We hear about the building code needing to change (the insurance sector is saying this), we hear people saying the threshold needs to be 67% NBS not 34% NBS. We hear people saying what if the thresholds change again? There is new ‘voluntary’ guidance being used that is resulting in closed buildings, buildings at risk of closure and buildings where commercial tenants are moving out because the seismic rating (%NBS) has been reduced. There is no certainty. Geraldine Murphy is the seismic issues spokesperson for Inner City Wellington. This article was published on Scoop and is part of a speech that she made last week to a meeting of residents concerned about the costs of strengthening earthquake-prone Wellington buildings. ICW is part of a collaborative lobby group that emerged in early 2018. Participants include Neil Cooper, a body corporate chair and Founder of the Body Corporate Chairs’ Group, and four owners of units in residential apartment buildings.

    • Budget 2019 provides funding to support residential owners in earthquake-prone buildings
      • “The inclusion of the Residential Earthquake Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme in Budget2019 is a starting point of much needed support for owners of units in residential earthquake prone buildings” says Geraldine Murphy, Inner City Wellington’s (ICW) seismic spokesperson. ICW and the Body Corporate Chairs’ Group first proposed the concept of a Lender of Last Resort in June 2017 to address the issue of owners being forced to sell their homes because they could not fund their share of the cost or projects stalling as Body Corporates did not want to force the owners to sell. Since then a small collaborative lobby group consisting of ICW’s Seismic Spokesperson, a Body Corporate Chair, and a few owners in residential earthquake prone buildings has formed. The group has been meeting regularly with their Wellington Central MP, Grant Robertson, and also with the Mayor Justin Lester and Councillor Iona Pannett to push for more action to support this group of owners.’ “We will be interested to see the detail of the Scheme and are happy to work with MBIE to develop that” says Geraldine Murphy. “It will be critical that there is an effective advisory support service for owners and body corporates to access so they can progress their planning” say Neil Cooper, a Body Corporate Chair and Founder of the Body Corporate Chairs’ Group. George Kanelos, an owner in a small body corporate and trying to progress investigation work for strengthening, says both the financial assistance scheme and an effective advisory support service are urgently needed to help body corporates like their one. ICW believes more buildings would have completed strengthening work if there had been financial support and advisory support services available when the policy was first implemented following the Building Act 2004. Most recently, the group under the umbrella of ICW surveyed around 19 body corporates of residential earthquake prone buildings. “The data collected on 13 buildings clearly shows that the previous Government’s estimate of the costs to strengthen the buildings was seriously flawed” says Hazel Kirkham, one of the owners in the group, who has worked on the data. “It also shows that the costs being used in government do not include the full costs of a complex construction project such as those being demanded of normal private residents.” As part of doing the analysis, the group has funded an external assessment of the basis for the calculations to validate the results. “We are confident that these provide more realistic figures than the Council or MBIE are able to provide” says Hazel Kirkham, an owner in the group. “There are other major issues that need to be addressed with the whole earthquake prone building policy”, says Geraldine Murphy. “The fund announced today is unlikely to compensate owners who are faced with selling their entire building due to the cost and the huge financial risk of undertaking such a project. This has to be looked at – people’s property rights are being taken away for a public benefit”. “There are owners who have already strengthened at considerable expense under what we think is a flawed policy. Inner City Wellington has made several submissions to the Tax Working Group to call for tax relief for strengthening costs. While commercial property owners want depreciation reinstated, this isn’t necessarily going to work for residential owner-occupiers. This has to be addressed as part of the work that has been included in the IRD’s work programme” says Geraldine Murphy. But fundamentally, the collaborative lobby group question whether the earthquake prone building policy is right. “The Act needs to be reviewed. The fundamentals of the current legislation have been in place since the Building Act 2004 and Wellington provides real life data to inform that review” says Hazel Kirkham. “We are the canary in the mine”. The survey results will be released, along with an update on other activities, at a public meeting for residential owners in earthquake prone buildings on Thursday 6 June, 6pm – 8pm, at the Victoria University Faculty of Architecture and Design in Vivian Street. Media Contacts: Geraldine Murphy, Inner City Wellington Seismic Spokesperson, 0274 507 804 Hazel Kirkham (owner) 021 383 226 George Kanelos (owner) 0272 457 305 Neil Cooper (Body Corporate Chair) 021 354 019

    • Working co-operatively to improve New Zealand housing
      • Inner City Wellington’s second seminar in a series of three on “Living Environments for Our City Tomorrow” was fully booked and the attendees were treated to a stimulating presentation and discussion by Dr Morten Gjerde, Head of Architecture at Victoria University.   The presentation was centred on concerns over affordability, appropriateness, and the limited choice of today’s housing. Dr Gjerde explained how an almost complete reliance on the private sector, where developers do not adopt a long-term view and are generally risk averse to trying new models, has resulted in housing falling short of need. And, by adopting the path of least resistance and a minimum standard approach, developments have become more about profit and generally have a poor lifecycle. As a result, current methods are unable to consistently provide appropriate affordable housing and there needs to be a change in thinking - away from a reliance on private developers. Given our current housing shortage Dr Gjerde suggested we need to look for alternatives such as cooperative housing models. Membership in the cooperative is by way of a share purchase which gives the right to purchase a licence to occupy one housing unit. Using Scandinavia housing associations as an example Dr Gjerde explained how, in the 1920’s when there was an extreme housing shortage in Norway, people established cooperative projects and worked together to design, develop and manage affordable housing. This meant cutting out developer’s margins (which are 20-25% in New Zealand) and taking control of the project with residents involved in the decision making and planning. As the cooperatives expanded in Scandinavia a National Association developed to provide guidance, advocacy and support, and by 2015 there were 43 associations, 500,000 housing units and membership had passed one million people. These cooperative developments have resulted in communities with a shared place identity and strong social bonds. Dr Gjerde pointed out how cooperatives such as Fonterra which is owned by its members and community play groups have been accepted and succeeded in New Zealand, so why not cooperatives for housing?  Examples of small cooperative housing do exist here, the Earthsong community in Auckland built on ecological principles being one, but these are not on the same scale as the Scandinavian models. Some Iwi have begun to consider cooperative housing but, if the benefits of co-operative housing are to be realised, the government will need to respond and work closely with the housing associations to ensure their viability. Particularly around land availability and how Crown-owned land could be released for this type of development. In concluding Dr Gjerde acknowledged cooperative housing may not solve all our housing problems but points out that it is clear the current developer-led model is not meeting our needs and the constrained environment which house-building-for-profit operates in, must shift. You can download Dr Gjerde's slides by clicking here [PDF, 8.7 MB].

    • ICW Forum: Living Environments in Our City Tomorrow
      • Presentation by Dr Morten Gjerde, Head of the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington 'What is clear is the current developer-led model is not meeting our needs. The constrained environment that house-building-for-profit operates in must shift.' - Dr Morten Gjerde Working collectively to improve the quality and supply of housing in New Zealand There is a strong reliance on private developers to address the housing crisis in New Zealand and this service comes at a price – the profit margin! This presentation explores an alternative to this private developer model – housing cooperatives. In particular, Norwegian examples are examined for applicability to the New Zealand context. This presentation argues that collective action, as opposed to individual approaches is needed to address the housing shortfall and to ensure a higher standard of housing for all.  Gold coin donation, please RSVP here.    Permalink

    • Street closures and changes for Inner City Residents and Businesses during the Cuba Dupa 2018.
      • Street Parking restrictions will commence on Fri 23 at 11:59 pm until Mon 26th 5:00am. Road closures will commence Sat 25th at 1:00 am. Dixon, Ghuznee, Garrett, Cuba and Abel Smith Streets will be closed. There will be restricted access for service vehicles / suppliers only from 5:00am - 9:00am on both Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th March. After 9:00 am the roads will be closed to ensure the safety of people within the zone. Please move your cars out of the area before 9:00 am if they are not parked off the street or if you wish to use them. Limited resident vehicle access will be available to: Ghuznee St to Egmont St; Manners St - from Ghuznee St to Victoria St; Cuba St - Webb St to Karo Drive; Dixon St - to Christenson Lane (for Residents Access); Furness Lane; Christenson Lane; Kensington St; Kelvin Grove; Wigan St; Lombard St; Opera House Lane. Permalink

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    • Financial Assistance for Seismic Strengthening
      • ICW has continued to lobby our local MP, also now Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, for action on financial assistance mechanisms for those facing mandatory strengthening of earthquake prone buildings. These include a lender of last resort mechanism for those owners who cannot access funding through retail channels and for tax deductions/tax credits to recognise the financial burden being faced by private owners, who can finance the costs, for a public good. WCC has recently agreed to investigate a targeted rate mechanism against properties where current owners cannot fund the cost of strengthening, with a report back by December 2017. This would enable owners to access money at the lower rate that councils can access and allow strengthening projects to continue.  WCC has also agreed to provide programme management assistance by sourcing contractors, engineers and project management for building owners on an open book basis.    

    • Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act Community Survey
      • You're invited to take part in a survey about your experience participating in activity under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (SSAA). These activities include: objecting to an alcohol licence application (eg, for an event or a licensed premises such as a bottle store or bar)participating in the development of a Local Alcohol Policyother activities such as complaints about a licensed premises or development of alcohol control bylaws.You have been invited to take part because you may have or are known to have participated in one or more of the activities listed above. WHAT DOES THE SURVEY INVOLVE? This survey is being run by Colmar Brunton. It should take between 10-15 minutes to complete, depending on your answers. Please be assured that all your responses to the survey are confidential and your answers will be grouped with other respondents, so that you cannot be identified. HOW TO TAKE PART Just click on the survey link below. http://surveys.colmarbrunton.co.nz/scripts/dubinterviewer.dll/frames?&Quest=602 This Survey has been authorised by the Health Promotion Agency, contact person is Giselle Bareta. Level 16 | ASB House | 101 The Terrace | Wellington 6011 PO Box 2142 | Wellington 6140 | New Zealand DDI 04 801 0965 M 021 757 564

    • Availability of booze - Letter to the Editor Dom Post
      • The role of Regional Public Health Officers and the Police in making neighbours aware of forthcoming alcohol applications in their community is a controversial one. Among the Inner City Wellington Committee there are mixed views on this, which are likely to be replicated among our wider membership. However, the two recent examples in Wellington raise an important question: what steps has the applicant taken to engage with their community to explain their proposal, listen to the concerns and take steps in their application to mitigate those concerns? If no steps have been taken by the applicant, how much weight is being placed on the absence by the District Licensing Committee? We would expect a significant weight given the objects of the Act. The applicant in the Newtown case says it will bring extra income into an area that lacks it. It is hard to see how this will occur beyond the owner’s own income, and potentially staff wages if the business is large enough.  What is certain is that it is the community, Police and medical services that carry the cost and impacts of any alcohol-related harm that arises from increased availability of alcohol. Geraldine Murphy, Deputy Chair, Inner City Wellington Permalink

    • Letter to the Editor in the Dom Post Monday 16 October
      • Inner City Wellington shares concerns about Wellington City Council’s own application of District Plan rules raised by the owner of the converted heritage substation in Kate Sheppard Place. Thankfully the judgement found in favour of enforcing the rules. Since that hotel resource consent, there has been media coverage of developers' desire to have higher height limits and more flexibility, and WCC Chief Executive warning Councillors they may have to support developers over residents to achieve their affordable housing goals. According to Clr Foster only 0.8% of resource consents are notified. Many of the resource consents in the inner city will be applying for the discretion that allows the building to exceed the height limit by up to 35%, subject to meeting 'design excellence', and council officers are making these decisions without guidelines on what is ‘design excellence’. Current design guidelines only take external matters into account. Consequently, further guidance and standards are also required for internal ‘design excellence’. NSW has set mandatory standards for eight aspects of apartment design that are set out in the companion Apartment Design Guide. Therefore ICW is calling for WCC to look closely at this holistic approach and explain why it shouldn’t be applied here. Geraldine Murphy, Deputy Chair, Inner City Wellington

    • Inner City Development
      • Along with the rest of the country Wellington is feeling the pressure to do its bit to address the national housing crisis. The inner city in particular has long been seen as an easy option to achieve some quick wins. Concerned that standards could drop and we may end up with an urban landscape that we no longer feel proud of ICW has been monitoring this area closely.  We're also looking to other cities /countries to see what we can learn from them.  Could the NSW approach for example work in Wellington?  

    • Meet the Candidates review
      • A key part of the democratic process is having an informed electorate. To this end on Tuesday 15th August ICW organised a meeting of the candidates contesting the Wellington Central electorate. The purpose of the event was to introduce the candidates to our members, ask them to respond to some specific questions and then accept questions from the floor. All eight candidates contesting Wellington Central agreed to participate but, unfortunately, on the night Bale Nadakuitavuki representing United Future was unable to attend due to illness. So we had 7 candidates present and they included: Michael Warren            ActGayaal Iddamalgoda    IndependentJames Shaw                 GreensNicola Willis                 NationalGrant Robertson          LabourGeoff Simmons            TOPAndy Foster                 New Zealand FirstAn impressive line-up of candidates. The audience numbers were equally impressive with just on 100 attending– we ended up with standing room only. The questions put to the candidates covered a wide range of topics including the economy, health, democracy, education, sustainability, societal inequality, immigration, and so on. The answers delivered gave the audience quite an insight into the policy thinking of the parties and their candidates and we believe we fulfilled the objectives of the evening of informing the electorate. The candidates were great – they respected each other while they were speaking, they allowed differing points of view without interjection and they kept to time. We wish them all every success on September 23. Permalink

    • Our CBD Meeting Report: 31 August 2017
      • Cuba Street Challenges Councillor Nicola Young asked for ideas to re-stimulate Cuba Mall and Upper Cuba St, saying that with Farmers closed, the lengthy re-paving work going on, and the demise of 3 parking buildings close by that this area needs a ‘shot in the arm’.  One suggestion was a celebration when the re-paving is complete. A Very Welly Christmas Plans for the event in Lambton Quay 25-26 November are well advanced.  It was stressed that retail involvement is critical but that for this to happen the parking issues of last year need to be resolved.  The problem…with Lambton Quay closed to traffic the one-way streets leading into this area had also become ‘no parking’ zones because of the perceived difficulties of turning around to head back out when leaving.  It’s clear that a solution needs to be found because if the public think that parking is going to be difficult they won’t participate.  Thoughts and solutions are needed.  One idea was that free parking on the outskirts of the city be provided, with continuous free shuttle buses into the CBD. WOW Planning for WOW has been finalised and it has the makings of a huge event for the city once again.  The focus this year is on the ‘love story’ between WOW and Wellington City.  The material looks great and the marketing collateral for retailers will be distributed from September 7.  If you have registered but not received any material by this time contact the organisers. An email conformation will be sent to participating retailers and September 18 is D-Day for the window displays to be complete. Hospitality operators are looking to link up with retailers to offer vouchers, in-store treats, drinks for visitors and the like, to get some cross promotion going. Let’s Get Welly Moving Barry Mein, manager for this project explained that a range of ‘bundled ideas’ or possible scenarios will be put to the public in November as part of the consultation process.  He acknowledged that one of the major issues for retailers and other business operators in the CBD was going to be the pressure on car-parking and said that we would need to keep a close eye on this.   He said that while a reduction in traffic is a desirable long-term goal we need to be sure that the short-term pain isn’t simply dumped on the retail sector.  We have to remember that CBD retailers compete first and foremost with the regional malls who offer free and virtually unlimited parking. We don’t want the current supporters of the CBD voting with their wheels.  It was suggested that fringe, free parking and free regular shuttle buses might be part of the solution. Night Welfare Zone Sarah Webb from ICW presented on this initiative saying that it was a great idea and deserved our support.  She said the plan was to set up a ‘support’ area in the CBD where young people can take time out or seek help for alcohol issues, transport home, etc.  The zone will be set up outside of the Opera House with the more intensive ‘help’ area being in a pop-up inside.  The support team will include ambulance staff and social workers.  The programme has been set up as a charitable trust and has a couple of key sponsors to get it started.  It will be trialled for 6 months from late October. Eyes On This prevention-first programme has been running for 2 years and now takes in several suburban shopping centres, Tawa being the latest addition.  Alf Sawyer from police noted that retail theft in the inner city is down and credited the success of Eyes On as contributing to this, as well as providing them with additional intelligence. Paperboy An Auckland initiative that is about to be trialled in Wellington, it is a free weekly magazine style newspaper which aims to build ‘urbanism conversations’ and set a brand position for the CBD.  Distribution will commence in late October and run for a month. The publishers will then assess the advertising support and reader feedback, and decide on its future in Wellington. Connecting Retail and Hospitality Jeremy Smith from the Hospitality NZ said that they were really keen to link their members efforts with those of the retail sector in the CBD to see what can be achieved through joint activity, eg discounts for staff members, retailers handing out food and beverage vouchers to their customers, and just essentially any form of cross promotion. Retail and hospitality, he said have many customers in common, so why not utilise these links to promote each other’s businesses? As always, a productive meeting with plenty of food for thought, feedback needed, thoughts and ideas, but most importantly some very real opportunities to seize. Permalink

    • The Downtown Levy; where does the money go?
      • We have some very real concerns about where the money is spent, so we’ve been investigating and a paper has been prepared for the next Mayoral Forum, of which we are members.  Once the next forum has been held we will put the paper on our website and let you know the response to it. Some of the questions we’re seeking answers to: How is the levy calculated and how does this compare with what the ‘normal rates’ for each building would be?What is it being spent on and how does this support retail in the CBD (which was the original intent)?To what extent is the fund expenditure contestable?Should those who pay the levy have some say in how it is spent?We’ll keep you posted on progress. Permalink

    • What the Candidates said...
      • We put these questions to the Wellington Central candidates, their answers are below.  Q1 Auckland’s Housing First project received $3.7m of Government funding over 4 years to Auckland Council’s $1m.  Given WCC’s and Wellington ratepayers’ commitment to social housing, what is your party’s commitment to providing a similar contribution to Wellington to provide the required wraparound services and support? Green Party The Green Party was proud to be part of showing leadership on this issue by initiating a cross-party Parliamentary enquiry on homelessness along with the Māori Party and the Labour Party. We are committed to partnering with local governments to implement a housing first strategy and work with them on a broader strategy to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping in New Zealand. Our “Homes not Cars” plan calls for waiving the Housing NZ dividend and reprioritizing this money towards frontline housing first approaches and a similar partnership to the Wellington City Council could be funded through this approach. TOP TOP would fund WCC the same as any other provider of social housing; i.e. they should receive income related rents. In fact, WCC could receive this funding now if it shifted their social housing into a charity as Christchurch did. If WCC received this funding it would free up millions to invest in other homelessness initiatives on the ground. www.top.org.nz/top12 NZ First Rapid population growth is exacerbating housing shortage. New Zealand First is committed to supporting more affordable housing for people to buy and to rent and to providing wrap around services and support. The housing shortage is most acute at the smaller end of the market - most affecting first home buyers and older people wanting to downsize. We will ensure the state is proactive in building thousands more warm dry homes for owners and for tenants. We will provide 2% finance for 5 years for first home purchasers and a 25 year rent to buy facility to help reduce the barrier of raising the deposit. We have the lowest proportion of home ownership since the 1950s and we want more people to be able to own their own home. That is one of the foundation stones of strong community.   As part of this we will also provide long term low interest (2%) loans to support Councils social housing. Too many people have been left behind and we want to address the cocktail of deprivation, poor housing, lack of education, inability to read, mental illness, addiction, social isolation suffered by too many people. That will take resources and time being invested in social work, health, education, and training. Wellington City Council already does a very good job of wrap around services including working to house and keep housed people who are on our streets. That is a 'housing first' model for the incoming Government to follow.    NO ANSWERS from: Labour, National, ACT, United Future.    Q2 Given the severe lack of addiction support services in central Wellington, despite there being a critical need due to the congregating of people with these specific needs in the CBD, what will your party do to improve this situation? Green Party Our mental health and addiction services are severely underfunded. In Wellington, one third of people wait longer that three weeks to see a counsellor for help with addictions. One in seven teenagers has to wait longer than eight weeks. When people reach out for help, it needs to be taken seriously and addressed in a timely manner. The Green Party is calling for a comprehensive mental health inquiry, including addiction services, to ensure that services are accessible, relevant, and well-used by those who need them. TOP At the moment only half the people wanting drug and alcohol services can get them, so we need to double spending on alcohol and drug addiction services (another $150m). We would fund this by legalising, regulating and taxing cannabis and increasing the tax on alcohol. www.top.org.nz/top10 NZ First As I have said in answering the above question we need to tackle the root causes of the problems people face, including addiction. That takes dedicated people on the ground, working one by one with addicts. We need to work with the Council and the amazing community based organisations that are working with people with addictions. That means providing resources. We have seen a number of valued services close because of lack of funding for the DHB, and know that now is a time we need to invest more in health, housing and education. We do not want people left behind.   NO ANSWERS from: Labour, National, ACT, United Future.    Q3 Wellington has 4 officers in its neighbourhood policing team for a population of 18,019 (2013 Census), which is resulting in slow, or no response, to anti-social incidents which are affecting people’s perception of the central city.  What will your party do to address this shortage? Green Party We support the expansion of community based policing which is focused on establishing positive interactions between the police and communities and promoting safety. Wellingtonians deserve to feel safe in their communities and Police have a role to play in that. TOP The priority in reducing anti-social incidents is increasing the drinking age to 20. www.top.org.nz/top10 TOP would also provide more funding for communities to put in place initiatives that could prevent or reduce crime. This would pay for itself in reductions in the prison population. www.top.org.nz/top13 NZ First New Zealand First is committed to training and delivering 1800 additional Police nationwide. We are committed to having a Police force that is more accessible to the community, including double staffing of Police bases. We are also well aware of the value communities place on having their own community policemen and women and the value there is in building personal relationships between Police personnel and communities.  On a personal note it is my view that there is mileage to gain from contractual arrangements between the Police Minister and Commissioner, with greater specificity about the services and service outcomes that the Minister expects to be delivered. NO ANSWERS from: Labour, National, ACT, United Future.    Permalink

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