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    • Wellingtonians support Vietnam trust
      • Wellingtonians are clearing out their bookcases and international students are selling sausages for the Blue Dragon Trust, a fundraising arm of the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, Vietnam. The books are being collected and sorted in preparation for the annual Blue Dragon book fair held at Ngaio Hall, 25 May. The sausages are being eaten by students at Wellington College. Ten years ago, Wellingtonian Dinah Dobson visited the foundation in Hanoi. She was so impressed with the work of founder Michael Brosowski, she, along with five friends set up the Wellington-based fund-raising Trust. The youngest trustee, Sylvia Hunter is a second-year Victoria University student. She became involved after visiting the Foundation in Hanoi as part of a school group. “Hearing about the hard lives of children who were the same age as us, was very salient. I wanted to get involved, to give back to Blue Dragon.” Dobson said, “Young country children step off the bus in Hanoi, they know no one, they have no money or place to live. They are very vulnerable. Some are sold into slavery, prostitution or forced to work in sweatshops while others simply live on the streets.” Brosowski went to Hanoi in 2002 to teach English and quickly found himself helping shoeshine boys and street children. He set up the foundation to support Vietnam’s poorest urban children by helping them break out of their poverty cycle. The fair and sausage sizzles in Wellington help him do this. In preparation for the fair, thousands of books are piled chest-high in a large storage space in Thorndon. Keen volunteers and trustees spend their weekends sorting them into one of the 18 sale categories. Some books never make the tables, reference books and dictionaries are sent to the Rimutaka Prison library for the inmates while others are too damaged or mildewed to sell. As the fair gets closer, the volunteer base will grow. Much of their time will be spent drumming up buyers and moving the heavy boxes to Ngaio Hall. In 2018 the fair raised $14,000, the most successful yet. The money raised in Wellington is spent on housing, counselling and teachers for the street children, The international students at Wellington College became involved with the trust after Brosowski spoke at the college in 2018. This year the senior international students formed their football team, the foundation logo is on the sleeve of their match jersey. International football team adopt Blue Dragon as their charity. Photo Mazz Scannell The boys run regular sausage sizzles at lunchtime to raise money. Last year they raised $2000. College teacher Ted Wang said, “ The International Students Association are very passionate about Dragons, it is the charity they have chosen to support.”   The post Wellingtonians support Vietnam trust appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Dodge, duck, dip, dive…and dodge
      • Heads up! Kākā birds with full tummies and too much time on their talons are posing an overhead hazard to Wellington’s bush walkers. Zealandia conservation manager, Dr Danielle Shanahan, said Wellingtonians’ tendency to feed Kākā could lead to the birds’ habit of pulling bark from non-native trees like pines. When Kākā got an easy meal from the public they had spare time to get up to mischief, she said. Shanahan recommended the public did not feed the native parrots, which are estimated to number about 350 in the Wellington region. On Monday afternoon, over a 20 minute period, one mischevious Kākā was observed by a bush walker to strip away five metres of bark from a Pine tree on Mount Victoria. Some of the bark pieces were as large as a man’s torso, and fell over ten metres landing next to a walkway below. Wellington City Council open space and parks manager Myfanwy Emeny, said the pieces of bark that fell from trees as a result of bark stripping by Kākā were usually only the size of a finger and did not pose a hazard for the public. Northern Hemisphere trees, such as pines, had not evolved to deal with the damage caused by the cheeky native parrots, and the birds’ activites could lead to a decline in these trees in the capital.   A thick piece of bark the size of a torso was pulled off a pine tree by a Kaka and fell ten metres on Mount Victoria. // Oliver Lovell Emeny said Kākā had caused damage to pines on Mt Victoria but, on a positive note, their destructive activities were hastening the current efforts to restore the forest to natives. To date, close to 20,000 native trees have been planted throughout Wellington’s Town Belt, a combined effort by the council, Rotary Club of Wellington and Conservation Volunteers New Zealand. She said council was proud the threatened native bird species had returned to New Zealand’s forests and were living in the heart of the capital city. “Eventually Kākā will form a part of the native ecosystem on Mt Victoria, which includes pollination and spreading the seed of native tree species.” The post Dodge, duck, dip, dive…and dodge appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Mexican stand-off over pay
      • Further industrial action is on the cards after a Mexican stand-off outside parliament between thousands of striking teachers and Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Post Primary Teachers’ Association [PPTA] Wellington regional chairperson and high school science teacher Ahmad Osama said “we have a whole suite of industrial action lined up for this term until we see action [from the government]. The [industrial] actions could include more striking, or rostering home of year levels”. Fifty-thousand teachers went on strike nationwide today and thousands of teachers, union members and parents marched on the Beehive from Civic Square in a show of solidarity for better pay and better working conditions for both primary and secondary school teachers. The striking teachers and their supporters packed the streets and wielded signs which read “every child deserves more funding”, and “who is wearing the pants in government”. They also chanted, “When education is under attack, stand up and fight back”. Initially, 10 MPs met the marchers upon their arrival at parliament’s forecourt. These included Green Party deputy leader Marama Davidson, and National MP Nikki Kaye. However, the number of MPs grew to over 20 over the duration of the strike. The crowd of striking teachers and their supporters chanted for Education Minister Chris Hipkins to show, and at 1.30pm he joined the other gathered MPs on parliaments forecourt. Hipkins said he acknowledged teachers wanted progress to be faster but he could not offer it to them. “What I can offer is that we will continue to listen.” The crowd responded with jeers. Teachers were demanding a 15 percent pay increase and other improvements to working conditions such as fewer administration related tasks, and less time doing reports. A series of people spoke and showed their support for the teachers on strike outside parliament. PPTA general secretary Michael Stevenson told the crowd teachers needed change and they needed it now. “We’ve waited too long”, he said. New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff, said something was wrong with the education system when teachers came out in such large numbers. He also said he was impressed with the solidarity shown by teachers and that if they did not do their jobs there would be no education system. New Zealand Institute of Education senior executive member and Khandallah School principal Louise Green, said today was day three for primary teachers to be on strike, which meant three days without pay. She said she hoped the government would have listened but felt they had not. “I’m prepared to keep on going…that means more strike action,” Green said. The institute is New Zealand’s largest education union. The post Mexican stand-off over pay appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Run on luxury cars
      • The tills are ringing at luxury car dealerships in the capital. “Let’s be honest,” Gazley Motors managing director Myles Gazley said, “property [price] rises are funding it.” According to sales data collected from by the Automotive Industry Association, during the first quarter of 2019 luxury cars made up 15 percent of the total market, whereas in 2015 luxury cars made up just 10 percent. Gazley said he sold 10 Porsches in two months at the end of last year, each worth over $180,000. Half of these were sold to Wellingtonians. “More people are adding cars to their mortgages than through car finance,” he said. Gazley Motors also sold luxury car brands Mercedez Benz, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Dodge, Rolls Royce, and Ferrari. Gazley also said he had a “good run of sales” in ultra-luxury car brands Rolls Royce and Ferrari recently. Lexus car dealership salesman Paul Kelly said “people have the confidence to make a bad investment,” because of the increase in Wellington house prices. More than 20 Lexuses, priced over $80,000, were sold through the car yard on Kent Terrace each month. The majority of his customers were “older”, Kelly said. However, Chris Lee & Partners authorised financial adviser Michael Warrington warned against borrowing to fund a luxury vehicle. “I would not advise a person to use borrowed money, from mortgage or other source, to add a luxury car to their garage. “Depreciating assets like fancy cars will not cost more tomorrow. They will be worth less,” he said. “If you borrow to buy a depreciating asset you have doubled your problem, paid interest to use another person’s money, and [you] will reduce your net wealth because the car will fall in value – faster on a fancy car than a cheap car.” Despite the prospect of depreciating value of luxury cars, the association’s figures showed sales had increased 46 percent – from approximately 2000 in the first quarter of 2015, to over 3000 in the first quarter of this year. Comparatively, non-luxury car brands such as Toyota, Ford and Holden, had only grown in sales volume by six percent when you compared the first quarter of 2015 with the first quarter of 2019. Nationwide, 25 ultra-luxury Bentley cars, priced to sell in New Zealand for $355,000, were sold in the first three months of this year. More than double the 10 Bentleys sold over the same time period in 2015. According to Quotable Value figures, from January 2015 to January 2019 the average house value in Wellington City climbed $274,000. The post Run on luxury cars appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Kingston crossing crossed off.
      • A crossing to allow people to safely cross Quebec Street, Kingston, after being dropped off by buses will not go ahead. Wellington City councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman told the Greater Brooklyn Residents Association he and councillor Sarah Free had done everything they could but were unsuccessful. Since the bus changeover, Metlink had moved the bus stop to the other side of Quebec Street causing people to have to cross the main road to get to the shops. Calvi-Freeman said they proposed the idea of a crossing to New Zealand Transport Agency but its formula didn’t allow for it. The formula determined how many cars would pass the road every hour. NZTA put in crossings when up to 45,000 cars would pass in a single hour. The most Quebec Street had  ever had was 7000. NZTA also said the street was too narrow so it wouldn’t consider a flush medium either. Calvi-Freeman has a daughter who walked down that road and felt a personal interest in having the crossing. Former Greater Wellington Regional Council member Paul Bruce said there tended to be people who “blindly walked” across and assumed cars would stop for them. “You can’t see the traffic coming down the hill. It’s really difficult crossing the road.” He believed the main problem was buses dropping off passengers on the other side of the road. “If the bus stop was on the other side, it wouldn’t be an issue.” Association secretary Carl Savage said the idea for a crossing had come from feedback from Kingston residents. Although Savage wished the crossing would be approved, Metlink had indicated it would put the bus stop back in its original place. “This is a sensible tweak,” he said. “It makes it much easier for the drivers and for the pedestrians.” He said the council had also talked about narrowing the road so cars couldn’t speed along it as easily. The post Kingston crossing crossed off. appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Glow in night sky raises Zealandia concerns
      • The issue of light pollution in the night sky was raised when a few Zealandia night guides and staff went on a walk to see it for themselves. Guardian Julia Bracegirdle has volunteered for 22 years not only as a night guide but she also used to help count kiwi in the sanctuary. “What I noticed the most was when we went up to the tower,” she said. “That’s where I used to do kiwi call counting and you sat there for an hour in the dark. I was surprised at just the glow all around. That’s where I really noticed that it was quite different.” She said there would always be an orange sunset glow. The sanctuary was never completely dark being in the city but she could always see the night sky. It was not something she thought visitors would notice if they just came to Zealandia for the first time. “With people coming in and out, they won’t have the experience of what it was like before and they may just expect it to be like that. Zealandia was a place where, even though it was in the city, you still saw a very good night sky.” Bracegirdle hoped the Wellington City Council could find a way to help both Zealandia and Wellington residents. It could turn some of the lights down and reconsider the lights in the streets around the sanctuary. Conservation manager at Zealandia Danielle Shanahan said because the sanctuary was right in a valley, not much direct light could get in. “The design of the valley took into account light pollution.” She wasn’t too concerned about the impact on Zealandia but said the issue would be considered. There hadn’t been a lot of research about the impact LED lights had on the wildlife. However, she said it was likely to have an effect they didn’t know about. “It would be naïve to say there’s no effect on New Zealand’s wildlife.” City Councillor and Guardian at Zealandia Peter Gilberd said the LED lights were implemented because they were more efficient. He said more recently people had been noticing a “light scatter” in the sky. He said it would always be difficult to find the balance between having enough light and not too much. The guardians at Zealandia had been discussing how to find that balance. “We weren’t altogether sure how significant the issue was. In a modified environment, we do affect nature and we are always trying to minimise the effect.” The post Glow in night sky raises Zealandia concerns appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Harrison Street residents struggle to get parking
      • Harrison Street, near the Brooklyn bus hub, has become a prime parking zone for commuters, leaving residents without a parking space. Ever since the bus hub was built last year, people have to take more than one bus to get into town, relying on a transfer to a second bus to get them where they need to go. A Harrison Street resident said the number of cars parking in the street had increased since the bus hub had been put in. “Park and ride is very prevalent,” he said. They were lucky to have a garage where they could park their car but only one other resident had a garage. The rest of the residents relied on off-street parking. He said cars would start to park on their street at 7am. Part of the reason drivers were parking on their street was likely because Brooklyn School was being renovated on Washington Avenue. He noticed the number seven bus was either usually full or delayed. If people had the option, they would prefer not to walk to the bus hub. “You’ve got to walk a mile [in some parts of Brooklyn] to catch a bus.” Another Harrison Street resident said they did not have a garage and used off-street parking. Her partner could never get a park right outside their house and often had to park at the other end of the street. “It’s always been a very busy street.” She caught the bus to work most days and would often be late due to delay. It had always been hard to get a bus but she said it had gotten worse. City councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman said more people driving and parking to catch a bus had to do with the unreliability of connection routes. “People’s tolerance for hubbing is low.” He said residents could purchase a parking spot in the street if they wanted. The council would also consider putting in parking restrictions. “It’s not really fair for commuters to be parking all day. Most of the streets weren’t designed for the number of cars.” The post Harrison Street residents struggle to get parking appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Plastic from landfill polluting Owhiro Stream
      • Owhiro Stream in Happy Valley is polluted with light plastic coming from a city council-maintained landfill nearby. Friends of Owhiro Stream co-ordinator  Martin Payne said light plastic was one of the most common waste found in the stream. “What we see is quite a lot of soft plastic and polystyrene in the stream, which is particularly bad after a heavy rain fall.” He said most plastic would be coming from the council landfill as that was where everyday waste went. However, the C & D and T & T landfills were construction sites so might also be contributing. Although it was likely to be a big contributor, it was not likely to be the only one. He said because Wellington was windy, it might also have blown off rubbish trucks. The plastic surrounding the landfill would sit in the bushes until the rain washed it into the stream. Resident Vic Reid, who has lived in the area for 20 years, said, “Whenever I’m down there, I can pick up a shopping bag easily.” It was commonly plastic bags and polystyrene she would see in the stream. She said the plastic was light and “breaks down into balls.” She knew she wasn’t the only one and would often see others in the area who picked up rubbish. “At the moment, we’re very reliant on random citizens [to clean up the rubbish].” Council waste operations manager Emily Taylor-Hall said it had a fence at the tipping area of the landfill and there were regular clean-ups at Owhiro Stream. “I am confident that this minimises any litter entering the stream.” The extension of the landfill would be beneficial as it planned to include additional infrastructure to prevent soft plastics blowing out. She believed that each landfill operator was responsible for cleaning up their rubbish. If it was coming from the council landfill, its operational contractors would clean it up. However, she said they might have picked up waste from one of the other landfills in their clean-ups. City Councillor Iona Pannett said the issue was too much soft plastic being dumped. “We don’t want plastic bags in the landfill.” She was the only city council member to oppose the extension of the landfill. As 27% of all waste is organic material, she would like to see more effort put into reusing that waste. The post Plastic from landfill polluting Owhiro Stream appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Bowling club building must be shared
      • The Wellington City Council renewed the Swords Club lease for the Brooklyn Bowling Club on the condition other community groups can use it. The Swords Club has had the lease for five years and the council was going to automatically renew it until members of the Greater Brooklyn Residents Association spoke out. The council was going to give it a 10-year lease but due to community debate, reduced it to five. City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons said there was big discussion about it in the council meeting. However, no changes were made of the lease and the vote was unanimous. She was pleased with the result for both the swords club and the community. “Siting down and working it out to use the space well is really the key role,” she said. “They need to really open it up for community use for recreational purposes.” Chair of the Greater Brooklyn Residents Association Sophie Jerram told the council that she wanted to see greater use of the facility. It was a special building to have in Brooklyn. “In the town belt area, there’s not a lot of neighbours. It’s got an ambience around it that feels peaceful and quiet.” When people knew the bowling club would be available to book, she said there would be many groups interested. The Swords Club needed to make it clearer how people could actually make a booking. She thought the Swords Club managed the facility well but wasn’t in a position to run a community centre. “It’s not that they shouldn’t have access to it. It’s just that they shouldn’t have exclusive access to it.” Former president of Brooklyn Junior Football club Ian Patterson said the club used the fields in the facility but not the building itself. It was not able to access the toilets inside. The club also tried to book the building for social gatherings but was told by the Swords Club that it would be in use. It was easier to have a social event after a game right next to the fields. They were having to travel afterwards to another community centre for it. “We’ll play football there and then drive a couple of kilometres over there to get to that other event.” He said the Swords Club needed to make it easier for groups to book and use the facilities. “We didn’t feel it was as available as it could be.” Head coach of Swords Club Victoria Lamb said the building had always been available for groups to use but nobody had ever approached it with concerns about the use. “We would appreciate they had the courtesy to come talk to us. If we don’t know about things, we can’t deal with them.” The clubs’ contact details were publicly available and people should be able to easily contact them. “We’d be delighted for other groups to come in and use it.” The Swords Club had a lot of equipment so needed a place they could store it. She said they also made good use of the building, using it seven days a week. However, other groups would be able to use in the morning and afternoon and on some weekends. The post Bowling club building must be shared appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Facebook advertisement for dance shown to few men
      • A Wellington dance director is concerned that a Facebook advertisement for a partner dance event was automatically shown by the algorithm to mostly women. Swing Central director Timothy Goddard started a Facebook advertisement campaign for West Coast Swing without indicating audience restrictions. Facebook showed the advertisement to 89% women and only 9% men. This led to 18 responses from women and one response from a man. “It’s something that was quite strange and alarming,” said Goddard. The Facebook demographic statistics had both the viewers’ gender and age. It also indicated how many the ad was shown to and how many responded. For the next dance event, Goddard bought two copies of the same Facebook advertisement and targeted one at women and one at men. This brought about a more equal response. Goddard said it often had more women than men through the door but had about equal in terms of committed dancers. “There’s no way that was random. ‘That sounds like a women’s thing, let’s send it to women.’ That can break in some distressing stereotypes. It seriously cuts the value of that advertising.” When there weren’t enough men to dance with, there tended to be a lot of waiting around which made for a “skewed class”. West Coast Swing and Modern Jive dancer Logan Clarricoats said in modern jive it usually had too many males. “On Wednesday, it was particularly bad. We had 16 guys to four girls.” He said it could be because Wellington had many young professionals who might be more open to dancing. When he asked other modern jive schools in New Zealand, he found there were usually more women than men. Scott Curtis started modern jive dance four years ago and was fearful before his first class. “I’d actively avoided it all my life. I even avoided my school ball because I was afraid I’d have to dance.” When he invited friends, women were usually interested while men were hesitant. “If I mention that I dance then their reaction is often amazement. When I try to convince them to come, the most common answer is, I can’t dance.” Senior Lecturer in marketing at Victoria University Dr James Richard said Facebook used data when targeting users in advertising. It would use location, age and search history to determine the best fit. Its ultimate goal was to use existing data to find out who might be interested in dance. “It’s not that Facebook is sexist. It’s just that most people who are looking up dance are women.” The advertising would be more likely to persuade men already interested in dance. “There’s some guys who might want to join [dance classes] and suddenly they see an ad and they go and join.” The post Facebook advertisement for dance shown to few men appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Students to rent instead of buy textbooks
      • A new site which will allow university students to rent instead of buy textbooks for much cheaper has just launched. Creator of RentaLibro Eve Halliwell came up with the idea to fill a gap in the market, particularly for students who couldn’t afford textbooks and needed them for a short time. She struggled to buy textbooks as a single parent when she was a student. She didn’t intend on making any money for the first six months of the project as they built a following. “For me, it’s certainly about giving my idea to hopefully help people. My heart and generosity is more important to me than huge acquisitions of wealth.” Marketing manager Andre Brice-Crawford came on board the project two months ago. He had a similar idea that would be like Trade Me, where you could borrow items instead of buying them. He had bought items he would use only a few times a year. He said its aim wasn’t to reach every student but the ones who couldn’t afford to buy a textbook outright. “Some people will just, regardless if there’s a cheaper option, will just want to go buy the next textbook. There’s some students who will go look on Facebook. Those are the kind of students who will look into renting.” Students could register and set a price for renting and bond money, if they wanted the extra security. He said the site would be safer as many students were getting scammed on Facebook. It had safety measures in place such as having to register and verify ID. Student Trevor Broviak found textbooks really expensive for his course. Each textbook was around $120 brand new. He thought he found a good deal when someone was selling all four textbooks on Facebook for $200. However, once he sent the money, the seller deleted his account and there was no way to find him. “I felt totally betrayed and taken advantage of. I trusted him and was left with nothing”, Broviak said. It made that semester hard for him as he had to do without any textbooks and look everything up online. Vic Books manager Sue Cochrane said it had trialled renting books out but it didn’t make enough money from it. She didn’t see the benefit of renting. “Students can buy a second hand book for the same price as renting one.” She also didn’t think there was enough demand for it and that students could make the money back by selling their textbook to them. The post Students to rent instead of buy textbooks appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Community important in Arlington social housing
      • A resident in the Wellington Arlington social housing wants Housing NZ to provide enough community spaces when renovating the multi-cultural housing block. Part of the social housing blocks had been renovated by the Wellington City Council on a $20 million budget. The other half of the project is being negotiated with Housing NZ. Resident Josh Bruce, who lives in the un-renovated flats and runs a youth group within the complex, said Housing NZ had promised to consult residents about the renovation process. The council used to facilitate weekly gatherings for residents in the flats and other events. The complex currently had a community room and some green space, with the potential of putting in a basketball hoop. However, Bruce said the community room was small, usually locked and there weren’t many keys for it. “It depends on whether there are some people to facilitate and foster that sense of community.” There were many ethnic groups who had lived there for years and had built good relationships. The aim of Bruce’s’ youth group was to help residents build those connections and him and his wife, Emily Bruce, often ran it from the community room. “It gives an opportunity for relationship between other people and role models. It helps build relationship with the parents and families as well.” Neighbour Bridget Baker had been involved with Arlington groups, such as playgroups and community dinners, for 15 years. She said the newly renovated buildings looked good but their community room wasn’t as big as the one in the other complex across the road. She would like to see more green space and bigger community spaces in the complex. “It’s [community room is] the only space they’ve got. It’s not big enough for large events combined with the city council. I’d always like to see bigger and better community spaces.” City Councillor Brian Dawson said that while they consulted with residents, its bigger concern in renovating was to provide safe, warm homes. Although it would be up to Housing NZ to determine the design for the new block, the council would make recommendations. He said it was important for residents, particularly those new to the country, to become integrated into a community. “As part of where they live, it leads to better results for them and better results for the people around them.” The post Community important in Arlington social housing appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Believing there’s life ‘out there’
      • John Cordy is one of the few people in New Zealand who claims to have encountered a UFO and will talk to media about it despite sceptics and stigmatisation. He is also the only living air traffic controller from the Kaikoura Lights sightings in 1978. John Cordy is an 83-year-old UFO investigator who lives in the same brick and tile duplex he and his deceased wife purchased for $25,000 over 40 years ago in the Wellington suburb of Miramar. British ex-pats at the time, John and his wife decided to buy the house because of its close proximity to Wellington Airport where John walked to work as a senior air traffic controller. In the modest living room, John sinks back into the familiar embrace of a large beige armchair and takes a sip from a steaming mug of tea. Gentle afternoon sunlight enters the living room through net curtains which are draped over a large set of windows behind him. Scores of model ships, airplanes, trains, and miniature soldiers fill cabinets and adorn bookshelves. A table covered in magazines sits within arm’s reach of him, which includes titles such as Model Rail, Archaeological Diggings and a 2019 New Zealand Astronomical Year Book. Cordy’s hair has retreated to the sides of his head and his bespectacled blue eyes communicate wariness when it comes to discussing his work and experience with UFOs. He says that one would have to be an “egotist” if they were to go outside on a dark night, look up at all the stars and think they were the only intelligent living thing in the universe. Cordy volunteers his time working as a UFO sighting investigator for Tauranga-based UFOCUS. He says some of the cases he investigates are easy to explain, while others remain unexplainable. UFOCUS is a group of volunteers who examine the evidence put forward by people who claim to have seen UFOs. The organisation takes its work seriously and even signed an agreement to share information with Chilean military and aviation organisation CEFFA (Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena) in 2013. A person can go to the UFOCUS website and fill in a form with details of a sighting and people from UFOCUS would strive to get back to them with answers; or perhaps no answers in some instances. The founding director of UFOCUS is a soft-spoken woman named Suzanne Hansen. She declined to speak about the organisation’s activity because she believed the media had represented it poorly in the past and tended to poke fun at its work. Cordy’s passion for UFO’s arose his involvement with New Zealand’s most famous UFO sightings which occurred on December 21 and December 31, 1978, events collectively dubbed The Kaikoura Lights. The Kaikoura Lights sightings included eye witness accounts from an Australian film crew, police and the general public spanning 260 kilometres from Kaikoura to Lower Hutt. The saga struck such a chord the Robert Muldoon Government ordered an enquiry into the events by the New Zealand Air Force at the time. Cordy says he was working the graveyard shift at Wellington Airport the night of the first sightings on December 21, 1978. He describes the night as being “as clear as gin, not a cloud in the sky.” Close to midnight Cordy and his colleague Andy Herd had seen three dots moving in an elliptical motion on the airport’s radar off the coast of Kaikoura. Given it was late December, John says he and Andy had joked the strange dots on their radar system were Father Christmas test driving his sleigh. Soon however, they received a phone call from Blenheim Airport saying they could see what looked like aircraft landing lights nearby. John had told them no aircraft were due to land at Blenheim airport at that time. Cordy had remained on the phone with Blenheim Airport and as they were talking he could see the dots on the radar travelling north, then south and then back again. Soon Cordy’s team was receiving phone calls from the Hutt Valley with people saying they could see strange lights in the sky. Then more phone calls came in from the Blenheim police and members of the public further down the coast towards Kaikoura. Eventually, a cargo aeroplane flew out from Blenheim Airport and the pilot told Cordy via his headset the lights from the objects on the radar were indeed airborne and were shining down onto the land. Another larger target appeared on Cordy’s radar and tracked out from Wellington airport to the south-east. This time a cargo aeroplane which had departed from Wellington Airport for Christchurch confirmed the target as an airborne red light about 2000 feet above him.   Above: One of the images captured of the Kaikoura Lights by an airborne Australian Channel 0 news team who had flown out to New Zealand to cover the story on December 31, 1978. Cordy says the centre of the image looks like a flying saucer. Suddenly, the pilot told Cordy the red light had disappeared and sure enough it had disappeared from his radar too. Cordy kept watching the radar and the pilot’s voice came back over the radio waves; “it’s back!”. Sure enough it was back on Wellington Airport’s radar system too. By 4.30am the objects had disappeared from Cordy’s radar and the pilots could no longer see them either. So he wrote up a report for the Ministry of Defence, which he says was protocol for anything unexplained or unusual which appeared on the Wellington Airport radar and went home to bed. A small television is located across the living room. His mug of tea now finished, he says he got “clobbered” when he appeared on TV3’s The Project when it did a programme on UFO’s just before Christmas. Every TV programme and documentary he has appeared in is on disc in the cabinet beneath his television – at least 10 including appearances for BBC1 and the National Geographic channel. Since his UFO story went global in 1978 he says the sceptics have come up with all sorts of explanations to discredit it. “Oh the radar was playing up; it was lights from squid boats”. They had come up with phrases to explain the events of the Kaikoura Lights away, like “it was ‘atmospheric refraction’ or it must have been a ‘mirage effect’”. Cordy positions himself as a straight shooter and although he feels some media coverage of his story may have attempted to discredit it, he takes comfort in the idea that more people are coming forward with their own stories of UFO sightings as the stigmatization is falling away. Which John attributes to social media and people being more open to new ideas. “Back in the 1960’s a pilot would have been deemed round the bend if they reported a UFO sighting,” he says. Looking back 41 years to the night those UFOs appeared on his radar at work he says it has been an {interesting journey, a fun journey” but stresses “not a haha fun journey,” it hasn’t all been an elaborate prank on the media and the public. Cordy hasn’t decided what it was that appeared on his radar that night. Although he has heard a plethora of theories which have ranged from alien life to time travellers and he will not be drawn out as to suggest which theory he favours. However, he firmly believes there are other people or intelligent organisms in the universe.  “Some of them will be intelligent and some will be far more intelligent than we are,” he says.   The post Believing there’s life ‘out there’ appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • Proposed parking hike a “poor tax”
      • Wellington City Council’s proposed increase in residents’ parking is a “stealth poor tax”  Mt Cook resident Sophia Grey told Shannon Johnstone. Grey is strongly against the increase. “This seems like a cop-out, ‘easy’ way of collecting revenue for the council and placing it back on everyday people who are held over a barrel regarding their choices because of where they live. [This] is just underhanded and shows how little they care about actually improving or benefiting the lives of normal Wellingtonians”. She believes the changes are a “stealth poor tax” which will force those who cannot afford to live close to the city further out making the suburbs surrounding the CBD more gentrified. The council has proposed to increase metered, coupon, and resident parking by 12.5-75% for the city by July this year, and does not see the large increase as unaffordable for residents. The resident’s parking permit  is increasing from $126.50 to $195 a year. Similarly, residents in coupon parking areas who pay for exemption permits are looking at paying an extra $48.50. Additionally, coupon parking on the fringe areas of the CBD, including residential areas, will increase from $8.50 a day to $12, or from $135 a month to $200. The 60-minute free parking zone in upper Cuba Street will become a 120-minute metered parking zone and will be $3.50 an hour, Monday-Thursday 8am-6pm and until 8pm on a Friday and $2.50 an hour on weekends 8am-6pm. Metered parking in the CBD, currently $3 per hour, will go up by 50c as will parking which is currently $4 an hour. Areas on the city fringe such as Cambridge and Kent Terraces and Thorndon Quay will go from $1.50 to $2.50. Councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman gave five main reasons for the increase: costs haven’t kept up with inflation; parking being a fully private benefit; rates would have to go up otherwise; it sends a signal about car ownership; and the city’s roads being unable to keep up with an increase of vehicles. The council’s position is that parking is a private benefit and that those who use it should have to pay for the increasing costs as opposed to increasing rates. “Who should pay? those who benefit, or everyone? And the council thinks it is those who benefit,” said Calvi-Freeman Compared to a smaller city such as Palmerston North, the cost of owning a car in Wellington is substantially higher. Fuel prices, according to price watch, average at $2.04 for 91 compared to the current $2.34 in Wellington. Basic third-party insurance for a mid-2000s age car in a residential Wellington suburb close to the CBD costs $235. The same policy in a Palmerston North suburb close to the CBD costs $176 a year. When comparing Wellington to the larger city of Auckland, Wellingtonians pay more. Auckland currently charges $70 annually for a resident’s permit in the limited areas of the scheme’s operation. The price of petrol in Auckland, according to price watch, at the time of writing was $2.19. The increase to the resident’s parking in Wellington is 50%. “Even though there is a percentage increase which has been quite large, we [the Council] feel that the scheme is affordable and reasonable for those people who use it, said Calvi-Freeman Grey: “It is fundamentally a change that is being proposed by out-of-touch rich, white, middle-aged incumbents, who are so disconnected from what reality is for normal people in this city that they think that this price increase is not expensive and [is] totally justified”. With the crippling rise in rent prices, many residents were moving further from the CBD. However, the poor bus system limited affordable transport options.  “Had I the choice, I would vehemently not live in Wellington, ” said Grey According to the council, the purpose of the increase is also to send a signal about whether car ownership is necessary for people in Wellington. “You’ll find now with a four-bedroom house there’ll be four cars, and just maybe they don’t need four cars. These cars may not move very much at all,” said Calvi-Freeman. Although public transport had issues, it was still a working alternative to driving, as was car share services, car hire services, walking, cycling, and e-scootering. “While people argue that they are not wealthy if they own a car, or that they absolutely have to have a car to get to work, we are dealing with inner city areas which by-in-large are reasonably serviced by public transport, and are reasonably walkable.” Grey responded” “I don’t feel like anyone should have to justify to the council why I have the right to own a car. That feels like a gross invasion of privacy. There is no allowance for people in different circumstances – how else would you do the shopping with three kids, the bus? It is pretty sad that the people who are saying that this is ‘cheap so you should stop complaining’ just don’t have a shred of empathy.” The proposal was announced on April 16 with public submissions open until the May 8. Calvi-Freeman said submissions would be considered carefully but that it would “not be treated as a referendum”.         The post Proposed parking hike a “poor tax” appeared first on Te Karearea.

    • The beautiful game
      • Social football teams bring their own nets, there is no midweek training, no special athletic diets, no oranges on game day. Players are on the field for the love of the beautiful game and the fun of a Saturday run. Victoria University football club, Goldenrods and Saturday’s opposition Naenae, Kemeys Boys are two of the eight social teams who play in the 10th division, Wellington Capital Football League. Both teams have small, enthusiastic groups of supporters. Children stand on the sideline shouting, “Go Daddy” as the players run up and down the field. No one talks about winning. Amongst the supporters is Sue Jones, whose husband Craig Harris is the match referee and an occasional player for Goldenrods. Jones, an avid supporter of Goldenrods since 1993 said, “The games are slow, many of the players are hungover and some suffer from ongoing sleep deprivation due to young children. Game day is about catching up with each other and not taking ourselves too seriously.” Spirited defence from Greg Ferguson fails to stop Matt Hunter from scoring. Photo Mazz Scannell At least half the Goldenrods players have played in the team for more than 15 years, Craig Harris (25) and fellow teammate Greg Ferguson (23), Boys have a similar history, Matt Hunter (12) and Elliott Kemey nine years. Monday to Friday the players run businesses, work in offices or attend university. On Saturday they play for fun, enjoying the beers and pies after the match and most importantly the camaraderie. This Saturday, there was a strong nor’westerly blowing across Anderson Park as the Goldenrods ran on for their match against Boys. They won the toss and elected to play into the wind. From the sidelines it was obvious many lacked fitness, players regularly subbed themselves off the field so they could catch their breath. Minutes before the half time whistle, Goldenrods player John Taylor hobbled to the sideline with a pulled hamstring. Boys quickly responded, Matt Hunter, applied pressure and quickly scored a goal. A draw would be a good result if the Goldenrods could hold onto it, they have lost all four games this season. Last weekend it was to the NW Marauders 6-8. At the final whistle, the Goldenrods players are all smiles, 2-1 is a good loss compared to last week. Next weekend Goldenrods are playing at home on Kelburn Park where they will have another opportunity to move from the bottom of the 10th division ladder. The post The beautiful game appeared first on Te Karearea.

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