Local body elections and Hutt Valley
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When the media advocate racism to hide the real culprits behind bad driving
- Jack Yan
- This op–ed in the Fairfax Press smacks of typical yellow peril journalism that has come to typify what passes for some media coverage of late.
- Accepted from Jack Yan posts
- Tagged as:
- roseneath
- titahi-bay
- berhampore
- cuba-street
- wainuiomata
- civic-square
- wairarapa
- karori
- kelburn
- khandallah
- tawa
- stokes-valley
- paraparaumu
- makara
- brooklyn
- hutt-valley
- worser-bay
- hataitai
- ngaio
- lyall-bay
- wadestown
- waterfront
- mount-cook
- paremata
- wilton
- begonia-house
- mount-victoria
- newtown
- aro-valley
- newlands
- kilbirnie
- seatoun
- northland
- thorndon
- island-bay
- miramar
- oriental-bay
- johnsonville
- porirua
- eastbourne
Berhampore, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6242, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Found a Facebook bot? Facebook wants you to leave it as reporting option vanishes
- Jack Yan
- Facebook appears to be giving up on the bot fight.
- Accepted from Jack Yan posts
- Tagged as:
- wilton
- seatoun
- waterfront
- newtown
- hutt-valley
- northland
- kelburn
- begonia-house
- island-bay
- berhampore
- hataitai
- makara
- paraparaumu
- mount-victoria
- oriental-bay
- newlands
- johnsonville
- mount-cook
- wairarapa
- aro-valley
- tawa
- roseneath
- lyall-bay
- porirua
- cuba-street
- worser-bay
- thorndon
- khandallah
- eastbourne
- ngaio
- titahi-bay
- paremata
- civic-square
- wainuiomata
- wadestown
- brooklyn
- stokes-valley
- kilbirnie
- karori
- miramar
Ngaio, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Meanwhile in Hutt Valley – Wallace rolls on
- WCC Watch
- After covering Porirua I got asked if we were going to do anything on the Hutt… naturally my immediate response was, uh why? But then I found Mayor Ray Wallace’s Facebook page – and boy has he been busy.
- Accepted from WCC Watch feed
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
- porirua
Porirua, Wellington Region, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Get hitched
- WCC Watch
- Freshly minted Northern Ward candidate Jacob Toner wants to foster resilient communities to make sure Wellington is ready for many risks it faces by introducing Hutt Valley inspired ‘Hitching Posts’ around the city.
- Accepted from WCC Watch feed
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
- transport
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Hutt Valley Mayor wants a bigger office
- WCC Watch
- You will remember WCC Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, came under fire from the Dom Post for the $350k upgrade of her office to ‘luxury nest’ status.
- Accepted from WCC Watch feed
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Flower Beds
- Hutt Chick
- Recently I was criticised for supporting replacing all but eleven of the cities bedding gardens containing flowering annuals.
- Accepted from Hutt Chick
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Day 2 – cabbage, cabbage and more cabbage
- Hutt Chick
- Dinner on day 1 filled a gap.
- Accepted from Hutt Chick
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Day 1 and hungry already
- Hutt Chick
- Porridge and apple Breakfast wasn’t too bad.
- Accepted from Hutt Chick
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Below the line – shopping day
- Hutt Chick
- Shopping all done, and even have $2.15 left to spend! First stop was the riverbank market to get my fruit and vege. Rachel suggested I get a cabbage to make cabbage soup. After all, that was what Charlie’s family ate, from Charlie and the chocolate factory. And apparently the thing that goes best with cabbage soup is a cabbage. Other bargains were some apples and potatoes that had blemishes, and pumpkin which is in abundance at this time of year.
- Accepted from Hutt Chick
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Below the line – starts in 3 days
- Hutt Chick
- From 22 – 26 August 2011, I will be living on $2.25 a day of food and drink to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by people who live in extreme poverty. I am trying to raise as much money as I can for Oxfam by participating in the Live Below the Line Challenge.
- Accepted from Hutt Chick
- Tagged as:
- appeals
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Hope vs Choat
- WCC Watch
- Recently in David Choat’s blog he explains that a previous post recalling his observations in his first Capital and Coast DHB meeting led to him receiving a note from Board Chair Dr Virginia Hope (who was recently appointed to both the CCDHB and the Hutt Valley DHB – criticised as a first step towards amalgamation of the two health boards) as a breach of the CCDHB media policy (which effectively says that the Chair should be the person responsible for any comments for the Board) Hope’s explanation is not entirely clear from David’s post, only that it had caused her distress. It would be a fair point to make had Choat attempted to represent the Board exclusively. Yet, if anything, the article reads about what he did and thought at the meeting. I can’t see how what he said would have been any different had Choat been in a public meeting, or in a one-on-one chance meeting with one of his constituents. In fact the post by Choat in question was entitled “Reflections on my first board meeting” Go read the post for Choat’s response, which I think reflects his commitment to transparency with the public on (open) board matters being debated as part of a publicly accountable body. So, what precisely does the policy do – here is a copy (1MB PDF). It was last updated and debated at a meeting in August 2009. The comms manager wasn’t present and Helene Ritchie was the only member to vote against it. Odd. It’s no surprise how unworkable the policy has been in practice. It basically bars any direct interaction with the public by board members. I wonder what kind of world the drafters of this policy were living in when they thought that such restrictions on public debate would actually work. Would it be surprising that Dr Hope doesn’t agree with David’s very blunt but arguably popular slogan “Care not cuts” as a way to deal with the challenges at the CCDHB: “Cuts is really the wrong word. Savings, I think, is a better word” (The Wellingtonian, 6 January 2011) Clearly, any Chair would not want to have to battle the framing of an alternative viewpoint as well as the controversial challenges for an organisation like those faced by the CCDHB, but it also makes me wonder what the Chair’s personal direction will be in the Board’s response to those challenges? Regardless, there appears to be a developing division between the new board member and the new chair. Already, Choat has said that the matter of the media policy will be on the agenda at the next meeting. There doesn’t appear to be much that the Chair could do, but the board (particularly the publically elected members) should be mindful of the public’s need to be informed unfettered by the spin that sometimes happens and refuse to punish Choat. The next meeting is on February 4 at 8.30am (in the Board Room on 11th Floor of the Grace Neill Block, Wellington Regional Hospital on Riddiford Street, Newtown), and you can attend in person to make sure the Board get the point. (More info on the meeting here)
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
- newtown
Newtown, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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New councillor says: bike to the future
- Hutt Chick
- Hutt City’s new Councillor, Lisa Bridson puts her bike where her mouth is.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
- cycling
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Opposing Balgownie Development
- Hutt Chick
- I applaud Cr Barbara Branch for saying she now supports residents wanting to stop development in the hills above Waddington Drive, Balgownie Grove and Waiwhetu Stream.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
Balgownie Grove, Wellington
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Hutt City mayoral candidate Ray Wallace takes a “hands-on” approach
- Wellington Scoop
- It may not have got him over the line last time, but Lower Hutt mayoral candidate Ray Wallace hopes using the same approach will get his nose ahead in this year’s election. In what is a two-horse race between himself and Mayor David Ogden, Councilor Wallace has again adopted a “hands-on” approach to promote his visions for the city and to gauge public opinion.
- Tagged as:
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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We don’t need poor quality infill housing
- Hutt Chick
- The last thing residents need is a relaxation in planning regulations as suggested by Mayor Odgen.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- housing
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Tackling tagging
- Hutt Chick
- Graffiti vandalism is a problem for many councils around the world, costing lots of money to tackle, and many struggle to keep it in check.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- crime
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Patrol
- Hutt Chick
- wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I arrived at the police station. The others were waiting. I got into the waiting patrol car, and buckled up. I was going out on community patrol in Naenae. Community patrols work alongside police to build safer communities, providing an extra set of eyes and ears. We drove a random route but to some set areas, through schools, up alleyways behind businesses, making sure the streets were safe and providing a visual deterrent for tagging and other crime.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- crime
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Environmental assistance for buildings
- Hutt Chick
- Eco Design advice is now available for those building residential housing in Lower Hutt.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- conservation
- hutt-valley
- architecture
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Rare duck seen in Waiwhetu Stream
- Hutt Chick
- A rare Brown teal (Anas chlorotis), or pateke, was recently spotted on Waiwhetu stream which had flown in from Zealandia in Karori.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- animals
- hutt-valley
- karori
Karori, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Mayor Ogden and credit card use
- Hutt Chick
- Credit card spending by our elected officials has been in the news quite a bit recently.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Men Behaving Badly
- Hutt Chick
- In Auckland there has been a completely dysfunctional relationship between the Auckland City council and Auckland Regional Council.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Don’t shelve community libraries
- Hutt Chick
- The seven community libraries have been under threat by Cr Roger Styles in the past, and now Cr Max Shierlaw is suggesting they go.
- Tagged as:
- libraries
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Water conservation in the pipeline?
- Hutt Chick
- It is great to see that Capacity is fixing water leaks, but we could be doing so much more to conserve water and save residents the cost of a $142 million dam.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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How shall we split the bill?
- Hutt Chick
- Unless someone is feeling particularly flush, this question can be quite awkward.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Public Access between Wainui and Eastbourne?
- Hutt Chick
- Photo courtesy www.
- Tagged as:
- eastbourne
Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, Lower Hutt City, Wellington, New Zealand/Aotearoa (OpenStreetMap)
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One step closer for Hutt EnviroHouse
- Hutt Chick
- The Lower Hutt EnviroHouse is one step closer.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Train problems continue
- Hutt Chick
- I managed to get to work this morning before the train problems started on the Hutt Valley line.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- trains
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Hutt proposes an environmental centre
- Hutt Chick
- Lower Hutt is considering establishing an EnviroHouse in the old caretakers house by the Dowse over bridge.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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CVL study waste of money
- Hutt Chick
- Why is the Mayor suggesting we waste $50,000 of ratepayers money on consultants to “investigate” the Cross Valley Link (CVL)? According to the Hutt News, Hutt City Mayor David Ogden wants the government to fund the CVL, and the city council has put aside $50,000 for consultants.
- Automatically tagged as:
- blogs
- election-candiates-2010
- hutt-valley
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Nanatech
- Hutt Chick
- In this high-tech world, there is a new trend emerging in Lower Hutt. People from all walks of life are rediscovering a simpler time and simple pleasures like freshly baked bread, homemade preserves and freshly grown vegetables. As well as saving money, they are reducing their impact on the planet too.
- Submitted by tonytw1
- Tagged as:
- hutt-valley
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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