Published as Issue No. 56
8 November, 2012
Welcome to new members.
Te Raekaihau Restoration Group Working bee: This Saturday November 10, from 2 – 5 pm. We will be focusing on the Peace Grove: making hay in the picnic area, finishing off releasing the plants, weeding the track and carting up the rest of the firewood. So bring along suitable haymaking equipment, gloves and pruning tools.
Message from the Community Garden: We have lots of Kolrabi and snow pea seedlings to exchange.
Message from Dave (caretaker of HVS): Sometime after the school fair and Sunday 1 pm someone demolished the window on the stair landing and smashed the window locks of the school office. Please notify the school if you were passing through the grounds during this period and spotted the damage or other unusual activity. There is a pattern of similar damage to nearby homes over the last year or so and all information is helpful.
Te Kawakawa Commons: Working bee from this Sunday 11 November from midday to finish the planting to the cleared area, the bank and the flat bit above the road.
Making a Difference: In August 2011 local people learned of the Council’s intention to upgrade the Esplanade/Houghton Bay Rd intersection, reviewed the plans and insisted they were not good enough. Extensive consultation, sometimes in the form of strong disagreement with traffic engineers, followed over a year. Now the new intersection is ready for summer.
Comparing the original and final versions of the plans below show major changes as a result of community input:
- Traffic from all directions must slow down;
- Safer options have been created for pedestrians to cross the roads at several points;
- Pedestrians have been separated from vehicles parking;
- A greatly expanded and re-designed parking area to address the chaotic and dangerous situation created when when ‘surf was up’.
As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating but from their observations over the last two weeks local people believe its working well. One of the hoped for but yet to be confirmed benefits is to cyclists from ‘calmer’ vehicles moving through the intersection. Comments on any aspect of the upgrade welcome.
Regards, Norman and Grant