Houghton Valley Community Newsletter
1 December, 2011
Welcome to the new members. We have 123 members on the email list now.
A message from James (from Hornsey Rd): “We have a telecommunications tower on the top of Mt Albert. Since Sept 2008 it has started to ‘harmonise’ in a Nor-wester, specifically. So when the nor-wester comes rolling over the hill from Newtown, we all in its lee hear an annoying hum/buzz at the same constant drone.
I have been on the council for months (possibly over a year now) trying to get to the bottom of the cause (started in September 2008) with the intent to have it fixed. I have suggested, checking records for work done to tower around September 2008, I have asked for all fixtures to be checked for harmonic potential, I have asked for an explanation of council policy regards noise pollution, and I have asked for an acoustic engineer to be consulted to try and fix the problem. Nothing to date. It affects certainly my end of Hornsey Rd, but may well extend over on the other side of the ridge on Houghton Bay Road. Could I reach out through your newsletter for others affected, for support (response with numbers), advice, etc? Thanks.” – James
A message from Stuart Bullen, Team Leader Traffic – Infrastructure, WCC: “The upcoming traffic safety improvements for The Esplanade/Houghton Bay intersection was due to start this week , unfortunately the projects is now planned to start on the 29 November (on Tuesday). Weather and delays encountered at the contractors current job are why we have not been able to start on the due date. The plan is still to finish the majority of the physical works including the large traffic islands by Christmas with the footpath upgrade possibly being delayed until early January.”
Te Raekaihau Restoration Group (TRiG): We have worked out a planting plan for next winter. We will plant around 650 trees and shrubs from May until September around the Alice Krebs Cottage. So keep a few Saturday afternoons spare to come out and do something satisfying and fun. However we are continuing our fortnightly working bees to look after what has already been planted, remove weeds and take out some of the larger trees that don’t belong to make room for the new ones. (All welcome!) Sometimes it feels like we are taking out more biomass than we are putting in but the restoration of Te Raekaihau Headland is not about how many trees we can get planted so we can stop feeling guilty about using our cars (there are easier ways of doing that, check out white roofs. It’s about bringing back the special identity of Wellington’s coastal forest, so that we can identify ourselves with the place we live in. The sense-of-place a place radiates comes in part from a sub-conscious knowing that the forest and natural environment around it, although constantly changing and adapting, has in essence always been there and always will.
Watch out in the next days for new track signs for the View Rd south / Te Raekaihau Park. Locals got together about a year ago and named the tracks that traverse the park. The WCC supported this idea and has now created the signs and will install them soon.
Regards,
Grant and Norman