CERA’s report on Canterbury Cathedral is online. It is rooted. The owners know it. Everyone knows it.
Knock it down. It is just a building. It is far cheaper to demo it and rebuild rather than cling to false hopes and restore it in is present rooted form.
People who walk goats shouldn’t have a say. Anyway he promised the demolition would be over his dead body and he still seems to be breathing.
It seems John Key is channeling Trevor Mallard and backing a proposal for a gold plated covered stadium for Christchurch. At least he is suggesting that they pay for it themselves. I expect Trevor Mallard to issue a press release anytime soon committing labour to spending over a billion dollars of government money for it like he did for Auckland.
Prime Minister John Key has backed the idea of a “world-class” covered stadium in Christchurch.
The size and design of a long-term replacement for the quake-hit AMI Stadium has been the subject of much debate in the city.
The Christchurch City Council’s draft annual plan, which is open for public feedback, has indicated a preference for an uncovered 35,000-seat stadium.
However, the council says the option would not rule out “the later addition of a roof structure to make the ground fully covered”.
Key told The Press yesterday he supported the idea of a covered stadium in the city.
“There’s a long and proud sporting history in Canterbury, and Christchurch needs a stadium that reflects that.
“I really believe that Christchurch can support a world-class covered stadium.”
Key said the insurance payout from AMI Stadium would “help the replacement fund”, but was unlikely to fund the whole project.
There had not been any talk of government funding for the stadium, and Christchurch residents would need to decide whether the cost of a roof was worthwhile.
“In the end, what’s built and how it’s paid for is largely a matter for Cantabrians.”
There is plenty of sympathy for Christchurch but it only goes so far.
By wanting to hold on to their assets rather than mortgage them to fund the rebuild they are saying the rest of us should pay for their misfortune.
We have paid enough, and we don’t mind paying up to a certain point, but this just makes Christchurch look as if they are on the bludge.
How will this help with the rebuild?
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker is to visit South Korea and Israel for eight days.
He will leave this Thursday, returning to Christchurch on Friday May 11.
While in South Korea, Mr Parker will travel to Christchurch’s sister city Songpa-Gu and also speak at a business breakfast in Seoul hosted by the Kiwi Chamber of Commerce.
A highlight is a visit to the Korean Antarctic Programme.
After Korea, he will travel to Israel for the International Mayors’ Conference, to be attended by 73 mayors from around the world. The invitation to Mr Parker follows a visit to Christchurch in April last year by Israel’s Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin.
Mr Parker returns to South Korea on May 10 where he is a guest speaker at the 2012 Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Conference in Seoul.
Christchurch City Council said the cost of Mr Parker’s travel was being met by the conference organisers. His wife will accompany him and Mr Parker is paying for the cost of her travel.
As readers will know Duncan Webb is the lawyer acting for Lianne Dalziel in her try-hard defamation case against me. Apart from being a Labour stooge of legendary status, he is also a fan of karaoke singing.
So yesterday – Labour released a ‘formal’ legal opinion they commissioned from Duncan Webb…. that backs Labour’s position – shock horror…
The Labour Party says a new legal opinion raises serious questions about the actions of some insurers in dealing with claims from red-zoned Christchurch residents.
Labour is questioning the legality of some insurance payouts to homeowners with earthquake-damaged properties in Christchurch.
The opinion from Duncan Webb, a partner at Christchurch-based law firm Lane Neave, says insurers cannot offer payment for just repairs to red-zoned owners where the land is so badly damaged it is unlikely to be rebuilt on for some time.
Dr Webb says many red zone homes are not badly damaged, and some insurers believe they need only pay for the damage that has occurred. But he says if for all practical purposes a property is lost, the owner can get full compensation.
Dr Webb says the creation of the red zone has essentially deprived homeowners of their land.
Labour has tried to politicise the earthquake on numerous occasions, and each time they have had their head kicked in. Now they are using a flea lawyer who is trying to sue a blogger to write legal opinions for them.
Shame on Radio New Zealand for not qualifying his appearance on radio with the information that he is the current Labour Electorate Chair for Christchurch Central.
It looks like Pasty is having problems coping. Perhaps Patsy has been taking too much Vitamin Vino?
A reader e-mails me:
The owner of part of South Mall in Columbo St approached CERA and asked them to urgently close his building because his engineers, Opus, had determined that quake damage had left the building at less than 10% of code. When CERA engineers turned up today to yellow sticker the building and fence it off for public safety, Lianne Dalzielwas there. She said they were going to destroy the livelihoods of the owners of the Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants affected (who were informed of the need for urgent closure yesterday).
The other two shop owners immediately accepted the closure notice. Then early this afternoon Lianne went through the fences and occupyied the Chinese restaurant, which is clearly a pretty dangerous place to be if we get a good jolt! Dept of Labour and Police were called in to remove her, but she’d left when they arrived.
So an MP occupied a building at 10% of code, as she presumably thinks that there is nothing wrong with unsafe buildings.
If that weren’t weird enough, you have to wonder why she took this action? After all, it’s miles from her electorate. Well, when the CERA team arrived this morning, surprised to find Lianne there, she seemingly told them her husband represents the tenants of the restaurant!!
How fortunate for them.
She kept yelling at the CERA team that nothing had changed structurally in the building since February. Apparently she’s an engineer all of a sudden.
The whole place is rooted but at least there won’t be any fracking causing more earthquakes in Christchurch. Personally I think Bob Parker should frack off. I’m pretty sure that residents of Christchurch would have wanted their council to focus on more important things than fracking…like re-building their city:
Christchurch City Council has voted unanimously to declare Christchurch a fracking-free zone.
Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a mining system that involves injecting chemicals into rocks so they break, releasing oil and natural gas.
The stance is because of concerns about the impact of fracking on the local environment, including contamination of the city’s underground water supply and fracking’s link to earthquakes.
The council also decided to call on the country’s other territorial/local authorities and regional councils to declare their areas fracking-free. Christchurch City Council will discuss the issue with Environment Canterbury.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the council received extremely positive feedback when it called for a moratorium on fracking earlier this year.
“However, today’s decision takes our opposition to this practice a step further. It is a very strong sign from the Council that we do not want fracking taking place in this city. We hope that the strong stand we are taking is picked up by councils in other areas,” Mr Parker said.
A Somali refugee family is moaning about the largesse of the state they are currently enjoying. Enjoying it I might ad by squatting rather than how every other resident deals with Housing Corp:
She said the new arrivals moved into the Shirley state house without the permission of Housing New Zealand.
Chief executive of Refugee Services, Heather Hayden, said the family was not living in an “acceptable situation”, but the agency was doing what they could to help.
Only refugees with “strong long-term family links” are now placed in quake-hit Christchurch.
Three families came into the city from this year’s quota and Hayden said “this is the only situation where there has been a problem finding a house.”
Hayden said Warsame’s family had turned down three houses in Christchurch because the family thought they were in the wrong suburb or too damp.
Contrast this Somali family with the Burmese family I blogged about earlier.
Regular readers will know I have little time for Gerry Brownlee.
But today, as National re-grouped after the clusterf**k that is now being dubbed the Nick Smith affair, Brownlee gave us all an insight into Parliamentary conflicts of interest.
So it turns out, Labour’s main attack dog on the earthquake recovery, is involved in a nasty dispute with the insurance company and the Government.
Conflicts anyone?
