The Devil is in the Detail

Waihinga Centre 

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With the major structural elements of the Town Hall and Waihinga Centre completed, the focus is now on the interior and the exterior surroundings. Myriads of details are being attended to daily. 

Inside the Town Hall the Supper room ceiling is in place and ready for painting.

In the new building attaching the ply wood to the ceiling is a much more complicated affair with each piece needing to be carefully measured and cut exactly to fit around the windows and columns.

Between the two buildings “The Street” is likewise being panelled in plywood.  “The Street”, will provide an opportunity to showcase art or photographic displays” says Victoria Read from the Waihinga Charitable Trust. “We are really looking forward to the numerous ways in which we can use the Waihinga Centre.  Imagine all of the photos of our soldiers being displayed here over the ANZAC day commemorations. Everyone coming in and out would stop to remember.” … Continue Reading

Did you know

THE CHESS CLUB meets every Tuesday night  at St. Andrew’s Church Hall from 5pm. No charge just come along and join in. Snacks provided. 

LIFE FLIGHT helicopter and planes have made over 750 operations so far this year. These include 78 to road accidents, 39 medical emergencies, 181 vital baby incubator transfers, 20 search and rescues and 411 intensive care transfers,

WITH 390 COURSES New Zealand has the second highest number of golf courses per head of population in the world. Only Scotland has more. Third is Australia followed by Ireland, Canada, Wales, USA, Sweden and England.

NZ’S GROSS emissions have risen 19.6% since 1990. During that time road transport emissions have risen 81% and agriculture 49%. Sheep emissions have steadily fallen right through the period while cattle steadily rose to plateau in 2013 and now fallen slightly. 

‘WOMEN who seek equality with men lack ambition’ Timothy Leary

ROBOTS at the fully automated Seiko watch factory produce 25,000 quartz watches a day. Meanwhile in the adjacent building twenty four watchmakers each hand produce two or three Grand Seiko watches a day.

NEW ZEALAND has one of the oldest car fleets in the world. Only Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary have older cars. Plus, eight if  NZ’s current ten top selling cars are higher emitting utes. The only smaller motor cars in the top ten are Toyota Corolla (5) and Suzuki Swift (10) 

LARGE company’s CEO’s salary is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently more in the nature of a warm gesture to themselves’ J K Galbraith  

SINCE THEIR INTRODUCTION in 1966 over 44 million Toyota Corollas have been produced. They are now sold in 150 countries  and there are currently 155,000 Corollas of various models in New Zealand. 

SWDC HAS six staff for every 1,000 residents. The Wellington City Council has twenty two for every 1,000 residents.

TELLING LIES  is a bit like tiling a bathroom – if you don’t know how to do it properly it’s best not to try

STUDY BY GLOBAL research company Ipsos found the 80% in China and India thought that globalisation is good. Whereas less than 50% in USA , Germany or Japan thought so.

THE DAVOS World Economic Forum reported that the world’s 42 wealthiest individuals  owned as much as the bottom 3.5 million people. 

Regional Council notes

Wairarapa did itself proud recently in the way it responded to Greater Wellington Regional Council’s draft Long Term Plan and its Revenue and Financing Policy.  The Long Term Plan outlines GW’s projects and levels of service for the next ten years and the Revenue and Financing Policy dictates who pays and how it is apportioned.

Both documents proposed changes that potentially had major impacts for Wairarapa, in particular, new trains for our line and the way flood protection was rated for.  With only one representative at the council table it was imperative that people responded to make our voice heard and respond they did.

GWRC received three hundred and thirty eight submissions on its LTP with one hundred and nineteen coming from Wairarapa.  That’s pretty good considering we have only ten per cent of the region’s population.

When it came to the Revenue and Financing Policy though, we did even better.  From four hundred and twenty three submissions received, a massive three hundred and thirty four were from Wairarapa and South Wairarapa residents in particular were very vocal. … Continue Reading

Letters

Not good enough

Today, 23 May, we again find ourselves questioning the competency of our Council and their employees. Wednesday, one of the 3 days the Landfill opens for a few hours, open according to Council information 1-3pm, so arriving  at 135pm I find a queue of traffic parked alongside the road, posing a potential risk to motorists on an open section of road with a 100kph speed limit, awaiting the landfill gates to open..

Upon ringing the Council I am told it is closed today as contractors are putting up new netting, and our Council has put this in a paper advertisement (not your fine publication) and on a “Facebook Page” to let everyone know. 

None of the waiting queue, even if they use “Facebook” ever think to look at the Council’s page to see if the services they provide are functioning !!, and yet this is how they consider they have communicated with their ratepayers. We are also told there is supposed to be a sign on the gate, which after much searching a laminated piece of printed paper is found down a fence line obviously blown off in the recent or overnight winds (who would have thought we have wind here!). … Continue Reading