Nominations for candidates wishing to stand for election to either the City Council or Regional Council remain open until noon on Friday 16 August.
If people want to check the preliminary electoral roll of electors, it is available for inspection
on the ground floor of the Council offices at 101 Wakefield Street – ask at the main reception desk – and is also available at all city libraries. The roll will remain open until 5pm, Friday 16 August.
If you’re not enrolled, you have to do so by 5pm on 16 August to receive a postal vote. If you enrol after this date you will have to contact the Electoral Officer to obtain a special vote. Voting will take place by post between 20 September and 12 October.
Newtown Residents’ Association is planning to hold a local meeting of candidates for the Council elections on Wednesday 4 September in St Anne’s Parish Hall, at the end of Emmett St.   St Anne’s Parish will be putting on supper at the end of the meeting. In addition don’t forget that the NRA is planning to ask all the local candidates to answer a questionnaire for us and to pre circulate their answers.  So we want you to tell us what issues you want to hear about.  Drop us a line to newtownwellington@gmail.com with ELECTION QUESTIONS in the title line and we will start building up the collection

NRA June 2013 Minutes_Draft

Despite the not very friendly weather the first Keep Newtown Clean Day on Saturday was a big hit.  Somewhere close to 40 volunteers from all quarters of the community turned out and cleaned pretty much all the tagging in Riddiford St South of the hospital.   This is going to be a regular event on the first Saturday of each month – just turn up outside Newtown New World at 8:00am (or soon after) in your painting gears and join the crew. The next Keep Newtwon Clean day is on 3 August.  You can check out the full display of photos of “cleaners” at work in Newtown Mall

There is still time, but not a lot, to be part of Landcare Research and Forest and Bird’s annual Garden Bird Survey. This survey gives our wonderful scientists data to monitor the distribution and population trends of common garden birds in New Zealand. All you need to do is:
•    Watch birds in your garden for 1 hour (1 hour only please) sometime between the survey dates.
•    For each species you see or hear, record the largest number detected at any one time (that is, at the same time) within the hour.
•    Complete a survey form, either online (preferred) or on paper
If you would like to participate you can get more info here

Wellington City has opened formal consultations on its draft alcohol management strategy and local alcohol policy.  You can access the documents and make submissions on the WCC website. Submissions close at 5pm on 2 August 2013.

The headlines
Off-licence maximum trading hours 7am–9pm.
On-licence maximum trading hours for

• Entertainment Precinct (aka Courtenay and Cuba): 7am–3am generally and 7am–5am for best-practice premises

• Central city (as far South as Buckle and Webb): 7am–2am generally and 7am–3am for best-practice premises

• Suburban (the rest of the city): 7am-midnight.

Proximity to sensitive facilities such as schools, parks, health centres. Create automatic triggers for public hearings for:

• high to medium-risk applications in the Southern Zone within close proximity (100m) of another licensed premises or a sensitive facility, such as a school, park or health centre

• any application next to a sensitive facility high to medium-risk, or late-trading applications in the Entertainment Precinct

• any application that attracts public opposition.

Density of licensed premises.  Create automatic triggers for public hearings for:

• all new or renewal applications for high-risk applications in the Entertainment Precinct and the Southern Zone

• all applications where density or proximity is raised by submitters as an issue.

Wellington City Council is on the hunt for a couple of experienced artists to work on two mural projects in the Capital’s southern suburbs, which will involve work with young people from two local primary schools.
The artists will each team up with 20 children aged 9–10 from Berhampore School and Newtown School respectively. Working with the students, a local youth organisation and the Council’s City Arts team, the artists will guide the development of a mural from design to painting.
The mural will be developed through a series of workshops facilitated by a local youth organisation with the students. The design must be an original concept that reflects the spirit of the neighbourhood and helps to deter tagging.
The Council’s Arts and Culture Portfolio Leader, Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer, says the projects are part of a new pilot programme being trialled in Wellington called Paint Up.
“This is a great initiative that will help young people develop painting and design skills while learning about their neighbourhood’s heritage and participating in a project that adds vibrancy to their local streetscape.”
Katie Taylor-Duke, from the Council’s City Arts team, says the Paint Up project will also give children an insight into the social and economic impacts of tagging.
“As well as teaching the children new skills, we want to encourage them to take ownership of their neighbourhoods. Murals are a big part of our graffiti management strategy – as well as being nice to look at, they’re a great way to reduce tagging while promoting a sense of safety in our communities.”

Artists who are keen to get involved should submit their CV – along with a portfolio of up to five previous works, and a 250-word summary of why they’d be suitable for the project – by email to katie.duke@wcc.govt.nz by 12 noon on Wednesday 17 July.

Our part of town has the unusual distinction of being home base to not one but two of the country’s top harrier clubs.  Wellington Harriers Athletic Club (WHAC) lives on Alexandra Road in the winter and is based at Newtown Park in the summer track season.  Wellington Scottish Harriers is based at Prince of Wales Park in Mt Cook.  Members of both clubs are involved in the fantastic childrens’ athletics programme that runs on Saturday mornings at Newtown Park over the Summer.  While both clubs have members from all over the city bit it was still a buzz to see people from each of these locally based outfits recognised at the recent Wellington Sportsperson of the Year Awards.

Congratulations to Louise Evans McDonald from WHAC who won Administrator of the Year, and Peter Wrigley from Scottish who won Official  of the Year.  Louise’s award relates largely to the huge role she has played in recent years in children’s athletics in the city.  Peter officiates at a huge range of running and walking events and the 2012 London Olympics were his second as a race walking judge.  He has also achieved the rare feat of finishing in excess of 100 marathon races.

The initial round of community engagement finished in late April, and the formal consultation on the draft policy starts on 2 July.  Those with a particular interest in the issues might well check out the reports considered by the WCC Strategy Committee of 20 June (Report 3 and Appendices).  Of particular interest are the comments from the Medical Officer of Health based on an analysis of alcohol related visits to the Hospital Emergency Department.  “This analysis shows that problem binge drinking and “preloading” is predominantly taking place in the Southern, Lambton and Eastern wards. The Mt Cook, Te Aro, Newtown, Brooklyn, Island Bay, Miramar/Strathmore Park and Kilbirnie/Melrose stand out as problem areas.”  Food for thought!  Although one or two sceptics have wondered whether data from the Hospital Emergency Department really captures the incidence of alcohol related harm, or merely records proximity to and the accessibility of the Hospital.

Next week is National Volunteer Week.  According to the 2006 census data, Newtown, Berhampore and Mt Cook all have lower rates of volunteering than the averages for Wellington City and the Wellington Region.  Regard that as a challenge, people!!