Daran Ponter has invited us to this workshop, organised by FIT – Fair Intelligent Transport. He says “No charge and no RSVP required. Just bring your enthusiasm and ideas. The ideas from the workshop will feed into the Get Welly Moving initiative.” See here for more.
The next Residents’ Association Meeting is on Monday June 20th, 7.30pm at the Newtown Community Hall, 71 Daniell St.
The agenda –
The Salvation Army development on Riddiford St: Captain David Daly, Divisional Commander, and others from the team will talk about their plans and answer questions.
Erin Leigh from workerBe oasis, discussing their kai cycle and some initiatives they’re thinking about for Newtown.
Nic Ballara, bbc architects, talking about the design of a proposed block of apartments at 4 Regent Street, next to Carrara Park.
Chris, the Timebank Co-ordinator, introducing himself and the organisation.
We had an excellent turnout of volunteers on June 4th. It was particularly good to see Ana, the Community Engagement Co-ordinator from St Vincent de Paul, and the group of VUW students, we hope they come again! As always, Newtown New World were very generous in supporting the BBQ – we had lots of takers for sausages!
There were two big projects – painting the fence around the Cancer Society carpark, and digging over garden beds and spreading compost at the St Thomas’s Courtyard, ready for some new planting. As well there was lots of rubbish cleared and graffiti cleaned- it made a real difference.
We are looking for volunteers to join us, for painting, cleaning and gardening to spruce up our neighbourhood! We meet outside the Newtown Mall, 195 Riddiford St, between 9am and 12noon – wear your old clothes. all equipment is provided. Volunteers get free BBQ sausages, thanks to Newtown New World – and we sell sausages too, so you are welcome to come by just to say “hello” and get a sausage! KNC is supported by Newtown Residents’ Association, Amadeus Hair Salon, Wellington City Council, SB Maintenance, and Newtown New World.
Keep Newtown Clean was started by David Wilcock from Amadeus, on behalf of the Newtown Business Association, back in July 2013. Its main focus was painting out graffiti, which was particularly bad back then. WCC and their graffiti management contractor SB Maintenance helped, and still do, by coming along, identifying areas that need attention, and providing gloves, cleaning products, paint and all the necessary equipment. It was a monthly event till early last year, but there was less graffiti to worry about and fewer volunteers were turning up so it was reconfigured as a quarterly event instead. The Residents’ Association were asked to take it over, which we did.
The full meeting minutes are available here.
This was a well attended meeting – many people had come particularly to join in the discussion with the Council Officers about street maintenance in Newtown.
The Wellington City Council CEO Kevin Lavery attended, accompanied by David Chick – newly arrived Chief City Planner, Geoff Swainson – Manager, Transport and Solid Waste, ultimately responsible for addressing most of the concerns with contractors, and Deven Singh – Manager Transport Assets, one of Geoff Swainson’s team, with direct responsibility for the street cleaning contract.
We circulated the paper “Newtown Isn’t Rubbish and Our Streets Shouldn’t Be Either”, previously posted here, and our NRA Executive Member Steve Cosgrove had prepared a slide show of problem areas, which you can see here: http://tinyurl.com/NewtownRA-2016-May . You are welcome to leave comments on these slides if you wish. These pictures were the prompt for attendees airing a lot of concerns that have been troubling people for a long time.
The current situation is that the contractor Ventia has chosen not to renew their contract when it runs out in June and Downers will be taking over on the 1st July. This is a temporary arrangement while WCC considers options.
Kevin Lavery proposed forming a working party with representatives from Residents, Council Officers and Contractors, and we agreed that this would be an excellent way forward.
There is a lot more detail of the discussion in the full minutes.
Other issues discussed included
The next NRA meeting will be on Monday June 20th, 7.30pm at the Community Hall, 71 Daniell St.
This Report was prepared for discussion with WCC CEO Kevin Lavery and other Council Officers at the Newtown Residents’ Association Meeting on 16th May 2016.
Street Cleaning and Maintenance.
We want to have pride in our neighbourhood and to make a positive first impression for visitors. At present we are embarrassed by accumulated rubbish, weeds, dirty pavements and a generally neglected appearance. We value our character street furniture, fittings and paving and believe our streetscape is potentially unparalleled in Wellington, making it all the more disappointing to see it fall into disrepair. Some bollards are broken, and paving is uneven and broken in places.
We want to ensure that our streets are clean and weed free
a 
b 
a Outside Newtown Mall – one of several like this
b Drain in Normanby St – choked with plastic & other rubbish
Continue reading Newtown Isn’t Rubbish And Our Streets Shouldn’t Be Either
The next Residents’ Association Meeting is on
Monday 16th May, 7.30pm at the
Newtown Community Hall, 71 Daniell St
These were the topics discussed –
The Wellington City Council Annual Plan consultation.
We went through the consultation document and decided to focus discussion at this meeting on items directly affecting residents in this area. You can see the completed submission here.
We need to be more prepared for this consultation in future years. It is preferable to make submissions on the items to include in the Annual Plan in the pre-planning phase, but the call for such submissions came out in January and we don’t have business meetings in December or January. We plan to discuss our ideas in November this year for the 2017 Plan.
WCC Dog Policy and Animal Bylaw.
There was support for the majority of these proposals, but there was concern about the costs of microchipping and registering cats, and mixed feelings about a ban on feeding animals (including birds) in public places. In general the preference was for policies and guidelines without draconian enforcement. See the NRA submissions – Dog Policy, and Animal Bylaw.
The outcome of the WCC Community, Sport and Recreation Committee meeting on 13th April about the recent report and recommendations on Begging.
The committee decided to accept the recommendation to manage issues through “street management” rather than attempt bans. David Wilcock made a submission to the committee on behalf of Newtown Business Association, outlining problems with people begging in the vicinity of Newtown Mall, often with intimidatory behaviour. In the days following this there was increased Police presence on the street, and it was noticeable that there were fewer problems. There is also a ‘Street Outreach’ multi-agency team who try to make contact and work with the people who are begging. Local Hosts (green uniform) who are employed by Council and are part of the Outreach team make regular visits to Newtown.
A report on the Mt Victoria Transport Forum on 12th April
The Mt Victoria Newsletter convened this meeting to discuss the ‘Let’s get Wellington Moving’ public engagement process with Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the NZ Transport Agency. Our representatives who attended were impressed by the willingness to listen and not impose proposals. Consultation began 6th April, and is open for 6 weeks until mid-May. See http://getwellymoving.co.nz to take the online survey – the more people who make their wishes known the better.
Berhampore Community Centre
Recently opened, based at the Centennial Flats on Adelaide Rd. Merio Masters is the Co-ordinator. There was a public meeting on 6th April that Peter Frater and Rhona Carson attended. It was primarily about running the Community Centre, but there was also some discussion about reviving the Berhampore Residents’ Association. Peter was a member of this Association before it went into recess and believes it is still needed so that Berhampore has a focus for consultation with WCC about local issues. We would be happy to support its revival if this is wanted.
FixIt.
We discussed collecting FixIt response data, so we have hard stats on how it is working in our area. Graffiti and Health and Safety issues seem to be addressed quickly but cleaning, landscaping, etc, seem to be more problematic. Reports are acknowledged and sometimes there are phone calls asking for more information, but we wish there was also feedback about the outcome.
The wider issue is that we want on-going maintenance checked and followed up without it being necessary for residents to draw attention to it. We are looking for ideas regarding what to do if we don’t get a response to the rubbish issues.
Newtown Community Police Station
A volunteer in an Auckland community office was attacked and Police have closed these offices at present because of Health and Safety concerns, so our local Police Sation will be closed until further notice.
Newtown Residents’ Association Meeting: Monday 18th April 7.30pm
All Welcome – Newtown Community Hall, 71 Daniell St (near the Constable St corner)
The agenda will include discussion about the Wellington City Council Annual Plan. Submissions on the plan are due by April 29th.
Do come, and take part in a discussion about what is important for you in this suburb and in this city. If you want to contact us with your thoughts and ideas, email newtownwellington@gmail.com
The meeting was held on the 21st March 2016. See the full minutes here.
“Newtown Isn’t Rubbish But Its Streets Are”
Jeanie McCafferty circulated the first draft of a report about our dissatisfaction and questions about the way WCC is dealing with rubbish, street maintenance, etc, as discussed at February meeting.
There was wide ranging discussion – see the minutes for details. The meeting decided that the next step is to ask the WCC Chief Executive Kevin Lavery to come to a meeting so we can discuss our questions and concerns with him.
Newtown Festival
Martin Hanley reported on a very successful Festival, and thanked all who were involved in helping on Fair Day and in organising other events.
This year it was possible to make searchable lists of all the stalls and of the Festival programme for use on smart phones and other devices, and these are still available on the Festival Website.
The next step for the Festival Committee is an application to WCC for the next 3 year contract funding.
There is work being done towards setting up a Trust for the Festival in the future.
A vote of thanks to those organising the Fair was passed by acclamation.
Newtown Residents’ Association Budget
Jane Patterson, the Association Treasurer, outlined expected income and expenditure.
Proposed additional expenses include the design and purchase of a teardrop flag to use when the Association has a public presence.
The meeting agreed that honoraria could be paid for preparation of the Newsletter, and for a future co-ordinator of Keep Newtown Clean. It was also agreed that a ‘Meet the Candidates’ meeting for the local body elections would be a good use of funds.
Keep Newtown Clean
We are expecting this to continue on a quarterly basis, the next one being on the first Saturday in June. We are going to think about a new name, perhaps a new focus – the original need for cleaning graffiti is not so urgent, the contractors are doing a good job. Perhaps a broader ‘Action Day’ would be of benefit to the community.
Neighbours’ Day on 19th March
Rhona Carson, Association President, thanked those who contributed to the Saturday Tea Party at St Thomas’s for Neighbours Day. An enjoyable event, thanks and congratulations to the team from St Thomas’s who hosted it.
Newtown Free WiFi
David Wilcock reported that there is now free WiFi outside his shop, Amadeus Hair Saloon David is encouraging more retailers to move their Internet to Netstar, who will add free WiFi to their shops too.
There is also a web site that David is developing, listing Newtown businesses. A beta release will be soon after Easter.
Meeting ended at 9:15
Next meeting Monday April 18th, 7.30pm, at the Newtown Hall, 71 Daniell St.
Please join us for afternoon tea at St Thomas’s, to celebrate the revival of the Courtyard Garden – a peaceful space on Riddiford St for all to enjoy.
The Newtown Residents’ Association and St Thomas’s Newtown have been working together on the St Thomas’s Courtyard project to bring this garden to life – there’s still some work to do but its making progress!
Newtown Residents’ Association met on 15th February 2016
These topics were discussed:
Subscription Rates – decided in February, to come into effect for the new financial year starting in July. Decided to keep it at the current rate of a gold coin.
Association Expenses – Jane Patterson (Treasurer) and Rhona Carson (President) will bring a draft budget to the next meeting. Rhona suggested we buy a teardrop flag to use outside meetings, and at events – approved in principle.
Newtown Festival / Celebrate Newtown – Discussion of coming events
Keep Newtown Clean – 21 February
Neighbours’ Day afternoon tea, 3-4.30 19th March – St Thomas’s Courtyard project. A St Thomas’s group will host the tea, with help from our Association.
Environment Scan
You can see the full minutes here:
You can find out more about the Annual Plan process at www.wellington.govt.nz/annualplan2016-17
Are you at home with chidren, and looking for something to do? Join Push Play in your local park with friends and family! The team will be out there with fun equipment and exciting games to keep everyone active and entertained – even the adults. There are activities for all ages including T-ball, parachute games, volleyball, cricket and loads of other play equipment. Push Play is brought to you by WCC – see the website.
Tuesday 12th Jan 11am -1pm, Carrara Park
Wednesday 13th Jan 2pm – 4pm, Martin Luckie Park
Tuesday 19th Jan 11am -1pm, Carrara Park
Wednesday 20th Jan 2pm – 4pm, Martin Luckie Park
Wednesday 27th Jan 2pm – 4pm, Martin Luckie Park
newtown.org.nz 