22 May 2012

Letters, Feb 1

1/02/2012 10:07:00 a.m.

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Parking angel
My Mum had to come into the city from the Hutt and parked at the Stadium, not reading the sign stating parking was $6 per half hour!. Two hours later when she returned, the ticket machine read the bill at $30. Her $10 parking money wasn’t going to cover that!
My tech-phobic Mother asked a lady passer-by if she knew whether or not the machine would take her eftpos card. The lady didn’t think so. Mum poured out that she couldn’t risk putting her card into the machine and losing it as she had to go to the supermarket on the way home.
This lady then took $30 cash out of her bag and unquestioningly gave it to my Mother to pay for her parking. When my Mum tried to ask for her address to return the money she refused, simply saying ‘I know when someone needs your help you will give it to them’.
I’m overwhelmed at this lady’s generosity and sensitive recognition of a fellow human being, who was in a stressful situation.  The world doesn’t seem quite so bad.
Chantal Martin (abridged).

Arts for free
In response to Curtis Nixon’s Lost, Cuba Carnival, (December 21) the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival has a long history of providing extraordinary free arts events in Wellington. In 2012, renowned New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery’s giant digital artwork, First Contact 2012, will be projected onto the facade of Te Papa every night of the festival. French performers Les Philebulistes will dazzle with acrobatic feats inside a giant wheel at Waitangi Park and Ngakau Toa will perform a Te Reo version of Troilus and Cressida at Te Papa.
We also screen free Art Talks throughout the festival, where audiences can gain insight into the creative processes behind the works. Have a look on our website, festival.co.nz for great-value ticket packages. We also offer Tix for $20, every day of the Festival.
Sue Paterson, Executive Director, New Zealand International Arts Festival.

Fairer Fares
Oh wow! Perth has a free system of inner city buses, according to Martin Doyle (December 21). What a great idea. Couldn’t work here of course -”What, free buses? Not on your life” would be the official response. But wait, even a cheaper and easier fare structure would be a good start.
Like in San Francisco where a bus, subway or streetcar ride anywhere in the city costs just US$2.00. They have an extra great feature of a free transfer for a 90 minute period from when you buy your $2.00 ticket so passengers can get on and off as many times as they need to get to their destination.
Such a great idea and perfect for a geographically challenged public transport system such as San Francisco’s where large hills get in the way of direct routes. Like Wellington’s.
Curtis Nixon, Berhampore.

Newtown parking
The disabled carpark in Normanby Street Newtown is 60min parking “At all times” and was put there for the use of disabled people who would like to do their shopping in the Mall, and use the money machine.  There are few disabled parks in Newtown, and this one and Newtown Ave. are well used.
Every night a member of the Assyrian Centre shows no respect for our laws or the people of New Zealand, and uses the park for up to four hours.
If the Centre needs a park for their use, they should apply to the W.C.C. for one, and let the other park be used for the purpose for which it was installed.
Heather Bevan, Newtown.

Signs for the past
Now that the Wellywood sign has been settled would it be possible to restore the Salamanca board at the cable car’s university stop? For some time the lower Talavera stop has been deprived of information about the other great victory of the Iberian Peninsula of Arthur Wellesley, soon after to become our Duke of Wellington, thereby obscuring its historical relevance.
Similarly, the sign by the elm tree planted in Parliament grounds by Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinborough, in 1869 has disappeared. After several years looking sickly this tree is now flourishing.
Restoration of these notes to our past could provide interest to both tourists and locals.
Geraldine Laing, Woburn, Lower Hutt.
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Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

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