Beyond the cordon: should we be let back in?

If you subscribe to the CERA “Invest Christchurch” newsletter – and you should, it’s  free and informative – you may have seen this from the CCDU director Warwick Isaacs. I’m going to quote it at length, because it’s quite extraordinary:

The Rebuild Zone cordon should not be seen as a barrier to development. Quite the opposite. Though our goal is to scale back the area inside the cordon, we’re not in a rush to remove it altogether. This isn’t just about providing a safe and efficient work environment for the demolition process; it’s because we want to provide the right environment for development as well. So to be completely clear on this point: if you’re a land owner, tenant or developer with a genuine need to be inside the cordon, we will endeavour to get you there.

So, the central city cordon isn’t there to keep us safe, it’s there because it’s convenient for developers. They could remove it faster, but they aren’t in a rush. I mean, what’s the hurry? The longer they keep the fences up, the longer it is before nosey citizens can get their prying eyes in their. The longer it is until former residents – like myself – will be able to go in and see the sites where they used to live.

This statement makes it absolutely clear: the cordon isn’t about safety, it’s about development. It’s about ensuring that that development can proceed without scrutiny, without any checks except for the minimal provisions of the emergency legislation. The CCDU and the government could not prostrate themselves any further to developers – and that’s the “right environment” for the rebuild; by developers, for developers. 

Must-read blog from a CBD business owner

Rob from the Honeypot has been a really active business owner since the September 4th quake. His cafe was red-stickered after the Boxing Day quake, and now is set to be knocked down. Here is a blog from him that says a lot of what people in the CBD are feeling.

Moving the CBD

Here is an idea for the rebuild of Christchurch that I’d like to put forward, a mere suggestion, something to be critiqued, laughed at, pooh-poohed or championed – I don’t know. But I do know that I’d like to have a discussion about the CBD, and this could be a starting point for it.

Let’s move the CBD. Let’s rebuild it where Sydenham used to be, between Brougham St and Moorehouse Ave. This region – apart from Sydenham, which was largely destroyed by the first and then the second quake – is mainly brownfield. Former factories and low-density industry. Not generally a good use of space. Few of the buildings here have much architectural merit. The only buildings that people would really miss have already been knocked down by nature or demolition crews.

So why build the CBD here? Well, I think it has a number of things going for it. Brougham St and Moorehouse Ave are two of Christchurch’s largest arterial roads, which make access from most parts of the city reasonably easy. But more importantly, if we are thinking about a post-petroleum future, the main railway line in Christchurch runs parallel to Moorehouse Ave. This could be brought back into use for passenger rail, which would connect offices in Sydenham to workers coming in from Lyttelton, Opawa, St Martins and Waltham to the east and south, and Addington, Riccarton, Fendalton, Merivale and Papanui to the west and North. It would also mean that our importers / exporters / manufacturers were closer to the shipping system, the main means of getting things in and out of Christchurch – and a method that will become even more critical as oil prices rise.

By relocating the business district, the focus of Christchurch would move slightly to the south. It is about 2km from Bealey Ave to Moorehouse Ave, so it is not a great distance in absolute terms. But shifting towards the south would produce natural barriers to the further expansion of Christchurch. At the moment, urban sprawl is probably the city’s greatest urban development problem, as more and more suburbs pop up to the west and north of town – and then suburban malls pop up to service those populations. Sprawl needs to be heavily disincentivised, something which consecutive councils have totally failed to be able to do. As oil heads to $3 a litre at the pump, heading to who knows how high in 20 years, a commute from Rolleston or Northwood into Sydenham is going to become prohibitively expensive. This could be used to spur on medium to high density residential developments in the band of suburbs to the south of Brougham St; Spreydon, Barrington, Somerfield, Beckenham, Waltham. Whilst people will be reluctant to live in low to medium rise buildings this soon after the quake, we know that they can be designed and engineered to withstand quakes, and with modern techniques would actually be safer than many of the old brick and weatherboard houses we currently live in.

And what of the current CBD? When the wrecking balls have moved out and the dust has settled, we will see a barely recognizeable central city. Many of those buildings that are left will have to be rebuilt over many years. Most of what is important about central Christchurch was cultural – the Cathedral, the Arts Centre, the Art Galley, even Ballantynes is as much a cultural institution as it is a retail one. So we rebuild within the four avenues with the focus on residents, retail and on culture; bring people back to live within the four avenues, build them an urban environment that encourages good living and community. Change the city plan so that new buildings can be three or four stories at the maximum; ground floor retail with quality residential in the floors above. The fabric of the CBD is so completely unravelled that we have a once in multiple-generation chance to recast it to a new pattern; a pattern that puts people first and foremost, rather than an afterthought. One that encourages the extinct community aspects of a capitalist society – short walks to the butcher, baker and greengrocer, rather than long drives to the fluroescent soul-pit of the suburban supermall.

Look at a city like Paris. The centre city is build to a strict code, no buildings over six stories, dense apartments with shops along the street at the bottom. The business district – La Defense – is out of the centre of the city, in a special area where buildings can be much taller. It’s connected by the metro to the rest of town, meaning an easy trip to the shops or an art gallery. Now, clearly we aren’t Paris and never will be. We are at best a large agricultural service town with some dying manufacturing and a couple of government departments thrown in. But if we just say that we will never be anything great, so why bother, then that is exactly what Christchurch will be; tilt-slab hell. This is our chance to make something better, for the future. For New Zealand, we need a city that can counter the economic dominance of Auckland, else we continue to become merely another city-state in the Australian Commonwealth. For the world, this is an opportunity to show how a forward-thinking, independent nation can use passion and vision to rebuild a Christchurch that is a model for a changing 21st century.

Money for old rope

Chris Finlayson, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage (says a lot if he is the most cultured person the Nats could find!) has pledged that the government will put up to $10 Million up for heritage restoration in Christchurch. This money is on a matched basis, so for each dollar raised by private groups and owners in Christchurch, they will put a dollar in – up to a maximum value of $10 million. Therefore, the total value of the fund will be $20 million. This is the press release in full.

The Government will contribute up to $10 million in addition to local funding to assist with the repair, restoration and strengthening of heritage and character buildings in the Canterbury region, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson announced today.

“The heritage buildings throughout Canterbury are an important part of the region’s character and its history,” the Minister said. “The earthquake caused significant damage to many heritage and character buildings. The cost of their repair and restoration will be considerable, and it is appropriate that Government assists with local rebuilding and strengthening efforts to preserve this history.”

“The community places a high value on our heritage and character buildings,” Mr Finlayson said. “The government shares that view, and will be encouraging further donations by its provision of matching funding for regional heritage repairs dollar-for-dollar, up to a maximum of $10 million.”

Money for restoration = great. I can’t knock that. The questions I have are around how this is allocated:

Ministers and officials will work with the local councils on the best fund for the Government contribution to be made to. Decisions on allocating funding will be made by local representatives, with assistance from the Historic Places Trust.

Given what has happened with regards to democracy around here of late, we may not have much of a say in that. Everyone should join the Historic Places Trust now if they want a say! The bigger issue, however, is that of public money for private buildings. If $10 million is found – through charities and donations, and the government matches that – from the taxpayer – then we will have a pool of cash to go to these buildings. While we will get to see them restored, maintained and not knocked down, I would like to think that we would be able to get more than that. If the public are going to put up money to restore a building, then we should be entitled to have some sort of share.

To try and better explain my point, let’s take a (fictional) example. A developer named Rave Benderton owns a bunch of properties in Christchurch, some of which are old, some of which are heritage. You run into a little financial trouble, and don’t get around to doing the earthquake strengthening on some of your buildings. But you keep hold of them. Suddenly, there is an earthquake, and a heritage appeal, and the government and the community rally to raise money to save some of the cities best buildings. This is your chance, you think to yourself! All your christmases have come RIGHT NOW! So you apply for some money, and as the process isn’t carried out transparently and you happen to know the mayor from a cult you used to be in and the next thing you know – a big wod of money appears to help you fix your building! You do the building up, sell it on to a concerned theatre trust and spend the next year avoiding jail for tax evasion.

The moral of that story would be “don’t do anything to fix up your buildings – someone else will bail you out.” The moral of this story should be that concerned citizens, who love the heritage of Christchurch, will want to contribute to the restoration of these buildings, but only if it is going to be done in a fashion that is open, democratic, and ultimately, benefits the public, not just the private property owners.

Music Venues: late-night Karaoke version

Well, it’s day 12 of the quake // rebuild // however you view it. I am going to try and update the status on venues around town, as more information has come to hand, and situations have become clearer. Hopefully it’s the last time I do it. We’ll see. A few things are starting to reopen, so here we go:

Record Stores

Galaxy is re-opening today. That’s good.

Pennylane are currently closed but hope to reopen in the same building, once buildings either side have been strengthened / demolished.

Our Sydenham store is currently CLOSED but on a very positive note we will be back in business as soon as we can! We are waiting for the Angus Donaldson building which is beside us to be demolished which started on Saturday. Once this is completed we can assess where to from here. We have explored a number of options but ideally we want to re open in our existing building ASAP.

Real Groovy is perhaps less fortunate. Apparently, their sprinkler system thought it was a fire, and went off, doing considerable damage to their stock. They will be back, but probably not at that site. Keep up with the latest info, via a facebook page that they seem to have neglected.

Bars / Venues

The Bedford is opening this Sunday. How do I know? Cos I asked the dudes that run it. Easy when you know how. They have lots of stuff coming up

AL’s Bar was open last week

AL’s Bar survived with no damage or loss of product or gear.

Goodbye Blue Monday will be open from tonight (Wednesday the 15th). Only one entrance – from High St, the alleyway next to Roneo.

Concrete Club / Double Happy – both fine in terms of structural damage, but unable to open due to the fence around the outside. Not sure when that will be removed. Trying to find out from the bar manager what the deal is – but I still can’t find out when I’m going to be able to go back to my place, which is in the same building. I’m gonna assume it will be around the same time – hopefully by the weekend.

The Dux – has remained open almost uninterrupted. Had gigs last weekend. Brew bar was closed but tavern bar fine.

The Repertory – I got a message from twitter from Lawrence Arabia saying that he had been in contact with someone from the Rep, and that it wasn’t a goner, that they would try and rebuild. Now that is quality journalism, but currently, it’s the best I’ve got. So finger crossed, though we may need to have a few more earthquake strengthening fundraisers.

Lyttelton

Harbourlight – could be open as early as next week! Strengthening work being done. I think everyone has to be stoked with that.

Wunderbar – open by Christmas

Loons – green sticker, will continue to be open

El Santo – didn’t have any damage, has been open since the night of the quake

On Facades

Last night, Gretchen and I organised a meeting for concerned Christchurch residents who want to Save Christchurch Historic Buildings. It was a great turnout, and lots of people shared their ideas through a loosely structured session. We’re planning to meet again, same time, same place next week, this time with a proper agenda! I will keep you posted on any updates on that front. It was particularly encouraging to have a group of stonemasons and slate tilers (who may have just been there for a beer after a hard days work) who told the meeting that Christchurch definitely had the skills to make sure our key heritage buildings are repaired – if they are given the money, and perhaps more importantly, the time. This meeting, as well as the council one, are mentioned in this article from the Press.

I then went across to the meeting organised by the council, which as I mentioned in a previous post, was aimed mainly at building owners, property developers, the insurance industry, architects, engineers and heritage groups. There was certainly a much higher percentage of suits at this meeting! Bob Parker managed to find the most dry council staffer to talk about building issues, who made Bob seem even slicker than he usually does. With his black turtleneck and jeans, he seemed to be going for the grey-haired Steve Jobs look (disappointingly, I can’t find a picture), though his propaganda isn’t quite up to Apple levels yet: his key catchphrase at the moment – “Christchurch was struck by a spear into it’s heart from the West” – is not half as poetic as his repeated use of it would suggest he thinks it is. At the end of almost every question, he would remind the crowd just how significant this event was. We get it Bob, we were here too. It does seem to be a play straight from the Guiliani handbook, and it will be interesting to see how long he continues to fall back on it.

Also on stage was Councillor Sue Wells, who, rather preposterously, was wearing a pink high-vis vest. Maybe she just hadn’t had time to, um, take it off? Well, no – at another media conference today, she was still wearing it. We get it Sue, you’re important, you do stuff. I would rather that you let your words and your voting record do the talking, not your hi-vis pink vest.

There were some interesting things to come out of the meeting last night  - though it was a crowd of the propertied, and Bob really played to them. One landlord did express concern that there was a large gulf between what was being said and what was actually being done. Bob announced that an architectural ‘think-tank’ will be formed, headed by Ian Athfield (who some of my more educated friends tell me is a very good choice.) I’m comfortable with the concept of a think-tank, and I agree with Hamish Keith, who suggested to me via twitter that community input is not necessarily the best thing for a process like this. For example, I don’t think that the new art gallery would have been approved, for either cost or design reasons, if it had been open to public debate.

What I am less comfortable about is the direction – or lack of. I think it would be appropriate for the public to have a discussion about the direction we would like the rebuild of Christchurch to head. I don’t think it is unreasonable for us to define some parameters, which could then influence the decisions made by Athfield’s group. What worries me is that there has been a complete lack of people asking the big questions, those that could frame this debate. While these don’t pertain directly to heritage and historic buildings, they need to be asked.

• What are we going to do with the malls? Continue to let them grow unchecked, the single biggest reason why the central city is dying? What about future greenfields developments?
• Do we need to find more land within the Christchurch City boundaries, to stop further expansion in Rolleston and Waimakariri, or can we work on brownfields developments in the south and east of the city?
• How many people do we want to live in four avenues? 8,000, 30,000, 100,000, 250,000?
• How high should buildings be?
• What should the carbon footprint of each new building be?
• What sort of standards should we aim for with regards to insulation and heating?

I’m sure many people will have others, and will think some are more or less important than others. But the point is that we are only setting ourselves up for an epic failure if we are asking this think-tank, and the planners at the council, to come up with a solution for a problem that we haven’t really defined yet. These are problems that have been around since well before the earthquake, but there will be no better time for us to address them. Let’s not waste that chance.

Who runs this town?

Who runs this town?

Army trucks outside the council

More information to hand

Rumour has gone along way in the information void since the quake, so it is good to get word from the owner’s mouth, from time to time. This is what Richard Peebles had to say about trying to save the building he owns, Manchester Courts:

“But no one is prepared to say it will stand up to the next aftershock so I don’t see what choice I have. I’ve spent most of my working life restoring historic buildings and I won’t be there when it comes down. All the businesses within 100m can’t operate until the building is either down or safe and to make it safe would take months. I spent all last night trying to work out a way I could make safe it. But no one is going to allow that”

My house is within 100m, so that might explain why I can’t get in. There was also some interesting information in the same article from the Herald about the make-up of some of our quake-prone buildings:

* 7600 pre-1976 commercial blocks.

* 490 heritage-listed blocks.

* 295 unreinforced masonry.

* 29 reinforced concrete.

* 163 timber-frame.

* 220 strengthened to an extent.

Also, Cheryl has updated her blog with some more pictures and thoughts from a trip to the central city.

A few things I meant to say

As the days go by, and people realise that we’re ok, we’re beginning to feel a little more comfortable talking about things. Criticising things. One such thing has been the rush to pull buildings down in the immediate aftermath of the quake. There has been a groundswell of opposition to this – in the media, letters to the editor, facebook groups. Now, this sentiment is being expressed in meetings. I was helping to organise one with the Save Christchurch Historic Buildings facebook group for Monday the 13th. Someone from Jim Anderton’s campaign was planning to do the same sort of thing on Tuesday, and told me so. Initially, we thought that it would be a bit silly to have two meetings running. However, after a little more deliberating, we’ve decided to go ahead. We think Jim’s meeting has an obvious political overtone, and may not allow for as much free discussion as we were hoping to have. Hence, we decided to go ahead and have a meeting, for people concerned about heritage buildings in town, at the Dux de Lux, Monday the 13th at 6pm.

Late today (Sunday), the council release a statement about a meeting that they are going to hold, at the town hall, Monday the 13th at 7pm. This is being organised by Bob Parker – a hastily assembled press release came out this evening. I think that 8 days after the quake, any pretense of bipartisanship has gone. To me, this looks like a cynical attempt by Parker to try and defuse the growing anger about the rushed demolition of buildings in the aftermath of the quake and aftershocks. The media release promises the establishment of a heritage fund, with a $1 million start-up donation from Fletcher Building. However, as my friend Cheryl pointed out on twitter, the idea of private individuals donating money, which goes into a fund that the council administers, for the benefit of the private building owners who can’t or wont stump up the cash to pay for their own private buildings, is a bit baffling. If the ratepayers of Christchurch are going to put money forward, why should those buildings that receive money for rebuilding or restrengthening remain in private ownership?

Here is the not so inclusive list of people invited to Bob’s meeting:

The Council is also arranging a meeting tomorrow with building owners, heritage groups, engineers, architects and members of the insurance industry at the Christchurch Town Hall to discuss ongoing issues and challenges with them.

No mention of the public, the citizens and ratepayers of Christchurch. Also, there was this vague, worrying statement from Parker:

“Out of that we hope to be able to develop a Heritage Rebuilding Group, comprising professionals from within the industry who are prepared to offer assistance during this time”

So this Heritage Rebuilding Group, comprised of architects, engineers, building owners and member of the goddamn insurance industry will be in charge of handing out the money that the public donate and that ratepayers stump up with? No thanks Bob, I’ll pass.

I did intend to keep this blog clean, and free of politics – but as I mentioned before, I think that politics is now back on, and it’s fair game. Parker’s mayoralty has been one dogged with problems relating to transparency, process and democracy – as he has admitted himself. This earthquake hasn’t suddenly turned Bob into Mr Inclusive. From where I see it, this meeting has been hastily arranged to try and diffuse some of the anger that Anderton was looking to tap into on Tuesday night. However, Bob has fallen into his old habits – running meetings for a select few, without due process, without even consulting council. Parker clearly thinks he is going to ride this quake into a second term in the Civic Chambers – but before we go to vote, we should remember what he has (and hasn’t) done for the central city. His two most infamous achievements will be the extension to the tram route – which will now run past empty lots where heritage buildings used to be – and the purchase of the Henderson properties.

The next two days will be very interesting. If you care about the direction the city is going to take, then I do suggest you try and make it to as many of these three meetings as you can:

Who: Save Christchurch Historic Buildings

Where: Dux de Lux Tavern Bar

When: 5:30pm Monday the 13th

Anyone and everyone welcome

Who: City Council Heritage Meeting

Where: Town Hall (James Hay theatre)

When: 7pm Monday the 13th

for building owners, heritage groups, engineers, architects and members of the insurance industry

Who: Jim Anderton- Rebuilding the People’s City

Where: Woolston Club, 43 Hargood St

When: 7pm, Tuesday the 14th

speaker are TBC, but I heard rumours of Peter Beavan, Ann Hercus, Anna Crighton, oh, and Jim Anderton…

The next week

Over the last few days, the earthquake has slipped a little in media standing. It’s still top of the program, but we might get a couple of stories. By next weekend, it probably wont register at all. Almost conversely, with every day the problems for central Christchurch seem to get greater, not lesser. The cordon may have been lifted, but a huge number of streets, or parts of streets, are still closed. Many of them will be for weeks and months. I talked to a landlord a few days ago, who said it was going to take 3 months just to replace the windows on one, 6-storey office block. That’s just the windows. I am still not able to stay in my house, though the building itself is fine. We still don’t have power, 8 days later. It seems to be because of the number of buildings close by that will be knocked down – I guess it’s just easier to keep us out until that is done. Despite all the nice statements that the council and mayor make, inner city living is not very high on local government’s agenda.

Last week was largely a write-off for many people, no school for the kids, only essential hospital services, tradespeople trying their hardest to get everything up and ready. Monday the 13th will be different. People are trying to start the new week, to return to normality. Many people are going to realise just how long it will be before things return to anything like normal. Many businesses are trying to find office space that they can relocate to in the short term – although the worry may be that some central city businesses will never come back. The Alliance Francais, which teaches French to children and adults, as well as organising cultural and social events for Francophones in Christchurch, has it’s premises on Hereford St, not far from the Manchester Courts building. It is unable to open for teaching whilst the Manchester Courts building remains unresolved, so they are having to look for somewhere else to teach classes. They don’t know how long they will be unable to go back to their building.

There are up to 80 other businesses that are in the same situation, just because they are close to Manchester Courts. It is a terrible situation, as there is so much uncertainty. On the one hand, we need these businesses to be able to get back and open again, as soon as possible, with as little disruption as possible. On the other, I want to think that whatever can be done to try and save the Manchester Courts building is being looked into. I want all options to be exhausted: demolition should be an absolute last resort. I think that in the scheme of things, the Alliance Francais and other local businesses having to move for a couple of weeks is relatively minor.

However, as this sort of situation is likely to be being played out all over the city right now, I wonder whether there is a role for the government to play. No-one wants decisions to be rushed through, but there is understandable pressure from business owners to have those decisions made as quickly as possible. The government (and I think it has to be government – council simply doesn’t have the money) should step in and reassure small businesses that they will be covered, so that they don’t feel they have to rush back to work at a speed which jeopardises the future of our city. The Ministry of Social Development’s wage assistance scheme goes some way to easing the strain, but won’t be enough to stop small business owners worrying about loss of earnings, rent, replacing stock, loss of custom, all sorts of things.

While the rebuild and recovery of Christchurch needs to proceed quickly, that doesn’t mean that we should be rushing into bad decisions – as we may be living with these bad decisions for the rest of our lives.