A tip for Mr Parker

I’m not generally one to offer Bob Parker advice. As you might have gathered, I’m running for community board in Hagley Ferrymead, and while that doesn’t put me in direct competition for Bob’s chains, I am part of 2021 / the Labour Party machine which have lined up against him. I sorry if that disappoints anyone – though I’m proud of my associations, and happy to make sure that my allegiances are out in the open. I’m not sure whether anyone remembers about 5 weeks ago, when Bob was behind in the polls, that he was forced to admit that the National Party was backing him after the ‘endorsement that wasn’t actually an endorsement’. I could go into the ins and outs of how the National Party have both supported Bob whilst marginalising local Labour MP’s and left-wing councillors, but I will save it for another day. When I’m particularly angry.

No, what got my confused today was an interview Bob Parker did with RDU’s Breakfast with Spanky this morning, which you can listen to here. The first couples of minutes are typical Bob, smarmy patter about how down with the kids and the common people he is (FYI Bob, Holly Smith was cool about 4 years ago, today the kids are into Dane and the Rumbles) before some platitudes about how Bexley isn’t the councils fault etc etc. About 5 minutes in, Spanky says “So you’ve appointed Ian Athfield as …” and Bob comes in super quick to say “No no, I didn’t.” This is the problem with both the Athfield appointment, and the legacy of Bob’s first term. It’s called process. I don’t think Mr Parker has ever met Senor Process.

I went to the press conference where Bob presented Ian Athfield to the media, at with my cynical hat on (I wear it most of the time) it was clear to see that this was his attempt to dissipate some of the anger about the loss of heritage buildings in the first week of the quake. He was effectively saying “Here is Ian Athfield. See, I do care about old buildings. Ian is going to go away and come back with a plan, conveniently sometime after the election. That way, I don’t have to commit to doing anything that people might not like, but I maintain the pretense of caring.” My problem with the appointment from day dot was that Athfield had been given no clear mandate from the council – it hadn’t gone through council, and now, according to Bob, it’s got nothing to do with him. According to Bob this morning, the NZIA appointed him, he’s working for free, and it has nothing to do with council. He’s just a dude, sitting in an office for 6-8 weeks, coming up with ideas. So if that’s true, why did Bob then spend an hour wheeling Athfield out in front of the nation’s media, when he could have been paying more attention to the situation in Avonside or Bexley?

I feel a bit sorry for Athfield really, who has been caught up in the middle of all of this. There was a piece on him in the Press at the weekend, which was quite good – though Athfield himself wouldn’t be interviewed for it. I have tried to find a way of getting in touch with him – I’d like to invite him to some of the meetings that Save Christchurch Historic Buildings are organising, but there is no reference to him over at the city council page. The architects, art critics and general people in the know that I’ve talked to about him all say he’s the right guy, and one said that he’s unlikely to get caught up in the politics of the whole thing.I hope that he doesn’t, and I hope that the incoming council and whoever the mayor is, find some way of utilising his skills. However, the confusion, emotion and anger that has surrounded this appointment make me worry about how it’s going to work. I think it is totally justified to ask questions about the process, though the editor of the Press disagreed in a frightening final comment in the editorial of September 16:

Complaints about Parker’s alleged failure to follow proper procedure to help bring this about are spectacularly beside the point.

One wonders whether “the point” that complainers like me are “spectacularly beside” is the Press’s campaign to get Bob re-elected.

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.

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.

Visions

Since the earthquake on the 4th of September, I have become increasingly concerned that we are about to lose great swathes of the cities heritage – without really having much of a say in the matter. We are now presented with the greatest opportunity to rebuild and reshape a city that we will have for a generation – possibly more. We can make Christchurch a modern, 21st century city. If we take the cheap option, or the laissez-faire option, or the fastest option, we may stick the final nail in the central city of Christchurch’s coffin. I don’t want to see that happen.

I do not object to modern architecture. When you look at a building like the Public Art Gallery, you can see that a well-designed building can make a real difference to a city; it has revitalised an area of town, it’s survived a massive quake better than I think most people would have thought a building made of glass would have, and it has rapidly, seamlessly turned into the civil defence head quarters for a city in crisis. What I do object to are hastily assembled buildings that are erected without consultation with the community. We may not own a building, or have anything to do with what goes on inside it. But if it goes up on our street, then it becomes part of our lives.

We can preserve our heritage buildings. Not all of them. Maybe not even half of them. But a number of them. When you do the sums, it may make far more sense to knock down a building and start again. I am not going to argue with the building owners about this. I’m sure it is more affordable to just knock something down and start again. To save these buildings, we need to have council and central government putting up money to make it happen – because building owners around the city will be just looking at the bottom line. This is capitalism, and capitalism isn’t very good at factoring emotions and memories into the bottom line. But if we can put some money up to save some of our best buildings, then their value will be doubled in our new Christchurch, and while that may not have immediate monetary value, it will in time bring small but measurable revenue in by increasing tourism to our city, and quality of life for the people who live here.

I believe that we want to create a city that is ready to adapt to the challenges of the 21st century, not react to the problems of the 20th. We need design a city that is no longer dependent on fossil fuel, for heat, for personal transport, for the transport of the necessities of life. We need to think about our warming climate, and what that will mean for the buildings we are to live in. We need to have a discussion about population growth, and density. How many people do we want to live in this city, on this island, in this country? We need to think about how we can reconnect people and families to each other, to create a society again – not just networks of strangers who interact via the internet. We need to accept that “sustainability” and “growth” are not concepts that are mutually compatible with each other – and decide which one we want. I personally side with sustainability, and if that means that we live in a society where we have fewer things and consume less, but have more time to spend growing our own food and being around family and friends, then that’s a choice I am comfortable to make.

Music & Venues (the remix)

Yesterday, I ignored the sizeable aftershock in the Heathcote Valley and drove out to see what things were like in Lyttelton. I don’t think you could really underestimate the damage. The harbour town has always been a special place with unique buildings, and the damage to those buildings is very significant. One has to wonder how Lyttelton will cope with such a massive change to it’s skyline, and it’s sense of community. The Harbourlight theatre is probably the most high-profile casualty. I have to admit that I’ve never been into it before – and I guess that I never will. The crack that runs down the side is fairly worrying, and London St in front of it has been closed off, in case it falls. If it falls forward, it may damage the supermarket, which may in turn damage one of the most loved bars in town, if not the whole country, the Wunderbar.

The Harbourlight Theatre

The Eastern were meant to be playing at the Wunderbar on Saturday night, but have moved that show to the Loons next door. According to Adam McGrath,

ok the wunderbar is beat but not out, but no shows for some time

So, as with a lot of the information I’ve got, I haven’t been able to verify any of this with the owner of the Wunderbar. However, it looks like the quake managed to pop cinder blocks off of the outside of the building, which suggests that it has suffered fairly extensive structural damage.

Fallen blocks off the side of the Wunderbar

While it looks like one could put the blocks back in fairly easily, I think that the fact that they have popped out means that it must be in a pretty bad way. Also, a number of the bricks have fallen out towards the Monster Bar, which is another great part of the Lyttelton scene that may be too broken to fix.

El Santo – in the old British Hotel – looks to be fine. Flip Grater is playing there tonight, and I’m meant to be there tomorrow (if I can get my band gear out of the central city.)

El Santo

There were a number of other non-musical buildings in Lyttelton that have been badly damaged – the Empire Hotel being one. I spotted this sign in the window of the shop two doors down from the Harbourlight that I thought was appropriate:

keep calm and carry on

If you want to help out with the buildings in Lyttelton, then I’d suggest you go and see the Eastern on Sunday, at the Loons. Suggested donation of $10 on the door, but more would always be welcomed:

Music venues in the central city

Some of you might know that I am a sort-of musician, and because of this, lots of people from around the country and the world have been getting in touch with me to ask how particular venues are coping. The problem is that information is very changeable, and is often revised after each aftershock. Of which there have been many. There are a number of rumours out there about all sorts of thing at the moment, and some of this post may just be covering those rumours. The truth may be out there … but it’s a moving target. The final arbiter will be the owners of each building – who I haven’t talked to myself.

The Repertory Theatre on Kilmore St has been one of the most high profile casualties. Much of the facade has fallen onto the street, which is a great shame. There had been much of an effort in the last few years to raise funds for earthquake strengthening for the building – which sadly hadn’t started. Anna Crighton from the Historic Places Trust was on Close Up last night, suggesting that it could be rebuilt, but given the degree of the damage, I’d say it’s highly unlikely.

The Dux was open on Saturday afternoon, which would suggest that they didn’t suffer much. Though whether it was necessary to open such an ‘essential’ service as a pub in a part of town that is next to so many important buildings – such as the quake HQ at the art gallery – is an open question. There are a number of venues or former venues that I don’t have any information about at this time: The Media Club, The Civic, AL’s Bar. The Media Club has been looking a bit shabby for some time, and that may mean that it wasn’t in the best shape for an earthquake. The Civic and AL’s are both brick buildings, and you’ve gotta wonder – although I went past AL’s, and didn’t see any obvious damage.

UPDATE: My friend Hera just received a message from Al Park of AL’s bar:

“Hi Hera.Yep we all good.No damage.Very lucky!”

So that’s good news.

Goodbye Blue Monday have been updating their blog with frequency and detail since the quake, and say that they are fine. That’s great, but while they are hoping to open on Friday, I will believe it if I see it. There is extensive damage to the building next to them – the old High Street Project – and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was either too damaged to be saved, or if the extent of the damage meant that it and the surrounding buildings were going to be cordoned off for sometime. I’m not trying to be overly negative – but the uncertainty with Manchester Courts has led to other buildings on the same block being closed off. So fingers crossed for GBM and that area – and keep an eye on their blog.

The Bedford seems to have lost quite a few bricks, but according to this update that I dug up from facebook:

“The Bedford’s sweet. Fully earthquake strengthened. We’ve just lost a few decorative bricks from the top”

The Bedford ... I stole this image from Tess McClure

The White Elephant Trust HQ is on the corner of Bedford Row and Manchester St, and I can see it out my kitchen window. They are a great organisation that are involved with young people and music, and were meant to be having an all-ages show with Tommy Ill this Saturday (which I was meant to be supporting them at.) I’m not really sure where that is at, at the moment, but given the crack in the building … it might not be good (see below)…

White Elephant HQ courtesy of Ant Rohan

I’m trying to find out info about Chch / New Zealand’s best record store, Galaxy Records, but don’t have anything right now. The buildings directly opposite Galaxy are some of the worst hit in Christchurch – fortunately, Smiths had recently moved down the road a bit.  Peaches and Cream has lost a few letters from the shop name – it’s now aches and Cream, which could prove to be more useful! And there have to be massive worries about the old Odeon Theatre, which was in dire need of some earthquake strengthening.

I would be a little concerned for Christchurch’s second best music store, Penny Lane Records, which is in the historic (read: run down brick) part of Sydenham. Colombo St, from Brougham to Moorehouse Ave, is very badly damaged, as most of the buildings were single or double story and brick. It hasn’t been the most popular area of town for a couple of decades, so not much money has gone into keeping these buildings up to date. The building in the picture below is the one with Penny Lane, though it is about four shops to the left of the corner. I would fear for it though, as the whole building will probably have to go.

building with Penny Lane

Just as I am writing this, I’ve seen an update on twitter regarding the Dux:

“Dux de Lux is currently not safe to enter and closed until further notice, no word on whether it’s been condemned though”

Maybe opening on Saturday wasn’t the smartest thing to do?

Will update as more info comes to hand – and will probably try and do a post on the Lyttelton situation too.

Radio Wammo – Russel Norman

Wammo from KiwiFM’s breakfast show talks to Russel Norman about the rebuild of the central city.

Watch it here

Into the valley of death

I’ve just got back from a trip to my flat, which is smack in the middle of the cordoned zone. As it pertains to my experience, I should tell you that it is a third floor, converted office space which is about 10 metres east along Cashel St from the intersection of that street with Manchester St. I was there during the quake, leaping out of bed to brace myself in the doorframe. Though I don’t know it’s exact age, I suspect it was constructed in the 50′s or 60′s. It’s not the most amazing building to look at, but after a night in it during a 7.1 magnitude quake, I’m not going to be complaining. The building itself seems fine – although I am no engineer. The only casualty we had was a TV, which fell forward from it’s perch, dropping about a metre to the ground. I was dreading looking in the kitchen, where we have a number of somewhat precarious shelving units, however, remarkably, we didn’t lose even a single wineglass.

We got out of the building at around 9:30 am on Saturday morning, when my partner Julia came back from Burwood Hospital, where she had been working nightshift. We attempted to get back into the building twice on Sunday, but were turned away by police. On Monday, I went to the Civil Defence HQ at the Christchurch Art Gallery, and obtained permission to get into the flat. This has allowed me to get into my place, to get my razor and some spare clothes, but also, perhaps more interestingly, allowed me to observe the damage on the streets, that are otherwise only accessible to the authorities and the media.

Today, I made another attempt to get into my flat, though it was far more difficult than the day before (which had been more difficult than the day before that.) Though people seem to be more accepting of the cordon around the central city, the four avenues and other main road are jammed with traffic at the moment, and really are best to avoid. After being turned away at a cordon outside the old Jet Set lounge, we managed get onto Cashel St via another detour. At the checkpoint on the corner of Cashel and Madras, I showed the army people my note and was then let through.

note from Civil Defence

The sheer size of the security operation in the CBD is mind-boggling; on Saturday, I couldn’t believe that the police had any ‘Police Emergency – DO NOT CROSS’ tape left. Now, I’m in awe of all the temporary fences that have popped up. At the one I arrived at, there were four army men, or boys. Baby-faced recruits – some of them look 17 or 18 – who look as confused by the situation as I do. The constant presence of the army, their vehicles, and the police certainly takes the tension up to another level. We get up to the third floor, where there is still no power. We sit in the front room and stare out at the back of the Manchester Courts:

Manchester Courts

We wait for a while, nothing happens. We notice the crack in the top:

Manchester Close

My camera doesn’t have a very good zoom, but if you squint, you can see a crack that runs from the top right, back down at around a 45 degree angle. This is only the back. We wait a while longer, listen to the 5pm news on a walkman, and decide to go. I wander down Liverpool St, to get a little closer. The art deco style Kenton Chambers on the corner of Liverpool and Hereford St has a red sticker – which doesn’t mean that it is a goner, but certainly that it needs a good going over from the engineers. Fingers crossed for that one. Meanwhile, glass and curtains are flying out of windows of Manchester Courts, and plywood is being readied for the ground floor. I can’t see any evidence of explosives, or other things that would be used for demolition. I’d say it will come pretty soon, probably tomorrow, but it will be a big operation.

I am sorry if I misled anyone about the demolition of this building – it will be going down, and I was just following the advice of the council.