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Bay Harbour: March 16, 2016

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PAGE 8 BAY HARBOUR<br />

Wednesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>16</strong> 20<strong>16</strong><br />

your local Views<br />

Something on your mind? Email bridget.rutherford@starmedia.kiwi in 150 words or less<br />

Facebook us on facebook.com/riseupchristchurch/<br />

Response to plans to repair<br />

the stone cottage on top of<br />

Sumner’s Cave Rock:<br />

Marie Stanley: Oh it is so<br />

important. It is after all an important<br />

part of being a Cantabrian.<br />

Yes, I know houses still need<br />

fixing, but it is equally important<br />

to save as much as possible<br />

the character and beginnings of<br />

this wonderful beautiful city.<br />

This is wonderful news.<br />

Response to the city council’s<br />

decision to temporarily ban<br />

freedom camping from French<br />

Farm, Wainui and Ferrymead’s<br />

Windsport Park:<br />

Ian N San, Hamilton: Well<br />

I live on the Peninsula and do<br />

freedom camp, to be fair folk<br />

that don’t freedom camp can<br />

be just as bad.....where we live<br />

at Kaituna Valley, folk dump<br />

rubbish all the time at Sunset<br />

point, and they are not freedom<br />

campers, just everyday people<br />

that can’t be bothered going to<br />

the dump!!<br />

Chris Mair: Some freedom<br />

campers abuse the freedom to<br />

camp places for nothing and<br />

use it as their own private toilet<br />

and dump. Happens in Australia<br />

too sad to say. As to how<br />

much money these particular<br />

tourists spend – err hello, they<br />

want somewhere to stay for<br />

nothing so I can’t see them<br />

being big spenders, like the<br />

ones in the park near home . .<br />

. could be wrong though (and<br />

could be right too).<br />

Gabrielle McDonagh:<br />

Ferrymead had turned into a<br />

toilet, great decision!<br />

Pamela Neil: Who is going to<br />

police it??<br />

Sally Bowring: So that is the<br />

catch-22 isn’t it? People don’t<br />

want them there, the council<br />

says “No” and then will be<br />

blamed for the extra money<br />

needed to police the site.<br />

Sam Caley: About time!!!<br />

How does freedom camping<br />

bring money into our economy<br />

when they aren’t paying to stay<br />

anywhere! Yet our taxes pay for<br />

the bins they fill, the grass they<br />

kill and it makes our parks look<br />

like rubbish dumps or public<br />

toilets! Get rid of freedom<br />

campers in the city!!<br />

Last week <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News<br />

asked readers what they<br />

thought of the possibility of the<br />

Stewart family’s Port Levy bach<br />

being removed to make way<br />

for city council and Te Runanga<br />

O Koukourarata Society<br />

developments.<br />

Bruce Glennie, Church <strong>Bay</strong>:<br />

I think that it is grossly unfair<br />

to force the Stewart family to<br />

remove the bach, particularly<br />

when it occupies around 7 sq<br />

m of Te Runanga’s land. Such<br />

a small piece of land, a relative<br />

postage stamp would not make<br />

any difference to their ability<br />

to develop the land for new<br />

baches. The Stewart family have<br />

paid rates to the city council<br />

in good faith for over half a<br />

century, for what, for the council<br />

which gladly took their rates to<br />

now kick them off the land.<br />

As for Te Runanga O<br />

Koukourarata Society, how<br />

small-minded and selfish, they<br />

really know how to kick a<br />

family when they are down.<br />

Mary Wilkie: From reading<br />

this article and several others<br />

lately relating to the bach the<br />

Stewarts have owned for many<br />

years, the decision to insist this<br />

is demolished is quite without<br />

any real foundation as to who<br />

owns the land.<br />

Historically (without being<br />

racist) there were other peoples<br />

here for longer than the Maori,<br />

whom on a technicality, could<br />

be called settlers like the rest of<br />

us as their tenure is not in the<br />

thousands of years but rather<br />

several hundred. Does this make<br />

them the rightful owners of<br />

the land, if so, whom did they<br />

purchase it from? They just took<br />

over. Where does it give them<br />

the right to insist the city council<br />

act for their benefit alone.<br />

As I understand it there is really<br />

only a few metres of land in<br />

dispute. If the Stewarts reduce<br />

the size of their bach then a<br />

compromise would be reached<br />

which would be fair to all.<br />

Seventy-five years is a long time<br />

for a family to have enjoyed<br />

what the Maori claim should<br />

only be for them to enjoy. It just<br />

does not seem a fair resolution.<br />

A reader responds to<br />

comments in last week’s<br />

edition about Redcliffs School:<br />

Jean Cory-Wright,<br />

Redcliffs:<br />

I’d like to say well done to<br />

Emma Maguire Alldridge: The<br />

Redcliffs School debate is all<br />

smoke and mirrors. The Government<br />

is using an emotive issue<br />

such as child safety to hide the<br />

real agenda.<br />

The hidden agenda is a rationalisation<br />

of schools into mega<br />

schools and is probably money<br />

driven. The school site has been<br />

declared safe by experts. The<br />

school site is further away from<br />

a cliff than Sumner School<br />

is. Both schools are needed in<br />

this community. The idea of<br />

mega schools has been tested<br />

elsewhere in the world and it<br />

doesn’t work.<br />

With respect, the people who<br />

have been writing “safety first”<br />

in their emails may not know the<br />

full story and may not have read<br />

the details in the cliff report. I<br />

admire their concern for children<br />

but they are not helping the<br />

bigger case for the community.<br />

They could also be perceived as<br />

smoke screens using an emotive<br />

shout to cover the background<br />

political hidden agenda.<br />

So please, read the cliff report,<br />

and if you still think it’s unsafe,<br />

then lobby for the school to be<br />

moved to another Redcliffs site,<br />

so that it can continue to exist.<br />

At the moment your cries<br />

about safety are actually helping<br />

the minister close the school.<br />

I believe in the role that strong<br />

communities play, in the overall<br />

development of our young<br />

people. They feel valued in a<br />

small community.<br />

In a mega school everybody<br />

is a nobody. If they all grow up<br />

feeling under valued, they won’t<br />

cope very well with the bigger<br />

future challenges that will be<br />

thrown at us. This community is<br />

fantastic and it needs the support<br />

of us all! So please don’t be<br />

distracted by the smoke screens!<br />

I believe that the Redcliffs<br />

School site has been made safe<br />

and can be made even safer with<br />

a bund. Above this, whatever<br />

the decision about the school<br />

site, Redcliffs School needs to<br />

continue to exist somewhere in<br />

the Redcliffs area.<br />

A message from Redcliffs<br />

School principal:<br />

Kia ora everyone! My name<br />

is Rose McInerney and I am<br />

the new principal of Redcliffs<br />

School for 20<strong>16</strong>. It is a privilege<br />

and an honour to take over this<br />

role and I am very excited about<br />

leading a fantastic year of teaching<br />

and learning at Redcliffs<br />

School.<br />

I have been a teacher and then<br />

deputy principal here for about<br />

14 years and it is very special<br />

to become the principal at this<br />

important time. Our priority is<br />

giving the children an amazing<br />

20<strong>16</strong> no matter what. We<br />

have great learning programmes<br />

in place, a range of academic,<br />

music, cultural and sports<br />

programmes and a wonderful<br />

school production to look forward<br />

to later in the year.<br />

We are very thankful to our<br />

whole extended bays community<br />

for the support that you are giving<br />

in our campaign to return to<br />

Redcliffs. The whole community<br />

and all the local schools have<br />

been behind Redcliffs School<br />

supporting us every step of the<br />

way and your support has been<br />

felt and embraced. Thank you!<br />

At the moment the Redcliffs<br />

School board of trustees are<br />

working very hard on the final<br />

submission to send to the Minister<br />

of Education Hekia Parata.<br />

How you can help<br />

If you would like to help our<br />

school at the moment we are<br />

sending ‘Postcards to Parliament’<br />

over the next few weeks<br />

to remind our key politicians of<br />

these three strong messages.<br />

The scientific reports say that<br />

Redcliffs School is as safe as<br />

any school in New Zealand – so<br />

why does this Government want<br />

to close it? Zero submissions in<br />

favour of closure and 2700 in<br />

favour of Redcliffs School staying<br />

open. Redcliffs School is the heart<br />

of our community and we do not<br />

accept the Government’s reasons<br />

for closure.<br />

We have thousands of these<br />

postcards ready to post, if you<br />

would like a bundle please<br />

phone our school office or<br />

collect some from Redcliffs<br />

Pharmacy or Morgan and Page.<br />

We would like these postcards<br />

to be given to your friends all<br />

over NZ so that the Government<br />

realise that this is a nationwide<br />

issue and that every school in<br />

NZ has the chance of future<br />

disruption. It is freepost to<br />

Parliament and they are already<br />

addressed and ready to go.<br />

We also have a ‘Givealittle’<br />

fund to assist purely with the<br />

costs associated in the campaign<br />

to return our school to Redcliffs.<br />

You can either send in a cheque<br />

to the Redcliffs School office<br />

c/- Van Asch college Truro<br />

St, Sumner. Or you can go<br />

online to make a donation<br />

to givealittle.co.nz/cause/<br />

supportRedcliffsschool or phone<br />

our school office to talk to our<br />

office ladies on 384 3853 and<br />

they can help you further.<br />

Thank you again. It’s all for our<br />

kids!<br />

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