Brown Street Ponsonby Knocking Shop

The decision to allow the Brown Street Ponsonby  brothel to continue  to operate without a resource  consent is wrong.

This decision by council  offices  is  akin to putting the cart before the horse. This  is  the formula that council planners work by . The brothel is not the issue and it is not  the only business to be given this favour .Boutique  accommodation has also been allowed to operate in this way . Well run and legitimate businesses are like good and considerate  drivers, they  obey the rules .

If the council allows any business to operate without resource consent  why would business owners go to the effort and cost to do  things properly and safely?

For Brown Street residents the issue is not the brothel. The issue is with people working in a business that offers  thirty minute to an hour service so the resulting  traffic movements in a narrow residential  street is simply not manageable .There will be issues such as noise and sometimes lost and  inebriated men will disturb neighbours at unreasonable times.

Businesses can create problems in neighbourhoods that’s why it is essential to have resource consent to ensure the public interest  is served .

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Paget Street: Community Board should have final say

This was published an abridged  form in the Weekend  Edition of the New Zealand Herald 28 January 2012

The decision to allow the demolition of 18 Paget St  is wrong. A city council report states ‘it was also possible that a different conclusion could have been reached which would have been equally defensible’. So why demolish this house ? The purchaser knew the rules so did council officers who flatly refused to enforce them . In any other job this would be a sacking offense.

Mr McKay realises ‘our community in Auckland is definitely moving to more  protection and more care and concern for our built heritage.’

Aucklanders voted overwhelmingly for councillors to do exactly that . The breakdown has been with the council employees  who don’t believe in heritage and pay lip service to the electorate.

There is some hope that the council has finally learnt and that community boards and senior management be briefed, but is this enough? Will senior management back their elected community boards or will they buckle as they have at Paget and Turua Street? How often have we heard the mantra “it will not happen again”?

The local community boards should always have  the final word to address public concern.

Soho hole in Ponsonby transformed into art

All photos by Jane Gilkison

The Colours Of Our Community is a project directed by Mark Castle of The French Art Shop

   and sponsored by Resene paints and Progressive Enterprises.

.The walls are being painted by leading Auckland  artists .Otis  Frizzell,Karl Maughan ,  Askew O'Donnell ,Dan Tippet ,Adrian Jackman and Darryl Thompson.

This is a substantial contribution to the public art of Auckland and when all four hundred  meters of panels are  completed may be one of the largest contemporary murals in the universe.

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. The murals  depict the built and social heritage of Ponsonby ,A celebration our multiracial complexion and our colouful fauna and flora.

The first  two completed panels

Otis Frizzell, Dan Tippett, Adrian Jackman and Karl Maughan have been invited to work with The Colour of Our Community.

This is  a community-driven beautification project with support from Progressive Enterprises, the Auckland Council, Artstation, and the Ponsonby Business Association.

This is  a continuing story  of the Spirt of Ponsonby where community and art walk hand and hand.

  Each artist has been asked to design and paint a 12-metre mural which reflects the “colours of our community”, as well as becoming mentors to various local community groups who will be completing other sections of the hoardings currently surrounding the Ponsonby site known as Soho Square

Viv Rosenberg, Gerry Hill, Hemi and the artists children

Resene is the project sponsor and will underwrite most of the materials needed to complete the murals. The murals, which will stretch approximately 400m in total, will be on display during the construction phase of the development and will then be auctioned off at a charitable event.

if you are interested in this project it worth taking the Link  bus from the city and watching the work in progress,Cafes and interesting shops including The French Art Shop .

If  you want to stay a few days the best place to stay is The Great Ponsonby Art hotel

 

Not a rogues gallery but some of the most talented New  Zealanders The .artists

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Residential One Heritage Housing Protectoin

Published in the New Zealand Herald,Tuesday 17 January , 2012 As a business woman, Wynnis Armour, would have been well aware of the Residential One qualification. She would have known house when she bought her Paget Street property, she could not demolish it. Ian Smallburn, the Resource Consents Manager is ingenious with his claim that the case was too complex for the council planner . Mr Smallburn should resign. He, like Ms Armour, knows the Residential One rule and is well aware, as a council employee he is employed to enforce the council rules and implement their policies. By removing the council consultant planner Mr Jonathan Blackmore and selecting Mr Brooke Dales at the eleventh hour he failed in his duties. Decisions he has made may now be questioned. I take heritage walks through Ponsonby on a regular basis and along Paget Street the mix of the 20 century buildings is appealing and important . Among the gems are Queens Hall, built by a wealthy man for his daughter and a more modest house which was the first Auckland residence of Michael Joseph Savage. When we tamper in Residential One housing, we risk damaging our heritage and losing our history. Councillor Lee and Waitemata Community Board chairman, Shale Chambers are to be congratulated for standing up for this important economic and social issue of heritage.