November 7

Ratepayer meeting...

This one really opened my eyes to the community aspect of Piha. For my project the Conservation and Environment part is fairly easy, the Financial and Infrastructure part was a bit more difficult but is near completion.... the Community however.... WOW. Talk about a wrench in the gears of progress. I got to attend a Residents & Ratepayers meeting to be the quiet observer with no agenda or any long term resources to look after in Piha. I got to be the unique "outsider" who could be as close to non-bias then anyone in the room comparatively

Right off the bat at the meeting the floor is open and Duncan Clark stands up and produces a speech. Recently in Piha (the night before) "someone" went out and pulled up all of the new posts along mid beach for fencing. Everyone at this meeting knows Duncan was the one who did it and he is quite proud that he did. He had some helpers as well, stacked all the posts neatly out of peoples way and also got 60 some signatures. The problem here is COMMUNICATION... as I continue this is the cause of a lot of problems in Piha. Auckland Regional Council installed these posts but failed to tell the R&R or the community whos view is/was blocked with "ugly" fences. Renee from ARC stated they did tell everyone as it is a part of their 5 year ongoing project. R&R is upset because they had to pay for the posts and Duncan pulled them up. Duncan and the community is upset because R&R and ARC didnt tell them about the posts going in. ARC is on the outside kind of saying, what happened happened lets move on and find a compromise and solution. Then a fourth contender comes in, Coast Care, the ones responsible for replanting the dunes and making sure people use the desginated trails to limit damage to the dunes. Makes sense and is great. Big fuss over how people will find the trails and needs to plant spinifex tomorrow.... Coast Cares also argued the plants need to go in because people like to walk on them when the sand is hot.... wait... so you want fences so people know where to step and not to step, you want plants so the dunes arnt damaged, but you also want plants so people can walk on them and not burn their feet. So planted dunes minus fences is actually the best option. Of course people need some kind of direction hence the fences, but if people are going to walk off the track anyways to avoid burnt feet what is the point of trails and dunes and plants. Its like trying to plant on an asphalt path, lots of people will use it, some will keep to the path, others will hop into the grass or cut corners.

Now I've been down there before and midbeach dunes are very heavily vegetated compared to south piha. The trails are wide and a lot of damage is being done in THOSE areas, why plant and fence an area that is perfectly fine. Comparing photos of South Piha and the midbeach its not that bad and really doesnt require fences, sure it could use some more plants but why bother when other places need them so much more. Back to the real issue at hand, why have fences? Its not going to deter someone if their feet are burning at all. If my hand was on fire and their was an aquarium next to me chances are I would not care if I poked or damage one of the plants or fish. Second point if there needs to be some kind of way to indicate to people where to walk the best way to achieve it is a sign or a visual reference. Instead of having the 60+ posts one every meter you could place one at the base of the dune, one at the top of the dune, and another at the other side of the dune. As long as the posts are visable from one of the other posts people will find their way to it. And in this case heavily plant the areas that are not off limits.

If I have to choose a side here it would be Duncan, it is not his fault that R&R, Coastcare, or ARC failed to tell him and the community. I think he is looking out for the best interests of the people of Piha. Very ironically Guy Fawkes did a similar thing; Duncan saw organizations and government was overreaching its grasp and basically forgot who all of them are working for. The community is what matters not the dunes, not the rates, not the posts or fences. If the community is forced into getting something they dont want they are going to bite back.

So Renee from ARC says ok we will pull out the temporary posts figure something else out that is unobtrusive, visually fits in the character of Piha, and to minimize the number of posts/fences.... *sigh* solution: less posts, plant the edges of the paths, mark begining and end of trails. !!! wish I was allowed to speak at this meeting, could have saved so much time!!!

Next on the list: National Surf Competition in January. That is awesome, should bring in a lot of visitors as well as income for Piha, as well as a lot of impact to environment. Funny enough nobody mentioned dune damage during this or last years event of the Thundercats. BUT they didnt so apparently a non-issue with big crowds. However one of the big problems during these events is the rubbish bins overflow. ARC proposes a new type of rubbish bin, much bigger and also includes a seperate recyling bin (wonder why they dont have those already) and also should be scheduled to pick up rubbish at a new time in order to take the heavy load of the events.

Another great example of lack of communication. ARC went through and replaced the old trail signs as well as old picnic tables. One of the tables was simply placed by the bridge by someone but the ARC contractors came through and replaced it with a brand new one. Nobody complains about the new piece of furniture even if ARC never consulted with anyone to install a new picnic table.

The last couple of things were about grease traps working in the Domain. Another case of improper communication of ARC spraying herbicides to kill grass by the LifeGuard station in South Piha.

Towards the end of the meeting there was mentions of the library vs post office conflict, someone stood up and said that Piha is so split over this why not at Barnett Hall. Seems like a good idea to me, best I've heard so far actually.

And the point of Piha community being split is such an understatement. Split usually refers to something divided in two. Piha could be described as being fragmented and/or pulverized. There are so many rival factions and groups and dare I say clicks here, and everyone has a different agenda or is trying to get what they want only. What I saw at the meeting was simply a gross display of self interests, too many people trying to get their name recognized, too many people trying to get what they want.

You have
R&R,
ARC,
CoastCare,
WCC,
Post office in the library people,
people against the post office in the library,
the Librarian group (dont know official name),
Pro-cafe,
Anti-cafe,
Various Waitakere groups,
Piha Heritage Society,
and God knows how many other groups their are that I have yet to come across

Final thought is: Cut the fat, merge groups, force communication to EVERYONE