keeping it local
Why shop local?
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In this day and age shopping local is primarily a healthy choice: we don’t want to go too far and we want to see local, friendly faces and if we can walk or cycle to grab our grocery supplies, even better! Organics Out West is able to source fresh produce locally and from small enterprise growers so this keeps the economy of the local community growing. Busy local businesses maintain a vibrancy and sense of community that expands into the homes of those who live nearby and creates long term wellbeing. All the staff at Organics Out West live locally and are good at giving local directions and suggestions. Organics Out West is just one of the many great reasons to visit Glen Eden!
Meet Graham Hahn Graham Hahn opened his doors over 30 years ago in Glen Eden. Back then he was known as Mr Mowers and was located directly opposite to where they are now on West Coast Road. Graham has lived in West Auckland all his life, played club sport locally, raised his family with his wife Jane and is not ready to retire just yet. He says he doesn’t have time. Graham is very much the heart of the Stihl Shop. He has had customers coming to him for as long as the shop has been open. Now he is even lucky enough to have their children come in and one day hopefully their children. Graham is lucky to have his daughter, Morgan, working alongside him in-store. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as Morgan is ranked one of Stihl Shop’s top sales people within New Zealand. That’s out of 400 staff in over 70 stores nationwide. Graham likes to keep busy. The short hours you don’t find him at work you can find him at the gym, playing tennis or catching up with his family in Laingholm. Even in lockdown he is busy, providing essential services or you could find him outside with his trusty chainsaws catching up on a spot of tree maintenance. Stihl Shop Glen Eden is located at 93 West Coast road Glen Eden, open 6 days for all your outdoor power equipment and barbecuing needs.
Council land sales
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Not too far away from that property is one that was sold 25 years ago for $150,000. Recently Council was leasing it back from the subsequent purchaser for the same amount each year. The land is now worth a great deal more and if developed properly could prove to be a significant addition to the area. We certainly live in difficult financial times. But land by its nature can have significant strategic, environmental and community benefits. We should protect public ownership of land as much as possible.
The Waitakere Ranges Local Board Future West team are (left to right) Mark Allen, Saffron Toms, Sandra Coney and Greg Presland. Advertisement
During the emergency budget allowances were made for land sales to help fund what was appearing to be a significant deficit. The councillors worked under extreme pressure to analyse a large number of properties that they had to make quick decisions about. And the time and fiscal pressures were considerable. The decision unfortunately has had adverse local consequences. There are four properties tagged for sale in the near future. Two are strips between residential properties and we have no objection to them being sold. The other two are more problematic however. One is a section in Laingholm that was purchased for storm water purposes. It is in an area that suffers from flooding and was purchased for stormwater purposes. It has two streams running by it. It is also next to a reserve area, and is in an area where there has been considerable local efforts to improve water quality. The value of the property must be low and building restrictions would be considerable. But it has significant ecological value and if at all possible should be preserved. The second property is a bush clad property on Scenic Drive, originally purchased for Project Twin Streams. It has high quality quite magnificent bush on it and it would be a shame to lose it, especially of there are good urban water quality reasons for its retention. Again it would be a difficult property to build on and we believe that there is a strong argument for it to be retained. There is also a property at 300 West Coast Road that is one of a later group of properties that Council wants to sell. The local board is also opposed to this sale. It is contaminated and its remediation costs would be considerable and no doubt its value would be low. And it is valuable green space in the middle of Glen Eden which will become more and more precious as Glen Eden continues to intensify.
The Fringe SEPTEMBER 2020
11
