LOCAL NEWS
CHLÖE SWARBRICK: AUCKLAND CENTRAL MP It was a chilly Friday morning, but thankfully, OPEN café buzzed alive with locals, regulars, and contributors to Karangahape Road filling up on caffeine before filing into the Studio One Toi Tū carpark. - Ngati Whatua Orakei offered karanga to the rising sun, leading a delegation to bless the opening of our Karangahape Road. Soft pink spilled across the sky as fingers weaved across our own rough and beautiful street furniture. Gasps were audible as the new, permanent panels behind our rainbow bus-stops were unveiled, the overbridge armoured with tukutuku woven by artist Tessa Harris, her sons and students from Auckland Girls’ Grammar’s Kahurangi Unit. Joined by poignant placards from the Prostitutes Collective, reminding all that High Street herb planting ceremony with nothing is just until we’ve all young members of the local inner city got our rights and protections, we arrived at St Kevin’s Arcade. Speeches commenced. Frank words were exchanged about the pain of evolution, the importance of community and the timeliness of project completion. And just like that, there were no more roadworks (...on our road). Talking to Michael at the KBA, it’s clear that foot-traffic is picking back up. Talking to our local Police, it’s also fascinating to learn that incidents of reported crime have decreased throughout the
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last fortnight. While nothing can ever be taken for granted, and work on our collective, Karangahape Road Collective, mahi to drive coordinated and holistic resourcing and responses to anti-social behaviour continues and is hugely encouraging. All of these things are connected: when we have pride of place, more people want to check out our place, and more people out and about increases potential for inclusion and safety. All of this is a recipe for strong community and good business. It can’t be overstated just how hard everyone has worked to make this happen, because as my experiences across the city have shown, it’s not something to be taken for granted – even when it’s technically the same development impacting trade. Further downtown in Albert Street, in stark contrast to the conversations with businesses around the CRL Beresford Square/Pitt Street, there simply isn’t the same magic sauce alignment of goals in collaboration across Government agencies, landlords and small businesses. Thanks to the tireless work of Michael, creativity and innovation in the face of new challenges, and the strong brands and communitybuilding around K’Rd, it is likely why so many of you choose to call it home. There’s also something really important to be said about the landlords who recognise the long-term value of our street, our potential and the relationships and flexibility that make that happen. As June slips away, we’re really looking forward to Te Karanga a Hape come 26 June. With the colour coding of KBA’s beautiful planner, we’re extremely proud of hosting the only explicitly whanau friendly event. Please do drop by the office (76 Karangahape Rd, next to Monster Valley!) with your little ones between 3pm and 6pm for a raucously wholesome time of painting and planting. You’ll meet my wonderful team, Amber and Alexis, who do huge amounts for constituents and our community, and you’ll be able to check out some of the awesome murals we’ve commissioned in the space from local artists Junt and Shelley de Bruyn. (CHLÖE SWARBRICK) PN www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
09 302 0166 chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz Auckland Council - 09 301 0101 COVID-19 advice from Healthline 0800 358 5453 Healthline: General health advice 0800 611 116 Inland Revenue - 0800 257 777 Ministry of Social Development 0800 559 009 Need to talk? Free counselling helpline - Phone or text 1737
Chlöe Swarbrick MP for Auckland Central
Authorised by Chlöe Swarbrick, Parliament Buildings Wellington
22 PONSONBY NEWS+ July 2021
Chlöe was present at the Leys rally way back in February 2020 (before I was elected as local MP)
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