PONSONBY PARK

Ponsonby Park - OCTOBER UPDATE

The good news continues.

The Waitematā Local Board’s top priority, ‘One Local Initiative’ project is the creation of Ponsonby Park, the new civic space at 254 Ponsonby Road. It has been the focus of their considerable advocacy work on behalf of the community since 2015 when they established the volunteer Community-Led Design group.

As Board Chair and Parks portfolio holder Richard Northey advised in September 2020: ”We also confirmed that proceeds from the sale of a commercial building at 200 Victoria Street go to fund the Ponsonby Park project at 254 Ponsonby Road and urged that that project only be delayed by a year. The Local Board does not want to see the development of Ponsonby Park delayed by more than a year due to the impacts of Covid”.

With the allocated budget from the sale of 200 Victoria Street West of $5.5 million now available (and that legally can only be spent on the development of the Ponsonby Park Civic Space) we are excitedly waiting to hear when Stage One of the development will begin. It is no longer reliant on any LTP (Long term plan) funding to do so.

We are confident the Waitematā Local Board will persuade Council to return to the original two stage project. Once this is agreed to, Stage One could be put back into the Local Board work programme for 2022-23 and detailed design and consent work be commenced as early as next year!

The original plan for Ponsonby Park was as a two stage development.

Stage 1 Detailed design and consents. Open space development.

Stage 2 The buildings.

Pre-Covid, the sale of 200 Victoria Street West would have enabled Ponsonby Park to be completed in only one stage. Yet this ‘all-at-once’ plan is not essential, nor given the current inflationary economic conditions, even desirable.

The local community, local businesses, and visitors to Ponsonby have been waiting for twenty-one years since the need for the new civic space in Ponsonby was first identified. We think this is long enough.

Let’s get it done. (JENNIFER WARD)  PN

www.254ponsonbyrd.org.nz

MELISSA LEE: Backing Auckland businesses during Covid-19

I am incredibly heartened by the amazing levels of support so many here in Auckland have given to their local shops and businesses during the Covid-19 Delta outbreak.

It is a difficult time for many with restrictions on trade where they were forced to get creative in providing their essential goods and services as well as coping with paying rents and topping up wages for staff while there was hardly any income to no income.

I was thrilled at Level 3 to support my favourite takeaways and coffee places and I know so many others in our gorgeous city were too. From kebabs to cappuccinos, our city rallied to back local businesses and I am looking forward to lower alert levels where we, like the rest of New Zealand, can meet again in our cafes, restaurants, shop more freely and maybe finally get a much needed haircut.

Covid-19 has been devastating on so many small business owners with mortgages, rent, and overheads to think about, let alone their families and their futures. I want to acknowledge all those who are still facing hardships and make sure you know we are championing your needs in Parliament. I am regularly in contact with Government officials helping SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Business Enterprises) navigate the complex issues Covid-19 has brought to the way we live and work.

Know we are doing everything possible to help keep your businesses afloat and to support you. In particular, I have recently been urging the government to make better investment into vaccine information translation so more people in our country, no matter their ethnic background, can get the vaccine as soon as possible and was pleased to see greater investment has been made towards ethnic outreach in the Covid-19 response.

Most importantly, we are fighting to get our economy working again so generations of Kiwis are not saddled with crippling debt for decades to come.

Whether you need help understanding the Covid-19 alert level rules, support accessing the wage subsidies or anything else, my Parliamentary team are here to help.

Just give us a call on 09 520 0538 or send me an email at MPLee@parliament.govt.nz.

These lines remain active when we are required to work from home with English, Mandarin Chinese and Korean language support available. (I can say personally I am on the phone constantly right now fighting for constituents late into the night!) Once we get back to lower alert levels my office is able to operate safely for booked appointments, please get in touch. Keep safe everyone! (MELISSA LEE MP)  PN

If you require any assistance I and my office are always happy and ready to provide advice and support

Please get in touch on 09 520 0538 or at MPLee@parliament.govt.nz to make an appointment. Melissa Lee National List MP based in Auckland

MPLee@parliament.govt.nz • melissalee.co.nz • mpmelissalee

Funded by the Parliamentary Service. Authorised by Melissa Lee, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.

Photography John Clark Accusations of racism and colonialism marginalise Māori in the maunga tree debate

We read in your last issue with exasperation Mark Graham’s racially based criticism of those trying to prevent Tūpuna Maunga Authority from felling around 2500 exotic trees on Auckland’s maunga (volcanic cones).

Ironically, the racists are the Pākeha who are taking the Authority’s side. This is because incorrectly positioning an environmental issue as a racial one has focused attention on the Pākeha who want to save the trees, while ignoring and thereby marginalising the many Tangata Whenua and People of Colour who disagree with the Authority’s environmentally destructive plans.

This narrative also conveniently neglects to acknowledge that a maunga tree protection group – Protect Mt Richmond/ Ōtāhuhu – is led by a Māori woman who shares the same concerns as the well-known Honour the Maunga group at Ōwairaka/Mt Albert.

But there’s a far bigger issue at hand, and that is the extent to which Tūpuna Maunga Authority and its supporters are actually undermining – not protecting - Mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge and culture).

What is Tūpuna Maunga Authority and how it is disrespecting Māori culture and knowledge? A 2014 Treaty settlement vested ownership of 14 Auckland volcanic cones (maunga) in a collective of 13 iwi/hapu on the basis that they are held in trust for the common benefit of that collective and “all other people of Auckland”.

Shirley Waru

The “others” include Tangata Whenua from iwi/hapu who were not part of that Treaty settlement, and people from other ethnicities. All maunga are public reserves, and public access is guaranteed.

Tūpuna Maunga Authority is the administering body for the maunga (it does not own them). It is a ratepayer funded cogovernance organisation, whose voting members equally comprise iwi collective and Auckland Council representatives. Thus, criticisms of the Authority are levelled at its Auckland Council members as much as anyone.

Although it is a Crown construct, the Authority had the opportunity to exercise true tino rangatiratanga (self-determination authority and chiefly autonomy) and operate in accordance with Mātauranga Māori principles. kaumatua and kuia and even less voice to Tangata Whenua and others in local communities.

A true rangitira (leader) works for the people and is a master of weaving (ranga) them together – something that is not happening regarding the maunga trees and other Authority decisions.

Instead, the Authority and its supporters are playing the deeply divisive race card to distract attention away from its environmentally, culturally and socially harmful actions. In eroding Mātauranga Māori the Authority and its supporters are eroding Māori identity, which concerns us deeply.

It is doing this in many ways, such as by failing to act in accordance with Tikanga Māori or its required protocols. For example, after more than a year of denials, the Authority admitted that nobody was consulted about the specific intention to get rid of all the exotic trees; in fact, this was never even voted on.

Pouroto Ngaropo, Korowai

A tikanga-led approach would have seen extensive and genuine grassroots consultation with maunga communities about the tree felling plans.

Who are the real Kaitiaki? Central to Māori culture is the belief in one universal lifeforce – Mauri, which binds all things together as one collective energy across space, time, location and dimensions. To us, everything is born of the earth, Papatūānuku, and has the same life force that comes from the Creator, Io Te Waiora. Protecting Papatūānuku and all of her children should therefore lie at the front and centre of all decision making.

In claiming to exercise Kaitiakitanga (guardianship) the Authority disrespects our culture because this requires honouring the whakapapa (ancestry) of the maunga themselves and all the Kaitiaki such as the birds, native and exotic trees, and other life forms.

The Authority claims felling the exotic trees will put the Mana and Mauri back in to the maunga. To suggest that the maunga are weakened and sick because of the exotic trees is wrong; Papatūānuku clearly wants them there or she wouldn’t let them grow.

It is also wrong to imply Mana and Mauri are exclusive to Māori only. In fact, each of us as living beings have Mana and Mauri.

Pākeha wokeness is patronising and racist It strikes us that many Pākeha defenders of the Authority’s tree-felling plans are going against what they know is the environmentally right thing to do in an attempt to feel better about themselves and to atone for their guilt about “white privilege”.

Yet defending the Authority’s environmentally damaging and culturally inappropriate actions in an attempt to somehow protect Māori is condescending, self-satisfying and racist in a whole new way.

It is time to stop thinking of the maunga tree issue as a racial matter, for it is not; it is an environmental one. To position it as otherwise distracts attention from the questions that need to be asked around why this is being done and how this will benefit anybody other than tree felling contractors and lawyers.

We therefore call upon Tūpuna Maunga Authority and its supporters to act in the spirit of partnership, in accordance with – and respect for - our ancestors’ teachings.

(POUROTO NGAROPO) (Ngāti Awa ki te Awa o Te Atua, Te Tāwera Hapū)

On proposed speed limit changes around Waitematā

Speed Limits Amendment Bylaw 2022 Auckland Transport is proposing to set new permanent speed limits on approximately 800 roads around Auckland, including some roads in Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Freemans Bay, Newmarket and Parnell.

Give your feedback by 14 November 2021 Come and talk to us Speak to someone in person at our drop-in session: Saturday 13 November, 10am - 12pm Grey Lynn Library Hall, 474 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

To learn more and tell us what you think, go to: AT.govt.nz/haveyoursay For more information visit AT.govt.nz or phone 09 355 3553