Community

Nov 15, 2024 ∞

Fourteen free community newspapers being shut down

It’s very disappointing to read that the media company NZME is closing its 14 local newspapers in the North Island, with a loss of around 30 jobs.

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Oct 12, 2024 ∞

Being busy

I’ve spent the last few days feeling busy and useful. This isn’t always the case. It depends on me having the energy to do it! However, it is very rewarding. One job was for a non-profit I’m part of and the other was helping out a relative.

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Oct 1, 2024 ∞

Wendell Berry on community

“A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves.”

Wendell Berry (2012). The Long-Legged House, p.71, Counterpoint Press

Sep 25, 2024 ∞

Kāinga Ora giveth and taketh away

How do these two announcements line up?

Kāinga Ora set to cut about 300 jobs

AND

$48 million later, Kāinga Ora confirms it may stop Arlington development

On the same day. Surely some of the 330 people destined for the chop could be reassigned to the social housing development in Arlington?

Sep 17, 2024 ∞

Together Tuesday drop in morning teas

I’ve just been down at the last Together Tuesday for the Pop-up Parlour at a local church hall. They’ve been a great opportunity to catch up with people in the community who you don’t see often, or meet new people who live in the village. That is ‘new’ as in not having met them before, not ‘new’ as in newly arrived to live in the village.

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Sep 17, 2024 ∞

Locking more people in prison doesn’t make society safer

I’ve just been listening to the PM talking on Morning Report about putting more people in prison as though it’s the solution to crime and recidivism.

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Sep 16, 2024 ∞

Good to have a local hospital

I’m currently sitting in the outpatient ward at Kenepuru Community Hospital—my common haunt—waiting for a blood test. The place is filling up quickly and shows what a good service it is to have the hospital in Porirua.

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Sep 8, 2024 ∞

Busy weekend - soccer club breakup and community 'placemaking' under threat in Porirua

⚽️It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday, we had the local soccer club’s end-of-season breakup. For the first time in many years I wasn’t involved in organising it after stepping down from the committee following my cancer prognosis from my haematologist at the end of last year. I said to the folk there that it was a little odd to be presenting the “Iain MacLean Memorial Trophy” when I was not yet ‘in memoriam’. That flew over the children’s heads, as I hoped it would, but some parents got it.

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Sep 6, 2024 ∞

As I’ve been fixing my breakfast I’ve been listening to the children next door practice their Kapa Haka skills. The 10-year old showed me her poi skills when I was out there earlier. Now her brother has joined in and they are practicing their waiata and a haka. It’s great to hear.

Aug 29, 2024 ∞

Community newsletter for Pukerua Bay

If you’re interested in what we’re doing in our little community, check out our two-monthly community newsletter (edited by my clever wife).

The latest issue of Kōrero (kōrero is Māori for news or talking) is online.

Here you can find information about the PKB Hub’s Pop-up Parlor, the Climate Action spring series, and a link to Maringikura Mary Campbell’s Facebook page with her artwork.

Also, lots of informative articles. We hope you enjoy it.

Aug 22, 2024 ∞

PM shows he doesn't understand local government

The PM Christopher Luxon got the reception he deserved when he spoke to the Local Government Association conference yesterday. He (or who ever wrote his speech) trotted out a tired prescription of ‘reducing spending’ and ‘tackling waste’ in local government, when the problem for many years is that local government has been underfunded for the services it needs to provide to communities.

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Aug 17, 2024 ∞

Pop-up parlour in our village

What becomes possible when we open up a space for community, where locals can connect, collaborate, share and meet?

The Pop-up Parlour in Pukerua Bay is a month-long experiment in community connection.

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Jul 21, 2024 ∞

Parliamentary select committee appearance on community adaptation to climate change

Early this week, Tuesday 20 July, my colleague, neighbour and friend Conor Twyford and I spoke to the New Zealand parliament Finance and Expenditure Select Committee in support of the Pukerua Bay Climate Action Group’s submission on community-led climate adaptation submission.

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Jul 19, 2024 ∞

Why do I love Pukerua Bay?

Reflections on my home town

It is just before Christmas 1988, and you are looking for a nest of your own. You look at townhouses in other parts of Porirua, none of which appeal, and the estate agent suggests you look further north. Somewhere your money will go a bit further to buy something you like more.

“I know a house for sale in Pukerua Bay. You probably won’t like it, but it has character.”

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