Kāinga Ora Update - Bolton Street / Marlowe Road - 17/03
Good morning whānau, for those that don’t know Kāinga Ora are planning a new development in Blockhouse Bay getting rid of what was Pensioner Housing gifted by Mr Thompson. Yesterday I spent some hours reviewing the Council Archives in regards to the gifting of land from Roy Thompson to Auckland Council. As you can see highlighted in the agreement documents (bullet point 3.) "The council shall hold the land for pensioner housing as a memorial to the late wife and parents of the donor". As you can also see highlighted in the blue transaction document is "Price: Gift, Purpose for which being acquired: Pensioner Housing".
Additionally the Auckland Star on the 12th of May 1973 published the article attached.
Here is a snippet from it and Mr Thompson's or 'Darby's' words himself - "Sixty-five-year-old Mr. Roy Thompson, or "Darby" as he is known to his friends, owns four acres of residential land at Avondale, has eight cats, a horse and lives in a house which is not connected to the power and has most of the windows broken. But last week he put on a white shirt and went into the city to have afternoon tea and cakes with city councillors. The reason? He had just donated 1¼ acres of his land to the council for pensioner housing. "It was in memory of my late wife and family." said Mr Thompson….
Mr Thompson wanted to do something for the elderly people, who he says have not been as fortunate as himself. ”I am determined to do something good before I go. So last week after months of negotiating, the council and Mr Thompson finally signed the documents necessary."
Kāinga Ora must honour 'Darby'. They have made it abundantly clear there is no plans for pensioner housing in their proposal. We need them to stop and re-plan this development. I am still awaiting information from them as to the next steps for engagement.
Here is a link to a petition with more information - chng.it...
Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?
The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.
Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.
We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?
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9.5% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
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43.4% I want to be able to choose.
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47.1% Against. I want to deal with people.
Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
Rock'in with Elvis by Mike Cole
The Memories of Elvis Fan Club invite you to our 1st Elvis Social for 2026. We are excited to have our own Mike Cole back at the Te Atatu RSA on Saturday 28th February at 7.30pm. Cost only $20pp. Tickets are on sale at the RSA or reserve through Jackie 0274901126. So lets see you with your dancing shoes on and that great smile as we start off 2026 with a bang.
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