1198 days ago

New Pedestrian and Cycling Bridge over river

The Team from Momentum Waikato

The Government announcement below for new infrastructure funding is great news for the Hamilton CBD, congratulations to the Hamilton City Council.

It is particularly pleasing that this intensification funding means the Pedestrian and Cycling Bridge across the river will get built.

We played a key role in getting the bridge project to this point, something we haven't previously promoted publicly.

In 2020 Momentum Waikato partnered with Rotary Clubs of Hamilton, led in this by Don Law and John Gallagher, to commission and then work with Beca to produce the Concept Development Report required to get the bridge formally into the Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan.

The project team engaged with Te Haa o te Whenua o Kirikiriroa, Bike Waikato, Living Streets Hamilton, Te Awa The Great NZ River Ride, Waikato Regional Council and various HCC folks to identify the best location for the new span - from the north side of the Waikato Museum | Te Whare Taonga o Waikato to the south end of Memorial Park - and the immediate factors to consider in the various engineering options.

That report was gratefully received by the Mayor and Councillors and development of the bridge project was subsequently budgeted into the Long-Term Plan.

We then stepped away, having completed our part. The proposal always required central government funding of some kind, the HCC itself subsequently added the bridge to its application to central government for funding for intensification infrastructure. The Rotary Clubs of Hamilton intend to fundraise for the added cost of making sure the bridge is designed to be a spectacular icon for Kirikiriroa-Hamilton.

This is an example of Momentum Waikato fulfilling its role as a community leadership foundation, using the flexibility of our mission and credibility of our purpose and track record to light the spark needed to make things happen.

We connect and convene in the community, sometimes funding key process steps not covered by others' remits, bridging the gap between the state and business to create 'three P' partnerships - Public-Private-Philanthropic. Always apolitical and non-partisan, because we are working for everyone.

Hope to see you on the new bridge the day it opens.

For a Better Waikato, for everyone, forever.

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More messages from your neighbours
2 days ago

🧩😏 Riddle me this, Neighbours…

The Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?

Do you think you know the answer?

Want to stop seeing these in your newsfeed? No worries! Simply head here and click once on the Following button.

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1 day ago

Mayor’s use of poo emoji costs ratepayers over $4k

Libby Totton Reporter from Waikato Times

South Waikato mayor Gary Petley will make a public apology, and has sworn off social media after admitting he got it wrong when an online dispute turned sour.

A code of conduct complaint was made by Putāruru ward councillor Zed Latinovic in January after Petley reacted to comments made about council expenditure on Facebook by using the ‘poo emoji’.

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3 days ago

Some Choice News!

Kia pai from Sharing the Good Stuff

DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.

Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.

For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.

Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?

We hope this brings a smile!

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