The Daily Blog Open Mic – Saturday 20th August 2016

1. STORY OF THE MOST ISOLATED CITY WITHOUT A RAIL SERVICE NOW FIGHTING FOR THEIR SURVIVAL.

   GISBORNE CITY THE FIRST MAORI SETTLEMENT TO SEE CAPTAIN JAMES COOK ARRIVE IN NZ IS NOW A SETTLEMENT WITHOUT A RAIL SERVICE.

   THANKS NATIONAL, – “WE WILL REMEMBER” – COME ELECTION TIME JOHN!

   This is a brief press release showing the public anger and resolve of Gisborne folk.

   Gisborne “Public Rail Forum” Candidates meeting. held 19/8/16.

   What an uplifting experience the Gisborne Rail Forum Candidates for the Local Council Public meeting was on Friday 19th August to many whom braved the stormy rainy evening at the Lytton High School hall.

   We were deeply honoured by their efforts to spend their time and effort to come before the public event as we were given such an array of views and provide often very stirring thoughtful opinions from those new candidates and Councillors on why/how/if GDC should provide support to partner HBRC in their hard fought campaign and their $5.6m bid of restoring the rail freight passenger & tourism services to Gisborne City again.

   Meng stood firm on rail, as he announced the eventual re-establishment of the Wairoa-Napier/Hastings/Wellington service was about to begin again in July 2017.

   We were treated to a guest speaker Guy Wellwood a practicing Lawyer, (very important to us all as a legal advocate) who is a Mayoral candidate for our sister Hastings District Council who represents “the other end of the Track” as our rail link to NZ & the world export ports.

   Guy in his clear statement termed as “The other end of the Track” spelled out his vision for a united Council policy for all our regional Councils sharing the rail network all the way from Gisborne to New Plymouth & across the lower half of the North Island, signalling the abundant economic powerhouse potential it would bring with a united partnership to “Stand up to what is now officially called the Golden Triangle known as Auckland Hamilton, & Tauranga, we need to start seeing ourselves as the lower North Island region, to build up what synergies we can to collectively demand our share of the national purse because we certainly make more in our contribution I terms of our taxation & exports,” Guy said.

   Tony Robinson our own Gisborne Mayoral candidate (also a lawyer) equally spoke passionately about the need for connectivity to the country and world, and would work tirelessly for a united Council to advocate for the region, as mayor, and would see a re-establishment of rail to Port access for freight, and boost the rail tourism access to the regions, as a potential gold mine.

   The candidates & current councillors showed an overwhelming 70+% in favour of working with HBRC for rail services again.

   This is not surprising as it mirrors Gisborne Herald polls taken several times since the rail ceased following rail washouts at Beach Loop in March 2012.

   There is so very very much my wife Janet and I want to say about all these current & new candidates, and will attempt to do as the election season unfolds in ernest.

   So at this stage on behalf of the wonderful people of Tairawhiti we thank every candidate who had given us all new hope Friday evening to see a potentially new re energised Gisborne District Council who is prepared to stand for the wishes of the people again, who have demonstrated their desire for a rail freight passenger tourism services once again, as there is hope ahead as we see Wairoa get reconnected so should Gisborne be also in all fairness to us all.

   We are now seeing a resurgence of interest from the business & communities at both ends of the rail link, and invite all rail stakeholders, business, politicians & Councils to reach across that divide and meet in a common interest in each other to make use of our valuable asset of rail as our only other land transport option to keep a healthy option of rail connectivity to the nation & the world again before it is to late.

2. I still think this interview on Nine to Noon on RNZ the other day is highly important. Kathryn Ryan spoke with an expert in steel products for construction, and the necessary testing. This is about stuff that should concern us all, as we may be living or working in high risk steel built structures here in NZ. Some falsely certified steel was imported from China and used in some structures all over the show:
   http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201812813/fears-over-substandard-steel-imports

   Nick Smith has again reacted in a rush, as he does with his out of control housing portfolio, and promised further testing:
   http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201812899/tougher-testing-of-steel-reinforcing-mesh-proposed

   Does he really believe we can have faith in the system we have, and in improvements he suggests?

   The expert in that interview on Nine to Noon recommended testing steel structures in buildings and so, as there may well be high risks for people living in or being near them, should structures fail. He also raised serious issues re “fasteners” made from steel and used in construction. This may be as bad if not worse than the leaky buildings crisis we still try to remedy.

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