Transition Pt Chevalier Meeting - 9 April 2013

Present: Ally, Yolanda, Anna, Adrian, Jenny, Vanessa, Graham, Anne, Walter, VJ, Niki, Keith, Steve

Apologies: Adrienne, Sarah

University of Auckland Masters in Urban planning students : John, Anissa,  Jessica, Toby, Kurtis

Report from University Masters students:  Investigating Meola creek to see if it can be made swimmable. Toby showed a map of the area and photos. There are health warnings about not swimming. There is quite a lot of sludge and the quality of water is not good. The upper catchment is in a worse state than the lower catchment. There is riparian planting happening in the St Lukes area. There is waste water and storm water from residential , automobile waste. There are 26 overflows into the river, including sewage. There is an area where this waste water sits before it is washed down further. There are several schools doing some restoration work in certain areas. A deliverable could be a pamphlet  to help residents learn what they can do eg. Wash car on grass. Discussion was had about the fact that the waste water system is very old and a lot of the problems with the creek water quality is due to everything that happens in a large area upstream. One big problem is sediment from urban areas (and what it carries with it) getting into the water. Riparian planting is one of the best ways to make a positive effect.  One possible deliverable is a list of all the ways we as residents can change our behaviour and the way we do things.

Community Market: Niki, Deryn, Bruce, Yolanda, Adrian and Adee took part in a Transitions Towns table at the market. There will be 3 more markets during the year.

Fruit Trees: Adrian says that we need a site to plant trees. Discussion about possible parks. Adrian is communicating with the Auckland council. We have some money for more trees to put in for this coming winter.

Auckland Council events: “Growing Sustainable Communities” There will be 2 workshops. The one on 14 April at Mt Eden will include talks from various people including Niki Harre. The one on 12 May at Grey Lynn will be about members of Transitions Towns sharing information about what they have done in their groups. They are for people who are interested in learning more about TT’s from those who have established groups. Niki would be happy to hear from anyone who is willing to be part of this group on the 12th, to share their experiences of being part of TT.

Living economies: Steve talked to Peter from Living Economies who is offering to give a talk about savings pools to TT groups. A major benefit is that there is no interest so debt repayment is much quicker. Discussion about having Peter come to one of our meetings to explain a bit more about this.

Community Garden: Working bee this coming Sunday morning at the garden. Ellen and many of the group have organised this. There are a group from the Baptist church from Mt Albert coming to help.

Additional things: Potential location for meeting has been found, further info next time.                                             Adee’s son may do a presentation at the next meeting on some research he has done as part of his school work.                                                                                                                                                              It was mentioned that this is a good website:  www.snap.org.nz is a site where you can enter and maintain details of all your important assets eg. Bike serial number.  This site is from NZ Police.

<back to TPC home page>