A year when Prince William
Social issues dominate
It was a troubling year for Porirua, with housing issues, synthetic drugs and defeat in the Gigatown competition, but a visit from the royals brightened it up.
When Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, visited the Royal New Zealand Police College on April 16 it poured, but that didn’t stop the crowds from coming out.
It also prompted the memories of Porirua residents of past royal visits. Rose Hudson told us about her husband, Brian, who caught a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth’s undergarments when a gust of wind caught her skirt during her visit to Cannons Creek in 1963.
Porirua mayor Nick Leggett was left off the invite list, prompting a social media discussion about whether he should have been invited.
We published a major story in April that really resonated when asbestos was discovered at Pukerua Bay Kindergarten by a builder whose daughter attended the kindergarten.
Kyle Mitchell was concerned children had been playing in the asbestos he saw protruding from the ground.
Wellington Kindergartens Association removed the material, then had the soil tested and declared it was safe.
Aside from the Gigatown madness and arguments over whether the Canopies should be replaced, housing dominated Kapi-Mana News headlines.
In May we reported the story on Rodwell Ama, who had had open heart surgery, but was living in his car because he was considered low-priority on the Housing New Zealand waiting list.
This opened a can of housing worms and prompted an investigation into housing conditions in Porirua.
In October Euon Murrell fronted the issue of ‘‘ slum landlords’’, who were renting rundown houses with water running down walls, ovens not working and even gang members being used to keep tenants in line.
‘‘When we’re trying to fix child poverty there is a responsibility for landlords to make sure what they are providing is warm and healthy,’’ he said.
Murrell called for standardised criteria that rental properties must meet.
The issue of Housing New Zealand’s waiting list arose again in November, when an investigation into 15 earthquake-prone houses in Hazard Gr and Esk Pl questioned whether there would be a repeat of history from 2008, when 27 Castor Loop houses were demolished with the not kept promise of redevelopment.
Housing New Zealand property services general manager Marcus Bosch replied: