YEAR IN REVIEW
Bold plans for tackling the beggars and for the future central city had Palmerston North City Council in the spotlight in June.
The council announced a programme that would involve uniformed hosts standing next to beggars during the day, discouraging people from giving them any money.
The idea was eventually scrapped in favour of a more collaborative approach involving social workers.
But still in the works is a $26.6 million makeover plan for the Palmerston North CBD, to be rolled out in phases over the next decade.
The plan included makeovers of the streets and intersections bordering The Square, along similar lines to the section already upgraded between Church St and Main St running underneath the Civic Administration Building.
City planner David Murphy said the aim was to make the central city more attractive for pedestrians and for people to enjoy events and recreation there. It would blur the edges of The Square, with planting and paving that extended out toward the buildings, making the roads less dominant.
‘‘The Square is somewhat marooned by the vehicledominated roads around it.’’
As part of the plan, the number of car parks around The Square and Broadway would be cut from 592 to 387.
There was dissatisfaction also for a man exposed to legionella while working at the Fonterra plant in Pahiatua, when Worksafe decided to take no action against the dairy giant.
Taranaki-based driver Dean Sturzaker was hospitalised for eight days after being exposed to legionella bacteria in a cooling tower at the plant in November 2015. The bacteria then turned into legionnaires’ disease.
The expert advice to Worksafe was there was not sufficient or significant failings in the sampling or testing of the water from the cooling towers to allow them to proceed with a prosecution.
Sturzaker said he was ‘‘gutted’’ at the decision. Seven months on he was still feeling the affects of contracting the disease.
On June 13 we reported on the technological loop hole putting at risk court testimony taken from police interviews recorded on iphones.
Judge David Smith ruled an iphone video could not be played in court because the master copy was not in police custody, as the Evidence Act requires, but uploaded to a server in Australia.
Justice Minister Amy Adams was seeking to have the law changed.
The rules for pupils wearing jewellery at Palmerston North Girls’ High School broke the heart of one student and angered her mum.
Jordy Goldsack, 13, was forced to cut off a bracelet she had worn since a child that had been given to her by her late father.
The school had strict guidelines around the wearing of bangles, but Jordy’s mother Judith Goldsack said there was a case for an exemption given the emotional attachment to the bracelet.
But principal Karene Biggs said the school had well publicised expectations and values, and parents were free to choose whether they were a good fit for their family.
The close of June brought an end to an era at Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka, when the old brewery was closed down in favour of installing a smaller operation focused on small batch brews.