Carroll St house fire #historicheritage

Tyler Christmas Published on Oct 22, 2016
Dunedin Carroll St fire 2016 [full footage]

my heart gose out to them all
out safe and fire is under control
–Tyler

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Firefighters could not tell whether the smoke alarms in the flat were working because it was so badly damaged, but the neighbouring flat did have working alarms.

### ODT Online Sun, 23 Oct 2016
Woman jumps from burning flat
By Vaughan Elder
A woman had to jump for her life from the second storey of a Dunedin flat as it became engulfed with flames. Five fire appliances were called to the blaze, which started just before noon on Sunday, and “totally destroyed” the Carroll St flat as about 100 onlookers gathered on the street. Senior Station Officer Justin Wafer, of Dunedin Central, said a woman, had to jump from the second storey as flames engulfed the flat in what he called a “significant structure fire”. A man, believed to be the woman’s partner, was on the ground floor when the blaze started and was among three people who caught her after she jumped. […] Mr Wafer praised the actions of those who caught her as “very brave”.
Read more

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NEW ZEALAND FIRE SERVICE
We recommend you install long-life photoelectric type smoke alarms in your home. They may cost a little more but the benefits are significant.
• They provide a about 10 years smoke detection.
• They remove the frustration of fixing the ‘flat battery beep’ at inconvenient times such as at 3 in the morning.
• The cost of replacement batteries for standard alarms means the long-life one effectively pays for itself over its lifetime.
• You don’t have to climb ladders every year to replace batteries.

Your best protection is to have photoelectric smoke alarms in every bedroom, living area and hallway in your home. Install them in the middle of the ceiling of each room.

But, at a minimum, you should install one standard long-life photoelectric type alarm in the hallway closest to the bedrooms.

█ NZFS : Make Your Home and Family Fire Safe Brochure

█ NZFS : More on smoke alarm installation

Related Post and Comments:
15.5.16 Fire Safety at Home : Install long-life photoelectric alarms #bestprotection

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC acuity: ‘Let’s shift Octagon taxi ranks, Again —near dire drinking holes #whatswrongwiththispicture

[click to enlarge]
Octagon taxi rank [dunedin.govt.nz] – orange overlay by whatifdunedin (drinking holes / hospitality)

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
New trial site for evening taxi rank

This item was published on 22 Aug 2016

A new location for the evening taxi rank in the Octagon will be trialled for three months. From tomorrow, the evening taxi rank will move from outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre to the central lane of the Octagon, where tour bus parking has been provided. The rank will operate from 7pm to 7am, Monday to Sunday. During the day time, the taxi rank will operate from the current location outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre. Dunedin City Council Acting Group Manager Transport Richard Saunders says the covered walkway will provide shelter for people waiting for taxis. There will also be a sign to show where the taxi stand is and the area is monitored by CCTV.

“This proposal has been discussed with taxi companies, local businesses and the Police, and there is a lot of support for the trial. The trial site has several advantages over the current site and we expect it to be popular with the public too.” –Saunders

DCC staff have talked with the mobile traders who use that space during the day and the trial will not affect their use of the area. Mr Saunders says at the end of the trial, staff will discuss the results with taxi companies, the Police and local businesses before deciding whether to make it a permanent move.

Contact Richard Saunders, Acting Group Manager Transport on 03 477 4000.

DCC Link

█ 22.8.16 ODT: Taxi rank trial in Octagon

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Previously published comment (2.5.16):

C E N T R A L ● C I T Y ● V I O L E N C E

Mon, 2 May 2016
ODT: Stabbing: ‘What is this place coming to?’
The stabbing of a 21-year-old man in central Dunedin early yesterday has left the man who rushed to his aid questioning the state of his city. Detective Sergeant Chris Henderson said the victim was taken to Dunedin Hospital after being stabbed in the neck and back outside the The Bottle-O store on the corner of Princes St and Moray Pl about 3.30am.

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DUNEDIN IS UP THERE (2015 statistics)

### newshub.co.nz Mon, 2 May 2016 at 4:45 p.m.
NZ’s most violent city spots revealed
By Lisa Owen
A Newshub investigation has revealed Auckland neighbourhoods dominate a leaderboard of the most violent city hot spots in the country. Statistics New Zealand has mapped 2015 police crime data, released to Newshub under the Official Information Act, to show the areas with the highest number of assaults, sexual assaults and robberies in public places. The crimes include anything from rape to being beaten up or being robbed of your cellphone at knife-point. Three of the five most violent city areas (precincts where there are more than 3000 residents) are in Auckland’s CBD. […] *By overlaying population data in the zones where crime has occurred, Statistics NZ has been able to work out the national average for incidents of public place violence. *Article uses 2015 statistics of victimisations by assault, sexual assault and robbery in public places.
Read more + VIDEO

█ Dunedin = No. 7 on New Zealand’s top ten most violent city hot spots
The only South Island hotspot, the area running north from the Octagon.
Newshub

█ For more, enter the term *octagon* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Fire Safety at Home : Install long-life photoelectric alarms #bestprotection

NEW ZEALAND FIRE SERVICE
We recommend you install long-life photoelectric type smoke alarms in your home. They may cost a little more but the benefits are significant.
• They provide a about 10 years smoke detection.
• They remove the frustration of fixing the ‘flat battery beep’ at inconvenient times such as at 3 in the morning.
• The cost of replacement batteries for standard alarms means the long-life one effectively pays for itself over its lifetime.
• You don’t have to climb ladders every year to replace batteries.

Your best protection is to have photoelectric smoke alarms in every bedroom, living area and hallway in your home. Install them in the middle of the ceiling of each room.

But, at a minimum, you should install one standard long-life photoelectric type alarm in the hallway closest to the bedrooms.

█ NZFS : Make Your Home and Family Fire Safe Brochure

█ NZFS : More on smoke alarm installation

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Explanation

SMOKE ALARMS : TYPES
There are 2 main types of smoke alarm available – ionisation and photoelectric:

Ionisation alarms
Ionisation alarms monitor ions or electrically charged particles in the air. Smoke particles enter the sensing chamber changing the electrical balance of the air. The alarm will sound when the change in the electrical balance reaches a certain level.

Photoelectric alarms (recommended)
Photoelectric alarms have a sensing chamber which uses a beam of light and a light sensor. Smoke particles entering the chamber change the amount of light that reaches the sensor. The alarm sounds when the smoke density reaches a preset level.

Our recommendation for your home
We recommend that you install photoelectric smoke alarms as they provide more effective all-round detection and alarm in all types of fire scenarios and are more likely to alert occupants in time to escape safely.

█ If your home currently only has ionisation alarms installed we recommend that you also install some photoelectric alarms.

Smoke alarms for hearing-impaired
Smoke alarms are available for people with hearing loss. These alarms have extra features such as extra loud and/or lower pitch alarm sounds, flashing strobe lights, or vibrating devices.
Find out more about these alarms and where you can buy them

Australasian standards for smoke alarms
The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) is the representative body in the Australasian region for fire, emergency services, and land management agencies.
Read the AFAC position on smoke alarms for residential accommodation

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█ WHERE TO BUY : Consumer Test (PDF)
Silent Death : Smoke is toxic – and breathing it can kill. So you need an alarm that gives you early warning and more time to escape.

Fire damage: 660 Castle St, Dunedin – window escape route [stuff.co.nz]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: fire.org.nz – smoke alarms banner

Octagon mud

Council reaps us what it sows

It comes to pass that the CBD’s most-used symbolic gathering place, The Octagon, carrying a cluster of historic buildings, the city’s public art museum, our main performance theatre (Regent), a cinema multiplex under redevelopment, shop and office buildings, the Athenaeum building on the comeback through new stewardship, the impressive St Paul’s Cathedral, the stately Municipal Chambers and Town Hall complex, the seat of local government administration (Civic Centre), and a slightly down-at-heels landscaped wide open space at the junction of surveyor Charles Kettle’s two main arterial roads (Princes/George Streets and Stuart Street), also takes a bevy of drinking bars and night spots that make a strong contribution to central city nighttime violence, disorder, and lack of public safety.

The Craft Bar homicide and the connected serious assault investigations started last weekend point up the Dunedin City Council’s lack of urban design and planning vigilance in Health and Safety matters.

This tied to recent years of lobbying by the Octagon bar owners on licensing and trading hours and conditions, sometimes tied to hosting after-match wakes for Stadium sport and events (even although major events at the stadium are tapering, as predicted), unsupported youth, gang sqirmishes, under-resourced local police, and society’s access to cut-price alcohol and its liberal use (pre-loading and regular binging) alongside other substance abuse, means the Octagon is devolving into a hell-hole of collective making – not dissimilar to what happened at Cathedral Square in Christchurch before the quakes.

What will the city council do to mitigate the situation, and how soon can we restore the space to 24/7 safety for all? Is this even possible with the cluster of ‘intemperance’ bars and no push for building owners to move to greater diversity in mixed ground floor tenanting on the lower Octagon? One way or another “Party Central” has to fold – changing the pattern of ground tiles will not suffice.

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Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull speaks volumes when he says, at times, he does not feel comfortable near the Octagon.

ODT Editorial: Personal responsibility key (30.4.14)
Knowing Dunedin is one of the most statistically safest cities in New Zealand will bring no solace to the families involved in the tragic death of Ryan Court at the weekend. Read more

Related ODT stories:
30.4.14 Arrest after Octagon assault
30.4.14 Progress made in assault inquiry
29.4.14 ‘A good man’ mourned
29.4.14 Man hospitalised after Octagon assault
28.4.14 Bottle assault follows bar death
28.4.14 Names released after death at city bar
28.4.14 Arrest follows death at city bar
27.4.14 Man in custody over Octagon bar death

ODT ‘Booze Control: Stop and Think’ series:
Excessive drinking changes the way people act
30.1.14 Education fails, professor says
29.1.14 South’s alcohol statistics worst
28.1.14 Delicate balancing act over licensing
27.1.14 Still a ‘very safe community’
25.1.14 Time to clean up act over alcohol
25.1.14 The cold, naked truth about nightlife

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

State Housing matters

All state house tenants, regardless of age or disability, will find themselves subject to the government’s new policy of reviewing state house tenancies.

### NZ Herald Online 11:45 AM Wednesday Mar 19, 2014
Elderly, disabled included in state house review
By Simon Collins
More than one in five of the first 780 state house tenants facing possible eviction under a new Government policy will be elderly or disabled. A paper taken to Cabinet last month by Housing Minister Nick Smith and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett reveals that the two ministers have decided not to exempt the elderly and disabled from the new policy of reviewing all state house tenancies, ending the previous policy that a state house was “a home for life”.
The full paper, placed on the Social Development Ministry website last week included a detailed breakdown showing that 20 per cent of the first batch of tenants to be reviewed would be 65 or over and 27 others would be “permanently and severely disabled”. The paper was later removed and an edited version was subsequently posted with the breakdown of affected tenants deleted.
The controversial policy is intended to “shift expectations away from social housing for life to social housing for the duration of housing need”. It takes effect after the Social Development Ministry takes over allocating social housing from Housing NZ on April 14, and the first affected tenants will be notified before the end of next month.
Read more

█ Cabinet paper on state house tenancies

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### ODT Online Tue, 18 Mar 2014
Fewer Kiwis own their own homes
The number of homeowners in New Zealand continues to fall, with less than half of all Kiwis owning their own property, new Census figures show. In 2013, 49.8 per cent of people aged 15 years and over owned or partly owned the home they lived in, compared with 53.2 per cent in 2006, according to census results released by Statistics New Zealand today. 2013 Census Quickstats about housing, which contains detailed information about New Zealand’s housing stock, also reveals trends in the number, type, and size of the dwellings we are living in. APNZ
Read more

█ 2013 Census QuickStats about national highlights

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: APN – State Housing

Dunedin’s social housing need —they built a bastard stadium

Dunedin civic leaders built a ‘bastard stadium’ instead of making the conscious decision to look after our most vulnerable citizens.

The increasing cost of private rental accommodation in Dunedin has seen the demand for social housing rise during the past six months, with Housing New Zealand housing one family a day during that time.

The amount of money people needed just to get in the front door of a private rental was out of reach for many families.
–Nicola Taylor, Anglican Family Support

### ODT Online Sun, 2 Mar 2014
State housing in demand
By Tim Miller – The Star
Unaffordable rental property in Dunedin is driving lower-income families into social housing, with one property manager saying the situation could get worse if rental properties are required to lift their standards.
Increased demand has seen the waiting list of families waiting for one of Dunedin’s 1451 state houses increase to 64.
Read more

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### radionz.co.nz Friday 28 February 2014
Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
09:08 Revised statistics reveal true extent of elderly poverty
Roy Reid, president Grey Power New Zealand Federation; and Jonathan Boston, professor of public policy at Victoria University and co-chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty.
Audio | Download: Ogg   MP3 ( 23:33 )

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The Accommodation Supplement available to low income people and beneficiaries has not been raised for NINE YEARS.

This fact, of course, doesn’t and won’t stop upwardly mobile Dunedin landlords (many of them absentee) seeking capital gains and higher rents, while exercising tax avoidance under current legislation —there are insufficient casual, part-time and full-time jobs available in the city to service increasingly high rents (income poverty). With the result Dunedin renters in genuine need are being severely squeezed — this impacts on the health and wellbeing of individuals, couples and families, placing a long-term cost burden on the rest of society. Not surprisingly, the number of homeless people is rising. Meanwhile, the mayor, the council chief executive and friends are skooting off to China on junkets, in the time-honoured tradition of the Old Dunedin CARGO CULT.

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Accommodation Supplement is a weekly payment which helps people with their rent, board or the cost of owning a home.

You may get an Accommodation Supplement if you:
• have accommodation costs
• are aged 16 years or more
• are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
• normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here
• are not paying rent for a Housing New Zealand property.

It also depends on:
• how much you and your spouse or partner earn
• any money or assets you and your spouse or partner have.

How much you will get on the Accommodation Supplement will depend on:
• your income
• your assets
• your accommodation costs
• your family circumstances
• where you live.

For more information go to:
http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/individuals/a-z-benefits/accommodation-supplement.html

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: odt.co.nz – State Housing (re-imaged by whatifdunedin)

interest.co heats NZ housing debate – listen up

This is not just about the Accommodation Supplement that 320,000 New Zealanders received last year. Alex Tarrant’s full post prompts a sharp, sometimes shonky blogging debate. It raises critical issues that dog the consultation and drafting of Dunedin’s spatial plan but which never got a look in, and never will. Read the comments.

Our ‘first’ spatial plan should not have been rushed, given the time scale it must address. For ‘rushed’ substitute ‘superheated’, where respect and consideration are much diminished for existing patterns of living (good and bad), underlying and surrounding issues, Southern practices and philosophies, utilisation of natural and people-made resources, regional and global influences, and cumulative effects – and the real economics of PLACE-SHAPING that hinge on the recent actions of a badly-managed, far-from-smart city council that has manufactured a mountain of unsustainable debt.

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### interest.co.nz December 7, 2011 – 04:12pm
Property
Accommodation Supplement: Landlord subsidy punching a big hole in govt books due to unaffordable housing, or an essential benefit?
By Alex Tarrant
The government is being urged to boost the supply of affordable housing to help wean people off a state rent subsidy which could cost NZ$2.2 billion a year – almost twice as much as official predictions – by 2016. But any fix could require a large up-front investment in state house building, and/or require action from the private and community sectors to help increase housing supply, and therefore affordability, at the lower end of the price spectrum.

The Green Party has called on the government to see whether spending on the Accommodation Supplement could be more effectively spent elsewhere, with the party touting construction of more state houses as one solution to problems of housing and rent affordability. Co-leader Meteria Turei has attacked the Accommodation Supplement in Parliament as a subsidy for landlords. Turei told interest.co.nz high house prices, with constrained supply, meant higher rents and therefore costs to the government through the rent subsidy.

Meanwhile, the government’s Productivity Commission, which is currently investigating issues of housing affordability in New Zealand, has had the issue of the Accommodation Supplement, and the possible hit to the government’s books, raised with it by the Salvation Army.
Read more

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One (sample) blogger, right or wrong…

by PhilBest | 08 Dec 11, 11:08am (at Tarrant’s thread)

The fact, observable everywhere in the world where there are urban growth containment policies, is that the escalation of urban land prices under this racket, is always greater than the ability of people to “trade off” space to keep within what they can afford.

The few remaining undistorted markets in the world, have a LOWER median multiple house price AND a far larger average amount of space per person. A one-eighth of an acre section in NZ or Britain, costs literally several times as much as a 1 acre section in many US cities (regardless of pre-or-post-crash conditions. The US cities without urban land rackets had no price bubble).

The result of fringe homes being $150,000 houses on $250,000 sections instead of $150,000 houses on $50,000 sections; is that a decent apartment near the CBD is $1,000,000 (almost all of which represents gold-plated land value) instead of under $200,000 as it is in the undistorted market.

The biggest irony in all this, is that FAR LESS people have the “choice” of living near the CBD, under the “inflated land price” model. Economist Jan Brueckner says in a paper entitled “Urban Growth Boundaries: An Effective Second-Best Remedy For Unpriced Traffic Congestion?”:

“…failure of the Urban Growth Boundary to appreciably raise densities near employment centres is the main reason for its poor performance, and this failure will persist regardless of whether the city has one or many such centres…”

There are numerous other similar academic findings from economists listed HERE: http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/academics.html

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr