Newsletter #39 - 15 June 2017
What a week! Some of our team haven’t been able to walk down the street without being approached by locals who saw Gutsful last Thursday. Thank you all for your support as, honestly, it is about making our community a better place to live.
Still, we got a few trolls who went to the effort of visiting our website, bypassed all the factual material, and sent us a message bleating out all the myths that our website debunks. Oh well, you can't win with some people. Ironically, we were labelled “angry white males.”
In this issue, we cover our thoughts on the show and our preparations for the submission to Parliament.
WATCH GUTSFUL @ TVNZ ON DEMAND
If you haven’t already, you can now watch our episode of Gutsful at TVNZ on Demand here: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/gutsful/episodes/s2016/e4.
Our team enjoyed the show at The Bridgehouse, who have been wonderful supporters. It was the first time we’d seen the show so we were surprised by what each other said. The show was very well put together and covered many angles. Thank you to Bill, Zoe, and Nicole at Greenstone TV for doing such an awesome show.
Looking back at the show, there are so many things wrong with the intersection that the Greenstone TV crew could only focus on two issues. Pedestrian safety and Matakana Road congestion were easily explainable than the overall configuration of the intersection.
Still, we were surprised that Brett Gliddon fronted up. As expected, however, he rolled out his monotonous soundbites that fudge the issue.
SUBMISSION
Talking about fudging issues, the NZTA’s treatment of Hill Street is central to our submission, which will be presented to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee. Collating our extensive research into an easily digestible description of the problems with a very complex intersection hasn’t been easy. Our campaign’s goal, however, has always been to dispel the myths, debunk the jargon, and set a path towards a solution.
In our submission, we haven’t been submissive. We were surprised by the lengths that some organisations went to in order to benefit their interests. Conversely, we were surprised by the lack of effort by some organisations to serve their constituents.
There has been some dodgy dealing and creative accounting to push through other roading projects at the expense of fixing Hill Street. I am sure that a lot of media and politicians will be interested when we present at Parliament next month.
THANK YOU
Thank you for subscribing and thank you to donors and volunteers who have got our campaign into full swing. Please contact us if you would like to donate, volunteer, or have any suggestions.
To make a donation, our bank account details are:
Account Name: “FixHillStreetNow Action Group” Bank Account Number: 12-3095-0042062-00.
