mt victoria, wellington

The Mt Victoria Residents Association is running its annual inorganic rubbish collection on Saturday 5 December. This is your opportunity to get rid of all those bits and pieces cluttering up your house and back shed that even Trade Me can't find a new home for. Broken-down appliances, that broken sofa, the table missing a leg and the leftover bits from the renovation a decade ago - all are welcome, but no garden/green waste. And a personal plea - please no computer equipment! This should go to the e-waste recycling days held each September rather than polluting the landfills with toxic heavy metals.

All collections are via donation, with between $10 and $40 being expected depending on the amount of stuff. If you'd like more information or can volunteer to man the trucks on Saturday morning, please call or text Jessica on 027 339 5842. Collections commence at 8:30am!

The Mt Victoria Residents Association is hosting a public meeting on District Plan Change 72 (DPC 72) at New Crossways on Thursday 19 November at 7:30pm.

Wellington City Council has reviewed the planning rules that affect land zoned Residential. These are the rules that determine where and how development can take place. Guest speaker Jeremy Blake, Senior Policy Advisor WCC will lead us through the new amendments to the Inner Residential Area rules covering the demolition of pre-1930’s houses, as well as other amendments that may affect property owners in Mt Victoria.

The fate of the Bandoliers building on Town Belt land at the top of Majoribanks Street has hung in the balance over the last couple of years, and there has been much Council and public debate on how the building should be used. Two competing options have been under consideration; one to use the venue for the Innermost Gardens gardening group, and the other to use it as new premises for the Mt Victoria creche.

There has been considerable community support for the relocation of the creche to Bandoliers since the loss of their facilities at the old Crossways building on the corner of Elizabeth and Brougham Streets. However there have been significant challenges in gaining permission to use the Bandoliers site, due to the DDT contamination of the grounds, the need to spend considerable amounts of money to bring the facilities up to Ministry of Education standards, and resistance from Town Belt advocates who felt that locating a private creche on public land was a breach of the Town Belt Deed.

The inaugural Mt Victoria Festival earlier in the year was a huge success, and despite the rainy weather was a really enjoyable way of bringing the community together for a day of fun, food and entertainment. And in 2010 it's going to be even bigger and better - so mark your diaries for Saturday 27 February.

The festival is being organised by the Crossways Community Trust, and Tania Austin has graciously agreed to apply her organising super-powers to the task once more - you can contact her by e-mail at tania(at)mtvictoria.org.nz. Applications are now open for anyone who would like a stall at the festival, and volunteers are being recruited. You can find details in the Festival menu on the right hand side.

Tania Austin is the coordinator for the Mt Victoria Festival 2010

Yes, that is MVRA President Jessica Closson in the red wig!

The New Crossways Community Trust is celebrating a year of our new community centre by holding a party on Friday 6 November from 6pm - 8pm.

The Wellington City Council is currently considering submissions on the proposal to re-open Manners Mall to buses and substitute a "pedestrian friendly" zone in Lower Cuba Street. The purpose of the changes is to improve the speed and efficiency of buses in the Golden Mile, and there has been lots of discussion - both pro and con - in the media and on local blogs.

If you have an opinion one way or the other, this week is your last chance to make your voice heard as submissions close on Friday. You can make an online submission on the Council's website here.

Mt Victoria Newsletter editor Patrick McCombs has an editorial in the latest newsletter that laments the consultation approach taken by the NZ Transport Agency, and this has also been published on wellington.scoop. Patrick notes that the Agency seemed to make commitments to a better consultation approach at the recent Basin Reserve Seminar hosted by the Wellington Civic Trust, and so it's disappointing that they have gone back to their usual bad behaviour.

If you missed the paper copy of the newsletter in your mailbox, you can find the downloadable version here.

Image courtesy of Joyseph via Flickr, cc licensed

Booklovers B&B at 123 Pirie Street is running an "Authors and Afternoon Tea" series through October and November, where locals can converse over a cuppa with some of New Zealand's leading writers. The schedule is:

18 October: Alison Wong
25 October: Mark Derby
1 November: Fiona Kidman
8 November: Harry Ricketts

Each afternoon tea runs from 3pm to 5pm on Sunday afternoons, and a maximum of 20 people can be accommodated. There's a $20 charge, and tickets can be booked by phoning Jane Tolerton on 384 2714 or by e-mail to booklovers@xtra.co.nz.

The latest edition of the Mt Victoria newsletter has hit the letterboxes and the Interweb tubes - get yours here.