ourROTORUA NEWS FROM ROTORUA DISTRICT COUNCIL 26 September 2014 DEVELOPING LOCAL SPORT & RECREATION Contact details for the mayor, councillors and community board members are available on www.rdc.govt.nz RDC’s Community Engagement & Events team plays an integral role in the growth and development of community sport and recreation in Rotorua. Julianne Wilkinson leads the team of five, which also comprises Christine Hutchison, Vernei Mullen, Anabella Vidal and June Joseph. Julianne says the team is keen to support community Council’s Community Engagement & Events team: (L-R) June Joseph, Christine Hutchison, Vernei Mullen, Anabella Vidal and Julianne Wilkinson. sport and recreation projects. “Rotorua has the most amazing outdoor spaces and we’re eager to get out amongst the community and build new partnerships to help grow these spaces and increase their use. It’s an exciting time for everyone.” The Community Engagement & Events team is responsible for booking reserves for events such as weddings, sports code allocations, and one-off events. They work closely with the council’s Open Spaces team, as well as The Redwoods and Whakarewarewa Forest owners and iwi to continue and encourage community use. The team is helping to coordinate next month’s ‘The Big AZ Rotaz Race’ and ‘Peace Run’, and the ‘Colour Dash’ in November. Softball is making a welcome return to Rotorua this summer. Former Auckland woman Leigh-Anne Mullins, has led the establishment of Central Bay Softball which has been working with the council’s Sports & Recreation department to find a new home for the sport. The season will be held from 1 November until the end of March. It will be based at Puketawhero Park, which is used for rugby league during the winter months. Miss Mullins set about to re- establish the sport when she discovered there was no active Rotorua softball league in the city. “I decided to bring the game back to Rotorua and surrounding areas – we have a lot of raw talent here,” she says. “Council has provided us with Puketawhero Park for training and Saturday games – this is an exciting venture and we also have the backing of Softball NZ.” Rotorua District Councillor Charles Sturt, who leads the council’s Sport & Recreation Strategy portfolio, says he is rapt that softball is returning to the district. “Sharing a venue with another sport, in this case rugby league, is exactly the sort of partnership we need in Rotorua to ensure we have a strong sports base year-round and maximise the use of our sporting facilities.” COMEBACK FOR LOCAL SOFTBALL SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS INCREASING RDC Sustainability Advisors, Rose Hiha-Agnew and Monica Quirke. Sustainability awareness is increasing and Rotorua locals are keen to try new things to help protect the environment. And RDC sustainability advisors, Monica Quirke and Rose Hiha- Agnew are only too happy to support the community’s efforts to adopt sustainable practices. Both women work with many sectors of the community, ranging from schools with water education to the wider community supporting garden networks. Monica says Rotorua people are increasingly interested in community gardens and recycling, and there have been large turnouts at education workshops. “I enjoy looking at ways to provide education opportunities for the community, including fun and innovative open days at our popular Recycle Centre. “Worm farms are a simple way of recycling fruit and vegetable scraps into garden fertiliser, so we’re running a worm composting workshop next month and will provide a worm farm, worms and a bag of lime for all participants. And in November we’re supporting a celebration day for our community gardeners, visiting several community gardens and providing a network opportunity.” Rose’s role is to manage key programmes for Keep Rotorua Beautiful (KRB). She says it is important that local people have the correct support to learn how to live smarter and reduce their impact on the environment. “The KRB committee has identified areas that reflect upon environment, economic, cultural, and social aspects, and will continue to build connections with local business and community groups to help deliver these programmes. “Our three key project areas for the next two years will be reducing plastics, waste minimisation initiatives and reducing organic waste through changing people’s behaviour.” ROTORUA CENTRE NAMED AFTER ‘FAVOURITE SON’ Tulip Fest – Rotorua’s first festival celebrating the city’s renowned annual tulip displays – begins today (26 September) and will continue throughout the weekend. Developing a festival around tulips was an idea from the Rotorua Inner City Focus Group working in partnership with RDC. Rotorua has received accolades over the years for its colourful annual displays of tulip beds and the group saw an opportunity to celebrate the city’s spring garden offering and create a number of related events. Planting is concentrated in the city’s premier floral display beds, mostly located within the inner city, Government Gardens and Kuirau Park. A timetable of events is available on the council website rdc.govt.nz and ‘Tulip Fest Rotorua’ on Facebook. TULIP FEST BEGINS TODAY Rotorua’s Convention Centre has been re-named the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre. The renaming was announced by Mayor Steve Chadwick at this week’s ‘A Knight to Remember’ concert, held at the venue on the fifth anniversary of Sir Howard’s death. Mayor Steve said the re-naming reflected the predominant use of the centre and a proposal to turn it into a hub for the city’s performing arts and cultural groups, with the Energy Events Centre now the main venue for conventions and conferences. Thursday night’s concert took the crowd on a tour through Sir Howard’s career and featured a host of well- known Kiwi entertainers who accompanied ‘Rotorua’s favourite son’ during his long career. “It was the right time to be doing this - the right time to be honouring a man who was much more than an entertainer,” said Mayor Steve. “He had a passion for this place – he was an ambassador for Rotorua and for New Zealand and an ambassador for the youth of this country. As a council we are very pleased to remember him in this way. “We all remember Sir Howard in different ways – my early memories of him are as a child, watching and listening to him. Naming this centre after him is recognition of his huge contribution to the arts – moving it into the future but symbolically linking it with our past.” The mayor said the new name would bring more meaning to the centre. “It will become a local landmark, something that will be directly linked with Rotorua.”
Transcript
ourROTORUANEWS FROM ROTORUA DISTRICT COUNCIL 26 September 2014
DEVELOPING LOCAL SPORT & RECREATION
Contact details for the mayor, councillors and community board members are available on www.rdc.govt.nz
RDC’s Community Engagement & Events team plays an integral role in the growth and development of community sport and recreation in Rotorua.
Julianne Wilkinson leads the team of five, which also comprises Christine Hutchison, Vernei Mullen, Anabella Vidal and June Joseph.
Julianne says the team is keen to support community
Council’s Community Engagement & Events team: (L-R) June Joseph, Christine Hutchison, Vernei Mullen, Anabella Vidal and Julianne Wilkinson.
sport and recreation projects. “Rotorua has the most
amazing outdoor spaces and we’re eager to get out amongst the community and build new partnerships to help grow these spaces and increase their use. It’s an exciting time for everyone.”
The Community Engagement & Events team is responsible for booking reserves for events such as weddings, sports code
allocations, and one-off events. They work closely with the council’s Open Spaces team, as well as The Redwoods and Whakarewarewa Forest owners and iwi to continue and encourage community use.
The team is helping to coordinate next month’s ‘The Big AZ Rotaz Race’ and ‘Peace Run’, and the ‘Colour Dash’ in November.
Softball is making a welcome return to Rotorua this summer.
Former Auckland woman Leigh-Anne Mullins, has led the establishment of Central Bay Softball which has been working with the council’s Sports & Recreation department to find a new home for the sport.
The season will be held from 1 November until the end of March. It will be based at Puketawhero Park, which is used for rugby league during the winter months.
Miss Mullins set about to re-establish the sport when she discovered there was no active Rotorua softball league in the city.
“I decided to bring the game back to Rotorua and
surrounding areas – we have a lot of raw talent here,” she says. “Council has provided us with Puketawhero Park for training and Saturday games – this is an exciting venture and we also have the backing of Softball NZ.”
Rotorua District Councillor Charles Sturt, who leads the council’s Sport & Recreation Strategy portfolio, says he is rapt that softball is returning to the district.
“Sharing a venue with another sport, in this case rugby league, is exactly the sort of partnership we need in Rotorua to ensure we have a strong sports base year-round and maximise the use of our sporting facilities.”
COMEBACK FOR LOCAL SOFTBALL
SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS INCREASING
RDC Sustainability Advisors, Rose Hiha-Agnew and Monica Quirke.
Sustainability awareness is increasing and Rotorua locals are keen to try new things to help protect the environment.And RDC sustainability advisors, Monica Quirke and Rose Hiha-Agnew are only too happy to support the community’s efforts to adopt sustainable practices.
Both women work with many sectors of the community, ranging from schools with water education to the wider community supporting garden networks.
Monica says Rotorua people are increasingly interested in community gardens and recycling, and there have been large turnouts at education workshops.
“I enjoy looking at ways to provide education opportunities for the community, including fun and innovative open days at our popular Recycle Centre.
“Worm farms are a simple way of recycling fruit and vegetable scraps into garden fertiliser, so we’re running a worm composting workshop next month and will
provide a worm farm, worms and a bag of lime for all participants. And in November we’re supporting a celebration day for our community gardeners, visiting several community gardens and providing a network opportunity.”
Rose’s role is to manage key programmes for Keep Rotorua Beautiful (KRB).
She says it is important that local people have the correct support to learn how to live smarter and reduce their impact on the environment.
“The KRB committee has identified areas that reflect upon environment, economic, cultural, and social aspects, and will continue to build connections with local business and community groups to help deliver these programmes.
“Our three key project areas for the next two years will be reducing plastics, waste minimisation initiatives and reducing organic waste through changing people’s behaviour.”
ROTORUA CENTRE NAMED AFTER
‘FAVOURITE SON’ Tulip Fest – Rotorua’s first festival celebrating the city’s renowned annual tulip displays – begins today (26 September) and will continue throughout the weekend.
Developing a festival around tulips was an idea from the Rotorua Inner City Focus Group working in partnership with RDC. Rotorua has received accolades over the years for its colourful annual displays of tulip beds and the group saw an opportunity to celebrate the city’s spring garden offering and create a number of related events.
Planting is concentrated in the city’s premier floral display beds, mostly located within the inner city, Government Gardens and Kuirau Park.
A timetable of events is available on the council website rdc.govt.nz and ‘Tulip Fest Rotorua’ on Facebook.
TULIP FEST BEGINS TODAY
Rotorua’s Convention Centre has been re-named the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre.
The renaming was announced by Mayor Steve Chadwick at this week’s ‘A Knight to Remember’ concert, held at the venue on the fifth anniversary of Sir Howard’s death.
Mayor Steve said the re-naming reflected the predominant use of the centre and a proposal to turn it into a hub for the city’s performing arts and cultural groups, with the Energy Events Centre now the main venue for conventions and conferences.
Thursday night’s concert took the crowd on a tour through Sir Howard’s career and featured a host of well-known Kiwi entertainers who accompanied ‘Rotorua’s favourite son’ during his long career.
“It was the right time to be doing this - the right time to be honouring a man who was much more than an entertainer,” said Mayor Steve.
“He had a passion for this place – he was an ambassador for Rotorua and for New Zealand and an ambassador for the youth of this country. As a council we are very pleased to remember him in this way.
“We all remember Sir Howard in different ways – my early memories of him are as a child, watching and listening to him. Naming this centre after him is recognition of his huge contribution to the arts – moving it into the future but symbolically linking it with our past.”
The mayor said the new name would bring more meaning to the centre.
“It will become a local landmark, something that will be directly linked with Rotorua.”
FEEDBACK SOUGHT ON INNER CYCLE ROUTE AND FREE PARKING
• The bells in Rotorua’s Seddon Memorial Town Clock tower have been brought back to life after 30 years of silence.
• The Westminster chimes, in the tower of the i-SITE building sound every 15 minutes, with an hour bell also sounding on the hour.
• The five solid brass bells weigh about 2.5 tonne in total.
• The clock was named in honour of Premier Richard Seddon who died in 1906.
• The clock and its bells were manufactured in Shropshire, UK and shipped to New Zealand.
• According to Council records the clock and its chimes cost £300.
Rotorua residents are being asked for their views on two proposals aimed at improving vehicle and cycle traffic flows in the inner city. The surveys support the council and community’s Rotorua 2030 vision and Inner City Revitalisation Strategy.
The first issue is a review of the current two-hour free parking regime that has been trialled in the inner city since before Christmas. While Rotorua District Council’s free parking initiative has been well received by shoppers, some retailers are suggesting that traffic movement would be further improved if the free parking period was reduced.
Inner City Focus Group member and local retailer Ron Finn says a shorter period of free parking, before cars are required to move on, may result in better turnover of parking spaces and more bays
Rotorua will start 2015 with a very special Lakeside concert on Friday 2 January.
The concert will be a fusion of soul, funk, and reggae headlined by Fat Freddy’s Drop, reggae artists Meta & the Cornerstones, and funk remix masters Hipstamatics.
Gates open at 5pm and the concert is being pitched as a family-friendly event, with 12 year olds and under free.
Tickets are on sale at Eventfinda online through www.eventfinda.co.nz or by phone 0800 BUY TIX (289 849).
RDC youth liaison and youth council chair, Reade Nikora
RDC youth liaison and Rotorua District Youth Council (RDYC) chair, Reade Nikora, is looking forward to showcasing youth participation in next weekend’s ‘The Big Az ROTAZ Race’.
The race, organised by RDYC with Te Waiariki Purea Trust’s Ira Matatau rangitahi leaders, takes place on Saturday 4 October.
Teams will race against each other, and the clock, in an event similar to television series The Amazing Race. Using only a bus pass, city map and clues, teams will race their way to roadblocks scattered throughout Rotorua. Reade said the aim is to get local youth out-and-about in the city and promote community engagement.
“The youth council has helped out at many community events this year, including the
Fire and Ice winter festival. However The Big Az ROTAZ Race will be our first solo event with other young leaders so we’re really excited about it.
“We’re confident the race will be a success and hopefully create further opportunities for youth council-led events. We want our young people to take pride in being part of the community so the more events we can facilitate for our youth the better.”
Reade said the youth council had also enjoyed working alongside the rangitahi leaders.
“The leaders have been able to learn from the youth council and vice versa – each providing a different point of view. This collaborative effort has allowed us to reach more youth from around Rotorua.”
being freed up for customers. The second proposal that
public views are being sought on is an initiative of Rotorua Cycle Action, a group of keen local cyclists wanting to make cycling a more accepted form of transport around Rotorua.
Rotorua Cycle Action is working in partnership with the council on a proposal to create a designated cycle route through the inner city.
Group coordinator Harm Zuidmeer said there were now cycling trails entering the city “from all angles” but facilities within the city itself were lacking.
To give the Inner City Focus Group, Rotorua Cycle Action and Rotorua District Council feedback on the two inner city proposals visit the council website rdc.govt.nz and click the ‘Inner City Surveys’ box on the home page. The two surveys will run online until the end of September.
RDC Partnerships team: (L-R) Jenny Riini, Heather Pearson and Karla Kereopa.
ENGAGING WITH COMMUNITY TOP PRIORITYThe focus of RDC’s newly-formed Partnerships team of Karla Kereopa, Heather Pearson and Jenny Riini, is to help realise Council’s Rotorua 2030 vision and its commitment to engage with the community, support community leadership, develop new partnerships, and be more effective and responsive.
Jenny says the team encourages innovation in the way council engages with the people of Rotorua.
“We see ourselves as a bridge connecting the council and the community. However people can’t cross the bridge if they don’t know we’re here, so we’re going out and connecting with people, iwi and hapu, organisations, groups, neighbourhoods, businesses
and whānau - acknowledging the diversity that is our community.”
Karla says the team looks forward to the challenges that come with genuine engagement.
“We want to get it right, and we’ll only get it right through open and honest conversations with each other.”
While networking and external partnerships are an essential part of the team’s role, they say working closely with their colleagues is just as important to ensure all projects have community input.
“It’s important that communities are engaged throughout all of our planning - from the strategy, right through to implementation,” says Heather.
“Together we need to plan ahead for Rotorua to create
DAVID TRUBRIDGE EXHIBITION AT MUSEUM
NEW ROTORUA TV COMMERCIALS TO
ATTRACT AUCKLANDERSA new series of television commercials promoting Rotorua have gone to air as part of a push to encourage Aucklanders to rediscover Rotorua.
RDC’s Destination Rotorua Marketing general manager Oscar Nathan says the TV commercials put a different slant on the conversation with Aucklanders, to create something different from what people would expect.
The first series had 15 year old local schoolgirl Te Rina West
guiding visitors around Rotorua, and has been screening over the past 12 months.
The next series sees Te Rina exploring iconic Auckland scenes, encouraging Aucklanders to escape the city and experience Rotorua.
The three new television commercials again feature the popular re-worked version of New Zealand’s unofficial anthem, Pokarekare Ana, courtesy of former Supergroove frontman-turned-composer, Karl Steven.
The David Trubridge: So Far – A Maker’s Journey exhibition is now on display at Rotorua Museum.
The collection of more than 40 artworks created by internationally renowned designer David Trubridge, spans almost five decades. Showcasing many of his trademark 3D contemporary designs, the exhibition also includes architectural sketches, life drawings, fabric and rubbings.
David Trubridge: So Far will be on display until 30 November 2014.
COUNCIL STRUCTURES IN THE BLUE THIS MONTHThe flood lights at Rotorua Museum, City Focus, Seddon Memorial Town Clock, and the arches on Queen’s Drive were changed to a blue lamp this month to support Blue September, a Men’s Health Month initiative.
a positive future for all of us.”The team says it is also looking
forward to working with the councillors leading and supporting the Te Arawa Partnerships, People, Sustainable Living,
Sustainable Economic Growth, Inner City Revitalisation, Creative Communities, and Sport & Recreation strategies as they continue to roll out across the district.
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