Dear Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities,

Today we received a notice (a piece of paper) in the letterbox advising of Kainga Ora's (KO) plan to paint yellow lines in the communal driveway between 4 KO properties on Mungavin Ave for the following reasons outlined below.

The notice does not; despite inviting enquiries, provide ANY contact details ie no email address or phone number - although KO assumes that everyone(including non KO tenants) is aware of Kainga Ora's 0800 number. It also assumes that anyone does not mind waiting on the phone for a significant period of time typical of government callcentres.

Nor does the notice warn the affected tenants of WHEN this action will take place but at a guess it will be very soon before anyone has time to object.

I believe that such action is unnecessary and in the last 30 years I have not witnessed any potentially dangerous event that would warrant such a course of action.

If this is about KO being 'proactive' then where was this proactiveness, out of sheer concern, when my mother(a tenant of 50+ years) and I were subjected/placed at risk to a fire bombing, AOS raid, dope smoking, racial, verbal and physical attack all originating from a neighbouring tenant.

Has KO got time and tax payer money to waste pursuing frivolous, unnecessary projects?
Such efforts should be focussed on higher priority areas within the Porirua region.

At a time when the government is reducing expenses and cost cutting measures KO shouldn't be engaging in non urgent projects where there haven't been any incidents in the last 30 years to prompt such action?

The only incidents impacting on H&S in the immediate area was the fire bombing, the AOS raid, and the dope smoking incident (resulting in an elderly Indian woman, a tenancy of 50+ years being the target of racial, verbal and physical attack) all originating from the same problem neighbouring past tenant which KO did not respond to at the time.

How does painting yellow lines prevent AOS raids, fire bombings and dope smoking activities in this immediate area?

So what is the required action KO takes after such incidents outlined above and how do they prevent such incidents occurring in the first instance?

KO should have invested the same time, money and concern preventing those incidents from occurring in the first placed yet they chose not to as the victims were 'only' ethnic minorities and deemed by KO as not a priority.

The Kainga Ora(KO) notice reads:
'To support H&S ensuring there is clear and unhindered access for all users of this communal driveway -Yellow lines to mark non parking areas will be installed.

Please refrain from parking where the yellows lines are drawn to avoid any escalation.

Enquiries can be referred to Kainga Ora.'

Questions:

1. What incident has prompted ko to be concerned over 'unhindered access' for them to undertake such costly action?
NOTE I recall that no such incidences warranting such actions in the last 30 years.

2. Has there been any complaints that warrant such action and did KO consult /discuss with tenants in the immediate area beforehand?
If so, where did the complaints come from?

3. How did KO determine this as a priority over other high risk properties in Porirua?

4. The notice mentions due to H&S concerns- can KO explain what health issues and what safety issues prompted such plans?

5. What resources would now be required to maintain such Health and Safety measures ie time, manpower, and money etc?

6. How will compliance be enforced ie will it involve fines/infringement fees or some cost to the tenant/infringer?

7. Would they spend as much time ,money and resources as they should have done in preventing the previous recent incidences of fire bombing, AOS raid and dope smoking originating from properties in the same area?

8. Why hasn't ko addressed the dope smoking in the immediate area - ko are aware of dope smoking incidences in the past that has resulted in verbal and racial attacks against a long term tenant of ethnic minority status- my mother- KO took no action on tis matter before or after.

9. In the name of Health and Safety will KO be undertaking ANY measures to DETECT presence of dope smoking activities in the affected area ie amongst the surrounding tenants? If not, then why not?

10. In the name of Health and Safety will ko be undertaking ANY measures to CURB dope smoking in the immediate affected areas/tenants?

11. What measures have they implemented to address dope smoking activity in this area?

Note there has been more reason to do this(addressing dope smoking) based on past incidences than there has been in painting yellow lines for apparent problem parking.

12. Does KO feel that addressing dope smoking activity would take priority over parking 'concerns' of which there has been no incidents to justify such actions?

13 Is KO creating a revenue generating opportunity?
If not, how does KO justify such a course of action in the absence of any incident that would warrant such concern and over and above addressing dope smoking activities?

14. Have they ever address any dope smoking activities in the area in the last 4 years in this specific area?

15. In light of government addressing cost saving and wasteful spending would such action/cost(of painting yellow lines) be considered wisely made?

16. Does KO agree that dope smoking activities present more of a risk to h&s than implementing unjustified non parking zones in a communal driveway- despite such action would not generate /produce revenue earning opportunities as yellow lines would?

17. If KO are planning to implement non parking zones - can KO confirm they have resolved/addressed ALL higher risk/higher priority concerns in the Porirua area?

Note last year, at a meeting with KO, I provided photo evidence of higher priority concerns regarding KO properties in the Porirua area needing more urgent attention (other than focusing on our clutter issues) including one property on Warspite Ave where, for years, the branches of a tree have pushed over a fence on to the public footpath resulting in the fence hindering public thoroughfare and the heavy branch over hanging the foot path - no action was ever taken by KO as result of my concerns raised over 7 months ago.

Refer points 16 & 24 'June KO meeting' and Section 13.'June KO meeting of FYI request' https://fyi.org.nz/request/33401-kainga-...

However, a few weeks ago, during the first heavy storm in February the branch broke prompting the entire tree to be cut down soon afterwards- unsure whether any injury resulted but the danger/hazard it presented was not only very obvious for so long but was likely to happen.

Also, during the same storm, in the KO property next door to us, a dead tree branch overhanging the public foot path suffered the same fate breaking and falling onto the well used footpath below (unsure if anyone was injured) but the day after I dragged the branch off the footpath and surprisingly, the very next day workers were there clearing the debris very quickly leaving no trace of such an incident behind. For over 30 years no tenant in that property has ever maintained those trees bordering the front yard. We have never had this problem as I have maintained the trees for over 30 years avoiding such an incident.

In another storm earlier in the year a branch of another large tree at the end of Champion Street broke off in the wind causing a power outage I Porirua. KO and Porirua City Council would be aware of this also.

18. So, how many other communal driveways in Porirua has KO actioned and/or has officially planned currently?

Yours faithfully,

D Dahya

Dear Ministerial Services,

Thank you for your response advising more time is need to consider the request. However, I would like to know, if this request is still under consideration, then why have Kainga Ora still gone ahead and painted the non-parking areas today during my absence from home?

I will assume that any infringement fee I receive(by continuing to use the communal parking space as I have done for 20 years) prior to the outcome of this request will be waived.

Before escalating this to the Ombudsmens Office I will wait for your reply.

Yours sincerely,

D Dahya