Piling are in at HAC
A significant milestone in the building of Whangarei's Hundertwasser Art Centre was marked last week with the completion of the piling.
Seventy five hollow steel tubes have been sunk into the ground at depths of between 28-35 metres to create the piles. These were then excavated before the remaining holes were filled with steel and concrete to form the piles.
Trust chairman Grant Faber said the piles all reach down to the bedrock which lies beneath the town basin.
"The piles are the feet that will anchor the building to the ground but the connection is symbolic too. Hundertwasser's vision for the site is now physically connected to where the centre will soon stand," Faber said.
" Everyone has been pleasantly surprised with how smoothly it has gone."
The next stage in construction is to form and pour the concrete bond beams which link all the piles together before installing sub-surface services and then the concrete slab early in the new year.
The centre is due to be completed late 2020.
Scam Alert: Fake information regarding December Bonuses from MSD
The Ministry of Social Development is reporting that fake information is circulating about new ‘December bonuses’ or ‘benefit increases’
If you get suspicious communication, please contact Netsafe.
Land Transport (Revenue) Amendment Bill
You have 4 days left to make a submission on the above bill (link below). This bill should it become law will make it compulsory for you to have an Electronic GPS Road User Charge device in your vehicle.
This will allow a 3rd party operator to monitor and store all data relating to your travel, including travel route, how often, when, distance and speed. While the Government says this is only for monitoring distance, there is nothing stopping them or future governments to use it to track people and send out speed infringements for even traveling 1km over the limit at ANY point during you journey.
This 3rd party company is also there to make a profit, as such any savings at the pump by the removal of the fuel tax will simply be added back on in excess with service fees when you buy your mileage in advance. There is also an up to $15,000 fine for using a non authorized device that could be interpreted a device for for measuring distance, like a dash cam or GPS system etc. This could mean you have to buy an expensive authorised device to use for monitoring.
Given the recent wave of breeches of data from Neighbourly and Manage My Health, the Government cannot guaranty that this data will be safe from hack; or even simply sold in aggregate form to data brokers and insurance companies wanting to increase premiums based on how you drive, where you drive and how fast. My suggestion was that the MUST make a Non invasive Hubometer or similar off line device available for those of use who do not wish to install an Orwellian State Surveillance device in our cars
This bill is also attempting to add tolls to the new Warkworth to Wellsford and Bynderwyn roads when constructed, while at the same time forcing heavy transport to use these toll roads instead of the free routes. Also hidden in this bill is the ability to toll the CURRENT roads, State Highway 1 between Auckland and Whangarei, you know the ones we've been paying for for decades with the fuel tax.
The Government is trying to slip this past during the Christmas break, to avoid the public backlash or submissions. Submissions END Wednesday 7th at 11.59pm. Make your voice heard.
bills.parliament.nz...
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