Another New Year's Eve done and dusted, two decades of December 31 and January 1 fun after civic revelry was revived for the arrival of the new millennium on January 1, 2000.
Another New Year's Eve done and dusted, two decades of December 31 and January 1 fun after civic revelry was revived for the arrival of the new millennium on January 1, 2000.
January
Things started off pretty big when two of the biggest cruise lines plying the New Zealand waters berthed in Napier in the first week of the year, heralding the biggest year for cruise ship tourists hitting Hawke's Bay since the first cruise ship visit to Napier, by the Marco Polo in 1995.
Napier turns om a welcome for megaliner Ovation of the Seas, now a regular in the booming cruise line trade through Napier Port.
Ovation of the Seas (carrying more than 4000 passengers) and Majestic Princess (3500-plus) each stretch more than the length of three rugby fields. Shiploads of them pour into the region via a fleet of buses straight off the boat dockside at the port, and head for a variety of day tours, or simply a stroll through the Emerson St shopping precinct. Invariably they comment how clean and tidy the city is. There were 72 cruise visits last summer, and Ovation of the Seas and Majestic Princess each make several stops in Napier among the 87 on the port's schedule this summer. Already a record 90 are scheduled for next season, from October 2020 to April 2021.
Those who thought the Mission Concert may be a bit of a goner after the cancellation of the 2018 event because of the ill-health of intended star act Neil Diamond were mistaken, judging by the by the events of 2019. It had been going pretty strong for the more than 25 years since New Zealand opera and aria diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa launched the whole shebang in 1993, but punters had started to wonder just how many icons could still be trotted out.
The Mission Concert was big in 2018 with Phil Collins the star act. Sir Elton John does two shows and Michael Buble one in super-Mission 2019.
It was Phil Collins for Waitangi Day, but even before he arrived in town there had been an announcement that Elton John, one of the biggest acts of all, would strut the same stage 12 months down the track.
As it turns out, there'll be three Mission Concerts within 15 days in 2020 — Michael Buble on February 1, and Sir Elton John, packing two shows, on Waitangi Day and nine days later on February 15, with a departure in between for the superstar to attend the Oscars in the US on February 9. How will the Mission follow such acts as that line-up?
Just as had been the case with the Springbok Tour protests in 1981, and the Rainbow Warrior bombing dockside in Auckland in 1985, New Zealand came of age on March 15 with the mosques shootings in Christchurch. There were 100 people shot, 51 of them died, and one man was arrested (his trial on charges including 51 of murder is scheduled for mid-2020). The grief of a nation included the realisation that a terrorist-like mass shooting apparent hate-crime of a type never before seen in Australasia should happen in New Zealand. Ripple effects were everywhere, including armed police being posted to what might have been possible targets in Hawke's Bay had the shooting been part of a wider plan.
April
An absolutely unthinkable tragedy when a mum, dad and five of their seven children, all from Hawke's Bay, died in a seemingly inexplicable mid-Sunday morning road crash on State Highway 1 between Taupō and their home in Tokoroa.
The tangi for all seven was held on a marae near Napier the following Sunday, possibly the most from any parents-and-children tragedy to be farewelled at any one time in New Zealand history and certainly nowhere near matched in such tragedies as the Hawke's Bay earthquake in 1931 or the Mt Erebus air crash in 1979.
Road fatalities continued to be a major problem across the Central North Island with a return to higher-number multiple fatality tragedies, five people from another family having been killed on a road off the state highway nearby a few weeks earlier. Hawke's Bay would also experience an increased road toll, its highest in nine years and four times the 50-year low of six in 2013. With a bit more patience and less distraction a new 50-year low should be the target in 2020.
May
An attempt by Ministry for Children child welfare agency Oranga Tamariki to take a newborn child from its mother in the birthing unit at Hawke's Bay Hospital resulted in a standoff pitting the agency, hospital staff, security and police against the mother, family and midwives, and a nationwide outcry targeting the agency's methods of removing children from their families.
An internal agency review of the events ended with an apology to family from agency CEO Grainne Moss and promises of change. Several other reports on the wider issues of the removal of children from their families are still to be completed. In its effort to try to stop any agency from ever having to consider getting its hands on the children of the nation, Napier is looking at becoming a Child-Friendly City. Wouldn't making NZ a Child-Friendly Country help?
The prize for oddest response to a good thing was apparent criticism of Ngati Kahungunu's Iwi Inc's decision to provide 15 per cent discounts to iwi members for fish and chips and wetfish at Takitimu Seafoods, the business bought from multi-level operator Hawke's Bay Seafoods about three months earlier.
It is in fact no different than any other loyalty-card scheme, with the iwi board and holding company returning some benefits to the holders of its iwi card, among a registered membership of over 32,000. The company buy-out had been a landmark moment as the iwi moved to fishing its own quota, previously fished by HBS, and developing opportunities, benefits and connectivity for the growing membership, a dream of iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana, re-elected in April but he confirmed it would be his last term. He is a former freezing worker with more than 20 years at the iwi helm.
July
Revelations that a young mum and two toddlers slept in a park playground because they had nowhere else to go was a classic reminder that a housing crisis haunting Hawke's Bay since Housing New Zealand Corp started removing and demolishing state-housing stock about eight years earlier is still with us.
King Tuheitia (centre) cuts the ribbon as Takitimu Seafoods completes the buyout of Hawke's Bay Seafoods.
In a situation worsened with demands for more homes for sharply increased numbers of new arrivals in New Zealand, newly-named the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Kainga Ora - Homes and Communities, have their work cut out, with continuing signs of homelessness in the streets, and across the country's motels accommodating at least 3000 homeless households. In May it had been reported 440 children were among families in such temporary accommodation in Hawke's Bay.
Illegal rubbish dumping reached such a stage that the Hawke's Bay Regional Council had to restrict public access to its Guppy Rd reserve near Taradale, which was where some infringers tended to dump their rubbish rather than getting it just a couple of kilometres down the road to the real tip, the Redclyffe Transfer Station.
Not your usual refuse transfer station...or is it? Illegal rubbish dumping has become a widespread problem across Hawke's Bay.
Globally the experts say the biggest reason for illegal dumping is the access to the dump, whether it be by cost or by distance. Just like the rubbish itself, the problem ain't going away. It's probably getting bigger, with the amounts of rubbish getting bigger and the banishment of home disposal methods, such as the backyard bonfire. It's time for a big rethink. Answers please?
September
It was time for the people to stand up as newly-formed Friends of the Onekawa Aquatic Centre took the Napier City Council to the High Court over the processes it had used to decide on a new swimming complex beside Prebensen Dr, done by a casting vote from the acting mayor who had already voted in a 6-6 split on the $41 million question. It was argued the consulting process had been inadequate. With work on the site stopped and now three months, a local elections' result a possible intervention, and now three months after the hearing ended in the court in Wellington, a judge's decision is still awaited, with no hint yet on whether it's time to pull the plug or for the city to pool together and get on with it.
October
The election of Kirsten Wise as the new mayor of Napier completed an almost total female domination of the mayoral and deputy roles at the region's five city or district councils.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little, re-elected in the Local Elections but now the only male Mayor or Deputy Mayor in Hawke's Bay.
The sole bloke in the mayoral domain now is Wairoa mayor Craig Little. Hine Flood is his new deputy, Wise opted for Annette Brosnan as her deputy, Sandra Hazlehurst and Tania Kerr remained as mayor and deputy mayor of largest district Hastings, Central Hawke's Bay mayor Alex Walker has Kelly Annand as her new deputy, and Tararua mayor Tracey Collis has a new deputy in Erana Peeti-Webber.
November
The value of our homes was tested by revelations that a record median had been set with house prices continuing on the up, and news that one of the biggest of them all, the Napier City Council's own home of most of the last half-century, will probably come down, abandoned in 2017 as an earthquake risk. Whether price rises in the home property market was "growth" was debatable, but the median house sale price for the last 12 months hit a regional record of $535,000, with comparable district records of $555,000 in Napier, $550,000 in Hastings and $271,000 in Wairoa. Meanwhile, the council was asked to spend-up to $1.1 million to demolish the Civic building to make its Hastings St site more appealing to potential buyers.
December
The end of the year also brought to an end the first two decades of the third millennium. New Year's Eve celebrations had once sparked so much drunken disorder in Hawke's Bay, particularly on Marine Parade in Napier, that the city fathers, mothers and police decided enough was enough, and it stopped.
Another New Year's Eve done and dusted, two decades of December 31 and January 1 fun after civic revelry was revived for the arrival of the new millennium on January 1, 2000.
The approach of the year 2000, a special feature on the east coast including Hawke's Bay, which would see the first sunrise of each year, revived celebrations and two decades later the ringing of the Veronica Bell and fireworks at midnight, supported by three hours of mainly-music entertainment, are an established family-friendly way to go for over 20,000 people of all ages packing the environs of the Soundshell each New Year's Eve.
