Mum Seraiah Chase refuses to let her children play at the Susan St playground anymore after discovering hoards of broken glass strewn through the bark. Photo / Andrew Warner
Mum Seraiah Chase refuses to let her children play at the Susan St playground anymore after discovering hoards of broken glass strewn through the bark. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2021. Here's what made headlines in April.
April 3
A Rotorua mother called for a permanent solution to the ongoing issue of broken glass in the bark of her neighbourhood playground after her children were cut several times.
Seraiah Chase wasn't letting her young children use the Susan St playground any more after they kept coming home with bleeding cuts, caused by broken glass strewn throughout the playground's bark.
Chase raised the issue with Rotorua Lakes Council and suggested replacing the bark with rubber mats but the council has told the Rotorua Daily Post that option would be too expensive, with a price tag of $57,000.
Instead, the council has opted to fully replace the bark twice, most recently in July 2019 at a cost of $18,000, and the playground is routinely inspected. The previous replacement was in December 2017 at a cost of $15,000.
A 12-year-old league player left the field in tears after being told she couldn't play in the team she'd been a part of for seven years because she was a girl.
McKenzie Anderson-Tito was playing in a tournament with the Ngongotahā U13 in Rotorua when an organiser told her girls aged 12 and over were not allowed to play in mixed teams so she had to get off the field.
McKenzie Anderson-Tito, 12, was prevented from playing league on Sunday because she is a girl. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 13
Waiariki MP Rawiri Waititi took aim at Rotorua Lakes Council over a recent sewerage fault in Ngāpuna, saying the council "needs to clean its s**t up".
But the council responded it acted swiftly, fixed the problem, consulted with locals and has a plan to help prevent another issue from occurring.
Waititi was invited to attend a community hui at Hurungaterangi Marae in Ngāpuna last week where locals spoke about "physical and psychological suffering" caused by the recent fault in the wastewater pump station on Hona Rd.
Waititi said although the council had fixed the problem, he described it as a "patch-up job" and called for the council to respect manawhenua and remove the plant from the area.
Rotorua's reputation as an international destination for chilling out in hot water got a $21.5 million investment injection.
Building consents were granted for two commercial spa developments on the geothermal city's lakefront - which was also undergoing a makeover.
Consent applications had been approved for work worth $13.5m for Rotorua's iconic QE Health development and work totalling $8m for foundations and drainage for the Wai Ariki development.
New QE Health building concept design. Image / Supplied
April 17
Sitting in the Rotorua Boys' High School boarding house in 2016, James Devenport remembers saying he'd never come back.
Four years later, the new IT technician had to remember not to call those who were now his colleagues mister, miss or sir.
Devenport came back to Rotorua last year after studying computer programming in Auckland. He was helping out at his mum's shop when principal Chris Grinter approached him about an "interesting project".
Deputy principal Jonathan Taylor (front) with the former Rotorua Boys' High School students who are now on staff. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 20
The delayed reopening of one of Rotorua's most beloved and iconic buildings was met with disappointment and the fear a generation of children will miss out on visiting the city's historic taonga.
Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa Rotorua Museum was closed in November 2016 after being damaged in the 7.8 magnitude Kaikoura earthquake.
The museum, in the Bath House building at Government Gardens, was initially expected to open next year, with more than $50 million raised for the strengthening and restoration from multiple government and charity sources.
The Rotorua Lakes Council announced in April the museum was now expected to open in 2025, with the two-year Bath House construction likely to start in 2022.
Nearly $3 million a week was being spent helping thousands of people in the Bay of Plenty keep a roof over their heads amid the region's deepening housing crisis.
Thousands across the region qualify for the Accommodation Supplement – a non-taxable benefit to help pay for rent, board or the costs of owning a home.
Latest figures from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development showed $2,907,599 a week was handed out across the region in accommodation supplements in the last financial quarter of last year.
Putting people in emergency housing for longer than 28 days in some Rotorua motels was breaching the city's district plan, a Rotorua barrister says.
Rotorua MP Todd McClay said the lawyer's legal opinion showed the Government was trying to sweep Rotorua's homeless problem under the rug.
Rotorua Lakes Council admitted it was aware of the problem - pointing out it was not just an issue for Rotorua - but said it would not change the district plan. The council said it was working with Government agencies and ministers on a solution.
Rotorua barrister Kevin Badcock prepared a legal paper on the use of tourist accommodation as emergency housing in Rotorua.
In it, he said the council was not complying with its obligations under the Resource Management Act and was taking a "hands-off" approach to enforcing non-compliance with the district plan.
