Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook. Photo / Andrew Warner
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in April:
April 3:
If you find yourself dissatisfied and craving more at work, is it too late to switch careers when you’re over 40? Not according to eight Bay of Plenty women, who told Carly Gibbs what it was like to face their fears and follow their dreams.
Among them was Yanné Logan who, after years as a kindergarten cook and teacher aide, decided to study Level 3 Automotive Engineering at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, saying it’s been “a crazy, massive, big change”.
After completing her level three qualification this year, 40-year-old Yanné Logan hopes to land an apprenticeship. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 5:
The Government announced it was reviewing its public housing criteria for Rotorua after an outcry from locals who learned out-of-town homeless could be housed in new Kāinga Ora homes.
Rotorua residents said the existing system of how public housing is allocated was not good enough.
They demanded government assurance that no more out-of-town homeless people would be allowed to come to the city and that new state houses eventually see a reduction in emergency housing in motels.
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook said state homes being bought and built in the city should be for local people in emergency housing.
Newbrook said former Rotorua residents keen to return should not be allowed a Kāinga Ora home until the city’s housing crisis was solved.
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 6:
“A kick in the guts.”
That’s what Troy Watson, 20, said it had been like to watch his brother Ashley, 28, take a “miracle” drug for cystic fibrosis - a condition they were both born with that threatens to dramatically shorten their lives.
But he’s not sick enough.
After starting the $330,000-a-year drug six months ago, Ashley - once the sicker of the Whakatāne pair, and barely able to walk - is now planning to return to work and potentially move overseas.
Troy, however, was “too well” to be eligible. Troy said he asked his specialist about it but was told there was “no chance” for someone like him without government funding.
Whakatāne brothers Troy and Ashley Watson both have cystic fibrosis. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 12:
The man at the helm of a funding trust that pours millions into Rotorua each year was forced to step down after a shock Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis.
But Rotorua Trust manager Tony Gill was taking the news in true Tony Gill style.
“I just want to live every second with a smile on my face.”
Gill, 61, was told the week before Christmas last year (2021) the reason his muscles and body weren’t doing what they used to was because he had the degenerative neurological condition.
Tony Gill was forced to step down as manager of the Rotorua Trust after his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 16:
A secret council proposal to turn 10 Rotorua reserves into housing was revealed in documents obtained by Local Democracy Reporting.
The documents relate to a closed-door Rotorua Lakes Council “forum” on February 15 that reveals a proposal to pursue a local bill to allow the council to sell the reserves.
Under the proposal, five reserves would be sold to Kāinga Ora, three to private developers, and two would become pensioner housing owned by the council or philanthropic organisations, the documents suggest.
Public housing being built in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 19:
Paint is peeling off Rotorua’s controversial Hemo Gorge sculpture and it urgently needed a repaint - just one-and-a-half years after it was installed.
But ratepayers wouldn’t be paying a cent as it is an issue with paint used by the sculpture’s makers, Killwell in Rotorua.
The two months of work included the erection of scaffolding it being fully wrapped, then sanded and repainted.
Killwell chief executive officer Craig Wilson described the paint’s failure as a “kick in the guts after Covid” but said if it was left, it would only get worse.
The Hemo Gorge sculputre needs repainting. Photo / Andrew Warner
April 23:
“Why me?”
This is one question Sharon Grinter often asked herself in the past two years.
The single mum and Pak’nSave merchandiser shared her story as part of Great Minds, a major NZME project, exploring the growing impact of mental health and anxiety on Kiwis and how we can improve our wellbeing.
As well as investigative reporting on the state of our mental health services and the effect of the pandemic on New Zealanders of all walks of life, we will share personal stories, interactive features and wellbeing ideas to help our readers as we emerge from Covid and Omicron.
Sharon Grinter is an essential worker and single mum who has struggled with her mind health throughout the pandemic. She believes sharing her story would benefit others and help to normalise the need to talk about topics like depression. Photo / Andrew Warner.
April 26:
Taika Waititi paid a “completely unexpected” visit to a Rotorua tourist hotspot and shared the experience on social media with his millions of followers.
The Kiwi, writer, director, and producer checked into Waimangu Volcanic Valley as part of his trip through New Zealand.
He took to social media to document his trip, labelling the series “dads on tour” as he travelled with his two daughters Matewa Kiritapu and Te Hinekāhu.
Rotorua councillors have been left shocked after one of their own suddenly quit in a fiery exchange with mayor Steve Chadwick.
Peter Bentley resigned, effective immediately, in a public council meeting during a discussion about the council’s controversial Māori wards bill, which was put on pause just hours later.
