Spencer and Nikki Heath meeting Jack Church, who is believed to have been given their son's heart. Photo / Supplied
Spencer and Nikki Heath meeting Jack Church, who is believed to have been given their son's heart. Photo / Supplied
The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in November:
November 1:
A used tampon, knives, booze bottles, condoms and human faeces have all been dumped in a Christian school’s grounds by people in Rotorua emergency housing motels, school leaders say.
The Seventh-day Adventist School students and staff have been threatened and had sexually explicit verbal abuse hurled at them. Children have been called a racial slur and challenged for fights simply because their school uniform is blue.
The details were revealed at a resource consent hearing at Arawa Park Hotel where three independent commissioners have been tasked with deciding whether 13 contracted emergency housing motels can continue to house the homeless for another five years.
It was the final day of the hearing, which has spent days hearing from residents and business owners of Rotorua about the impact of using motels as emergency housing has had on them.
The devastating consequences of emergency housing for the Seventh-day Adventist School were revealed for the first time at the resource consent hearing. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Rotorua Daily Post launched a series called Fighting for Rotorua that looks into the city’s housing crisis, the motel misery and what is being done to make it better. Kelly Makiha reports.
“I just feel so stuck in there. I don’t see the end at all.”
These are the words of utter despair from Kirsty Wiringi, who has been in and out of emergency housing motels since 2020.
She sits in her Rotorua motel unit most of the time with her curtains closed cuddling her 10-month-old baby and dreaming of having a house - somewhere safe so she can build a home with her other four children, aged 5, 10, 11 and 12.
For now, they can’t be with her, but she still hangs on to her goal.
Kirsty Wiringi and daughter Aveiyah, 10 months, have been living in a motel unit in Rotorua for over a year. Photo / Alex Burton
November 7:
A Rotorua transport manufacturing company was acknowledged for its “awesome work”, taking home the Supreme Winner award at the Rotorua Business Awards.
The annual awards, hosted by the Rotorua Business Chamber, celebrate innovation and creativity in the business sector and have been a highlight of the business calendar for well over 20 years.
The black-tie awards ceremony, sponsored by Tompkins Wake, was held at the Energy Events Centre.
51 finalists made it through to the last stages of this year’s awards, following a rigorous application and judging process. Finalists represented a wide range of sectors, spanning retail and hospitality, tourism, not-for-profit, bilingual business and more.
The supreme winner of the Rotorua Business Awards was Patchell Group of Companies. Photo / Michelle Cutelli
November 10:
A decision to revoke the reserve status of seven Rotorua reserve sites for development was scrapped by a unanimous vote.
The proposal had cost ratepayers just over $82,000 to that point.
The reversal was brought about by a notice of motion of new Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell and discussed in the council’s first substantive meeting - following its inauguration - on November 10.
He was attending an event opening eight affordable homes in Owhata’s Wharenui Rise housing development, backed by $55m in Government infrastructure funding.
Henare confirmed to the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend the new Manawa Gardens development would receive $19.7m towards stage one, enabling infrastructure works for 80 lots and for the construction of the first 20 affordable rentals.
In a statement, Henare said it would be located on 16 hectares of Māori-titled land owned by Ngāti Whakaue Tribal Lands on Wharenui Rd, close to Wharenui Rise.
Joshua Heath was just 19 when he died after a friend - drunk and stoned at the wheel - lost control of the car they were in and crashed on Te Ngae Rd in October last year.
The one glimmer of hope in the terrible tragedy for Joshua’s family was that his decision to be an organ donor could help others.
Shortly after his death, they learned his donations had saved the lives of six people, according to a letter they received from Organ Donation New Zealand.
His heart was transplanted to a young man of similar age and his lungs went to a middle-aged man. His liver was given to two recipients including a baby girl in Melbourne and a middle-aged woman.
Rotorua Lakes Council considered an agreement that could see an end to the widespread use of emergency housing in motels in the city.
Housing Minister Megan Woods confirmed the Government was discussing a “collective plan” with the council, Te Arawa and Ngāti Whakaue, which “builds off significant work already under way” and she was “confident that we can substantially meet the mayor’s objectives around motel use”.
It came as the council released its agenda for its November 24 meeting with an item to be discussed in a public-excluded section titled “Rotorua Housing Accord”.
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell told Local Democracy Reporting the discussion would be confidential as negotiations with the Government were ongoing.
She said that after the council’s discussions on Thursday, it would either commit - or not - to “moving forward with this housing accord together” and would await any further changes from Housing Minister Megan Woods.
It wad a double “wow” achievement for athletics and triathlon coach Craig Kirkwood, who won the Supreme Winner and Coach of the Year gongs at the 2022 Forsyth Barr Bay of Plenty Sports Awards in Rotorua on Friday.
A stunned Kirkwood has coached three highly successful athletes this year - triathlete Hayden Wilde, 1500-metre middle distance runner Sam Tanner, and aquabike triathlete Jono Gray.
He is now one of just three coaches to win the Supreme Award, with Kirkwood’s name joining Gordon Tietjens and Allan Bunting on the honours board. Kirkwood also won the BayTrust Coach of the Year Award.
