From The Hip

Welcome to the CBD

Imagine you were forced to leave your home and/or business right this second, with no warning. 

Imagine you were then prevented from getting anywhere near you home or business.

Imagine four weeks on, you were still prevented from getting anywhere near your home or business.

Imagine the only information you’ve had from those who are blocking your access in that four weeks is

1. It’s too dangerous. 
2. We’re working on it.

Imagine finding out that your home or business was demolished by watching video of it during a memorial service, or on the nightly news.

Welcome to central Christchurch.

Civil Defence here seem to be going out of their way to create enemies in this city. Their communication with those that own this city is simply abysmal. Civil Defence doesn’t need to tell everyone what they have done. That’s history, we can see that. The two bits of information we need in excruciating detail are:

1. What the current state of the CBD is in detail, building states etc.
2. What the current work plan is in detail, buildings to be worked on, what’s blocking access to where and what, estimated timelines etc.

This information needs to be public. There is no excuse to keep it private. Everyone here understands the situation changes frequently, but that’s not a justification for Civil Defence not providing the best information they can at the time. It allows people affected to plan what they’re going to do most effectively. Right now, in the absence of any of this information people are left in total limbo.

A state of national emergency isn’t an excuse to do away with common courtesy. It’s not an excuse for incompetence or negligence. Civil Defence need to be excessively transparent right now. They’re doing it wrong. Very wrong.

Layton