The other trip to Hawaii

Aloha means hello AND goodbye

‘The Leith - in normal times a pleasant, prattling little stream which looks innocent to a degree - North Dunedin has suffered another of those experiences with which its history has been too liberally punctuated. On this occasion the flooding was, however, of extraordinary severity, the waters penetrating along the lower levels almost to the very heart of the city and creating or assisting to upon some of the arterial thoroughfares a state of affairs without precedent.’ this is from the Otago Daily Times on 21 March, 1929.

The excellent website, PapersPast, is full of hundreds of flooding stories involving Dunedin and its various waterways.

That 1929 article ended with this: ‘Over-confident estimates of what the normally innocuous Water of Leith is capable of doing in its flood moods have been a cause of more than enough mischief’.

That 1929 flood was the most severe involving the Leith, and included bridges being swept away, the channel of the water being altered, and the flooding of homes.

That flooding was so bad that it impacted streets as far as lower Rattray St - just under 5km away!

Floods were also recorded in the Leith in 1868, 1877, 1911 and 1923.

The 1929 flood was a catalyst for change, resulting in a concrete channel being added duplicated from Forth Street to Otago Harbour, that was later extended.

The work, known as the Leith Flood Protection Scheme, gathered in pace in recent years thanks to the Otago Regional Council, which notes the improvements are designed for the lower reaches to cope with a 1-in-100-year flood.

You can watch more here.

But to me it is not really a swollen Leith until students surf the white(ish) water.

Thankfully, they did.

Until they didn’t . . .

This week The Mish features a special guest, my colleague Sinead Gill who looks into an aspiring city councillor and his claims of frustration over the George St makeover.

Here it is.

A city council candidate claimed he was closing his shop to give staff a “wellness week” due to mounting frustration caused by construction work. But did he?

In fact, it appears Dunedin jeweller and council hopeful Brent Weatherall planned the shutdown – and a trip to Hawaii – well before the work began.

He told the Otago Daily Times earlier this month that he was closing his shop to give staff a break because construction outside was disrupting their wellness.

He denied it was a publicity stunt, yet publicity was exactly what he got.

While there isn’t anything wrong with going on holiday, omitting it in an interview raised eyebrows. Weatherall told the paper he was inspired by the council’s wellness day, but that day was a month after he’d made the call.

A Dunedin City Council spokesperson told Sinead that the council was told back in May Weatherall’s business would close for a week in July, and construction work outside the shop was scheduled to accommodate the shutdown.

According to a notice on Weatherall’s shopfront before the closure, the staff were “sick of the dirt, dust, noise and all the work being done in our business hours”.

The notice said the business was “taking a leaf out of the council’s book, and we are having a wellness week”.

Weatherall told Sinead he did not believe it mattered where he was the week of July 11, saying he typically kept the shop open when he went on holiday.

To anyone concerned he was pulling a publicity stunt, he said “god bless them”

Weatherall has been an outspoken opponent against the work, part of a $60 million project – following the replacement of old pipes – to turn Dunedin’s main retail street one-way and introduce art installations, a performance area, a playground, green space and public seating.

Opposing the one-way change was the policy he singled out when announcing he was running for the council in early June as part of political group Team Dunedin.

According to the group's website, candidates hold themselves to high standards of kindness, fairness and honesty.

Several staff associated with the construction work, who spoke to Sinead on condition of anonymity, claimed Weatherall’s attitude made their jobs harder.

They asked why he waited until after he announced he was running for council to publicise the closure, rather than when the decision was made.

In September 2021, when the council voted to turn George St one way – a compromise between those who wanted the street fully pedestrianised and those who wanted the status quo – Weatherall installed a sign featuring the mayor’s face and the word “BANNED”.

The work outside Weatherall’s shop began in late April and will finish in October.

Cheers Sinead!

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And on local body elections Dunedin currently has three candidates for the mayoralty, nine for council (including one being an ‘Independent pro-freedom jedi warrior’), and only two for six commuity boards.

You have until noon on Friday August 12 to get your nominations in.

My advice to budding councillors - if you seek publicity make sure it is watertight.

Excuse the pun.

Earlier this week I was randomly approached by a company offering students 60 cans (five cartons) of ‘Ice fighter’ aerosol to giveaway (Spoiler alert: not alcohol).

I’d never heard of the product, I prefer to pour lukewarm water on the window while scraping it with a OneCard or FlyBuys’ card.

The product promises to ‘‘defrost any windscreen in seconds, keeping everyone safe on the roads this winter’’.

Anyway, I pointed the company to local student good guys, Critic Te Arohi, who will be doing the giveaway.

ICYMI this is the story here.

And here is your Tweet of the Week. Puts the current wet weather into perspective.

Lemuel Lyes @LemuelLyes

Flood waters at North East Valley, Dunedin, NZ. 13 May 1923. Looking towards the gardens, which were flooded, as were the paper mills at Woodhaugh, and many houses. RP Postcard. My collection.

And here is a promo between Hawke’s Bay Airport, Dunedin Airport, Hawke’s Bay Tourism, and Enterprise Dunedin, encouraging Hawke’s Bay and Dunedin locals to reconnect.

I note at the time of writing that Napier is 16 degrees and sunny. Sigh.

Have a good week!