New mural for City Kids

City Kids in Thorndon has an outstanding new mural thanks to the work of two year 13 students from Queen Margaret College.

Harper Mitchell and Rogela Gugia contacted City Kids to see if they would be interested in collaborating with them to create a mural for the playground.

With their college being in the same neighbourhood they wanted to give back to their community.

Harper and Rogela are both working on their final requirements of their IB (International Bacculaureate) diploma, for which they must plan a service activity to give back to the local community.

They are both art students and wanted to create a mural and wanted the mural to reflect City Kids values of imagination and innovation.

The tamariki from City Kids met Rogela and Harper at Katherine Mansfield Park to discuss ideas for a mural.

The kaiako were thinking about some educationalideas and incorporating the environment but the tamariki had their own ideas.

They wanted planets, Spiderman, meer- kats, sharks, pirates and dinosaurs.

During the design process Harper and Rogela took everyone’s ideas into consideration and made sure it had Te Ahumairangi (the hill near City Kids) and Te Whanganuia-Tara (Wellington harbour) as well as every idea the tamariki could think of.

“Everyone was so happy with the outcome. It looks wonderful,” City Kids’ Centre Manager Tanti Agustin says.

“The mural sits on the wall beside our sandpit and with it the tamariki have discussions about the things they can see and include it in their play.

“The tamariki were so excited to see Spiderman sitting on the top of City Kids in the mural.

“It is such a wonderful addition to our outdoor space and we hope it is there for many years to come.

“City Kids thanks Harper and Rogela so much for thinking about us and all the mahi that went into creating and even installing it,” Tanti says.

That mahi included Harper receiving hours of training from her father on using an electric drill.

Update from your local city councillor

The future of our Community Facilities

Out for consultation until 5pm Mon 7th August, is the Council’s draft plan to guide the Council’s provision and decision-making about community facilities for the next 30 years. Please check it out on the council’s website or at your local library. It involves our libraries, community centres, pools, parks and recreation areas. What I have noticed is Khandallah and Ngaio have been clustered with Wadestown, yet Nairnville Recreation centre has been clustered with Johnsonville. There is also no mention of the $8 million investment that Council agreed to for Khandallah Pool last year. If you value local facilities in your neighbourhood, please have your say on proposals. You can email in to policysubmission@wcc.govt.nz or complete the online submission form.

Proposed Bike Lane for Karori

Many of you have expressed concern to me about Council’s proposed 24/7 bike lane on Karori Lane. The route proposed was based on a consultation WCC ran in late 2021 on a city-wide bike network plan and which only 80 people that submitted were from Karori. It seems many people across the city missed the consultation and want the Council to engage better with local communities. I am working with a group from the local community to arrange a public meeting later in the month to share information. Details to be announced over the next week. Council’s formal consultation process is bus priority other than altering bus stops.