Our Māpua

What Happened in the May ZOOM meeting

Once again the  Māpua & Districts Community Association held its May meeting via the ZOOM on-line forum . It was agreed that

  1. MDCA would trial the future format of monthly meetings as a combination of the usual public meeting in the Hall plus the option for members, TDC representatives and invited guests to participate through ZOOM and that
  2. The current practice of recording public presentations for screening on the MDCA Facebook page be continued..

The hope is that this will enable those who find it difficult to go out to attend evening meetings out (especially in winter) to still participate .

 

OPEN FORUM:

Gold Card Access to the Māpua Ferry  Wayne Chisnall –  –raised the issue of the Gold Card being available for people to use on the Māpua Ferry ( as those in Auckland do with the Waiheke Ferry) . He noted that the current ferry operator had faced “ flood , fire & pestilence” over the past years and that extra business from “ Winston’s people” could help support his business. Increased ferry patronage could also be a possible boost for Māpua businesses ,

TDC Ward Councillors agreed  to explore this issue

 

HOT TOPIC– “COMMUNITY WELL-BEING; ANNUAL CHECK-UP”

 

Elena Meredith; Vicky Stocker and John Sherlock  – updated the meeting using powerpoint presentation to update progress on the three main focus areas   of Community Wellbeing :

  • Health services
  • Transport
  • connectedness [ community hub]

This presentation supported by the power-point slides  can be viewed on the MDCA Facebook page

by using the following link https://www.facebook.com/1695037690715068/videos/165986458184107

 

A     Health Services – Vicky noted the hurdles facing Māpua residents wishing to access services:

  1. no transport available ;
  2. three month waiting lists for referrals for home help respite care assessment ; and also for clinic appointments in Richmond

Online directory of Service & Community Groups in Māpua & Districts -Work is proceeding on drawing up a brief for developing this

 

B            Transport – Elena outlined the current transport projects and plans:

  1. Community drivers – a team of 8 volunteer drivers have submitted applications for police vetting and met on May 27 to discuss possible formats for setting up and running this system
  2. “ the coastal link” more comprehensive community transport service with regular circuit  to Motueka- Richmond via Māpua was discussed with suggestions made of contacting local tourism and vehicle rental companies will have under or un-used vehicles at this time which they may well be willing to lease or even sponsor a vehicle
  3. challenges for children/young people –
  • getting transport to school with the possibility of MOE changing the zone for local children to Motueka rather than Waimea
  • the need for a as well needing transport system that could take and collect young people to and from sports and cultural events/practices with particular mention of the Youth Theatre /Playhouse

 

 

C            Community Hub

John Sherlock ( HCC) stated how pleased he was to be part of the shared community korero on this kaupapa and then noted the   fortuitous combination of  the; :

  1. need for a local community facility/Hub for appointments/meetings; drop in and connecting and
  2. availability of the “ Old Church” as an underutilised resource and the chance for the church to make this available to be shared as a community resource and
  3. the potential vehicle of the Dale Vercoe Community Care Trust (DVCCT) whose Trust Deed’s second objective covers the broad provision of community support facilities. This could become the legal /financial entity to partner with and process

The need in the community for services for young people and families with children was  raised and  John agreed that  “ we need to find partners with a passion for that”

A discussion document on draft objectives for such a community hub has been circulated amongst community groups for feedback

Those present were asked to consider supporting the three projects with time /money :

“We’re all in this together…”

Marion noted her excitement at the possibility of so many groups working together to get these projects operating

 

RELATIONSHIPS – Projects

1     Interviewing long-term local residents – the brief suggests that they be interviewed on their experiences and views of life & development in the district with the interviews being recorded ( filmed?)

This project would need a sympathetic researcher with skills in running and recording interviews .

Funding would be needed for this project which will  be prioritized considering the age of many of the potential interview subjects –

those present were happy for Exec members to make the final decision as to who should be interviewed .

2     MDCA Historical Documents   – The brief suggests that this would take 100+ hours and needs a person familiar with processes of assessing-coding /scanning documents . Funding would need to be applied for – maybe RATA foundation

 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS

  1. Dominion Flats : Helen Bibby noted that there had been a lot of community usage of the Dominion Flats Reserve during “ lockdown time” .She asked for “ as much community input as possible” for planting the seedlings people have been nurturing at home.

This community planting will be June 27 & 28

  1. Access to Support Bruno noted possibilities in relation to current situation of unemployment in terms of accessing people to work on suggested projects .Contacting DOC & Tasman Environmental Trust will be followed up
  2. Dedicated section on local environmental issues for MDCA Website page–  Bruno and Gillian  will work together to help set this up .The plan would be to include links to other relevant environmental groups .
  3. Local Wild life Areas – Marion suggested to Gillian Pollock it would be good to have a local map showing the local coastal areas that are of significances in regard nesting birds and wildlife locations to inform the local community of these locations. David Short (TACA) to collaborate with this.
  4. Lack of beautification work alongside Mamaku Drive had been raised as a concern at the recent Tasman Area Community Association (TACA) meeting along with  idea of the 2 Associations applying to government for this to be considered and funded as a “shovel ready” project.. The understanding would be that TACA “ would drive the project”. This received general support from the meeting

 

 

Be sure to attend/ join in our next monthly meeting:  Monday, 8 June  at 7 PM format to be confirmed on MDCA Facebook & Mailchimp mailout )

MDCA works closely with TDC to ensure our community functions in a way that suits the majority of our residents. To have a vote that counts, become a financial member of MDCA by simply paying a $10 membership fee to our NBS account 03-1354-0356471-00 with your name & phone number as a reference.

 Submitted by:  Elena Meredith