As Alexandra residents wake to another cold morning, a silent figure slips into the mist. They leave no trace - except for another bottle of flavoured milk dumped at a local petrol station.

Members of the small South Island community have noticed a strange recurring phenomenon. Every few days, flavoured milk is left on top of a particular pump at the self-service RD Petroleum station. The strange happenings have been going on for months, leaving locals more baffled by the day.

The identity of the mysterious milk enthusiast remains unknown, as does their motive.

Sometimes they leave behind a sole bottle, while other instances have seen as many as six bottles appear at once. The person seems to have been non-partisan in their choice of flavours, leaving behind evidence of their indulgence in chocolate, banana, strawberry and coffee.

Fire and Emergency has evacuated four properties as a large fire burns near Lake Pukaki in Canterbury.

Fire and Emergency says they were called to the scene after a farmer's burn-off got out of control shortly before 3pm on Monday.

Two of the homes were vacant, while the other two were evacuated as a precaution.

The blaze has been burning in the area where State Highway 80 and State Highway 8 intersect.

Copper wire thieves are wearing hi-vis vests to look like legitimate lines workers in Christchurch, as repeated vandalism costs city businesses thousands.

Police have charged seven people with stealing copper wire from power lines near schools, preschools and residential streets.

The thefts began last year in the suburban red zone but have since spread to areas where the electricity is live.

He said thieves had left live powerlines hanging and cost the business thousands of dollars in fees.

A recent Master's thesis has found a Milford Sound tsunami - triggered by a landslide - may leave no survivors, with as many as 3500 dying if the wave hits during the peak of the tourist season.

The new modelling, which builds on more than a decade of research, shows the best chance of survival relies on people running for higher ground before the shaking stops.

The best-case scenario shows 5.2 percent of people would survive the wave, and in this case the tsunami would have to hit at night, during the winter offseason, when only a few hundred people would be in the area.

Edited title to make it sound less like there was just a tsunami and everyone died.

Fire crews are fighting multiple vegetation fires in the South Island, evacuations are under way in Amberley, Broomfield and Waipara and some buildings have been destroyed.

Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) mid-south Canterbury district manager Rob Hands said the blazes were widespread, particularly in Canterbury, and being fanned by strong winds that could cause them to spread quickly.

At least seven vegetation fires were burning between North Canterbury down to Shannon near Dunedin.

"They range from Amberley, Waipara, Springfield, Rangiora, Rakaia, Leeston and Tekapo," Hands said.

Residents of a small Selwyn community say they will keep fighting to save their homes after being told they must vacate them by 2039.

The district council last month voted to confirm the eviction of the entire Upper Selwyn Huts settlement on the shores of Lake Ellesmere because of the impact of climate change.

A dozen vehicles at a car dealership in Christchurch have been damaged by a wave of grain when a silo collapsed at a neighbouring flour mill.

The telescope was the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), launched on April 16, 2023, from Wānaka Airport in New Zealand. The telescope was raised to approximately 33,000 metres (108,000 feet) in altitude by NASA's 532,000-cubic-metre (18.8-million-cubic-foot) balloon and, above circa 99.5 percent of the Earth's atmosphere, it spent over a month circumnavigating the globe and acquiring observations of astronomical objects.

Open the URL, I self-hosted a zip file with 9 photos so you don't have to visit a website that's filled with ads.

http://rentingcrisis.nz/forum/images/chalk/activism.zip

I wrote in 20 locations around riccarton and ilam. Most of my chalk was on riccarton road or perhaps 50 metres into a side street.

Please share this file.

EDIT: Sorry for the false alarm. The Building Act 2004 already has this defintion. Nelson is simply adding the same definition to their plan. From my not-a-lawyer perspective, it seems that this is a benign change and there is no threat to people living in Tiny Houses.

Original Post:

Submissions close today at 4pm on Nelson's Plan Change 29. One new passage in Chapter 2 Meanings of words quietly redefines vehicles as buildings:

In the Residential, Inner City, Suburban Commercial and Industrial zones, a building includes a vehicle or motor vehicle (including a vehicle or motor vehicle as defined in section 2(1) of the Land Transport Act 1998) that is immovable and is occupied by people on a permanent or long term basis.

You can make a submission here: https://shape.nelson.govt.nz/plan-change-29

Nelson City Council hosted a public meeting this evening to discuss the plan change that allows for 3 and 6 story buildings to be built in the city centre.

The meeting started with an introduction from the mayor, a karakea, and then a 25 minute presentation on what is included in the plan change. When the map of zone changes was displayed on the projector screens, most of the audience studied it intently as if it was the first time that they had seen it. This is when I realised what this meeting was and I almost got up and left but I am glad that I stayed until the free sushi at the end.

After the presentation, the meeting was opened for questions and then after questions the mayor would accept statements. Some members of the public were emotionally charged and used the question time as a platform to air their grievances before fumbling to spin it into a question at the last moment; generally including "What was the rationale for INSERT GRIEVANCE HERE?"

I can't remember a time I have been in a room full of so many white people with white hair misbehaving so badly. There were people talking out of turn, not following directions, and yelling random meme sound bytes like "World Economic Forum" and "2030".

One concerned citizen got some serious side-eye from an older fellow when, asking a question she neatly wrapped up a meandering stream of thoughts by invoking the holocaust to equate the proposed plan change to the "mishandled" covid response.

Even when the words managed to be coherent and diplomatic the emotion would come through in the shaking voice or an angry tone.

There were a few good statements. The best question was: "Why would someone invest in solar panels on their roof if someone can come along and build a building that blocks their sunlight?"

I had to prevent myself from laughing quite a few times during the evening and I am still smiling just remembering all of this. The funniest statement was when one older woman actually used the words "my house that I've worked so hard for".

The general consensus was that these folks were completely against any plan that promotes intensification. People attacked it from all angles and demanded evidence and long-running expensive consultations. Housing affordability was raised briefly by a 17 year old that had the guts to get up and speak in front of the fervent grey power mob.

All in all, it was really fun to be there. I would definitely go again and I will definitely be making a submission to support housing intensification, removing heritage status from more buildings that don't meet the requirements, and supporting the required changes that come from central government.

The submission date was pushed back so now we have an extra 6 weeks to put together a comprehensive case.

Sure, let’s give the council CEO a raise after raising rates by 14.5%.

This is the best thing for Christchurch. It should've happened 15 years ago.

The other day I met a guy from Chengdu, so I looked it up on YouTube. I also follow a modest YouTuber who uploads videos of Saint Petersburg when he goes for walks with his wife and granddaughter.

I'm not suggesting that Christchurch should look like one of these big cities with 10 or 20 million people, but could we please knock down that derelict building that's next to the bus exchange? It has walls falling down, and graffiti everywhere. Then there's the case of shipping containers on the side of the road.

These inner-city features give third world vibes. I don't care what these buildings are, please destroy them.

We also need a city-wide land tax to encourage development. There are empty sections all around Christchurch that aren't being used for anything (or they are just for parking a jetboat). I saw two properties in Sumner that are used for parking a jet boat, and there are places in Riccarton like Kirkwood Ave and Leslie Street, each have an empty section which has been empty for 20+ years. The central and local governments aren't doing anything to solve these problems.

When

Monday, the 28th of August, 6pm onward

Where

Christchurch WEA, 59 Gloucester Street (near the Art Gallery)

https://www.cwea.org.nz/

What to expect

Since this is 3 weeks away I haven't confirmed any speakers yet.

If the meeting receives enough interest, then it will grow. There are other groups such as Save Passenger Rail and a Living Wage group, the overlapping interests can help to boost this new group.

Another Southland major project looking like a non-starter. Cannot seem to catch a break, though I feel some of our "leaders" might be the root of the problems?

Hey everyone, I registered a domain name and installed phpBB forum software, but I will also be:

• hosting meetings at Spagalimi's Pizzeria in Christchurch
• hosting meetings at the WEA (59 Gloucester)
• advertising through the Christchurch Progressive Network mail list
• knocking on doors to promote the forum
• setting up a table and chairs in town for some real life promo

The website is www.rentingcrisis.nz and that's where I'll be organising events in the near future.

I had some trouble with password resets on Lemmy so I just created a new account. I want to reply to https://lemmy.nz/u/kiwikruizer regarding this thread: https://lemmy.nz/post/26847

I complained about the crowded boarding house where I live and kiwikruizer replied: "Theres a few places around that have ensuites in the ~$230 range". This isn't the response that I expected. I pay slightly more than $230 a week (going up to $300 a week soon) and the problem isn't the lack of an ensuite bathroom. I didn't understand where kiwikruizer was coming from, because I never mentioned anything about an ensuite, I just said the place was crowded.

To clarify, a boarding house is not a house where you have 6 or 8 bedrooms and only 2 communal bathrooms. A boarding house will, in nearly all cases, be a modern building with 6 or 8 bedrooms that all have ensuites, but which share a kitchen (and optionally, a lounge, but it isn't required). I think most rentals are under a boarding house contract these days, unless for some reason it's a fixed contract (which I would recommend avoiding unless a person is well-off)

This confusion of terms is another reason why I want to host public meetings. People don't understand renting and have misconceptions about how it works, what it costs, and how convenient it is.

The $230 a week boarding houses that kiwikruizer mention generally have very thin walls and doors, so you can hear people coughing from down the hall, or singing in their bathroom in the morning. The median rent price is much higher than $230 a week, and even these $230 a week properties are more likely $245 or $250 by now. The prices will keep going up and up until we do something about it.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress. It will be a difficult road to build an active group but I'm determined to do this, because the alternative is doing nothing and having nothing change.

She’s been missing since Wednesday. If you have any information, no matter how trivial, please contact the Police on 105.

Stay safe everyone!

Southland just can't seem to get decent investment rolling :( I had been looking forward to a locally manufactured, plant based milk alternative.

Search teams are looking for two children who did not return from a bush walk in Southland on Saturday afternoon.

Police said they received a report about 5.15pm that an 8-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl had not returned after going for a bush walk from the campground at the northern end of Mavora Lakes Road at 2.30pm.