Latest news with #KiraCarrington
Scoop
6 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Blenheim Food Truck Owners Face Uncertainty After Council Buys Site
Article – Kira Carrington – Local Democracy Reporter The owners of several food trucks on a vacant central Blenheim lot are worried they will be turfed out after the land was bought by the Marlborough District Council. The owners of several food trucks on a vacant central Blenheim lot are worried they will be turfed out after the land was bought by the Marlborough District Council. The 1147m² property, spanning five titles between High St and Wynen St, beside Te Kahu o Waipuna, was bought by the council in May for $1.8 million. Mayor Nadine Taylor said the site was earmarked for development as a community space, and the council would seek input from the public as it explored options. One of the food truck owners, Peter Blaha of DFC Artisan Bakery, said he was notified by the owner about two weeks before the sale that the land was to be sold. Blaha said he hoped the council would allow them to stay put. 'I would be happy if we can make some deal with them,' Blaha said. 'We are small businesses … You invest your money into [the business]. I feed my family, I pay the taxes as well.' Blaha said the council could incorporate the food trucks into a space that would attract more foot traffic to the CBD. He reckoned the lot could fit 100 people. 'You can make [some] kind of small market here, even a small festival,' Blaha said. Boseong Jeong, owner of food truck Sasa Express, said while she would have to close shortly as she was pregnant, she was also hopeful that a long-term arrangement could be made that allowed her to stay on at the site. Alson Su, owner of Orange Eats, said he had already been given notice to leave. 'They told us the latest we could let this place is mid-June,' Su said. 'We are still waiting for some other places to move over [to].' A council spokesperson said that under the Reserves and Other Public Places Bylaw 2017, nobody could conduct commercial activity on public land without the council's written approval. 'When mobile food truck owners have approached council for space in the CBD in the past, these applications have been declined in deference to other rate paying businesses in the CBD,' the spokesperson said. 'However, in this instance, council is prepared to work with the food truck operators to both understand their previous arrangements and to look at suitable options going forward.' Anna Hamman, owner of neighbouring business The Sewing Store, said it would be great if the trucks could stay. 'The food trucks have been a welcome addition actually. It's been quite nice knowing that there's a few little local businesses having a spot there.' Jay Sirichan, owner of nearby Japanese restaurant Bento, said the central Blenheim businesses could do with a new attraction. 'Business is quite slow. 'I would like a new space to make things more interesting for the people in town. 'The new library is very good. In the weekend there are a lot of people with their kids. But just, I think it's not enough.'
Scoop
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Budget 2025: Principals In Marlborough Welcome Slashing Of Kahui Ako
Article – Kira Carrington – Local Democracy Reporter In 2020, the New Zealand Principals Federation, which represented hundreds of school principals, called on the Government to end the programme, saying that the meagre benefits did not justify the $110m per year price tag. A Marlborough school principal has welcomed the Government's decision to slash the school-clustering programme Kahui Ako Communities of Learning. The Government announced that the programme would be disestablished as part of Budget 2025, with its funding being redirected into a $770 million investment into learning support. Riverlands School principal Bradley Roberts said he believed that the almost $1m that went into Piritahi, Marlborough's Kahui Ako, could be better used elsewhere. 'Most of the people involved in the Kahui Ako were not even aware of how much resource went into them,' Roberts said. 'The Piritahi Kahui Ako … cost $950,000 a year to run.' The Piritahi Kahui Ako was a collection of 21 schools and six kindergartens, representing 6000 students across the region. Teachers nominated and approved by a school's principal and board of trustees could take paid time away from their usual tasks to foster collaborative teaching and leadership practices across schools; with the goal of lifting student achievement in Marlborough. Roberts, who conducted a 20-week sabbatical research project on Kahui Ako, said the programme did little to lift student achievement, and suffered from 'too many parameters'. 'We could have done a lot more with the $950,000 if we [schools] were given more control over that resource,' Roberts said. Roberts said most of the funding went towards extra pay for teachers and principals. 'The money went into people's back pockets. It didn't really go into initiatives or resources,' Roberts said. In 2020, the New Zealand Principals' Federation, which represented hundreds of school principals, called on the Government to end the programme, saying that the meagre benefits did not justify the $110m per year price tag. 'I talked to 18 different Kahui leaders and principals as part of my research, and 18 out of 18 said if they could re-imagine the resource they would put it into learning support,' Roberts said. Seddon School principal and Piritahi Kahui Ako co-leader Anita Phillips said the group was looking at data for under-served students to see how the schools could work together to better support them. 'Our [Kahui Ako] would come into schools to support those people, and then the principal co-leads would look at what needed to be done at a leadership level to ensure that everyone had adequate access to information or new thinking … around how best to meet the needs of the children.' Phillips said Kahui Ako particularly focused on supporting Māori students. '[Kahui Ako] did a huge focus for a very long time on culturally responsive practices, and we have really strong connections with local iwi now as a result,' she said. 'There has been an awful lot of teacher professional development that's come out of our Kahui Ako … network support, for sure.' 'One of the biggest impacts that we can have for children is to upskill our teachers.' While Phillips said she was disappointed about the axing of the programme, she welcomed greater investment into learning support. 'We all want money to our children, right? Learning support is huge,' she said. 'If it's genuinely being directed to learning support and we genuinely benefit as a region … particularly if we are going to benefit with learning support co-ordinators, because we've been immensely under-served in that area. 'That will soften the blow somewhat.' Principal of Marlborough Boys' College and board member for Witherlea School Jarrod Dunn said some of the work of the Kahui Ako needed to continue once the programme was gone. 'There will still be work that needs to be done, and I guess the school's going to have to fund that. 'If they're not funding those roles that we've got teachers in at the moment … It's how do we continue to fund those roles, given that the money and the staffing [was coming] through Piritahi Kahui Ako?'
