Kāpiti Now promotes the Kāpiti Coast, our community, our businesses, our events. Our business club enables our business members to network and learn from each other as well as help grow our marketing platforms for Kāpiti Now.
Residents and visitors to Waikanae East can have confidence they’ll be able to access vital services in an emergency following Council’s completion of an emergency rail crossing.
Acting Group Manager Infrastructure Services, Glen O’Connor, says the crossing, which connects the old SH1 with Pehi Kupa Street, will give emergency vehicles a second access point over the railway line if the main Elizabeth Street crossing gets blocked.
Some years ago, a novel I read started with the protagonist waiting in a queue to buy tickets to a rock concert (as you did back in the day before the internet was invented!). These were not for her but for a client, as she ran a personal concierge and errand service business. I remember nothing else about this story, but I slotted the business idea into the back of my head to be dusted off sometime in the future. Fast forward several years, a move to the Kapiti Coast and the desire to no longer commute into the city – and Time Genie was born! Coming from a teaching, management and project management background, I am well organised and efficient. I knew I could make this business work.
So what exactly is a personal concierge and errand service? Basically it boils down to doing stuff for busy people. All major cities have them, there are several in Auckland and at least three in Wellington. Having been a commuter I knew that literally thousands of people leave Kapiti everyday to work in Wellington – leaving things at home that need attention. This is where Time Genie can step in to provide assistance and peace of mind.
The definition of ‘stuff’is very wide, making this kind of business difficult to pigeon hole. Here is a list of some of the tasks Time Genie has undertaken over the first year of operation:
companionship visiting of an elderly lady, taking her out for a drive and a cuppa twice a week, for her daughter who has a high powered job in town
phoning previous clients and scheduling appointments for a small business
managing an Airbnb property while the owner was away
feeding three cats over Christmas. One has a health condition and needed medication twice a day!
photographing and listing items on Trade Me
assisting a person who was selling her house to give it a good clean before it went on the market, then again prior to moving out
researching local gardening services/pet boarding/telephone answering services/online course platforms for clients who need the information but have no time to look
showing prospective tenants through rental properties for a property manager based in the Hutt but with a portfolio in Kapiti
assisting a local real estate agent to get on top of some overflowing admin
advertising and organising the recruiting of an admin person for a small local business
Other Time Genie jobs I am keen to do include:
· assisting anyone who is downsizing their living arrangements. Helping to decide what to get rid of and then taking items to charity shops, listing on Trade Me or investigating how best to sell antiques
· supporting elderly people to stay at home by visiting, helping with meal preparation and laundry
· researching or undertaking an environmental scan for any kind of project that someone wants to do but just seems too daunting.
If you or someone you knows has too much to do and not enough time, or perhaps just needs some assistance to take the next step in life, contact heather@timegenie.co.nz or see our website and facebook page for more details.
Heather Knewstubb
Ph: 022 394 8493
www.timegenie.co.nz
https://www.facebook.com/Time-Genie-Magic-115372315722316/
Audrey Stevenson
Top Kapiti Coast bowler Audrey Stevenson from the Paraparaumu Beach club had another top performance at the national champion-of-champions singles playoffs at the Naenae Bowling club’s indoor green in the Hutt Valley over the weekend of 5 - 7 July. In this event the winners of each of New Zealand’s 27 centres singles championships met to find a national winner. Play on the first day was in sections on the first day and Audrey won all her four games against the representatives from the Gisborne-East Coast, Taranaki, North Harbour and South Canterbury centres.
In winning her section Audrey qualified for the quarter finals where she met and defeated Jan McLeay from Bay of Plenty by 21 points to 18. This meant that Audrey met Kirsten Edwards of Nelson, a current member of the national Black Jacks team, in the semi-final. Kirsten had recently won a gold medal at the Asia-Pacific championships on the gold coast of Queensland as a member of Val Smith’s winning fours team. Kirsten continued her strong form to defeat Audrey by 21 points to 6 and then go on to take out title by beating Debbie White of the Waikato centre 21 – 18.
Still, it was another very strong performance from Audrey at the national level.
- Kapiti Bowls
Photo by Vladislav Muslakov on Unsplash
Hands up if you would like to wake up in the morning feeling restored, refreshed and actually alive? Studies show that a third of people don’t get enough sleep, this leads to your feeling groggy, grumpy and distracted and also has long term effects. Insufficient sleep increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, hormone imbalances and cancer. I am going to share with you my favourite sleep hacks. Start my introducing these one at a time and take note of how your sleep improves.
Measure your sleep
I love measuring my sleep. There are various ways to do this but what you want to find out is how much deep sleep (REM) you are getting and how often you are waking through the night. Measuring your sleep also gives you something to compare to as you try different options to support your sleep. You can use a Fitness Watch (FitBit, Garmin, Apple Watch, my personal favourite BellaBeat) or a sleep app on your phone, this one is tricky because eventually you want to aim to not having your phone in your bedroom but this is still a good place to start. Sleep Cycle App is a great option it is suitable for both Android and iPhone and you can turn your phone on Flight Mode so it doesn’t disturb your sleep with notifications and circadian rhythm with EMF waves.
Drink Water
Recently I have been experiencing my own difficulty sleeping. Because I have so many of the other hacks I am going to mention already in place, water is usually the cause of my lack of deep sleep. I find when the season changes so does my water drinking habits and if I make a conscious effort to drink more water my sleep improves greatly!
Exercise
Regular exercise, even just 10 min of aerobic exercise a day can dramatically improve your sleep. Exercise improves sleep quality and duration, it also bolsters sleep because it reduces stress and tires you out.
Supplements
Taking high-quality full spectrum supplements to ensure your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs to repair and restore is extremely helpful for sleep. Look for wholefood, bioavailable supplements. Magnesium is also very helpful for relaxing the mind and body. My favorite supplements are doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality.
Essential Oils
Essential Oils can relax the body and mind to assist in getting to sleep and staying asleep. Does your head hit the pillow and then your brain starts spinning? My fave is Restful Blend or Vetiver which we call the brain switch, switching off that spinning mind. Diffusing Lavender is calming and soothing as well or making a spritz for your pillow is a lovely way to incorporate essential oils too.
Turn down the lights
Improve your body's natural rhythms by turning the lights down or off leading up to bed time. This sends a signal to your body that it is time to “power down” for sleep. Your body will start to reduce cortisol and increase melatonin which is a naturally occurring sleep hormone.
Turn off your screens
Using your phone or watching TV right up until bedtime makes it harder for us to wind down for sleep. Electronics emit a blue light that signals our body to keep producing cortisol (stress hormone). You can choose to turn off your screens at least 30 min before bed or look at blue light emitting glasses to wear in the evening, worn during the day they also help to negate eye strain.
Be well adjusted
Maybe the least expected hack. If you are experiencing pain or discomfort regular chiropractic adjustments can assist you to having a more comfortable sleep. As an added bonus when our brain is able to communicate with our body without blocks we sleep better and recover faster.
Would you like help to hack your sleep? Get in touch with Anna Mabey today for a Free Wellness Consult
Email: anna@empireofwellbeing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/empireofwellbeing
Next week the Council will begin works to improve traffic flow at the Ratanui Road/Mazengarb Road intersection in Paraparaumu.
“It’s a busy road and a major link between the Paraparaumu and Waikanae communities, so we’ll be building a roundabout to ease traffic congestion,” says Access and Transport Manager, Glen O’Connor.
“We’ll also be widening the foot path and installing crossing points on either side for pedestrians, including the many Paraparaumu College students who travel to school that way.”
Mr O’Connor says the upgrades should take four or five months to complete, depending on the weather.
“Please take care when driving in the area and allow a little more time for your journey. We’ll have traffic management, and alternative routes for pedestrians in place during the works.”
“This is a major intersection on an important road linking the Waikanae and Paraparaumu communities. We’re pleased to be getting the works underway.”
Council will provide updates on the progress of the upgrades as we go.
You can send your email address to roadingprojects@kapiticoast.govt.nz for fortnightly updates on the project..
-KCDC
The Kāpiti Coast District Council is advising motorists that new speed limits for 47 rural roads and three village centres (Paekākāriki, Raumati South and Raumati Beach) will come into effect next week.
Group Manager Infrastructure Services, Sean Mallon, says the changes were decided by Council following consultation with communities earlier in the year.
“We’ll be putting up new and updated signs from Monday 15 July, and they should all be in place by the end of the week. We’d like motorists to keep an eye out for them.”
“Once the signs are in, the speed limits will be enforceable by law and we hope everyone does their bit to help make these roads safer for all users.”
Mr Mallon says the new limits are about improving road safety and take into account safety risk, the roadside environment and how the road is currently used. They were also set in accordance with national rules and guidelines for speed limits administered by the NZ Transport Agency.
The Transport Agency’s Regional Transport Systems Manager Mark Owen says he is pleased about the level of support for speed changes and the discussion being had on road safety in the region.
“Communities from across the region have highlighted that speed is a concern and it’s great to see our council partners taking steps to address this. The Transport Agency is also working to address speed because we know that speed is the number one factor in determining whether people survive a crash.”
The full list of speed limit changes and the rationale for each is available on Council’s website.
-KCDC
Kāpiti Coast District Councillor and Audit and Risk Committee Chair, Mike Cardiff, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Bryan Jackson as a new independent member of the Committee.
“Mr Jackson will join the Committee for three years to serve as one of its two independent members,” says Councillor Cardiff.
“He comes from a business background in sales and marketing, and has been working in management and directors roles for nearly 40 years.
“He has also been an active member and chair of numerous business associations, community boards and charitable trusts, giving him a great range of experience to bring to the table when it comes to community issues.
“I’d like to welcome Mr Jackson to the Committee. I am sure he’ll contribute an extremely worthy independent viewpoint over the next few years – for the Kāpiti Coast and the Council.”
-KCDC
The Council has just finished converting the District’s 4,700 street lamps to LED bulbs – a more modern and efficient type of lighting.
“At the Council we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce energy consumption, and running our street lights is one of the big expenses on our power bills,” says Council’s Group Manager Infrastructure Services, Sean Mallon.
“Our latest power bill in June showed a near-70% drop in street light energy consumption compared to the same time last year. Now we’ve finished the conversions we’re expecting to see savings of at least $130k a year.
“We’re also anticipating some minor additional savings on maintenance costs as LEDs (or light emitting diode bulbs) tend to last about 15 years longer than the old sodium vapour bulbs.
“We’ll be re-investing the savings back into our upkeep of the District’s road networks.”
Mr Mallon says the conversions took place over a two year period and were made possible as a result of a one-off government subsidy from the NZ Transport Authority, which covered 85% of the funding.
“The conversion to LED street lighting is a significant change the Council has been able to make to reduce our carbon footprint and be more efficient in the way we operate.”
-KCDC
A $16 million investment in water supply, safety and resilience is underway in the Kāpiti Coast District. That’s on top of the $9 million spent in 2015 on the first stage of work to upgrade the Waikanae Water Treatment Plant.
Martyn Cole, Water & Wastewater Asset Manager says the Council is committed to providing safe, clean, reliable and resilient drinking water supplies for the community.
“That’s why we’re continuing to invest in an ongoing programme of planned improvements to our water treatment plants in Waikanae, Ōtaki and Hautere to help meet this commitment.”
Mr Cole says the work is already underway and is expected to be completed in 2022.
“We are constantly working to make sure our community has a safe and reliable drinking water supply. We use a multi barrier approach. We continuously disinfect with chlorine and treat with high-intensity ultra violet (UV) light to kill any micro-organisms (bacteria, protozoa and viruses) that might be in the water.”
“We continue to monitor and review our drinking water supplies to identify any issues, where we need to invest and what the size of our investment should be.”
An upgrade of the Paekākāriki water treatment plant was completed in mid-2018. This involved replacing the microfilters to help ensure the Council could continue to provide the community with safe clean drinking water.
Work is already underway on major upgrades at the Hautere and two Ōtaki water treatment plants and to progress the second stage of the upgrade at the Waikanae Water Treatment Plant. Construction is planned to start at the end of next year.
“The work at Waikanae is about resilience – some of our equipment is nearing the end of its life so it needs replacing. We also need to ensure this plant is robust enough to withstand a major earthquake,” said Mr Cole. “This plant serves more than 41,000 people in our community so is an absolute priority.”
Water supply quality assurance is driving the upgrades at Hautere and the Council’s two Ōtaki treatment plants.
“The water from these treatment plants is safe to drink but occasionally experiences high turbidity (cloudy water) which means it does not meet all of the measures in the water safety standards all of the time and we have put additional measures in place to keep people safe,” said Mr Cole.
“We’re investing $6 million to upgrade both the Hautere and Ōtaki treatment plants to improve the resilience and reliability of these drinking water supplies.”
-KCDC
The Wellington Saints Basketball Team came Marching in to Kapiti On Wednesday 26 June the NBL Wellington Saints Basketball Team came out to the Kapiti Pak'n Save.
Kapiti Pak'nSave organised for the Saints Team to come out to Kapiti and invited our Players, Coaches and Families to be part of the FUN on the day.
It was a gorgeous Kapiti sunny day and everyone had a ball, shooting hoops, winning prizes, a sausage sizzle and also winning tickets to the Saints last home game on Sunday 30 June.
A big thank you to Pak'nSave for organising a fun filled afternoon and also a big thanks to the Saints Basketball Team for taking time out to come and visit our kids and families on the Kapiti Coast. It was so great to see our Hoop Club Kapiti kids shooting hoops with the Saints boys that afternoon - something they will never forget!!!
- Angelo Robinson, Director of Coaching
Hoop Club Kapiti
Kāpiti Coast District Councillors agreed yesterday to reaffirm the Council’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025, after considering some of the potential ways it could get there.
Deputy Mayor Janet Holborow says reducing emissions and becoming carbon neutral is part of the Council’s response to climate change.
“Having declared a Climate Change emergency this concrete goal is a real opportunity to identify practical steps we can take as an organisation and as a role model in our community to be environmentally responsible.
“The Council has already significantly reduced its carbon emissions by implementing changes to how it manages the treatment of wastewater and the types of fuel it uses,” said the Deputy Mayor.
“Further investigation is needed to identify what additional steps we need to take. This includes looking at options such as joining a carbon neutral certification scheme, replacing some of the Council’s fleet vehicles and planting trees to further reduce and offset carbon emissions.”
The goal of carbon neutrality relates to the net carbon emissions produced by Council’s activities. Net carbon emissions refer to the total amount of carbon emitted minus any offsets. To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, Council will need to offset all of its unavoidable carbon emissions, so that its net emissions amount to zero.
Group Manager Corporate Services Mark de Haast says further investigation is needed to inform the development of a plan for the Council to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
“The plan will need to identify feasible initiatives and any additional resource requirements for Councillors and the community to consider as part of the 2021-41 long term plan process,” he said.
-KCDC
The Kāpiti Coast District Council is gearing up to have a community conversation about what it might need to do to help Kāpiti Coast communities thrive in the face of climate change and coastal erosion or sea level rise.
Mayor K Gurunathan says the impacts of climate change are significant and we can no longer afford to sit on our hands.
“As a coastal community with more than 1,800 properties, not to mention businesses and public infrastructure, potentially affected along our 42 kilometres of coastline, we know we need to take action.
“At the heart of this is a conversation with our iwi partners, affected and interested parties, and our community about how we want to adapt as our coastline changes over time.
“We’ve studied the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy, a community-led coastal adaption programme which has worked well in the Hawkes Bay, and we think there are elements of this approach that could be applied to a community-led conversation in Kāpiti and across the wider Wellington region.
“There’s a lot of ground to cover and we know people will have mixed views about how, when and what actions might be needed but we’re committed to starting a substantial, careful and respectful community conversation about how we respond, as a community, to coastal challenges over the next 12 to 18 months.”
The Mayor says the Greater Wellington Regional Council has indicated that they would like to be part of this conversation.
“It makes sense to join forces and share resources where we can, as Greater Wellington, as our regional consenting authority, has a vested interest in our environment and providing an effective response to climate change.”
Working towards carbon neutrality by 2025
Kāpiti Coast District Councillors agreed yesterday to reaffirm the Council’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025, after considering some of the potential ways it could get there.
Deputy Mayor Janet Holborow says reducing emissions and becoming carbon neutral is part of the Council’s response to climate change.
“Having declared a Climate Change emergency this concrete goal is a real opportunity to identify practical steps we can take as an organisation and as a role model in our community to be environmentally responsible.
“The Council has already significantly reduced its carbon emissions by implementing changes to how it manages the treatment of wastewater and the types of fuel it uses,” said the Deputy Mayor.
“Further investigation is needed to identify what additional steps we need to take. This includes looking at options such as joining a carbon neutral certification scheme, replacing some of the Council’s fleet vehicles and planting trees to further reduce and offset carbon emissions.”
The goal of carbon neutrality relates to the net carbon emissions produced by Council’s activities. Net carbon emissions refer to the total amount of carbon emitted minus any offsets. To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, Council will need to offset all of its unavoidable carbon emissions, so that its net emissions amount to zero.
Group Manager Corporate Services Mark de Haast says further investigation is needed to inform the development of a plan for the Council to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
“The plan will need to identify feasible initiatives and any additional resource requirements for Councillors and the community to consider as part of the 2021-41 long term plan process,” he said.
-KCDC
